Editing

#indieauthors #writerslife #amwritingromance #RomanceReaders #paranormalromance

Editing my stories is very serious business. It's the editing process that polishes a rough draft manuscript into a finished book ready to publish. I just finished the final grammar edit on Precious Treasures which will be published in April. It is a rather long process. Honestly, editing a story usually takes longer than writing it. For example, I wrote 90% of the Dread Allies short read miniseries in one week in the summer of 2018. But I was only recently ready for it to be published. As an independent author, I could have published much faster, only I had to learn how to do it all. 

It all has to do the process that involves time, marinating manuscripts, and fresh eyes. (It does not need to take two years, but no way could I write, edit, and publish a complete story in one week.) I tend to revise as I write, so the story gets read and reread quite a bit during that process. But I know what I want the story to convey, so although I fix some mistakes during that process, I miss a lot as I am skipping back and forth, writing and adding details that make the story better and connect different parts of the story together. The first step revision often occurs simultaneously while writing.

Revise and Rewrite

After I write a story, it sits in docs for a while, marinating. I work on another story. As I am writing a series saga, I have to cross check that the information in one story matches with the information in other stories, that the magic, names, characteristics, and events all line up. As the story lengthens, that process becomes more involved. My beta readers help with that process. They offer pointers and suggestions and just star things that confuse them. That actually helps me see where the story fails to flow correctly, where I have made mistakes, and discover what I need to add or delete.
Once I get the second revision completed, that is when I reduce the font size to twelve point. (I actually write in sixteen.) Reducing the story's type font tells me that the story is finished and ready to be polished. If it is not ready to be published yet, I may not get back to it again for a while. But when I do, I will add all the details that make the story a book (copyright, table of contents, etc...), then I will do the final grammar edit to be sure the story reads as well as it can. The second part of Shadow King is launching on Monday! I hope those of you who read the first part will enjoy what comes next. If you have not begun the shortread miniseries, check it out. It won't take but about an hour to read part one. I have to run away. Duty calls. If you read, please remember to be kind and leave a review.
Be Careful!
Happy reading,
​Ophelia Kee