Just thought I'd add a thought about my recent editing dramas and traumas. I think I caught on to something. You probably know how people say that really good novels have things you might have missed the first time around, and if you go back and read it again, you find something you didn't notice before? Well, editing is the key.
When I first started writing my novel, I hurried through the first ten chapters or so, and then settled into a routine of sorts with the rest. In the editing, I went back and fleshed out those first ten chapters to the extent they bear little resemblance to the originals. There are also entirely new chapters.
The fleshing out in the editing process gives you the opportunity to add little teasers and clues that might well turn into that "wow, I missed that the first time."
A dark blue Lexus with tinted windshields wouldn't attract much attention the first time around,nor maybe the second time if it's far enough down the line, and you might have forgotten it by the time the illicit affair is unveiled. But, if you go back and read it the second time you say, "oh yeah, that's who she was with the whole time."
Other things ain't so subtle. I don't know why I didn't think of it before, but if you have a gang of creeps break into your funeral home while everybody is away, and there is a family mausoleum in the basement, wouldn't it be pretty obvious they might take the corpses out and scatter them around the house in various sick poses?
Yeah, I know it's not Shakespeare, but then again, Shakespeare wasn't blessed with a sick sense of humor.
2 comments:
Interesting concepts presented here. have been a occasional reader for several month. I will read more often in the future, keep up the good work. It's hard to be a consistent blogger on a daily or even weekly basis.
Sometimes it gets to be a pain in the ass too, but overall its worth it. Thanks for stopping by, Bart.
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