Just a quick post today, lovelies, because Kit and I are still wrestling bears editing our novel for your future reading delight. I’ll be honest: it’s been a really tough slog.
Not because I can’t take critique — I’ve been in critique groups for years, and have gotten past the initial defensive reaction. When someone like our awesome editor KD points out a problem, I listen. (And then decide whether the passage in question should be fixed in a different way, or should actually stay as is while I go fix something elsewhere that led to the perceived problem…)
Not because I can’t stand the thought of changing a word. I’ve long since gotten over the fear of messing up my first drafts. (I mean, first drafts are rough by nature, but there’s something raw and pure about them — that’s the way the story came out of your head, and it can be hard to contemplate making it different. But first drafts aren’t canon. Or maybe they are, and second drafts are the fanfiction that seeks to improve upon them? Good grief, I think it’s too late in the day for analogies.)
Not because I don’t know what changes to make or even how to make them (historically my problem with novel edits). Besides KD, we had some helpful beta readers go through the whole thing, and my critique group read the first six chapters. We’re not lacking in advice. And that’s on top of all the notes-to-self and notes-to-Kit I was making while awaiting feedback.
Not because I’m panicking about needing this draft to be perfect. I’ve been very good at not doing that, this time around. I just want it to be better than the first one. (But ask me again when our publication date gets closer….)
No, it’s tough because there are so many changes to make, at every level. Big chunks to flesh out where my first draft was missing stuff. Plot and character arcs to shift. Worldbuilding questions to answer. Sensory details to add — for example, it appears I never once mentioned the weather or outdoors temperature in my first draft, so my characters might as well have been living under a climate-controlled dome (spoiler: they aren’t). Tiny little things (terminology, inconsistencies) to fix…in every scene. And so on.
My one consolation is that I only have half a novel to do. Reason 37 why co-writing is awesome: whatever you’re suffering through, you know you’re not the only one.
I hear you. I generally spend the first day or two of an edit looking at editor notes and such. Then I spend a couple days pouting at SO. MUCH. WORK.
Sounds about right!