My biggest problem with editing my manuscripts is that I don't know how to start, but a related problem is that I fear that I won't know when to stop.
What I get paid for is writing software and the things around software (one of the oft overlooked truths about software is that so much of it is writing text to support the code, document the design, tell people how to use the code, and so on). I like it because I get paid to write, but also there is a constant problem solving hit: there are always faults to find, bugs to fix, and processes to document.
But there is also a reasonably well-defined end point for software: does the code do what it is supposed to do? Do the users understand how to use the tool? Have all the tests needed to verify the behaviour of the tool been written?
Similarly there is a very obvious end point with writing a manuscript: has the plot resolved itself? Have the characters done all of the things that were supposed to achieve? Have you hit you word count goal?
I don't see such a well-defined end point for the editing process, and maybe that is the root of some of my uncertainty and, dare I say it, reluctance when starting the edit of my novel - I don't know what my novel would look like when it's finished, so I don't know how to get there.
Certainly something to think about further, but for now that's five minutes.
Posted by Dunx at March 11, 2009 09:48 AM
LOL. I just used your captcha as a thinking skills break for our homeschool lessons today. The kids think you're cool.
I have no idea when to call my editing complete. Prose can always be sharpened, characters made more complex and plots more twisty. It confounds me too.
Sorry to not be any help whatsoever.
I'm still working on AWT and Rebel. I must have been on glue when I restructured Rebel from eight characters to six because I'll have someone walk into the room as one character and out as another. It's a real dog's breakfast. And being a CYOA it's not even linear or consistent. I-Yi-Yi!