Despite what I said about rushing to publication in order to meet Harper Voyager's open submission window, I now realize that the editing of this novel is NOT complete. I sat down to read over the first 1000 words, confident that they would be so ZOMG awesome that they couldn't fail to impress a publisher.
What I found was half a dozen things to fix. Inconsistent pronouns, poor word choices, word repetitions, muddy and unclear pronoun antecedents, physical impossibilities of position and sequence... clearly, this needs a full read-through, just like I originally planned.
This delay is, I hope, a sign of craft and quality. Believe me, I want this book to be finished and out in the real world. However, it's more important to me that this book be fantastic in every way possible before it leaves the nest. I want an editor to fall in love with this book (or at least with the success this book could be), not groan at the amount of work it would take to get it in shape.
My beta readers have worked hard (and in the case of Cathy Russell, still working hard) to get me great feedback on the book. It would be a shame for me to lose focus and rush the process at this point. After all, I don't want them to look bad by having their names in the acknowledgements!
One thing that is still true, though. I'm making all these changes in one big Word document instead of in the scene-based yWriter5. Since part of the problem was the abruptness of the transitions between scenes, this will let me smooth those over. Yet another thing to fix.
MORAL: Don't rush it. A book that's 99% has one lousy word in every hundred. That's two or three clinkers per page. Take the time to make it 99.99% done.
An excerpt:
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At the foot of the airship, blood flowed through Verbosity's fingers where he clutched at hisruined face shattered jaw. Moaning and staggering, the supervillain half-climbed, half-fell into his airship and slapped at a control panel. The quadrotors roared as the craft lifted and launched smoothly jerkily forward, clearing the edge of the big doorway by less than a foot. The Grammarian saw his nemesis clutching at a seat belt through the open door, hanging on with manic strength to keep from falling out of the open door as the airship yawed around and began to climb into the night sky. Whatever kind of autopilot Professor Verbosity had for the airship was doing its job perfectly. The last glimpse the Grammarian had of the escaping criminal was him holding on onto a safety harness with one hand while clutching pressing at the ruin of his blood-soaked face with the other.
It was the only time he had ever known Professor Verbosity to leave without making some kind of speech.
/////
For the record, that was "clutched", "clutching" and "clutching", as well as "ruined face" and "ruin of his... face" all in the same paragraph. This paragraph is just one among many that needs attention. Ugh.
===== Feel free to comment on this or any other post.
What I found was half a dozen things to fix. Inconsistent pronouns, poor word choices, word repetitions, muddy and unclear pronoun antecedents, physical impossibilities of position and sequence... clearly, this needs a full read-through, just like I originally planned.
This delay is, I hope, a sign of craft and quality. Believe me, I want this book to be finished and out in the real world. However, it's more important to me that this book be fantastic in every way possible before it leaves the nest. I want an editor to fall in love with this book (or at least with the success this book could be), not groan at the amount of work it would take to get it in shape.
My beta readers have worked hard (and in the case of Cathy Russell, still working hard) to get me great feedback on the book. It would be a shame for me to lose focus and rush the process at this point. After all, I don't want them to look bad by having their names in the acknowledgements!
One thing that is still true, though. I'm making all these changes in one big Word document instead of in the scene-based yWriter5. Since part of the problem was the abruptness of the transitions between scenes, this will let me smooth those over. Yet another thing to fix.
MORAL: Don't rush it. A book that's 99% has one lousy word in every hundred. That's two or three clinkers per page. Take the time to make it 99.99% done.
An excerpt:
/////
At the foot of the airship, blood flowed through Verbosity's fingers where he clutched at his
It was the only time he had ever known Professor Verbosity to leave without making some kind of speech.
/////
For the record, that was "clutched", "clutching" and "clutching", as well as "ruined face" and "ruin of his... face" all in the same paragraph. This paragraph is just one among many that needs attention. Ugh.
===== Feel free to comment on this or any other post.
I know the feeling, Tony. Do I ever...know the feeling, that is.
ReplyDeleteOne heartening thing about this is it means you're at the final polishing stage. You have all the difficult storytelling work out of the way.
Now you're cleaning up word choices, craft derails, that's all(!)
Just be careful not to smooth away the style, the voice, that which makes the story yours. Unique.
I look forward to reading it.
Thanks, Kevin. This is indeed final polishing, not structural editing - that's all done, thank goodness!
DeleteActually, "craft derails" works too, even though "details" was intended.
ReplyDeleteA happy accident of cellphone commenting.
Bah. I think you're overthinking this. By all means, get the first thousand words, maybe the first two thousand, as close to perfect as you can. Suck 'em in. But you're not cleaning this up to put it on Amazon yourself, you're sending it to a publisher that has a large editorial staff who can point these things out. Let them do the job they're used to doing.
ReplyDeleteIf my advice is worth more than the pixels used to display it, I'd tell you to put that effort into your pitch. I'm guessing you'll need one as part of your submission. Get them interested in the story, use that polished lead-in to hook 'em, and they can take it from there. [Yeah, look who's talking, someone who never even bothered to try the traditional route.]
The Harper Voyager submission needs the first 1000 words, a query, and the full text. I could see that if either of the first two are problematic, it stops there. Instant delete.
DeleteHowever, when a slush pile reader hits the fourth (or fifth) clunky phrase in the full text AFTER the opening 1000 words, that would be a kiss of death, too. It won't get to their editorial staff for corrections. There are just too many submissions in a pile like this for someone to waste time on something that isn't properly polished.
Your point about the query is very well taken, though. I'll get going on it.
Big difference, those words. Keep polishing, yes, but I think Larry's advice is sound. I also think Kev is right. heh.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, love what you've excerpted here. It's pretty exciting and, especially with the changes, clean as a whip.
Thanks, Cathy! I want this prose to be the kind of thing that will sing and dance, with NO flat notes or missed steps.
DeleteSometimes it feels like a never-ending battle doesn't it? I know it sucks to put the submission on hold, but I have so much respect for you for choosing to polish and craft it into something better.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Danni. I can only trust that the extra effort will pay off.
Delete