Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Editing within an inch of its life


At the moment I am editing. I like what some say the result is-edited to within an inch of its life. I always chuckle when I hear that statement. But oh how true it needs to be. Fine tuning is a necessity for many facets of life. Take the accomplished musician. They tune until that instrument is perfect pitch. One slight deviation and the performance is off.
Our manuscripts should be like that. Though I am getting thoroughly sick of mine now.
Remember as a child cutting out those dolls from a sheet of paper with umpteen folds? One wrong move and the chain of dolls was broken. No more dancing dollies!! Just shattered pieces and a major reconstruction or start over to bring the desired outcome.
I seriously hope I don't cut an important chain and ruin what I started. Paranoia is setting in!!
Regards Annie

1 comment:

Chicki Brown said...

I love writing and so hate editing, but it's a necessary evil. By the time I've finished editing a manuscript, I've gone over it at least ten times. It's all I can do to even say the characters' names because I'm so sick of them.

But I guess we just have to grin and bear it.