We all edit our own work,
striving for that impossible dream: perfection. For the self-published, it’s a
rather unfortunate fact that the author’s edit is the only one performed. This
is a shame and causes the publication of many good books that are seriously
flawed. Freelance editors can be expensive, but any writer worthy of the name
will employ such an experienced examiner to ensure the work is as good as it
can be: we owe that much to our readers.
For those who are published,
whether by mainstream or independent publishing houses, our own edit is only
the start of the finishing process. We submit what we hope is the best piece we
can produce, knowing as we send it off there will be faults, suggested
improvements, and some culling of our darlings. A writer is usually too close
to the creation to view it in a truly objective light.
I’d spent much of the winter
actually creating the book. Then began my own edit. This, in itself, is a
fairly thorough process, involving a line by line check for errors, a read
through aloud from a printed version (the eye misses too much when reading from
the screen), comments from a beta reader, and feeding each chapter through an
online editing suite. I use
https://prowritingaid.com/; others are available. That whole
procedure takes a few weeks. Only then do I send the piece off to the publisher.
Dan Grubb, owner of
FantasticBooks Publishing, employs a team of dedicated editors (rumour suggests he has
them chained to desks in the dank basement of his rural headquarters; so
isolated is the place that their moans and groans of distress go unheard by
anyone who might feel inclined to rescue them!).
By return email, I received the
first suggestions in the form of a couple of dozen minor alterations, which I
passed back the next day. There followed an emailed document, 8 pages long,
detailing suggested content changes (this sounds a lot, but many of the comprehensive
comments required only a sentence or two to fix). Also, in the same email, was
the full MS marked with Word Tracking comments, deletions, additions, queries
and suggestions; the line edit.
I spent around four days, working
between ten and twelve hours each day, addressing these. Again, it sounds as though a lot of errors were discovered, but, in practice, most were stylistic or
typos, with a few easily addressed queries, some minor alterations, and a few
inconsistencies that required the odd change in a number of chapters (often no
more than a word or two). This is work that requires intense concentration
coupled to an ability to expunge the previous version of the book from your
memory in order to approach the task with an open mind.
So, there you have it. The
writing of a book is more than simply allowing that inner artist to express
your thoughts. It requires a degree of discipline and the help of eagle-eyed
analysts to transform that basic word count into something that can be enjoyed
by booklovers whilst giving those readers the respect they deserve.
The cover is now also complete
and the book was with the typesetters when I last enquired as to progress.
I’ll do a full reveal of that
excellent cover in the not too distant future. For now, the picture at the head
of this post is a taster.
You can follow the editing
process in more detail by
visiting my website here and searching for ‘Progress
on the WIP: SciFi in the Making.
