19th May, 2016
As I plod through my editing, well it’s not quite that hum drum, deleting scenes in the first draft that don’t support the character development is proving more difficult than expected. For example, the relationship between Mike and Ellie will expose a weakness in Ellie that she doesn’t have in the first draft. Ellie will appear shallower, giving her some scope to develop personally through the experiences she goes through which means adding scenes that are complex with added tension between Ellie and Mike. However, reading their first love scene proved difficult to delete! It had to be done and after leaving it for a day, it went straight in the trash without further deliberation, like removing a band aid, short and sharp.
Leaving the more difficult edits for a day meant that I was able to focus, on the bigger picture rather than obsessing over the individual scenes, seeing the book as a whole and Ellie’s character develop from beginning to end and seeing the need in giving room for Ellie’ character to develop adding layers to her character with each edit.
I am still a little nervous about the whole delete thing, but I’m pretty sure Scrivener will have a trash can I can recover.
So another lesson in editing, take a break (we all know that one) and take a wider lens on your editing when it comes to shaping the characters and plot.
I have just completed reading ‘An Isolated Incident’ by Emily Maguire, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It took and unexpected turn at the climax but I felt the ending was a little short perhaps due to the fact that I was enjoying the book so much I didn’t want it to end. ‘An Isolated Incident’ had some similarities of her first novel ‘Taming the Beast’, showcasing Emily’s ability to chronicle the human condition regardless of class, giving a ‘bare all’ insight into their lives.
It was written in first person with an unreliable narrator, Chris, who suffered trauma, among other things. She reminded me a little of Rachel from Paula Hawkins’, ‘The Girl on The Train’, and has further inspired me to write in first person in my next project utilizing the unreliable narrator throughout (if I can sustain it!).
Ah my next project, I think of it fondly I have so many ideas I just want to flow out onto the page but I will NOT begin it until I have completed the first edit on LiL! I WILL NOT (I hope?)
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