John S Alty

Why thank you kindly, good Kate. What lovely things to say! (There – I even gave it an exclamation mark…)

This had a wonderful energy and so many great observations. I loved the quirkiness of phrases like ‘lean forward talker’ and laptop caresser’. I’m going to try and keep this style in mind next time I have to describe something. It was my bedtime read, and most enjoyable. Thanks Gerry.

Thanks, Raine. Looks good 😊

Because brilliant ideas might look like plot disasters in draft 2 but then turn out to be actually brilliant ideas in draft 3??

I suspect what I am currently writing is all going to be unedited later. Why is it so difficult to tell the difference between a brilliant idea and a plot disaster when writing a first draft!

Yep! And turn sub-clauses into separate sentences then merge them again.

Anyone else do the trim-the-syllables for tightness – and then restore-the-syllables for flow?

Yes. In one of mine I rewrote two chapters from a different POV – for consistency: they were the only chapters from that character’s POV and it upset the balance. Then I discovered that those chapters really, really did work better with the original POV. So now I’m going to have to not only restore the original chapters but change others to be…[Read more]

I’m with @philippaeast on this one. Often if I find myself fiddling back and forward with one thing, it’s because the issue with that bit is actually because of a different bit being wrong. If that makes sense.

But also, yes to @jd73, it can just be about mood & what aspects of the book are at the forefront of my mind during that edit on tha…[Read more]

And do any of you find that sometimes, you change something, only to change it back again?

Bah! Editing? My text comes out publisher-ready, no rewrites.

OK, total-lying mode switched off now 🙂 Yes, I change it, change it back, forget why I wanted to change it in the first place, then forget entirely what the whole fracas was about or what I was…[Read more]

Such an interesting post, Squidge. In general, if I find myself changing something then changing it back again, it’s usually because that isn’t really the problem, and there’s something slightly different which I actually need to fix.

For example, I might fiddle around with a sentence structure or a word choice and then realise the real problem…[Read more]