The Chant of the Editor
So, I've finished the meticulous initial read-through of my manuscript.
...
Yea. What now? There's so very much... left. I need to flesh out these characters, make them come alive with detail and backstory without wandering off on boring tangents from the main line of the story. I need to fill in the blanks of the plot, write in things I forgot to write in when I was composing it, clean up the inconsistencies, all before even thinking about starting to polish the prose. Not that I won't be doing that on the way anyway, I hope, but... but...
I think this is the part where I have to start carefully outlining the novel, chapter by chapter, and coming up with things like 'what is the point of this part?', mapping out what information leads where. Also, this is the part where I need to research all of the shit I didn't know about when I started writing this. Like, helicopters, and epidemiology, and how medical care is administered when there isn't technology available.
Oh god. Oh god.
...
Yea. What now? There's so very much... left. I need to flesh out these characters, make them come alive with detail and backstory without wandering off on boring tangents from the main line of the story. I need to fill in the blanks of the plot, write in things I forgot to write in when I was composing it, clean up the inconsistencies, all before even thinking about starting to polish the prose. Not that I won't be doing that on the way anyway, I hope, but... but...
I think this is the part where I have to start carefully outlining the novel, chapter by chapter, and coming up with things like 'what is the point of this part?', mapping out what information leads where. Also, this is the part where I need to research all of the shit I didn't know about when I started writing this. Like, helicopters, and epidemiology, and how medical care is administered when there isn't technology available.
Oh god. Oh god.