“Writing stories is a kind of magic, too,” Cornelia Funke, Inkheart.
I just finished self-editing (round two of edits) a recent WIP which I currently have titled A History of Memory and Gemstones. This title is a working title and I will most likely end up changing it. This blog post took me a few months to write as I was working on finishing edits at the same time and I wanted to write out my experience. Since I started working on this post in March, I have come up with a new title I love. I’m most likely settling on The Gemstone Collector!
This book is going to be a series, which I am self-publishing! This is my first time announcing I really am going to self-publish a book. It probably won’t be out until next May, that is what I’m hoping for. I hired a developmental editor, but I don’t send out my book to them until September 1st. Then I will be doing more edits after that. In between now and September 1st, I’m editing as much as I can and sending my book out to beta readers.
As I started editing after reading through my first draft for the first time (at the end of last year), I found it was in better shape than I thought. Stepping away from the manuscript helped me gain perspective. And as I’m going through reading it a second time, it is more put together than I thought. The writers self-doubt sometimes creeps in, but it is often squashed by taking a little time away from whatever manuscript I’m working on at the time.
Reading through it for a second time is making me have a different point of view of my writing. At first, I thought the magic system was going to be messy and need more clarification, but as I read through it, much slower the second time, I described it more than I realized and it makes sense! Sometimes it helps to read through drafts with different intentions each time you read your work. That’s what I’m finding helps me self-edit.
For example, the first time I read The Gemstone Collector, I sped read through it, just to see what kind of shape it was in and to remind myself of the story as I had stepped away from it for months. Now, I’m reading it so slowly, analyzing the sentence structure, the pacing of the story and the character arcs. As I do that, it helps me think through the magic system and focus on what it is the characters are striving for and what they want most. Editing as a pantser is extremely important and the most critical part of writing, at least it is for my own process.
I want to be sure that on each page the main character wants something and that they are working towards achieving their goal. I read that in a blog post recently. I wish I could remember where I read that, but it has really helped with my editing process. Especially as I’m a discovery writer and pantser.
Another helpful tool I’ve been using while editing is making a style sheet. I heard they do that in traditional publishing, so I wanted to do it for myself. It is helping with making sure my spellings and character descriptions are consistent. And it did help because I just found an inconsistency with a character description. Earlier in the book I said a character had green eyes and then one hundred pages later, I said they had brown eyes, oops! That’s why I take editing so seriously.
I’m excited at how far this book has come. Last spring I went on The Storyteller’s Retreat (Writing With The Soul), where we read aloud to a small critique group the first ten pages of a book we were working on. I read aloud this book I’m now self-publishing. The feedback I received was insightful and positive. I am so in love with this world I have created in The Gemstone Collector and I can’t wait until it is out in the world! I will keep writing blog post updates about it and talking about it on my Instagram stories!
I hope everyone’s writing is going well and that you’re reading lots of good books! Happy writing and happy spring! I hope the weather is getting warmer where you are! It definitely is where I live in the Pacific Northwest.