Wednesday 18 March 2009

Faffing and footling (ahem I mean editing, of course)

Hmm cold pizza for breakfast. An odd start to the day. But it was in the fridge when I was fetching milk for my cereal, and so I ate it. Just realised it was supposed to be my lunch, but I suppose I could always have coco pops instead.

Still twiddling with my novel while awaiting a request for a full ms / compliments slip saying ‘No Thanks’(delete as appropriate / most likely)

Have discovered a couple more glaring inconsistencies - a house by the sea in ch 2 is ten miles from the beach in ch. 16. An intriguing subplot involving an old recipe book raised in ch.3 is never mentioned again. Oh and a boy called Sam becomes Adam. How could I have not spotted these before? Anyway, they are righted now. I have also done a find and replaced of ‘giggle’ after my reader (Hubby) said he didn’t see my MC as the giggling sort, (more of a chortler with a couple of hearty guffaws perhaps),
yet she was constantly doing it.

Will there ever come a point when I’m done fiddling? Even if and when I send off a full manuscript to an agent I imagine I will continue faffing and footling in anticipation of their response. In the end think I will need a big lockable box to put it away in so I can leave it be for a while and start on novel #2

5 comments:

Queenie said...

As I understand it, the fiddling often continues through at least two more stages after you get an agent: one for them and one for your publisher. Plus, if you're finding glaring inconsistencies, it's clearly worthwhile fiddling. In April I'll be starting on the sixth or seventh draft of mine - I've lost count! (PS: could only find sugared almonds in tiny expensive bags, so ended up with blueberry yogurt raisins which are a fabulous antidote to the mid-afternoon slump - thanks for the inspiration!)

Jumbly Girl said...

Thanks Queenie - you're so right. If I hadn't spotted the inconsistencies in my novel now I doubt any agent who read it would have given me much consideration. I'm well prepared to make more revisions if and when I get an agent/publisher but I want to iron out any embarrassing errors before then. Good luck with your redrafting in April.
Mmm blueberry yoghurt raisins - great idea -tho' I suspect their disadvantage over sugared almonds would be they are much quicker to eat :o)

Karen said...

I'm not sure the faffing ever stops, until you force yourself to start the next novel! Or at least until your agent requests some more footling prior to publication :o)

Tamsyn Murray said...

Yep, footle away :-) Eventually you get to the happy stage when everything is perfect (I haven't reached this stage yet...)

Anonymous said...

Can I pace and footle with you? Agent asdked to see complete Ms, went into a tailspin panic, footled and faffed and finally sent it off. Now I have to wait in agony (planning my interviews on Richard and Judy and Oprah) until the ms either plops back to me with a nicely worded kick in the wotsits or he looks for a meet. Oh God was this what the forty days and nights were like?