E is for Editing

The most unpalateable lesson I have learned from the MA is that my first drafts are inadequate. That's me being polite, really. Any combination of the words pile, poo and steaming should cover it. I'm always left speechless by people whose first drafts are accomplished, elegant prose but I do have one advantage. I have learned to rewrite because I have to.

Not push things around a bit, I mean sit down and substantially retype the whole lot. Maybe even massively revise the plot. Delete characters, whole chapters, change the genre of the book. That gets me the second draft.  For Borrowed Time I added an entire historical strand, squeezing out several subplots. One will end up in book 2. Arrange heap, compost and fermenting.

The third draft seems to be the one where the book settles down. maybe bits from the second draft stay in - that's helpful, but they may change order a bit. I start worrying about whether the characters are consistent, and that the main character (MC) is sufficiently visible and likeable. I sent in Borrowed Time halfway between draft 2 and draft 3. Bits had been tidied, the second half had not. Try: a book, like and looks.

Fourth draft, and now I'm really doing minor edits,  re-ordering scenes and maybe cutting unnecessary stuff. This is where I start to look for clichés, clunky sentences, mistakes and my absolute bugbear, repetitions. I start to make sure dialogue is well signposted, something I hate when I'm reading if the speaker of a line isn't clear. Some sentences don't make sense, like: 'My father broke down the door with my brother', which perhaps would be better phrased: 'My father and brother broke down the door.' I'm even happy to change the title.

Finally, with it, and happy-ish.