Last night I finished my read-through of my book. Some of my beta readers have finished and some are still trying to get finished before the deadline of the 31st August when we all meet together and discuss the book at length so I can hear some opinions of people who didn’t write the book.
I gave myself six weeks off from the book, letting it sit in a draw where I could leave it and try to forget it as best I could so when I picked up six weeks later it would be as fresh as it could be.
The experience of reading it was interesting since it required me to pretend I was reading it for the first time as a reader not a writer. This was something that proved impossible so I just set about going through line by line making notes about bad jokes, bad characterisation and superfluous words. It took about a week to read the whole thing in this manner and my findings will be discussed with my beta readers but it was satisfying to be able to say that, some changes aside, it hangs together well. There is a plot that can be followed and plot points flow into each other. There is some sketchy characterisation with one character in particular but my red pen made quick work of what needs to go and what needs to stay.
So far the pieces of feedback I have got have been positive and I am hopeful that before the year is over I should have a few copies on their way into the world heading for agents and publishers.
Exciting times.
