Editing Advice Needed

[Dulcinea]

So all I have just about finished my first draft of Blood and Clay and tomorrow I want to crack on with my second draft. Does anyone haveany editing pearls of wisdom they can offer?

[Wyvern]

hmmm.  Don't rush it.  Take each chapter as its own universe in the first edit; making sure each sentence makes sense, the SNT are in the right places, and the chapter pace is good.  Then, once it's all done, give yourself a few weeks away from it, work on something else, then read through it as you would a new novel and this will give you some feel for overall pace and storyline.  Make notes as you go at this point and then when you've finished reading, write up a report as you would if you were critiquing someone else's work.  Then dive in to make changes....

I don't envy you, but then I'm doing the same thing for Blood Tide...gulp!!!

[TrishTash]

I can't really add to what I posted here: http://www.penandpalette.co.uk/index.php?topic=171.0

And I'd definitely rest it for at least two weeks before you do the second draft.  If you do it straight away you'll still be reading it as a writer: you'll be too close to it to do a good job and it'll be wasted time. Work on something else to clear your mind completely before you return to it.

[Rolli]

I find I'm the opposite of the others, and like to leap headlong into revisions, while the enthusiasm for the story is intact.  Wait too long, and it's easy - terribly - for a manuscript to drift out of mind, and sink lower and lower in one's bottom drawer.  For better or worse, it's the only approach that works for me.

[Dulcinea]

You are right about that. If I stop working on something for a couple of days I really have to drag myself back to it