SUMMARY OF EDITS TO CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
My editor
made very few pencil marks on the pages of this chapter. There was one instance
of a missing comma to indicate a possessive, one instance of incorrect
capitalisation, one missing word and one small typo. All of these were easy
fixes and I should have spotted them before I sent the MS away. However, one
thing I’ve learnt about self editing is that tired eyes don’t work as well as
ones which have been closed for eight hours. Still, it seemed that there
wasn’t much I needed to do to this chapter. Two minutes work and it would be
perfect. Wrong!
This one
involved a lot of rewriting. I kept the first four pages but added a lot more
detail.
Then I
cut the remainder of the chapter and pasted into a file I keep for this
purpose. I would use this material in a revised format later on.
I then
set about writing some brand new material which would introduce an additional
character to the story. This character and the events surrounding them would
enable me to show the reader things I had originally decided to hold back on. I
had intended to reveal these things in a sequel. However, as my editor
suggested that not revealing them detracted from the enjoyment of this story, I
decided to add them in. One thing I have learnt is that good ideas don’t always
come at once, so I’m sure I’ll be able to think up some new things for any
sequels I write.
This
chapter in its revised format formed the catalyst for a brand new chapter where
I incorporated some of the material I’d cut from Chapter 21. I also
incorporated some material I’d cut from the middle of the story (in a revised
form). This habit of filing away discarded material rather than just deleting
it has paid off more than once. Sometimes it’s easier to rework something you’ve
already written rather than try to reinvent the wheel.
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