My Editing Process for My Upcoming Novel
On NicoleAliciaWrites.com, I'll be walking you through the process of where I am on the road to getting my first novel published as an indie author or self-published author. I think it's important to share your journey because you never know who you may help!My goal is to have this Novel of mine published sometime this Fall.After letting this manuscript sit since July 2015, I am just now doing the second read through to do line editing. I am in the process of going through and correcting all grammatical errors, words with missing letters and most importantly dialogue structure.I know some people who do self-editing in stages for the entire manuscript all at one time. That just seems like a lot!I have decided to do mine in steps!
More like itty, bitty baby steps compared to most of you guys!
I am doing two chapters at a time and that is all. I know some of you are saying that will take FOREVER. But it's actually going quite well so far. Although, I am only on my second week of editing starting today I am on Chapter 3, which is about page 25 out of 230 pages. I know that sounds like I'm far away from finishing, I have hope!At first, I was quite nervous going through and actually reading my writing in black and white when I had only been used to seeing it on a computer screen. I was surprised to learn that it is quite different to print your writing on paper and read it, but it's been cool. I've actually enjoyed marking up the paper like an out of control English teacher (except, I refuse to use RED ink I'm using purple...one of my favorite colors)!I know the words, "writer" and "perfectionist" might now be seen together very often, but this is an adequate description of me.Before I even started writing a novel and before I started editing, I researched everywhere how to do this. Let me tell you there are 1 million posts and articles on how to do proper editing and writing. Most will scare you off before you even begin!I had to remember that everyone starts differently and there's more than one way to get something done!
So, I've decided just to jump in!
Even though editing is going well so far, my goodness I'll be honest this first draft is a disaster and I've wanted to just quit more than once already. But as a writer I know that nothing is going to be perfect on the first shot.So, I'm going to hang in there!Next post...I'll share an excerpt from my upcoming novel!Talk to you guys later!-Nicole Alicia