5 Day Novel: Day 5!

I’ve decided to write a novel in 5 days. Not a first draft, but a completed novel from concept to polish with rewrites included!

Today was all about line editing…

TODAY was rough. I made it through one pass. Then did a quick word search for some of my crutch words.

I’ve mentioned before that I underwrite. Part of that is because my background is screenwriting and a screenplay is much more sparse than a novel when it comes to descriptions. A screenplay is a blueprint for a final product (the movie) while a book is a final product. So it makes sense that in a novel there needs to be a lot more details.

That meant I spent most of the day re-reading every sentence and rewriting it as well as fleshing out the details. So “Nathaniel entered the arena. Across the stage he saw the target.” would instead become a full paragraph ((too tired to actually write it right now)). The paragraph would have to flow, have the write depth of POV, and give a general sense of the setting without being  too much.

Line editing is what I hate most about writing. If it weren’t so important for my own voice and finalizing the story I’d try to hire someone else to do it. But it matters and I of course could now go back and do another full pass, but at this point I’m calling it. The book is done.

I exported an epub and sent them to my two alpha readers. They both promised to have the whole thing read by the 5th. The book is then due to my editor on the 8th. As I’ve said several times this week the themes and plot deal with some sensitive hot topics. So in this case the alpha reads are important just to make sure I handled those things in a tasteful manner that serves the characters and story I’m trying to tell. I don’t expect to have to make any major changes but I might need to cut a few lines out here or there or add in a few just to clarify descriptions that I thought were clear but ended up being too vague.

But yeah. It’s done. I didn’t know if I could get the book done. My brain is fried. My body is friend. I feel like I just walk a marathon. This is was a fascinating exercise and I totally never want to do it again! Glad I did it. Glad that I discovered I could do it, but still NEVER AGAIN.

Now its time for some well earned sleep.