Jennifer Faye on Tackling Edits and Giveaway!

We have debut author Jennifer Faye visiting and she's giving away a copy of her RANCHER TO THE RESCUE, print to US and a kindle gift copy open to international!
Over to Jennifer...

Edits…those pesky notes from your editor that says this isn’t quite good enough, this scene is in the wrong place, why is the character acting this way…and the list is goes on.

Though we may hate to admit it, each editor comment can be like a nugget of gold. Of course that’s so much easier to say when you’ve finished implementing the changes. Looking back on edits is always so much better than staring them down and wondering how in the world will you ever make such and such change.

I must admit getting a revision letter from my editor can be a bit intimidating. And let me just say that what an editor thinks is a little change may not be so little for you as the writer. A little matter of changing a “yes” answer in the dialogue to a “no” can have a massive ripple effect throughout the rest of the manuscript. So when I read “a few minor” changes, I block those words out. No need getting my hopes raised for nothing.

When I first get my awaited revision letter, I’m usually a mixed bag of excitement, relief and nervous energy. I’ll start reading it over and about half way through my mind begins to spin, my eyes glaze over and my chest tightens. At that point, panic sets in. I’m certain there is absolutely no way of doing what she’s asking of me. My story is doomed. *cue the doubt crows circling overhead*

I shut down the computer and walk away. My stress level is on max. It’s time to do something else, most likely housework. But sooner rather than later a piece of the puzzle drops into place in my mind, and I rush back to the email to see if I remembered the editor’s wording correctly. And if I have, then I feel a little more relaxed. I continue reading through the entire revision letter.

The nerves kick up again and it’s time to do some more laundry. My mind churns away with the problem, hunting for an answer while I’m folding laundry and singing along to my favorite country music. I may be thinking about what to make for dinner that night, but my mind is still problem solving. And then out of the blue, the answer will pop up. Funny how the mind works…or at least mine. :-)

By the next day, I’ve usually worked through my nerves and I’m ready to dive in. I take my editor’s letter and I break it down into bullet points. Sometimes I get lucky and she mentions the same thing a couple of times in the letter so I get to combine those items in my bullet points.

With a printed copy of my manuscript in hand, I start reading.  Using sticky tabs, I mark where I think I can implement a revision change and I mark the revision # so it’s easy to reference later on. After reading the whole way through the manuscript, I generally have all of the revisions accounted for. At this point, I just start working my way down through each comment and crossing them off as I do them.

The key for me to work through the revisions is to break them down into bite-size pieces. Then I take them one at a time. They are so much less intimidating that way.

 

Jennifer Faye on the web:

Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads / Google+ / Tumblr

 

Her debut is RANCHER TO THE RESCUE.

 

What’s the best tip you’ve heard/used for editing/revising?

 

This is Jennifer Faye's upcoming release SNOWBOUND WITH THE SOLDIER.

Sounds yummy?