May 26, 2010
May 24, 2010
Draft 2 Done
Time to now consider avenues for publication...and concurrently, avenues for editing. This is a different sort of editing, a world apart from editing that I did months ago.
When you still work with an unfinished manuscript, where whole chapters struggle for structure and theme, the author focuses on the struggle for structure and theme. With a finished manuscript whose chapter titles are well-chosen, the editing process narrows to the struggle for perfect details.
What detail, for example, will best show how pivotal a final debate was to a campaign?
What detail can give the background paragraph at a chapter's start the perfect punch? Should it be an anecdote quoting a key staffer, or my own words?
Perhaps that is the single most important decision--one that permeates every chapter in a quote-heavy work like this. Where does the authorial narration end and the character narration begin? What sounds best artistically and what is most accurate?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)