Slash and Burn

Editing continues at a steady pace on my novel. The red pen flies across the page slashing and burning wordiness. My first submission to an agent contained 92,000 words! What nerve I had to think an agent or publisher would consider a novel of such length by a newcomer. Stephen King can get away with a tome of such length but I doubt many newcomers break in the market this way. I've chopped the word count to around 64,000. Still a large figure, but as editing goes on more words will fall by the wayside. I'm finding that I give an idea, present a related sentence or two, then restate the idea once again.
It's a good idea to have someone outside your circle review your manuscript. Mothers and friends tend to tell you what they think you want to hear. There are no writer's groups in my area for a fresh set of eyes to review the work. However, there are universities nearby and Plan B is to seek a professor of English or creative writing to hire to review it for me if when I shop it out this time I don't meet with success. The other possibility is to seek out the services of an editor for hire. For a predetermined fee, usually by the page, the editor gives a thorough critique of the work complete with suggestions for change.
There are many options for the potentially published. So far on the road to seeing my name in print I've written a rough manuscript which I've since edited twice. I submitted, prematurely, to an agent and was rejected. And I've rewritten the manuscript again, for what I believe is the last go around, and am giving what I plan to be the final edit at this time. Editing should wrap in a week or so. I don't go "back and forth," that is, edit a chapter at a time then make those changes alone. I'm more productive editing the entire work before making changes. By the end of the month I should be ready to shop the manuscript out again. Maybe the second time is a charm.
- bethany moran