I've been sitting on a new manuscript for almost a year now. After some initial headway and good feedback from agencies I took a pause on my submission process. I'm glad that I did. Ideas come to me in congruent waves at random moments. After watching a movie in the theaters a light bulb went off that made me change the scope of my contemporary suspense into something with the touch of the paranormal. After making those changes I let it sit again. Distance is helpful when editing.
But this time when I revisited the novel I noticed the pace fell flat in certain areas. So once again I'm heading back in, pen - not sword - in hand, to make the necessary changes I feel will propel the story in the direction I'm seeking.
"Kill your darlings." They say.
This means that no matter how much you may love a paragraph or even a character if they don't work in conjunction with the plot and pacing you must kill them. Eliminate the problem.
Can this editing process be contributed to life in general? In a way. I'm not suggesting you kill the nosy next door neighbor and dump them in the flowerbed but I am a fan of asking questions of yourself. Evaluating who you are, what you want to be doing with your life, who you want to become, and who you want to surround yourself with.
If you're always hanging around the good time crowd, the freshman class on a field trip as I like to call them, what are you really getting back? Fun..sure that is ESSENTIAL for a fulfilling life but I like to surround myself with a peer group that challenges me. It helps me grow.
Different walks of life can present you with different ideas and certain people come into your life for a reason. As a writer drawing from alot of varieties is key.
It's never too late to make changes, my friends. You can reinvent...or edit...yourself every minute of the day. I'm taking that step myself. My entire world has been turned upside down and I am embracing the changes knowing that challenge trumps complacency every time and I've been complacent for too long.
But this time when I revisited the novel I noticed the pace fell flat in certain areas. So once again I'm heading back in, pen - not sword - in hand, to make the necessary changes I feel will propel the story in the direction I'm seeking.
"Kill your darlings." They say.
Can this editing process be contributed to life in general? In a way. I'm not suggesting you kill the nosy next door neighbor and dump them in the flowerbed but I am a fan of asking questions of yourself. Evaluating who you are, what you want to be doing with your life, who you want to become, and who you want to surround yourself with.
If you're always hanging around the good time crowd, the freshman class on a field trip as I like to call them, what are you really getting back? Fun..sure that is ESSENTIAL for a fulfilling life but I like to surround myself with a peer group that challenges me. It helps me grow.
Different walks of life can present you with different ideas and certain people come into your life for a reason. As a writer drawing from alot of varieties is key.
It's never too late to make changes, my friends. You can reinvent...or edit...yourself every minute of the day. I'm taking that step myself. My entire world has been turned upside down and I am embracing the changes knowing that challenge trumps complacency every time and I've been complacent for too long.
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