Can
you look through your completed book without making any changes? I tried
it
after thinking I had finished up the basic editing and even the
polishing. There couldn't possibly be anything more to "fix," thought
me. Wrong. I found more changes,
important changes, many changes. Throwing caution to the wind, I gave up
all notions of
completion and continued, alternating between rummaging
through additional passes as the need occurred to me with my
pinpoint-sharpened #2,
and then laying my book down to rest for short periods of time. My
conclusion? The persistent question: When will I ever be done?
What do I need to re-think?
While
in the throes of this quest I decided, what the heck, what's one more pass? I came up with: What do I need to re-think? It
turned out to be the most
revealing edit of all. It resulted in a title change, removal of a
subplot (that was BIG, but I had to do it), addition of a character
(that was fun), rearranging some of the
scenes and re-checking the arcs, making sure someone or something didn't
fall off the face of the page. Each character arc, including arcs in
each
character's dialogue, and each event, had to be followed from beginning
to end. If I hadn't done that particular check,
pearls of the necklace I had begun to string would have fallen off
before the clasp could have been attached. Nightmares could
have resulted. I could have wound up with another fire-engine red I, another school daze Incomplete, onlythis time from an editor and not my teacher (if I should be so lucky!)
Take One More Look
