9. No one will notice that the location of the rooms in the house keep moving.
8. My main character isn't an insufferable prig. He's just wise.
7. These jokes are funny. I know, I wrote them.
6. (if you're writing a mystery) It doesn't matter that any of my first readers haven't been able to solve the mystery.
5. It matters even less that they say my solution comes out of left field. It's not unsolvable - it's incredibly clever.
DANGER! DANGER, Will Robertson!!
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4. You can't have too many colourful, quirky characters. More is more.
3. Oh look. I didn't write that scene three times, I wrote it four times. Wow. It's like Rashomon.
2. My main character is in two places at once. Obviously, my he/she has an identical twin.
And one big truth...
1. Any editing pass will go quicker with chocolate. But...watch out for crumbs.
Elspeth - Ah, more wonderful pearls of editing wisdom! I love it! Especially the chocolate one. Oh, and here's another I always end up telling myself: That vital piece of information that the sleuth knows that she couldn't possibly have known? Well isn't it obvious? My sleuth has psychic flashes - hardly my fault is it? ;-)
ReplyDeleteOh yes, moving rooms - and shops and streets and...well, you get it :-)
ReplyDeleteMargot; Having a psychic sleuth would be really, really handy. A sleuth that is secretly psychic is even better. And alliterative.
ReplyDeleteSarah; Oh yes, I get it. I wish I didn't get it, but I do.
My main character *loves* to be 2 places at once! At least, I guess she does, because she so frequently is... :)
ReplyDeleteSo, so true.
ReplyDeleteMy scenes are so compelling and gripping that they go in multiple times just to make sure people get it *ahem*.