Since lockdown last year I started reading the Harry Potter series aloud to the kids. They are really enjoying all the random voices I use, the downside to this is that if I’m busy, Sean’s not allowed to read! I don’t think it stinks at all but those who’ve read the books will get the reference.

We’ve been reading the series since lockdown started and have just started it again. I’ve always been a book worm and I love reading aloud. As a writer I’ve learnt that often it’s in the reading aloud that you get a good feel for the flow and whether a story works. This means Sean has sat through my novels as I read them out to him. I love the immediacy of the feedback when I do this! Sean has been very patient with me as I drill him on every aspect of the story, what he feels works and what doesn’t.

Anyway back to Harry Potter. JK Rowling is an author often cited by aspiring writers as someone to look up to as she had so many rejections before finally finding success. I can completely relate! Not that I’ve
had the success yet, but the rejection emails however polite are still disappointing! It takes perseverance to keep going.

Looking at the Harry Potter series it’s interesting to see J.K. Rowling grow as a writer. Even just looking at the size of the books themselves you can see what happens. The initial book is very short in comparison to the last ones. I imagine this is due to the editing process,  as soon as she began to be successful the editing got less vigorous. I would love to read a first draft of the first book to see what gems had to be sacrificed and whether any of those cuts made it into subsequent novels.

I find it so hard to edit and delete stuff that I originally thought would work, even harder is cutting those sentences and phrases that I worked hard on or intially felt inspired. But now that my edit of this version of my novel is completed, I value the efforts of my editor and her honesty in sharing changes I could make. My writing is better for her help.

This applies to so many areas of life! Critique while painful initially can bring about something even better!