Writing Is Editing

One benefit of being shut in the house during the current pestilence is the chance to focus on my fiction project, COME THE HARPIES. Having enlisted the services of a seasoned professional editor, I spent the last two weeks inputting line-edit changes that have both tightened the manuscript through the elimination of over 3,000 words(!) and enhanced word selection in dozens of cases.

The next step is going through developmental suggestions, which include fixing plot inconsistencies, sharpening characterizations, leveraging situations for greater dramatic effect, adding telling details that provide color and impact, among other weighty matters. I boiled down my editor's notes to 44 issues that I will address over the next three to four weeks. I will then follow up with the editor and discuss how I approached her changes and suggestions.

This sounds like a lot of work, but it's really not too bad. Most of the changes are minor and some reflect stupid mistakes on my part with names, chronologies, and quirks that crop up over the course of writing a 100,000-word manuscript. Most of what I'll be doing is fixing those mistakes and adding polish and depth.

I know it's an effective story and my editor agrees. She wrote: "(The book) has a gripping premise coupled with a compelling voice--fast-paced, funny, timely, thought-provoking, and above all, entertaining. There's enough action and excitement...to keep readers satisfied, but it all ties into weightier issues of humanity, autonomy, politics and the environment; and it plays out in a setting that is close enough to our current society that readers will find it relatable, and exaggerated just enough that they'll find it unsettling."

Yeah, I was going for that! The thing is, I think the story is so timely that I want to somehow get this thing published ASAP to fully leverage the relevance of the story to things that are going on in the world today.

However, I still need to find some way to grab the interest of the almighty gatekeepers of the publishing industry!