I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog recently as I’ve been focused on writing book 3*. When I’m writing, particularly as the deadline looms closer, I hunker down and get completely absorbed in my characters world.
But I’ve just completed the structural edit, which has been approved by my editor, and now the book has gone off for its copy edit.
The structural edit is the biggest and most complex stage of the editing process. It involves analysing the book as a whole to see if it all contributes to the core message or narrative.
For my second book, The Other Girlfriend, the structural edit involved a lot of changes. I shifted locations, changed the crime element in the past story line, and even changed some of the roles the characters played. It was the biggest structural edit I have ever done, and it was really tough. But, I have to admit that it was worth it. And I am so proud of the story that emerged from it. It flows better. Has more depth. And generally, just feels better to me. I knew there was something ‘off’ with the first draft, but I think I was too close to see what was causing the issue. Thankfully, I have a fantastic editor, Emily Ruston, whose feedback for the structural edit was spot on and made it possible for me to dive back in and make the story work.
With book 3, the structural edit was much lighter, and I managed to make the changes well in advance of my deadline. Though possibly I cheated a bit, as I submitted an early draft of about 60,000 words to my editor back at the end of August. And thanks to Emily’s feedback I was able to incorporate some structural changes whilst I still worked on writing the rest of the book. Thanks to Emily’s notes, I was able to narrow down the focus on the past story line for the ‘Then’ chapters, which added to the suspense and improved the flow of the book.
Passing the structural edit stage therefore feels worthy of celebration. The book isn’t finished yet, but hopefully the edits will be smaller from here. The copy edit will check the novel for consistency and errors in spelling and grammar. And then, after that it will go on for a proofread.
Before I joined Boldwood Books, I hadn’t fully appreciated how many people work behind the scenes on an author’s book. But I am so grateful for every single one of them!
*Shhhh…. The title for book 3 hasn’t officially been announced yet. But if you’re curious, the organised folk at Boldwood Books have set it up on Amazon so you can pre-order already. https://amzn.to/3gEGpHb
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