A Few New Things About Editing

​In August of 2024, I decided to break my novel of 57 chapters into a series. The first book will go from chapters 1-10, from the Declaration of Independence to the end of the Revolution.

I went from writing a chapter a week to endless editing and revision. Would you believe chapters 1 and 2 have gone through over 20 revisions since June? I’m working to polish the first 3 chapters to send out on submission. Each chapter is about 13 pages, with 5-10 comments a page to work through. That’s a lot of revision!


​                                               I used to paste them in, then revise. Here’s my new shortcut . . . 
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Part 1 - A Simple Revision: This is my download from Google Docs. It’s in Microsoft Word. That’s where I do my work.
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The screenshot below came from Chapter 1. Ben Franklin and John Hancock are on their way to sign the Declaration of Independence. Heather’s comment is to the right. She asked about the tea thrown overboard. BTW, the real tea party happened on December 16, 1773. 
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Here’s what I did . . . I left the paragraph and the  comment where it was. Then I copied another set below the original one. (See? They both start with ‘Ben chortled.’)

Then I copied and pasted Heather’s comment between the two paragraphs. I bolded it for you. She suggested I replace good English tea with fresh English tea.

It seems like an easy switch, until you do the research. The East India Tea Company got their tea from China. Fresh tea leaves wouldn’t have made it to England, or the colonies. They were dried for the journey. 
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I could have replaced good with dried English tea, but I didn’t. This is a story about the founders, the men who signed the Declaration. Not tea, so I left it the way it was, for now. The current version is in the screenshot below, but it could still change. If Heather suggests something better, I’ll take a look.
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Part 2 - A Complicated Revision: This screenshot came from Chapter 2. It’s a conversation I imagined between Charley and John Dickinson. Both men served in the Continental Congress.

John was the chairman of the Committee for the Articles of Confederation. He represents most delegates. They wanted our first constitution to give more power to the states than the national government. Charley took the opposite side now, and in the distant future when the Articles fail, as he predicted. 

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Here’s how I edited the first paragraph. I only copied the comment from ‘pursed his lips’ below. It’s bolded and 7 paragraphs long. Heather had 3 more comments in the rest of that original paragraph, plus 4 more in the next 2.

This was THE most complicated comment in all of chapter 2. That’s why I picked it. This page, plus the one before and after it, took a lot of work. I started midday on the first day and finished sometime on the second. YIKES!
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​After 2 days of revision, this is what I sent to my critique group. Heather gets it next. The original lines started with pursed his lips, and ended 2 paragraphs later with then stopped. It only took up 8 lines on the page. My new revision is 6 lines longer.

Basically I stretched the conversation between Charley and John Dickinson. I showed their emotions through actions. Then I labeled/told them in words. I also added the details Heather thought a reader would want to know. She reminded me that the reason I write/revise is for you, my reader.
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Part 3 – Two Files That Get Me Unstuck: Look below and you’ll see three Word files that I keep on my desktop. Two of them have similar names, with Chapters 1 and 2.
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The bottom one from December, that’s my working copy. I edit and revise on it. I used it to screenshot all the examples you found in this post.

Above it, my original copy from Google Docs. It has the original words from my last revision. It also has all of Heather’s comments. This is the first time I’ve ever put it on my desktop.

When all the revisions are done, I pull up my working copy, listen to it on narrator, and look for places that don’t work. Sometimes I need to change a word or two; sometimes more.

When I get stuck and can’t decide what to do, I pull up that original copy. I look at what was, Heather’s comment, and what’s on the new page. And, PRESTO!
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OK, it’s usually not that fast, but I get an idea to try. Whatever I decide, I edit, listen, and repeat until the paragraph sounds just right…until Heather looks at it again. 
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The document on top, I’ve had it on my desktop for a year or two. Would you believe I used it today? I’m now working on Heather’s comments from the beginning of chapter 3. She’s asking me to describe the outside of Old St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Philadelphia. I don’t know if Charley ever attended, but he was Catholic…so it’s very likely.

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I worked three days on the first page, and I was still stuck. Still unhappy. So I pulled up my file, this screenshot, and I read it once again. It helped!

Now I’m happier with what I wrote, but I also realized I don’t have enough information. So I decided to email the librarian at St. Joseph’s University and ask for help. I’m putting a plug in this page for now, until I hear from the librarian.

When she answers, I’ll know more about the inside and outside of the church. So tomorrow…I’ll move onto Heather’s next comment. Finally, page 2!