So I mentioned in an earlier post that I was helping a friend clean up her novel for submission and I thought you'd all (the two of you who stumbled on here) like to see what it looks like when a writer really works on the language in a manuscript. This wasn't just grammar and punctuation fixes. This was testing out every word, sentence, paragraph to make sure she has the words absolutely right. The flow, the sound, the imagery, and all that. We've been having a great time and it's been so fun to work with someone who really wants to learn and work at the craftsmanship end of it.
(Umm...Now that I've typed that sentence, I wonder if I should possibly revise my idea of fun. It might be a little warped.)
So anyway, these are after pictures on her manuscript. Those 2 pages took us 4 hours. But they are the beginning of her book, so they have to be perfect. If I did some digging, I can find the penultimate draft of House of Spies and it looks just as bad.
You know how athletes will brag about their bruises and cuts from a game? Writers brag about words slashed and manuscripts trashed in the same way. Just look at those marks and bruises. It went down hard, but we made the play, baby. We made the play. (Wow, does that sound as dorky in your head as it does in mine?)
I'm so proud of her. Her novel is going to rock!
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