The Writers Journey

 The Journey

I am in the editing phase of my novel. These are my edits before I even attempt to find an agent or publisher. I will not send a first draft out to anyone. No one should. You may think your darling piece of work is perfect, but it's not. I've harped on this before, and I can harp on it for years. 

Edit. Edit. And edit again.

I can honestly say I have spent months on one chapter to make sure it is as close to perfect as possible. I do line edits first. I read each line out loud. I read it backward. I go through the whole chapter and mark what stands out. Then I go to the beginning of the chapter and fix those issues. I go back through it and check for continuity. Does my character take off a hat and then still have it on? I need to catch these things. Continuity is a big thing for me. The story has to ring true. I can't have a blood spatter on a jacket on one page and then have it in a different spot on the next page. I just caught one error in the chapter I am working on: the dead wife's name was mentioned as Kate on one page, then as Sarah on the next, and further down as Pam. I went back to the beginning, where the wife is mentioned. Her name is Pam. I corrected the issue. The interesting thing is that I have read this chapter to my writers' group three times, and no one caught the issue. Not even me when I was reading it aloud. (Edit! I cannot stress this enough.) After continuity, it is all about checking POV. Whose head am I in? In this story, I have multiple points of view. I need to make sure the POV stays the same in each chapter. This is particularly challenging when there are many people in the scene. The main character in the chapter needs to see and experience everything from their perspective. I can't show another character's feelings or emotions unless they are OBSERVED from the main character's point of view. This is incredibly challenging. It requires several takes. 

Which brings me to emotions. I can't just say my character is scared. I need to SHOW it. How does fear feel? Is it the same for everyone? No. What is my character doing? Is he backtracking? Is he throwing up? Clutching his stomach? Screaming? How does he react? And then ...each character needs to react in their own way. But the POV character needs to see it. 

Emotions are big. I want my reader to feel what the main character is feeling. I can't do this if I just write "Jim was afraid." Number one, WHY was he afraid? What scared him? Was it the unknown? Was it the atmosphere? Was it a smell? A noise? Number two: Are you connected to Jim was afraid. Can you feel his fear? Does it do anything for you? I need to put you (the reader) in the scene as Jim. I need to make you feel the fear. I need to go deeper. What are the physical signs of fear? Hair lifting on the nape of the neck and arms. Cold sweats. Tightness in the muscles. Flinching at noises. The body is ready to run. What are the internal sensations? Heart racing. A rock-hard stomach. Hyper-sensitive to sound and touch. Clenched tight. Mental reactions: a skewed sense of time. Jumping to a conclusion. Wanting to flee or hide.  With all of those things in mind, rewrite the sentence "Jim was afraid."

As he approached the cabin, the absence of noise became obvious. There was no sound other than his own footsteps tromping through the rotting leaves. No birds. No insects buzzing. Even the wind teasing the branches didn't breathe. Every hair on the back of Jim's arms stood at attention, and his mouth went dry. He wished he were anywhere else. His eyes widened as he tried to take everything and anything in. What was he missing? What couldn't he see? His heart started to pound like a drum, and the muscles of his arms clenched. Jim stopped walking and stood, ears straining. The shadows were too thick. The branches appeared to be reaching for him. Everything was off, and then he heard it. A huffing noise. Deep. Guttural. Animal. He froze. 

Do you feel it? Are you in Jim's head?

I attended the "Emotional Craft of Writing" workshop put on by Donald Maas. I will honestly say that this one was one of the best things I learned. Emotions are key. If your reader feels like they are in the scene, they will keep turning the page. They will be hooked to the character. You have to make your readers FEEL.

This is why it can take me months to go through one chapter. It is important to me to get it right. I want to be true to the character, the story, and my reader. I do not want to let my reader down. So, even though it takes me months to go through a rewrite/edit, the end result — the final draft — is as close to true as I can get it. And I know, when I do send it, the editor will catch anything I missed. I am grateful for advice and guidance. Each time I write and rewrite, I learn, grow, and hopefully improve.

The process of writing involves many things: the idea, the story, the characters, the setting, the situation, and the outcome. I am bleeding words onto the page, breathing them into life, and hoping (like so many other writers) that my readers will feel them.