I’ve once again reached the point in an edit that I hate the most: the point where I have more words to cut from the draft than I have words left in the novel. Currently, Damen stands at 142K words which, as I keep reminding myself in an effort to avoid disheartenment, is a far cry from the 289K I had in March of this year.
With every edit, I trim and trim some more until all I’ve got left are the things I love. A while ago, I considered some of very basic cuts of prose that I adored to be just painful, but now, as I contemplate eliminating more characters and entire plot lines, what I faced back in April and May was barely a splinter to the oozing wound I’ve got now.
When I complete this edit, hopefully before the new year, I’m going to sit down with my novel points and chapter summaries and figure out what storyline can get cut without making me want to cut myself. Even as I type, I’m nearly brought to tears at the concept and I’m imagining the cheap way out which would be to give cutting the beginning chapters another try.
Alas, I’ve got to be strong. Damen has been on the cusp of completion for several years now, but it’s never been this close to being ready to be viewed by another person. So, for now, I’ll pray that these cuts aren’t the end of me since, even when I’ve got the book down to size, I’ll still have to face the agony of rejection when I start to send out query letters.
I am kaitco 