THE HATED EDITING

The one thing I hate about writing is editing. I put it off as long as I can, but I can only put it off so long. Then it roars it's ugly head, and I have to do it. That's where I am right now. So, how am I doing?

Not too good. At least not for me. One thing I see in my writing is the lack of deep POV. My critique partner has helped me and I am doing better. I'm trying to get down to the deep thoughts of my characters. When you write, you don't write, "Jack threw the ball to Jane and Jane caught it." Instead you write, "Jack picked up the ball, rolled it in his hand and decided to see if he could make Jame miss the catch. If he could throw it out of her reach, it would show her that boys were better at sports than girls. He gripped the ball, lifted his arm, and let the ball fly with all his strength..
"Jane wondered what was taking Jack so long to throw the ball. It was just a little softball, why did he have to hesitate to throw it? Finally, she saw it sail through the air. She lifted her baseball mite to the right and the ball landed in the middle of her glove. She shook her hand to relieve the pain of the hard ball pelting her glove. Did he do that on purpose? Surely not! He was her friend, but she caught the fastball."

That makes the story different from a simple ball throwing session. It was competition between the two. Jane was better, and she knew it. We had more of her thoughts. Inner thoughts are what keeps a story moving. I used to read a book for the joy of reading. Now I read a book to see how other authors write. I see a lot of deep POV. It is hard to do and I felt very self-conscious at first, but I am getting over that. The love story should have a lot of deep thoughts. Does she want him to kiss her? Does she wonder what his lips will feel like? Is he invading in her space? Is she shy? Has she ever been kissed? Then he wonders if he is rushing her. Does she want him to kiss her? How does he feel about her? There are so many questions to answer. There are different questions for the man and the woman. After all, we never see things the same way.

When I edit my rough draft, I try to see the story as a movie. In a movie, you don't have inner thoughts. It has to be seen. So there are more pictures to paint in the story. I have a hard time painting the pictures. I get caught up in the story and forget the details. Details like deep POV are important. Remember to put them in.

I'm being called to finish the edit. I think it's boring, but it has to be done.