My first book has gone through 4 rounds of revisions (so far). Round 1, the revision after the shitty first draft. Then Round 2, which features major changes done with my editor Kate Angelella (the biggest change there was shifting the whole story from past to present tense). Then Round 3, the stretch of indecisiveness whilst querying, until my agent Caitie Flum plucked me from the Twitterverse on the night of #DVPit. This is Round 4. I spent a total of twenty-one days (not consecutively, because I have a day job, books to read, ukuleles to play, and video games to finish) wallowing in Round 4, and like every round, this one had its own challenges. The biggest–cutting down on word count. Killing your darlings is hard, especially when you have scenes that you feel need to be in the story to progress. Luckily, this is the part where things get a little less lone wolf-y and a bit more of a party. Earlier on, Caitie told me that after I finish with my revisions (based on notes from her edit letter), I should pass the manuscript along to someone who’s never read it or to my writing critique crew before handing […]
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