Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Revise. Rinse. Repeat.

That's what I've been doing these days, revising. It's a normal part of the writing process, and in my humble opinion, it's what makes a book worth reading.

I know some writers who can whip through a manuscript from start to finish, and as soon as they write that last line, they're done. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it), that is not me. :-)

I revise as I go along, deleting a sentence here, adding a sentence there, layering on emotion and thoughts and feelings, removing unnecessary details and striving for "less is more". Then, when I've polished it to the level I'm happy with, I send it to my editor, and guess what? She sends it back with suggestions on how to revise it even further. (This, as you might imagine, is both a blessing and a curse!) :-)

Thankfully-and I mean that sincerely-I almost always agree with her suggestions. Her main suggestion for my latest work, DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE, was to add to the storyline of my favorite character, the Devil himself, Sammy Divine. "Oh, what a hardship!" I wailed gleefully, upon receiving the news.

So that's what I've been up to, and that's what I'll be up to through the month of May. In June, I'll be back online with a host of paranormal pals, when we kick off our new group blog, the Supernatural Underground: Books That Go Bump in The Night (see the post below for details, and click on the link for even more).

Happy May, and keep reading!

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