Cut and Cut Some More

I thought my manuscript was ready.

Over the past couple of months, I've had DW and some friends give Dark Water a read. I asked them to provide feedback, let me know if the story had a good pace, if it held their interest, and if it was believable. I asked them if they were able to figure out the murderer in this crime novel and if the twist was plausible.

I also asked them to point out any glaring mistakes, contradictions, or omissions.

Not all of my friends finished reading the manuscript and DW was taking forever to read it, being super picky. She's one of my biggest critics but does actually provide constructive criticism.

But I was eager to finish the final draft and send it to another friend, who owns a publishing company. I implemented changes that were suggested by DW and my friends, gave the book a third read and made more changes, and then sent a PDF of Dark Water to my publisher friend for feedback.

The feedback came fast, within a couple of hours of sending her the file.

My friend pointed out lots of things that jumped out after she had read the first three chapters. She recommended a book that provides excellent tips to make my book tighter and to be formatted to a standard that publishing companies prefer.

I spent the rest of the day reading that book and a lot jumped out at me. I have similar books about writing that I read decades ago, and many of these writing tips had been forgotten.

I guess that being a technical writer for more than 25 years and my haphazard style of writing The Brown Knowser blog have scrubbed away the essential elements of fiction writing. My career demanded a stiff and restrictive writing style; my blog goes on the opposite end of that spectrum, where I write whatever I want, however I want.

I don't tend to write fuck in technical manuals.

And so, I'm back to working on Dark Water: this time, with more cuts, more changes. And when I've gone through the book, I'll go back to the beginning, where I'll cut and cut some more.

The first time that I met with my friend and told her I was writing a crime novel, I said that I was writing at a furious pace and would be done in fewer than six months. Being without a day job gave me the time and I was making every minute of it count.

She gave a friendly laugh and said it should take more than a year before my book would be ready for print. I'm beginning to think that she's right.

Writing was the easy part. It's the polishing that will take the most time.

Happy Friday!