It is too late for the writer to make changes to the story at this stage. This is a last chance for the publisher to check that everything looks okay as it is laid out on the page. They are looking for line spaces that aren’t supposed to be there, missing chapter headers, or widows and orphans (a “widow” is the last line of a paragraph that appears alone at the top of the next page, and an “orphan” is the first line of a paragraph that appears alone at the bottom of a page). I went in to have a last look at the cover. The next time I see it, it will be an actual book.

This is Sophie from black dog books looking at the dyelines

After the 3rd draft, there might be a 4th draft. By this stage I’m getting impatient to get it over and done with. The internal design has been submitted by the designers, changed, because we weren’t quite happy with it. Then the editor “pours” my text into the design.

Now it looks like a book for the first time, not just a pile of computer printout. The chapter titles have a particular style, the page numbers are there just like they will be in the book. This is called designed pages. For some reason, when I read it through at this stage, I notice all kinds of things I didn’t notice before. Errors and inconsistencies just leap out at me. So once again I get out the red pen and mark up the changes I want to  make. My editor is closely involved at this stage.

I think of the editing process as being like combing tangled, knotted hair. Every time you go through it, it gets easier to pull the comb through, but when it’s almost done there are still some stubborn knots that got missed.

The cover is designed, the map has been completed. Everything is put together. There is no flexibility here. The printer has a schedule and this book has to be delivered on a set date. As that date approaches, I read through one more time. I am so sick of it by this time, I don’t ever want to read a word of it again! A printout of the book is sent to a proofreader who always finds errors! I write my acknowledgements for the “end matter” (as all the stuff at the back of a book is called).

Now the editor is doing final checks, and I’m not involved. She is checking that it all looks right on the page (no “widows” or “orphans”, and a lot of other stuff I don’t even know about). Then the file is uploaded to the printer. That’s it. It was a year and a half ago that I typed the first words. It’s finally gone.

People sometimes ask me how it feels when a book is finished. Satisfaction? Euphoria? No. Just absolute relief.

There are also black and white drawings inside the books—some at the beginning, and a small drawing at the beginning of each chapter, each one different and relevant to the chapter. They are really lovely, but I don’t even know the name of the illustrator.

Here are some examples from Dragon Moon.

When I got back home, I was inspired to finish my Melbourne Dragon Tour. It is much more modest than the London one, but if you are in Melbourne and have a couple of hours to spare, why not have a look at Melbourne’s diverse dragons? There is a link in the menu bar or click here.

Many thanks to my Webmaster, Chris Miles, for making it look beautiful and coping with my endless fiddly changes.

So the day after I sent in my second draft, I got sick. That gives you some idea of the intensity of working on that draft. Fortunately, the third draft is a lot easier. I got back comments on the second draft from my publisher and my editor, and took in the changes that they requested. I think I have got the structure right and fixed the major issues that they had with the first draft, so at this stage it’s tinkering—making things clearer, adding detail, taking out unnecessary bits.

After that, I read it through again…and take in my own changes. It astonishes me that even after so many readings, there is still a lot of red ink on the copy I am reading through, as I reword sentences, and reorder paragraphs. I’m sure other writers don’t need to do as much rewriting as I do. I’m sure there are writers who can write perfect sentences from the word go, but that isn’t how it is for me.

At this stage I think about subplots and make sure that they are complete. Also have I followed through on the themes I have worked into the story?

With the book I am writing at the moment, it was only at this late stage that we finalised the title (it’s called Sugar, Sugar). For me, it’s only really when the book is finished that I get firm ideas about what the title should be. This one was particularly difficult.

I send the amended file back to the publisher. Meanwhile, other people are getting involved. Black dog books staff have sent off a design brief to the designers, and they are working on the cover and internal design. Someone else is drawing a map.  (I love maps. Just about every book I’ve ever written contains at least one map.)

It’s past the point of no return for the story as a whole. Now I can relax…for a while.

So after I send off my first draft to my publisher, he reads it, my editor reads it. And they write their comments on the manuscript (Andrew does it by hand on a printed copy, Karen does it electronically). That’s called a marked-up copy. They tell me what’s working, and what’s not. They say things like “How is your character feeling about what just happened?” or “I need more info about the place where this scene is taking place”. Usually every page has comments on it. Sometimes events aren’t clear enough. Sometimes I’ve spelled it out in too much detail and left nothing up to the reader’s imagination. In the book I’m writing, no one like the style of short sentences that I’d used.

So then I have to start work on the second draft, considering all these comments and changing things to correct the problems. Now, this can be a rewarding process. You can feel it improving. However, you haven’t got all the time in the world. People are often surprised when I say I have deadlines. They imagine that professional authors just take as long as they like to write a book. That isn’t the case. A publisher has to publish a number of books each year—20, 50, 200. They have to have a publication schedule to spread them out over the year, otherwise the manuscripts might all come in together and their staff would be working day and night at one stage and then sitting twiddling their thumbs at another. The first draft can be a bit more flexible timewise, but sooner or later the book is on the production schedule for the following year and there are deadlines for every stage.

I had a pretty tight deadline for the second draft (I’d had a month off to go overseas)—about 10 weeks. As this is my first Young Adult book, it is very important, and most of the other staff at black dog read the first draft and gave me written comments. Just to be on the safe side, I got my daughter Lili to read it too. I ended up with a lot of comments, and at times it was overwhelming. At times I thought “there’s too much that people aren’t happy with.” But I kept on working through it chapter by chapter, resolving the issues, making sure the reader could understand the character’s motivation.

The last chapters are always the most underdone, so I did a lot of rewriting there. I have five characters and I wanted to bring all their stories together in a satisfying way at the end. Without it being too neat and tied with a bow.

Then once again I read it though and mark changes in red. Things that I’m still having trouble resolving, I mark with a highlighter and put aside. I take in all the changes, page by page. I think about the subplots, and just look at the beats of those stories in isolation, as separate little stories, to see if there is enough, or too much. There might be more detail I have to find out, so I have to do more research.

Then I print it out again. This time I read it out aloud. This is not only about the story, it’s also about the way the words, the sentences, the paragraphs flow. There’s only so much I can read aloud at one time without zoning out, so with this book I did about five or six chapters a day. Again marking up changes. Reading in the morning, and taking in the changes in the afternoon.

I got to the day it had to be handed in (last Friday) and I was at the stage where I couldn’t bear to look at it for a moment longer. So I sent it off. Big relief.

(Above) This is Alyssa Brugman and I at the Awards. (Below) My KOALA winner’s mug.

The second awards ceremony was the NSW Premier’s History Awards. My book The Night We Made the Flag was shortlisted.  I didn’t win that one, the winner was Anthony Hill for his book Captain Cook’s Apprentice.

Congratulations to all the winners.

The other shortlisted books are:

• The Lighthouse Girl by Dianne Wolfer
• Captain Cook’s Apprentice by Anthony Hill
• Krakatoa Lighthouse by Alan Baillie

The winner of the prize will be announced on Tues 27th October.

You can read all the Judges’ Reports here.

Date: Saturday 3 October

Time: 12.30

Place: 360 Bourke Street, that’s on the corner of Bourke and Elizabeth Streets

For more info: phone 03 9670 8861 or go to the Angus & Robertson website

]]> http://www.carolewilkinson.com.au/news/2009/09/28/signing-at-angus-robertson/feed/ 3