Revising and editing the last few thousand words of The Farmer’s Daughter is taking nearly everything I’ve got in terms of buckling down and grinding it out. I’ve lived with this thing for nearly a year, so sick of each word that I open the files with dread. Yet, I’m almost done. It’s got to be finished.
Last week’s word count was around 2500 when I started editing. I ended up cutting about 500, each one painfully extracted, modified, subtracted, and rearranged.
The chapter had started with a behemoth introduction of activities that were eye-watering to read. I cut the bulk of that and still presented too much. Maybe I should have cut it all—doubt lingers on.
The vows I’d written were pure crap. I went back to the drawing board, googled vows, distilled what I believed important to Tanuvia and Gem, then tried not to sound like a shmuck. Those vows were by far the hardest part of the entire novel.
Last night, I thought I had it. Yet, this morning, I cut another ten or so words. Though still not satisfied, the present post will stand, good or bad, for a long time; I simply can’t look at it anymore.
Routinely after posting, I open the next file to revise. I find that I work better without the deadline pressure so I always try to do the bulk of the labor the first day of the week. With relief, I see this file is only around 1000 words. I imagine I can cut that quickly to around 800. 800 words of drivel is much less intimidating than 2500. I need the break.
The week after is another long chapter, the FINAL chapter. Almost there! I can do it! I’m so ready for another project or, better, a lapse between projects.
January 23, 2017 at 10:23 am
Oh gosh, you have my complete sympathy. I’m starting my third round of editing on my work-in-progress, and 10 chapters in, I’m already completely done with the story, with myself, with writing in general. At least you’re almost done! After this, are you planning on publishing immediately?
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January 23, 2017 at 10:43 am
Thanks for the sympathy! No, I’m not going to publish, just leave it free to read on its website. I’m ready to move on, and I’m not particularly interested in writing as a business. Perhaps, if I knew someone who liked to deal with those kinds of things, I’d hand it over. But it’s not something I like to do. Thanks for visiting and your comment.
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January 23, 2017 at 11:03 am
It was a pleasure, and I’m looking forward to reading your novel 😀 Do you have an idea for another project?
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January 23, 2017 at 11:36 am
I’m always sitting on a story or novel, letting it simmer. These are the ones I have closest to completion, https://muninnsmemory.com/works-in-progress/ . I’ve love to put out “For Love of Amber,” but it has to be perfect because it’s one I care about. I’m also close on “Tech Xashi.”
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January 23, 2017 at 12:39 pm
I’ll definitely check those two out, thanks for drawing them to my attention 😀
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January 23, 2017 at 11:18 am
I empathize with your struggle. I’d been avoiding my novel for quite some time. I finally managed to make myself start on the second round of editing (technically the third, but the first was really just proofreading). I’m trying to break it all apart, cut a bunch, add missing elements, completely rearrange it, and somehow hope it comes out sounding like a story instead of looking like Frankenstein’s monster. Nice to know that I’m not the only one who struggles with this part. I wish I was as far as Ella, at chapter 10. That sounds much better than chapter 4. And it sounds like you’re nearly done, Kecia. That’s quite a feat! Best of luck to you both.
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January 23, 2017 at 11:43 am
I think I was only able to finish this one because I did not believe so strongly in the final product. I liked it, but was also sure it wasn’t the best I could do. That allowed me to show it at what I consider less than perfect.
I wrote Sensitive after Farmer’s Daughter and think Sensitive is better, but still not my best. Sensitive was almost too easy because I wrote Jubilee, rather quirky and ridiculous, as much like myself. I can only do that once or all my female main characters will be the same!
The next one has to be better than Sensitive. But, as you know, that’s a lot of hard work.
Thanks for commenting. It really is nice to know we’re all in the same purgatory.
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January 23, 2017 at 12:38 pm
LOL! Thanks, but chapter ten really doesn’t sound all that great if your chapters are only 2000 words long, and you’re an underwriter who needs to bulk up your action scenes! I’m glad you started editing, and good luck with attempting to NOT create a monster…maybe we should create an editing support group to rant about grammar and plot issues 😛
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January 23, 2017 at 1:45 pm
I intended to put my next comment as a reply to yours. Ah well.
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January 23, 2017 at 1:43 pm
Haha. That is what I need, an editing support group. And novels are a whole different animal. Short stories and poems, I can edit without too much consternation. I can even edit other people’s novels and feel calm and relaxed because I know I’m helping them get their work into the best possible form. But editing my own novel, I start out knowing I can’t see the forest for the trees and its frustrating. And it’s hard to talk yourself into cutting sections that you’re attached to, are well written, but have no place in the novel.
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January 23, 2017 at 2:22 pm
Yes, everything you say exactly! I can see the weaknesses and strengths in someone else’s work but not my own. And novels…aggh! I’m never sure of the pacing or if my character’s motives are convincing or even make sense. I worry about showing too much detail and then not enough. I worry the reader can’t picture the setting or I’m choreographing too much movement or that my characters lack emotion. And I’m never satisfied and never confident. 😦
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