The Nobodies: Full Steam Ahead

If I continue with the weekly schedule I’ve maintained until now, I’m officially one post behind, even after using a “filler” excerpt to entice you.

Perhaps I’ll make it up to you with an extra Hobby Hole. Or, since there is news on two books this week, I’ll update you on Sanity’s Flaw’s fallout and success later this week. Maybe I’ll do both. Whatever comes, I assure you the time usually withheld for this has been well-spent.

As of last night, I had completed revisions on 22 sections of The Nobodies—approximately a sixth of the book. Most changes have been minor: an exchange of words, rearrangement of a sentence, removal of unnecessary speaker identifications, etc. In some cases, though, I’ve cut entire paragraphs, deeming them either superfluous or repetitive.

In all, the edits have led to a net loss of approximately 2,000 words. So far.

Though, I must confess, not every section is being reduced. One that gone the longest without massive changes other than an updated setting (and which landed me a fellowship with Naeem Murr in college) had nearly 300 words added to it in order to make the dialogue less forced and more fluid while another, one of the last to be written, had about half that inserted into various places.

I’m still progressing through the process character-by-character, starting with those that have the fewest overall sections, so I’ve yet to get to the full meat of The Nobodies (I think of these sections as the bacon—smaller proportionally, but chock full of greasy goodness), but I’ve also found points for several additional story beats that, without adding unneeded subplots, bring further depth to the book’s relationships and rich back-story.

I wish I had more time to devote to the editing process, but as it is I am spending a few hours each day plugging away at the text. It also doesn’t help that this is a two-part process: once through the printed copy, marking my changes, revisions and comments by pen; and then again through the digital version, inserting the edits, ensuring the flow is consistent and editing even further. It is lengthy, but I believe it will be well worth the effort come next April.

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