Friday, February 10, 2006

First Real Editing Session

I went through my first real editing session with my editor last week. It was an eye opener. It was more general, working through character motivations, plot holes, issues he had with the book. The one great thing about the session was that he told me to hurry up and finish the last chapters because he wants to see how things turn out. Better than the alternative I'd have to say.

One great idea we worked through together is adding several sequences throughout the book that will better define the main character, Arames Kragen. This book is actually 'out of order' with regards to Arames... it takes place some 30 years after the events that will be covered in future novels. As a result by this time he has already been shaped by the events of his life, and I need to use some of these new sequences to better define who he is and why he is doing what he is doing in the book. I'll be using dream sequences where he talks to an old friend that died 30 years before (Gareth Beckwin, a character in my free short story 'Seeker'). These dream sequences actually help me with my plot for my next book, which deals with Arames being accused of something horrible--his dream sequences become so real he begins to wonder if the things he is accused of doing actually happened.

Anyway, back to the current book. I made it through half a chapter yesterday and should finish the chapter today. This will leave me 2 more chapters to go. At the same time I've got around 300 markups over 100 pages from my own initial editing exercise. Once I finish these edits and the last 2 chapters, I get that to my editor and we'll start the real editing work.

Wish me continued luck!

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