This month has been an editing marathon. My goal was to finish the edits for my gothic horror novel by the end of December. I’ve halted all my other projects to do so. However, despite my efforts, it might seep into the beginning of January.

What Needs to Be Done

My editor stated that I don’t need to remove anything from the novel, but rather add more to it. He said 12,000 to 15,000 more words. I honestly don’t think I can put that many new words into it without making it feel bloated. But I hope to add at least 8K-10K.

My novel is a book inside a book, and he felt the outer narrative was neglected. I’m currently adding more scenes, focusing on the disintegration of the main character as he goes more and more mad.

Once this is done, I’m going to add to the atmosphere. As a gothic novel, the house in which it takes place needs to be developed until it feels authentic. In many gothic stories, the house itself is almost a character. I’ve been reading the genre to learn how to do this.

Finally, my editor feels the book is too sedate, its supernatural qualities too mild. At first, I found this a little odd, considering how disturbing and insane the book can be in places. But after reading it over a couple times, I realized he was right. After that, all it needs is a final polish.

Right now, I’m working four hours a day, six days a week. Editing is one of my passions, though, so it doesn’t seem like “work.” The fact that it’s so close to being ready motivates me more than anything.

New Title

After attending a panel on book titles at BizarroCon, I decided that “The Autobiography of M” was a lousy title for this novel. I worked with my editor on a number of possible names. A few examples include:

• The Mannequin of Morgan Grange
• Kingdom of the Plastic God
• Agalmatophilia

Ultimately, I settled on one of my editor’s suggestions—M: The Plastic Prometheus. It alludes to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus with which it shares some similarities. I love it!

Once I’m Done

When my edits are completed, I hope to send it off to my editor for one final perusal, and after that, find some beta readers to look it over. Do a little bit more tweaking, then on to finding a publisher!

It’s been years since I submitted a novel manuscript to a publisher. I don’t know the horror scene well enough to even know who would be interested. However, I plan to attend KillerCon next year where I can deliver my elevator pitch to some of the publishers there.

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Well, I best be going. This novel isn’t going to edit itself!

Tchau,

Zé