Now that revisions are done, I will be focusing on a front-to-back edit of the book. At this point in time, I'm looking exclusively at the prose: word choice, sentence structure, clarity, flow, grammar, etc.
It's a time-consuming process, especially given how picky I am with prose. You don't even want to know how much time I can spend editing just a thousand words... (It's hours, not minutes!)
Part of the problem is that I am too picky, often agonizing over small, unimportant details. Another part of the problem is that my ability to detect poor writing is stronger than my ability to fix it. I can often clearly see that something doesn't sound right, but still struggle to find a good replacement.
But part of the problem is simply that good prose takes time. There are countless things to consider as you try to reconcile words, sentences, and paragraphs into a single, cohesive story that flows well from one sentence to the next. A sentence needs to sound good, not just in isolation, but in the context of the sentences that come before and after it. Because of this, the changes made to improve one sentence often mean the ones around it need to change as well. At times, it can feel like chopping heads off of a hydra—for each issue that is solved, three more jump up to take its place!
(Note: the above paragraph would sound better if I didn't repeat the word 'sentence' so many times. Though each sentence in the paragraph sounds good on its own, they don't sound as good when read altogether. But in order to save my editing brain for When Darkness Blinds, I'm just going to pretend I didn't notice the repetition...)
Needless to say, it is a grueling process, but a necessary one. My goal is to get better at discerning between the changes that are valuable versus those that are unimportant. Regardless, it's safe to say that I will be working on editing for the foreseeable future!
