Back to Byzantium
Tuesday, I received thirty-seven single-spaced pages of notes from my developmental editor.
ZOIKS!
The good news: His response was encouraging. He used words like “vivid”, “epic”, “engaging”, “extremely well researched.”
What thrills me most: “. . . the research is worn lightly, which contributes to the fast reading pace.”
We historical fiction writers can become so enchanted by our research we feel the need to share ALL of it with our readers. I mean, isn't every historical nugget a gem to be examine from every angle?
The biggest surprise: He wants MORE of certain characters and storylines. I mean, I've already got 200k words. But he believes the scope of the story supports exploring some of these aspects deeper and broader.
The bad news: I still have a LOT of work to do. Thankfully, no major reconstructions. I just need to clarify through-lines, bring more balance to pacing, show more emotional responses, and thought processes, just, just, on it goes...
Whaaaaaaaa!
But seriously, this is what editors are for—to help us push the work to a higher level of storytelling. In their book Peak, Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool advocate for “deliberate practice”, the phase wherein the learner engages outside help to evaluate their progress and point out the path to improvement. They find this to be the key to reaching greater levels of performance.
Thus I've begun the deep dive into this daunting task, drawing out motives and building characters' agency even as they face their impossible circumstances.
So, what's next?
I anticipate 3-4-6? months of tightening up the existing text and adding roughly ten new scenes. After that, I'll do another review pass at the story level to make sure these efforts have done their work.
Then begins the serious word-crafting.
This is where I must prioritize Turning Pro as Steven Pressfield observes in the follow-up to his blockbuster The War of Art.. I must defer the satisfaction of moving on to the next thing until the hard work of the current project is done. I will, of course, eventually have to let it go out into the world, but not yet.
At some point, before I have it professionally line/copy edited, I will have several brave souls read this monster. These heroes will need to overlook remaining grammar issues and clunky writing because I want a few readers looking at the story one last time before I pay a pro to help with the final polish.
Please let me know if you are even a little interested in that task. I'm asking for zero commitment at this point because everyone has time pressures that can be hard to anticipate this far out. My rough guess is next summer.
Meanwhile:
I did make it down to St. Augustine this past week.
That's great! I used History Quill's beta reader service and found it helpful, but haven't tried their editors yet. Good to hear you had a positive experience! It sounds like your DE was very thorough. Best wishes with your revisions!
I’ve been so busy that I didn’t get to write as much as I wanted this past year even though it was my first full year in retirement. I just submitted chapter 14 for my November submission in the group coaching program. I plan to finish chapter 15 in December, which would/should be about 1/2 of my novel, according to my original outline. My goal is to finish the other 15 chapters in the first half of the coming year. It was good to read your comments about Edward. I was thinking about asking him to be the editor for my manuscript, once it is completed. Best wishes for continued success with your novel. Kimber