September 14, 2009
The heaviest edit of Looming Thunderheads, the blue pass, is now complete. The next pass, with red ink, will be a single read-through, and after that I will type in all my corrections. I am very close to a point when I can begin the process of trying to sell this manuscript.
I am uncertain if I will now let the manuscript sit for a few days before I embark upon the final pass, or if I will begin it immediately. I have edited this novel so many times that I’ve probably redone every page five or six times at least, and some pages ten or eleven. I foresee the red pass being very light in its touch. The passages that will require the most editing will be the changes I made in the last edit, and most of that will be for clarity and pace and language.
I want to try to embark more fully on Death and Life as I wrap up work on Looming Thunderheads. I think I’ve decided that writing Baleful Deluge might limit my chances of selling a manuscript: it would be difficult to sell part two of a series before I’ve sold part one. Therefore, writing a new story will multiply my chances. The main hurdle I see for Death and Life is its length. I know this one will be quite long. Between the Stars would be a better intermediate project because it should be much shorter. Unfortunately, that story is not as fully formed as Death and Life.
Alas, as Stephen R Donaldson says, I do not choose my stories; they choose me.
Filed under The Redemption Saga, Writing.
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