still adit

I'm still aditing Animal Instincts. I adit rather than edit. Different writers all have their own methods of drafting their novels. Some writers write out of sync and sew the scenes together after like a patchwork quilt. I can't do that, I'm a linear writer, I start at the beinning and plough through to the end. Some write much more than they will ever keep, going back after and paring down till the book is as they want it to be. I know writers who cut up to thirty thousand words this way - ouch.
I write very sparingly on the first draft. The bones of the story are there and there's an indicator of the emotions and theres enough description to place the scene but I know I'll be at least 10k under when the first draft is done.
That's when I adit. I go back through, foreshadowing, adding colour, light and shade. I raise the emotional stakes and get under the skin of my heroine. I look for different things on each pass through. For instance yesterday I jiggled my opening because it's niggled me all through the book that the opening picture of Clodagh and Immi wasn't quite right.
I now I need to add emotion to the ending - right now the stakes need to be higher, I need to feel that Clodagh and Jack might not happen after all and what this will mean for Clodagh. I also need to foreshadow Clodagh's secret, the heartache she's been carrying all through the book. The points are there but they need colouring in, fleshing out and to be made more intense.
Hopefully I'll be done before next weekend as we go away for the week for our annual holiday with our friends then.