Bernadette Benda

I honestly I have no idea how many drafts of Silver I have gone through. It’s not something I have ever kept track of, but I’ve been working on it for three years so there’s that.

But I came here to say I have started yet another draft. BUM BUM BUM.

After I came back from meeting with my editor, I decided to retype ALL of Silver. It sounds exhausting, but honestly retyping a novel can be one of the best ways to fix it. I catch so many errors that I might not have, so many sentences I don’t like and other stuff that just needs fixing.

As always, I feel like I learn something new after every round of edits (because of “we learn from our mistakes” and all that kind of stuff). Maybe some of this will apply to you, maybe it won’t, maybe you’ll just sip your coffee and move on with life. Whatever.

*takes breath* here we go *turns around and decides not to jump off diving board*

1

I have too many paragraph breaks. SOOO MANY. I guess I just like drama.

I like suspense.

Keeping the reader on their toes.

Like this.

2

I use the word “could” too much. A lot of the times it’s not needed. Such as, “he could see her running.”

Why say that when you can say, “he saw her running.” I mean, if he saw her running it’s obvious he could see her running.

3

If you change a part of the plot, make sure you go through your novel THOROUGHLY and update everything. Silver has gone through a lot of overhauls, and um, yeah there was a lot of stuff that wasn’t relevant anymore or other major changes that were left behind. Oops.

4

I fee like backstory is needed as much as it is relevant. I think this is one of the reasons I don’t explore my characters’ back story until I write the first draft. After the draft is written I’m able to see where backstory is needed, what the story needs to make sense, what is needed to make the characters’ motivations believable.

Basically I fit the backstory to the story instead of the story to the backstory.

Enough of that.

So to wrap this up…

What are some of the biggest things YOU have learned while in the editing process? What draft number are you on?

Also HAPPY SEPTEMBER