Kunsten at redigere ... for 117. gang

(english version below)

Jeg har lige afleveret mit gamle romanmanuskript til et forlag for anden gang. Denne gang gennemskrevet med særligt udgangspunkt i deres feedback og kritik (se sidste blogpost).

Det har været en stor udfordring at lave denne her gennemskrivning. For hver gang jeg gen-skriver bliver mit blik på teksten mere koldt, distanceret og analytisk. Det gør, at jeg lettere kommer til at tvivle på selve historien - ”er den stadig god? Rørende? Virker den stadig?”

En anden udfordring har været at tage så meget som muligt af kritikken til mig, men samtidig også være tro mod mig selv og min historie. Jeg var heldigvis enig i 90% af forlagets kritik, men de sidste 10% har krævet nogle overvejelser.

Denne post handler om, hvordan jeg gik til opgaven, trin for trin.

• Trin 1 – indledende overblik: Jeg læste kritikken grundigt igennem og opdelte i punkter for at få overblik.
• Trin 2 – estimering og prioritering: Jeg udvalgte og prioriterede de punkter, jeg ville arbejde videre med.
• Trin 3 - deadline: Jeg estimerede arbejdets omfang og skrev til forlaget med en selvvalgt deadline (jeg gjorde det dette for a) at virke tjekket og b) for at hjælpe mig selv til at arbejde hurtigt og fokuseret og ikke ende med at tage et halvt år).
• Trin 3a - ups: Jeg måtte skrive til forlaget igen en måned efter og beklage at jeg desværre ikke nåede min egen deadline. Græmmede mig derefter over min utjekkethed og knoklede videre ;).
• Trin 4 - redigering: Gik i gang med selve redigeringen. Planlagde at skrive manuskriptet igennem flere gange med fokus på de forskellige problemområder. Endte med én stor gennemskrivning.
• Trin 5 - changelog: Jeg fik hurtigt brug for at holde styr på, hvad jeg ændrede. Jeg lavede en changelog med oversigt over ændringerne for at kunne se hvad, jeg ændrede hvor, og hvorfor. Dette hjalp også til at holde styr på konsistens i historien. Hvis jeg fx fjernede en information fra en dialog på s. 27 var det vigtigt at huske at få den placeret et andet sted inden s.86, hvor en karakter refererer til den.
• Trin 6 - to-do-liste: På baggrund af min changelog lavede jeg en løbende to-do-liste over ændringer, der skulle foretages, forårsaget af redigeringen.
• Trin 7 - testlæsere: Jeg var så heldig at have en lille række testlæsere, der tilbød deres hjælp til at fange fejl og teste historien. En megastor tak til de fantastiske testlæsere, der hjulpet både i denne omgang og tidligere! Jeg kunne ikke være kommet så langt uden jeres hjælp.
• Trin 8 – den svære slutning: Jeg gemte den sværeste del af omskrivningen til sidst, nemlig bogens slutning. En del af kritikken fra forlaget lød på at slutningen var et letdown. Jeg var ikke helt enig, men samtidig ville jeg gerne give et bud på en alternativ slutning. I mit hoved fungerede min historie bedst med en tragisk slutning, der lægger op til en fortsættelse, men for forlagets konsulent var dette uforløst og et manuskript skal naturligvis kunne fungere som selvstændig historie. Jeg sad fast i flere måneder og kunne ikke skrive en ny slutning på historien. Ikke en god én i hvert fald. Hvordan kunne jeg skrive en anden slutning, når jeg allerede havde skrevet den, jeg syntes bogen skulle ende med? I sidste ende fik jeg et godt råd fra en testlæser, som også er en af mine yndlingskritikere; - læg forestillingen om en serie på hylden og find ud af, hvordan du bedst muligt kan afrunde læserens oplevelse af det, der er foregået i lige netop dette manuskript. Lad være med at tænke over hvad der kan ske med karaktererne i fremtiden. Tænk over, hvad der allerede er sket og lad dem få en god afslutning. Der må gerne være melankolske toner, men lad dem også blive forløst. Det var tilsyneladende et godt råd. Efter to måneders slutningsblokade satte jeg mig ned og skrev slutningen på et par dage :).

Nu er manuskriptet afleveret til forlaget, og afventer sin videre skæbne. Så er det bare at vente og se, hvad de siger.

Step 1: The critique condensed into a few bullet points, such as:  1) The main character lacks insight when it comes to Sara, 2) Too many clues, 3) The title is a give-away, 4) The ending! (is a letdown)

Step 2: My prioritized plan of things to edit/rewrite, such as 1) Adress the main character's lack of insight and edit the clues to what is going on, 2) Rewrite dialogues so they're more natural and seem less like exposition 3) Rewrite the ending.

Step 5: My changelog

The delicate art of editing ... - yet again

I just handed in my old novel manuscript to a publisher for the second time. This time rewritten based on their feedback and critique (see last blog post).

Rewriting the manuscript again has been quite the challenge. It's hard going back yet again and rewrite after so many rounds of editing. For each time I rewrite I find myself more and more distanced from the story, making it easy to sometimes doubt my own work - ”is the story still good? Touching? Does it still work?”

Another challenge has been sorting out the critique. What do I agree on? Where should I stick to my own gut feel? Luckily I've been agreeing with 90% of the critique. The remaining 10% on the other hand has required some considerations.

This post describes how I went about task of re-editing and rewriting, step by step.

• Step 1 – initial overview: I read the critique thoroughly and made it into a short list to get an overview.
• Step 2 – estimation and prioritization: I chose and prioritized the critique points I wanted to include in my rewriting/editing of the manuscript.
• Step 3 - deadline: I estimated the tasks and wrote to the publisher with a (self-chosen) deadline for my second hand-in.
• Step 3a - oops: I had to write to the publisher again a month later and regret to inform that I wouldn't make my own deadline. Not my most professional moment, but the publisher was kind enough to write back that I should take the time necessary to do a good job. I made sure to do that ;).
• Step 4 – editing/rewriting: I started the actual editing and rewriting. I originally planned on doing a rewrite for each of my focus areas. As it turned out I ended up doing one, big rewrite.
• Step 5 - changelog: I soon needed to keep track of my changes. I made a changelog to get an overview of what I rewrote, where in the text and why. This also helped me keep track of consistency within the story.
• Step 6 – to-do list: Using my changelog as a basis I made a growing to-do list of changes I needed to do as a result of my editing. It is surprisingly easy to forget that an important piece of information was edited out on page 27 but is needed on page 61.
• Step 7 – test readers: I was lucky enough to have a number of helpful test readers read through the story at different points. Their help with catching inconsistencies and giving feedback and ideas has been invaluable. A big thanks to all of you great people – I couldn't have made it this far without your help.
• Step 8 – the tricky ending: I saved the hardest part for last, namely the ending of the book. Part of the publisher's critique had been that the ending was a bit of a letdown. I didn't agree, but at the same time I wanted to at least make a proper effort giving the story an alternative ending. To me the story worked well with the original, tragic ending that sets up the grounds for a sequel, but to the publisher this ending felt unresolved. I'm also guessing that a ”standalone story” is a safer bet than a series (at least coming from an unpublished writer). For several months I was stuck and couldn't come up with anything good. How could I rewrite the ending when I'd already written the ending I wanted for my story? In the end I got a good piece of advice from one of my test readers and also my favorite critic; - put the idea of a series on the shelf and find out how you can resolve your characters' experiences in this manuscript. Don't think about what could happen to them in the future. Think about, what has already happened and let them get closure. There can be some measure of melancholy and/or tragedy lurking in the shadows, but let the love story and the main characters be resolved. It was indeed a good piece of advice. After two months of ”ending block” I sat down and wrote a new ending in a few days that I'm very happy with.

The manuscript has now been handed in again and I'll just have to wait and see what the publisher thinks about the revised edition. I'm at least very happy with it myself :).