Polishing and Revising

And catching the inevitable 'snafus'
Seems the name of my world (which I honestly DID make up all on my own and which meant in their language ElfHome) is only two short letters away from a word used by Tolkien also as a place name.
Drat.

Much as I believe that Tolkien fans will hopefully embrace my world and characters I would not presume to tread THAT closely to his work. It's just too close for comfort.

This is a very distressing revelation and will, of course, necessitate immediate rewrites. Well, as soon as I think of a NEW name for their world.

Drat, drat, DOUBLE drat.

I did so love the sound of that name.

But revisions and corrections are part of the 'polish' to get a ms ready for the real world. If it is painful now, how much more so to have some agent or editor say..."wwwwwwaaaiiitt just a minute here--you can't use THIS...." Better to have found and corrected it myself.

It is not as if I have not already begun undertaking many such changes. I have changed the names of several of my races of beings, the name of my primary human land and city, and even the names both secondary and one primary character. Not done yet. I am sure there will be much more before this is over. And THAT is just the easy stuff. The things I can find and change on my own.

I know the agent and editor will each find much, much more and demand much more difficult revisions. What I think I dread most are the CUTS. Cut this scene. Cut 10K words. UGGGGHHHH.

And will I do it?

Oh yes. Because in the end my story will be better for it.
And my lovely non-Elf will finally make his debut into our world...

Yes. DEF worth it.

Write on!

Polishing and Revising

And catching the inevitable 'snafus'
Seems the name of my world (which I honestly DID make up all on my own and which meant in their language ElfHome) is only two short letters away from a word used by Tolkien also as a place name.
Drat.

Much as I believe that Tolkien fans will hopefully embrace my world and characters I would not presume to tread THAT closely to his work. It's just too close for comfort.

This is a very distressing revelation and will, of course, necessitate immediate rewrites. Well, as soon as I think of a NEW name for their world.

Drat, drat, DOUBLE drat.

I did so love the sound of that name.

But revisions and corrections are part of the 'polish' to get a ms ready for the real world. If it is painful now, how much more so to have some agent or editor say..."wwwwwwaaaiiitt just a minute here--you can't use THIS...." Better to have found and corrected it myself.

It is not as if I have not already begun undertaking many such changes. I have changed the names of several of my races of beings, the name of my primary human land and city, and even the names both secondary and one primary character. Not done yet. I am sure there will be much more before this is over. And THAT is just the easy stuff. The things I can find and change on my own.

I know the agent and editor will each find much, much more and demand much more difficult revisions. What I think I dread most are the CUTS. Cut this scene. Cut 10K words. UGGGGHHHH.

And will I do it?

Oh yes. Because in the end my story will be better for it.
And my lovely non-Elf will finally make his debut into our world...

Yes. DEF worth it.

Write on!