08.03.06
Surprise endings
I took on a fairly huge chapter today (it runs 50 printed pages double-spaced) which has been in pretty good shape through the whole process. It was part of the initial proposal, which means in some form I’ve had years to work on this.
Anyway, I run through it really quickly, happy that it’s largely light work with a little tweaking, addition, and subtraction. I get to the end and there’s a note that the chapter runs too long (which it does). My editor would like to see 5-7 pages trimmed (and gave some really good advice on how to get there).
I started at the note for a good minute, not really believing I’d just read that. And then I started the second pass, cutting for length.
Anonymous said,
August 3, 2006 at 1:39 am
Derek, when all this is done it’d be really interesting to read an account of the whole process, from idea to Amazon.
Best of luck
Rich
Scraps said,
August 3, 2006 at 6:55 am
Oof. When I have to leave a note like that on a manuscript, I hope I will remember to leave it at the beginning of the chapter.
DMZ said,
August 3, 2006 at 8:51 am
On behalf of whoever you’re editing, I’d like to say that that would be nice of you.