Bonus Post! The Editing Process

Hi

This is a bonus post!

I've been keeping track of my wordcount and goals on twitter (@jimneyauthor) and I'd like to give an overview of what I'm doing at the moment. I have this project I've tentatively called 'The Descendant of Ra'. It's a MG (not YA as I long believed) about a junior archaeologist who gets transported back in time to ancient Egypt where he has to help a Pharaoh regain her throne. It involves magic and gods and all sorts of mystery (especially surrounding the MC).

Here's a quick overview of drafts:

The first draft was complete at 70k words. The second draft (adding some scenes, description, et cetera) at 117k. I spent the last week cutting it down and carving out the heart of the story. TDOR currently has 83k words (draft 3) and I'm editing it down to 75k at the moment. This entails cutting out superfluous words and scenes and characters (and fluffy gimmicks) and focusing on making the plot coherent. This is the most difficult part of the project. It is still not always clear what must stay and what must be cut. It still takes a loooot of getting-over-it (courage) to trust my instincts and take things out. But don't worry. It's also getting easier with every draft... :)

Update: I've actually done 75k (yesterday and today) and went beyond it. The current draft (draft 4) is as of today at 72k. No doubt there'll be things to add later as it looks a bit skeletal/basic now.

Here's a view of my editing: (errr... coming soon. Hint: lots of red)

My primary editing tools are a red pen (taking things out/changing things) and a yellow marker (important details that need to be kept/transfered to the new draft while the rest of the sentence/paragraph might be crossed out to be cut). The white parts (unmarked) are what I'll keep - at least until the next draft. I sometimes use a blue/black pen to make other notes... but mostly it's just red/yellow.

Like this? Follow me on twitter (@jimneyauthor) to get (sorta) live updates! And don't forget: tomorrow's Wednesday's regular post! Cheers