My editor at Savant Books and Publications has finished her content edits and I have finished my changes. Now we are moving on to line and word editing which means I won’t see my manuscript again for 1 - 2 months. This is the editing that the reader doesn’t notice unless it hasn’t been done well - - - - spelling, grammar, punctuation, word use, tensing, etc. I read a rather good novel recently that was almost ruined (for me, at least) because there were more than a dozen word and line editing errors in the text. One mistake is too many. So this next phase is important, if not creative. After that it will go through a series of proof edits by the publisher; then it will move on to lay - up, cover design and finally release. While the tentative release date is still August 2010, my publisher is more interested in releasing a book when it’s ready, than releasing it on time, so we’ll see if it goes out in August or later. My preference would be the fall.
I am continuing my work on the next novel, entitled, Chimney Bluffs. I am working at a very slow pace, sometimes not writing for two or more weeks. But it’s fitting because I’m trying to get inside the story and the characters. Sometimes that involves more thought than writing. After each writing session, I realize that I have to make changes that will bring the story in line with where I want it to be in about 60 - 70 pages. This involves subtle changes in character and dialogue that reveal tendencies in what my characters may do as the story unfolds. I am focusing a lot of attention on the mother in this story. At first she was slated to die at the beginning of the story; then I decided that one of the parents should live and it would be her; she would survive the jump of the cliff; now I’ve decided that while she went to the cliff with her husband and son, she never jumped at all.
My challenge will be - - - How do you redeem someone who has decided to live for the soul purpose of suffering?
Today I wrote about 1,000 words. I’m almost at 10,000, or 33 pages.