I enjoy editing. Really, I do. I just don't like editing my own stuff. It might be the most frustrating experience ever. When I look at my story, I see what I wrote as I intended to write it. Sure, I'll pick up on most spelling and grammatical errors. It's the larger flow of the story that I have a harder time seeing.
About a week and a half ago, I finished the first draft of story that for now I'm calling "Getting to Know Lou Jones." Honestly, I think it's better than most of my rough drafts, but I know that it isn't perfect either. I think that this might be my first publishable story, considering that much of my unpublished catalog is so bizarre. I've been avoiding digging into it, because I'm not sure where to begin.
If a journal or magazine is to pick it up, it needs to be as close to finished as possible. How do I figure out if certain scenes are working? How do I know if the reader knows enough about the characters to care, to make the action believable? These are the questions that are haunting me. If anyone out there has any tips, please share. In the meantime, I will try my best to work out the kinks, to look at Lou Jones with outsider's point of view.
This ain't easy.
The Organ Made Out of Cave
7 hours ago
Trust your wife :)
ReplyDeleteI recommend you give it to a trusted reader who can tell you the truth and suggest how you can make changes s/he sees are needed. Or pay a professional editor. But I'd start with readers.
ReplyDeleteHelen
Straight From Hel
That's exactly what I'm doing, Helen. I'm getting readers I know to help me find what needs to be done. As helpful as it would be to pay a professional editor, I don't exactly have the funds for it at the moment. Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDelete