Edit With Me: The Waiting Game

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Abstract

.</p><p id="8d7f">At any stage of a manuscript, it’s important to pause between layers, to allow drying time for what’s on the page and provide distance from your own work. I think this is especially vital when you’re dealing with external feedback. If you jump in too soon:</p><ul><li>you can dismiss critiques you might agree with once you have distance.</li><li>you may miss more difficult, but also more elegant, solutions to the problems brought up.</li><li>you risk making too few changes, because you address the comments and leave it at that.</li><li>you risk making too many changes, because you decided you had to address a critique that ultimately you did not agree with.</li></ul><p id="798e">So for the last month, I’ve done what I could to not think about my book at all. Now, after time away, it’s bubbling to the surface again. Here are the next steps for me:</p><ul><li>review the critiques and write down the major changes both critique partners suggested, noting who said what, or if they agreed</li><li>look at that list and prioritize what must be addressed, what could be addressed, and what I plan to ignore</li><li>make a new list that shows where these changes will need to be updated, because often the comment on page 216 means making a change on page 45, or the request changes something about a character

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that then needs updated everywhere</li><li>with this list in hand, go through the document where I combined the tracked changes and comments, and make changes chapter by chapter</li></ul><p id="286b">Do I work slower this way? Yes. But I also think I end up prouder of the book when I take time away from it between iterations.</p><p id="87f8">For more about how I revise, see:</p><div id="1569" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/creating-a-revision-plan-c6b23fc0ce73"> <div> <div> <h2>Creating a Revision Plan</h2> <div><h3>How I break down “revise a novel” into manageable steps</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*zFXBuTaA2kT52-l_hIlE7Q.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="3eed"><i>If you like my work and would like to read more of it, consider joining Medium with <a href="https://medium.com/@rochelledeans/membership">my referral link</a> to get full access to every article on Medium. Using my referral link doesn’t cost you anything extra, but half of the fee goes directly to supporting me each month.</i></p></article></body>

I got back two sets of line-by-line critiques on my manuscript… what now?

The last I wrote about enchantress, we talked about how I reconstructed the last act, removing the all is lost moment and replacing it with the protagonist getting what she wanted all along — and her complete dissatisfaction after receiving it.

Since then, I finished my line-by-line edit, polished it up, and sent it off to two friends who I knew would each bring an awesome perspective to my historical fantasy. I had both sets of critiques returned to me by the end of May, and now it’s the end of June. So what happened with enchantress?

…Nothing.

I read the in-text comments, chatted with each of them a little about their overall impressions, and set it aside.

At any stage of a manuscript, it’s important to pause between layers, to allow drying time for what’s on the page and provide distance from your own work. I think this is especially vital when you’re dealing with external feedback. If you jump in too soon:

you can dismiss critiques you might agree with once you have distance.

you may miss more difficult, but also more elegant, solutions to the problems brought up.

you risk making too few changes, because you address the comments and leave it at that.

you risk making too many changes, because you decided you had to address a critique that ultimately you did not agree with.

So for the last month, I’ve done what I could to not think about my book at all. Now, after time away, it’s bubbling to the surface again. Here are the next steps for me:

review the critiques and write down the major changes both critique partners suggested, noting who said what, or if they agreed

look at that list and prioritize what must be addressed, what could be addressed, and what I plan to ignore

make a new list that shows where these changes will need to be updated, because often the comment on page 216 means making a change on page 45, or the request changes something about a character that then needs updated everywhere

with this list in hand, go through the document where I combined the tracked changes and comments, and make changes chapter by chapter

Do I work slower this way? Yes. But I also think I end up prouder of the book when I take time away from it between iterations.

For more about how I revise, see:

If you like my work and would like to read more of it, consider joining Medium with my referral link to get full access to every article on Medium. Using my referral link doesn’t cost you anything extra, but half of the fee goes directly to supporting me each month.