Interestingly, at least it is to me, I am now reading through the book and finding so many tiny changes and corrections that I ask myself how it is that I made so many mistakes just typing the words out. I think about a dozen times I must have added the word twice such as saying "the the" or "me me" and I laugh because when I'm typing it I don't think that; I just let the words fly out of my head. It's almost as if I don't see the words as words, but as dialogue and structure; imagery, scenery, etc. I was so close to the end when I realized I hadn't really taken a moment to have Nick find a good home for his dog because he can't take the dog with him back to the States. No worries, he finds a good home. Keeper is fine.
I used the "find" function and realized I had used the two-word phrase "would be" more than 140 times in the 82,000 words. I went through it, and if I could use another word, or reword it I did. I kept 76 of them in the manuscript. I used "favorite" 14 times. I got that down to 3. You just don't realize how often you say something; I don't anyway.
I'm going through it now for its first real re-read. First, I went through it to be sure I had the spacing correct, then the dialogue needed to be separated. Now, I'm going over the dialogue while I read it to be sure I have the punctuation correct; there are ways to do it, you know. If you start a dialogue and in the middle you interrupt it by saying "she said" you have to use the commas correctly, and let me tell you, I screwed the pooch on the first book probably, but I'm simply not going back to fix it. Not after the fiasco I had trying to just correct the other issues. It is what it is!!
I'll do my best to fix this one and of course all the others. Maybe if I think about it later I'll go through the first book and do the whole editing process for tags and commas, but really, most readers just don't care. I also used far more contractions in this book. REALLY...I used a lot of contractions, but it's because it's a murder thriller in the 1930s and the characters talk that way. They would say "wouldn't" instead of "would not" and so forth. It's cool. I researched that too.
Basically, I'm going over the book at least 6 full times to catch mistakes, comma splices, spacing, and other issues. I am also checking to be sure I didn't say a guy's name was Albert then turn around and call him Alfred. I've done that. In the first book, I did that; that was one of the big mistakes I had to correct. I also forgot some of the names of the characters, the lesser characters, and I had to use the find feature again to check and double-check who I said had crossed over to Fife, or who I said had been so-and-so's girlfriend, it's a mess. I have more than 50 names in this book! Some of them only appear once, but I don't want to overuse a name. I'm also adding the Surgeon's Hall Museum to the book. It's a must.
I was going to have a bad guy named Wade, but my really cool neighbor in real life is a Wade, and I didn't want him to think I thought he was a murderer. I chose Frank instead. I don't know anyone named Frank; not really. It's hard coming up with names for some of the non-essential characters because I may want to use a cool name in another novel but I don't want someone reading this one to say I was lazy and couldn't come up with another name. I do, too!!
I simply Google it. I go to "Scottish names for girls" or "Scottish names for boys" and then when they're Americans, I just pick names of people I went to school with, and mix their first names and last names up so they can't say I picked them out or singled them out for some reason. I'm so funny. I haven't talked to any of these people in over 40 years, but I don't want them reading my book and asking "What did ever do to her?" LOL
OK, well, I'll finish the first reading tomorrow, and be ready to set the book down for a week, before reading it again. I want a freshness with each reading. Then, after I've made the corrections, and it's ready to go, I'll have Jeannie read it, Yvonne, Tammie, Robin, Julie, Marty, Delore, Gordon, and probably Leti again, she likes to read. I'll see what they think and I'll get my friends to chime in on what they like or hate. I'm not going to change anything probably, but it gives me food for thought.
I like the book. I really do. I'm glad I wrote it. Don't worry Tex, I didn't use your image, name, character, life stories, or ....well, hell, sure I did, but that's OK. You come out smelling like dog piss at first, but in the end, you get the Librarian. Oops, almost gave that away!
Photo Credit: Edinburgh Tourist
No comments:
Post a Comment