First Novel, Last Edit?

The first time I competed in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) I thought the writing part of novel writing was hard. I was right too. Writing that first novel was tough. Eeking out that first 50,000 word novel was excruciating. I look back at that draft now and still find it excruciating, but now its excruciating to read too.

If the past couple of years have taught me anything it is that writing is the easiest part of the novel writing process. Editing and rewriting is far harder than writing.

A couple months ago I gave my manuscript to a local editor. I've since gotten his edits back and input his edits on a nightly basis. I felt some trepidation when the editor mentioned he'd never read any Dick Francis novels. Nor had he read any Donald Westlake, Evanovich, or Robert Parker. These should have sent a warning klaxon to go off in my head.

As I enter his edits I'm amazed how I can see his moods on the paper. Some pages will be heavily marked up, red slashes and comments all over the place. Then there will be whole chapters where he has written nothing. At the end of these chapters he writes something like "This chapter does nothing for me" or "DIB" (do it better). I'm not sure how helpful these edits are (that's sarcasm....I know exactly how helpful these comments are).

In short, editing is tough, but figuring out which edits I should include is even tougher. I realize now that I should have found an editor or writer who is more in tune with the mystery genre, I think this guy is more comfortable with thrillers. Lesson learned for manuscripts two through forty. Then again, I should have done some homework myself. He has a couple of published novels, one would think I would have read one before handing over my manuscript and my money. Might have saved myself some dough and some consternation.