Second drafts are a lot like torture. There are periods of unenviable agony, broken up by periods of wonder at the absence of pain. In my case, the agony comes in the form of utter frustration. As I've said before, I am editing two projects concurrent with the new one I'm writing. Work has been a bit slow the last week or two, between looking for more gainful employment and getting distracted by other things but I've thought about it a great deal (the Procrastinator's Creed, I think, is "I haven't done anything, but I've sure thought about it.") and over the last two days I've gotten back into the proverbial swing of things.
I'm taking some advice I was given about how to approach editing Eve of the Dragonspeaker, and putting a bit of a spin on it. I opened up a brand new composition book and started reading my novel. I haven't made any changes yet, but each time I find something, and I've found a good bit, I note it by chapter in my notebook. For now, I'm looking at major issues. Does the dialogue sound right? Why is this happening? Are these decisions in-character? That sort of thing. I'm also making sure to sort of bolster my glossary with information, to keep the narrative (and the world) clear, concise, and continuous.
Unfortunately, I'm coming across the same issues time and again, and that's frustrating. Fortunately, the time that's passed since I last looked at this work has made it much, much easier to know when I'm being stupid. A surprising amount of the writing is solid, even the dialogue is, for the most part, right where it should be (barring some horrible, horrible lines). The majority of the issues I've found are related to characters. The things I discussed yesterday.
Those are easy enough to fix. Most of the issue just involves cutting down some bits of action or dialogue. A few of them, most notably Rythe's tendency to suddenly start talking and acting like the White Knight of Heroville, will require a little more effort on my part. I've noticed too, that I'm adding internal monologue in more places, because the narrative feels sort of empty without it.
I managed to read through five chapters yesterday (they're long chapters, get off my back) and I've got about three pages worth of jotted notes. I'm happy about it. I think this second draft will be much easier to work with than the first. I'm excited about it again, and I'm almost impatient to get to it this afternoon.
As is so often the case, I haven't done anything with Star Rider. No action, anyway. I've thought about it, remember. I opened it up this morning. I think my first idea was a bit ambitious. Just getting it all translated into type will be sufficient progress, before breaking it down into chapters and sections and getting into the meat of the editing. Luckily, I've taken about ten years worth of notes on this thing, and the changes I need to make aren't terribly difficult or even all that extensive.
Those are the updates I have thus far. No real advice, except that the advice I've always received about editing was right on the money. If you finish a project, set it aside for a while. A few days, a few weeks, a few years, whatever it takes, so that when you come back to re-write, you find yourself with a fresh perspective. It's a simple idea, really, but it works wonders.
Constructively Yours,
-S.R.
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