Korunai status

Writer's Surgery preparation

I am putting some effort the last few weeks to preparing my Battle of Korunai manuscript in an appropriate format for it to be provided as background information for a session with an expert. The Queensland Writer's Centre (QWC) offers a service for members to consult with a professional mentor who will read a sample and provide guidance called the Writer's Surgery.

My original templates for production of the chapters are in 'Arial' font. I find them easier to read and enables a flow in the story. I had never really considered it stylistic... but it IS.

Standard manuscript submission formats are in a mon-spaced font, like Courier New or Times New Roman, double spaced and 12 point.

The sample provided to QWC includes a 1-page synopsis and a 20-page sample of material. There were no further requirments, so I grabbed a template for manuscript preparation (a Microsoft Office template) that looks about right in all the needed areas and transferred the first two chapters. In my old template, these were 6 pages for the first chapter and 16 for the second. I did some modifications on the template, but will admit that I have yet to really learn all the bits of it.

I was pretty sure I could get both the first and second chapters into the sample material. If it carved off the last page of chapter 2, then it would probably be leading to a small rise in literary tension in the story without the resolution that would usually occur...

I know some of my readers hate getting caught at these points and often demand to know what happens next. I try to provide only full courses of literary material, lest I have people harrass me to complete it.

But, back to the story... So, I transeferred the material into the new template. Chapter 1 was now 10 pages, and chapter 2 was now 30 pages! Now I was only going to get about half the first chapter. I may not have captured audience interest by this point. I would hope that I had, but I usually give a novel a few chapters and rarely just put something down.

This initially freaked me out. But then I decided to print it out and take a look at it. The change in font and spacing really made a difference from an editor perspective. I was immediately able to identify a bunch of superflous words... lots of 'the' and 'that' that were not needed.

So, I printed it out and sat down and did a brutal review in editorial terms - the way I have done to numerous technical writers over the years.

I managed to cut the first chapter down to 5 pages and the second chapter down to 27 pages. So, nearly 4 pages of guff removed. The manuscript is much tighter now and I will add this process to the end of my develpment and review cycle.

I'll be submitting this in the next few days after I sleep on the changes, then print it all out and eyeball it. Looking forward to the June appointment to discuss it.