Things you realize when editing a novel

If you've never edited a novel, my friend, you have known joy. I know that there are people out there who feel they haven't lived until they've reached the editing process, but I'm not one of those. Don't get me wrong, there are times that the editing process is fun, but things like rewriting just feel like slowly peeling off individual layers of my brain.

I'm pretty sure even the people who say they love editing hate it sometimes, just like the people who love the first draft hate it sometimes. So I think each and every one of you reading this can completely understand every editing situation I'm about to make fun of. So here we go!

     1. If you don't read it often enough, you'll forget all about stuff.

For example, I haven't read the third book in my elf series (very original name, I know, working on it) in a reeeally long time because I knew how much editing it would need. Now I'm rereading it, and because I haven't read it in so long, things like the following happen:
Random Character: *appears*
Me: Who are you, where did you come from and what is your purpose in this story?

     2. Realizing that scene you really liked actually has no purpose.

Too bad. Out it goes! I mean, unless you can manage to squeeze some hidden foreshadowing or something into the scene. Then by all means, keep it.

     3. Realizing a character you liked is super cliche.

Alas.

     4. Finding you can't spell.

All you have to do is stare at the word for half an hour and try to figure out what in the world you were trying to say.

     5. Realizing how hard rewriting is.

This is my favorite gif for writing posts.

Write the chapter, it sucks, start again, it sucks, start again and realize you're just writing the first one again from memory. (actually, I've heard that if you wind up just writing almost the same thing again, it means you kept the good parts and got rid of the fluff)

     6. Then realizing how much of it you're going to have to do.

Buckle down now kids, we'll be here a while. You know, a couple months or so. On the same scene.

     7. You'll find that gaping plot hole you didn't see before.

Don't bother hoping no one else will see it, because they will. Ever heard of How it Should Have Ended?

     8. Suddenly feeling like this about the whole thing:

There is nothing more to say about this.

     9. How it felt writing it...

...versus how it feels editing it.

Unless it's one of the parts where the writing really wasn't going well. Then it still feels like slogging through a swamp.

     10. Realizing how much you love this story after all.

Eventually you realize that's it's still your story, and you do love it, despite its plot holes and flat dialogue. Go ahead and hug your manuscript, then get back to staring at that comma that you're not too sure about.


That's all for today's post. If you're new to this blog and you like what I'm doing here, feel free to tell me in the comments, and you can enter your email in the box on the sidebar to get emails when I put up new posts. You can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter, where I post funny writer stuff like this post all the time.

Photo by Kim Gorga on Unsplash