Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Editing!

Editing is my least and most favorite thing.

Why is it my least favorite? Because I get to see how many times I use the word 'that' in a single damned sentence. Because I run across multiple instances of words that I, for whatever reason, fell completely in love with. As an example, for my last book, Subversive Elements, I used the word 'perfidy' on nearly every single page. In order to correct the problem, I was sometimes forced to rewrite entire paragraphs. Other times, it's phrases. I can't think of any off the top of my head, but one of my favorite writers uses 'it was the easiest thing in the world to...' and various permutations in every one of his books, even in different genres. Still love the guy, though.

It's my most favorite thing because ... because. The act of writing isn't the same as reading. Writing is a feverish attempt (at least for me) to get what is in my brain out on the page. sometimes that means I say the same thing eighteen different times across three pages. Editing is the closest to reading my own material before I get to the absolute final, master copy. It's a blast. I come across sentences or nuggets of wisdom that make me laugh, or tear up, or cheer. Is it narcissitic? You bet it is, but I am my own biggest fan. Hell, I gave the first iteration of Foreign Devil 5 out of 5 stars when I should've given it a 2, and only then because I spelled my name mostly right on the cover.

Editing takes longer because it requires more thinking, something those of you who know me personally know doesn't come all that easy. Most of the time my brain is preoccupied with pop culture and other unrelated things, so buckling down and asking myself to look at each and every sentence in 80 different ways is something I can only do for so long every day before said brain goes 'need foods, need sleep, stop now'.

Hell, I've reread each paragraph of this blog entry at least 3 times over and have changed three words already.

I'm about 1/4 of the way through the first round of edits. If I am stupendously lucky and dilligent, I may only need to do two rounds. Anything after that is likely to be me, being nitpicky as all get out.

Stay tuned, fan(s)!

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