Edits! [part five]

Getting into “The Flow”

In my last editing session, I almost overwhelmed myself. But then, something magical happened: I got into the flow.

I overwhelmed myself because I knew I had to make a plan for the Tricky Edits. The Tricky Edits are the chapters between the midpoint and the climax, and they’re only tricky because I agreed to move some plot points around to allow for better pacing and to allow a couple of my characters to spend more time together. All of that’s fine, but it meant doing a bit of cutting and pasting, identifying a few chapters that need to total overhaul, etc.

It was overwhelming because, once I’d done the cutting and pasting, I realised 15 of my total 36 chapters needed at least some editing, if not a whole rewrite.

And that’s a lot of chapters.

Still, I decided not to panic. Sometimes, deciding something like that just works (although heaven knows it’s not like that all the time). I actually have “don’t panic” tattooed on my body, along with two pink petunias, so clearly this is something I consider carefully.

Instead of panicking, I edited two chapters in quick succession, meaning that by the end of the weekend I was down to 13 that needed work.

I’m doing them more-or-less in order, so the next one is a “total overhaul” kind of deal. I’ve done a bit on it already but I know I need to go back to it. Bright side, the next one in the queue needed to be written from scratch! And I’ve done it!

That was the flow at work.

Sometimes, writing feels like trying to get into a bath that’s too hot. Like, you know it will feel good once you’re in it, but it’s really difficult to acclimatise to the heat. Everytihng has to happen in tiny bursts and it feels like it takes forever. At other times though, writing can feel like gliding through a clear, cool river. When the temperature’s just right, so you’re not shivering but you’re not at risk of getting burned either. You can swim far when it feels like that. You can write quickly, and even feel like what you’ve written works.

Well, that’s where I was just after the cut and pastes.

As of today, I have 9 chapters left to go.