Monday, October 13, 2008
I love to edit
If I say it one hundred times, maybe it will eventually be true. How many times can one book be edited? Here is my dilemma, I love my series. I especially love books two through four. My problem lies in the first half of book one. This is a major problem because this is the hook to the entire series. If someone can't make it past the first part of book one, they will never get to the rest. I think this is partially why I am putting so much pressure on myself to make it perfect. I have done three major rewrites on the first fifty pages of my series. (not to mention all the minor ones I am constantly doing) I still don't know if I'm satisfied. Every time, I feel a little closer to where I want it to be. At least I know I am in good company. Ernest Hemingway said, "I rewrote the ending of 'Farewell to Arms' 39 times before I was satisfied." So does that mean just 36 more edits to go? (maybe more, because I am no Ernest Hemingway) I know that I'll know when it is right. I have other areas of my book that I have hardly edited at all because they felt right from the moment they were written. Ahh, if only it was all that easy. I must say, I have a new-found respect for writers. Who knew that writers had to do so much hard work to make reading so easy? I will never read a book the same way again.
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Anything worthwhile is hard work, isn't it? It seems like the easy part is writing the first draft. After that, the real work begins!
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