Last night was the first television-free weeknight in recent memory, and I got a decent amount of work done. My first editing pass on the novel in progress was done at the computer, and it was a process of unwriting—getting rid of the rambling blather that often comes out on the first pass. Sentences that contain far too many words for their own good. Sentences that don’t have any reason to live. Repetition and duplication. I cut over 2000 words out of the draft on that pass.
Now, working with the hardcopy and a black pen (never red!), I am adding back in, but this time it is detail that is going in and not just words. Now that I know a lot more about the story and the characters, I’m daubing in the kind of highlights that an artist might do with a painting. Character background. Foreshadowing, things like that. I got through the first four chapters (thirty MS pages) last night, and keyed in the changes to the manuscript this morning.
Tonight’s pretty much of a write off work-wise given that it’s LOST finale night, though I might be able to squeeze some work in before it starts. It’d be nice to get a couple of more chapters inked up.
I’ve found that I edit a lot more coherently and more cohesively when I edit with paper and pen.
I edit differently. Not better or worse, just differently. I usually find I have to go through both processes—editing on the screen and on hardcopy—to do a thorough job of it.
Tonight is so Lost night! Everything else is on hold!
Bigger than the Super Bowl!
Like Bev, I go through several on-screen drafts before moving to hardcopy line edits. But you’re right, the hardcopy edits often lead to a tighter version with better word choices.
Well, probably not, but it’s more important to me.
I’ll be less eager to see the commercials.
Definitely more important than any sporting event for me! Can’t wait!
Even the repeat from last week is worth watching again, because there is new footage. During the press conference, Jack reveals the names of the other three people who supposedly survived the crash. Coolness! I also like the tidbits about the numbers at Hurley’s party, including the number of fake palm trees (4), number of balloons (15) and party hats (16)…