Editing 101

I let Book 5 of The Magicals Series sit for two weeks. I cleaned my house, baked molasses raison bread, and read. A lot. Funny enough, four of the books I read were the first four books in The Magicals Series.

I published A Vampire's Tale (Book 1) in 2017 so it had been a while since I read it. Honestly, during the editing process you read your book so many times you often feel like you never want to read it again. And probably a lot of authors—being busy writing the next book—don't re-read their backlist. I recently adapted the first chapter of AVT into a comic book sequence which I turned into a video to post on my YouTube channel. I am not active on YouTube, but that's a discussion for another blog post. It was a ton of work, but super fun. Am I adapting the rest of my first chapters? That would be a resounding "No." :)

I am almost ready to submit Book 5... My working title is A Magical's Gift (just so I can stop calling it Book 5... although I'm pretty proud of an almost 5-book series. I've come a long way from the girl who couldn't finish a novel.), and I'm 80% through my first self-edit. This is my break. Writing about editing. Oh, the irony.

In all seriousness, editing is such a crucial part of the writing process. A few years ago, I completed an Editing certificate from Simon Fraser University to up my writing game. It was a lot of fun! And, as hoped, it has improved my writing. An editor is still essential... two or more pairs of eyes are absolutely required to catch writing errors. 

So, I read a scene. Then I envision it unfolding in my mind. I put myself in my character's shoes. How would I feel? What would I do? And I make adjustments based on those observations. I'm more than a little biased, but this book feels right. It's difficult to explain the feeling... It's like the affirmation you feel when you've made a sound decision. It's a gut feeling. When it's right, you know.

So, back to the ol' grindstone. With five chapters to go before...

THE END