Search and Replace: A Cautionary Tale

[naomi_jay]

So I'm pretty heavily into the editing for SILVER KISS now, and pleased with how it's going. I've had loads of useful feedback from various quarters that will shine this baby up good. One of the things I was most concerned about after finishing the first draft was that I had two characters who were, basically, the same. Their speech and mannerisms were all pretty much identical, and I wasn't quite sure how to change that without changing one of the characters completely. And I was kind of attached to both characters, so I felt weird about the possibility of eliminating one.

But I did it anyway. Because dammit, I'm a Serious Writer, and I'm in charge of what happens in my novel, not a bunch of figments of my imagination.

So yes, I dove into my manuscript last night and freaking nuked that character out of existence. His name changed! His appearance changed! His dialogue changed! Everything changed! He is now a new man. A man called Lawrence, not Flo. How did I achieve this? I used Search and Replace, of course, simply zipped through and changed every example of "Flo" into "Lawrence."

Which of course now means that my characters are wearing Lawrenceaty dresses instead of floaty dresses, and they're walking across the Lawrenceor instead of the floor, and that water is Lawrencewing downhill and so forth.

And the edits continue...

In other news, I was off work sick yesterday with a serious bout of hayfever. Hayfever? In September? Anybody know what's blooming in September that might have triggered that? I mean, I was a wreck. Headache, throat closed up, dizzy spells, nausea... I just went home and slept all day because being awake was so uncomfortable. I've no idea what caused it. I'm still feeling a bit rough today, but not bad enough to stay off work, sadly.

Comments

[jongibbs.livejournal.com]

Oh dear :(

Thank goodness there's an 'undo' button.

Hope you feel better soon :)

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

Thanks :) I feel better now than I did this morning, definitely!

[rowanda380.livejournal.com]

oh my gosh, if my boyfriend saw that icon he would flip!

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

In a good way, I hope? :)

[rowanda380.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, he spent weeks making his own DVDs (with title screens and all) of that show because he couldn't get a copy here.

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

Awesome :) Has he seen the spin-off - Man to Man with Dean Learner? It's brilliant!

[rowanda380.livejournal.com]

I don't know, I will have to ask him :0)

[rowanda380.livejournal.com]

I asked him about the Man to Man show, he said he has seen a couple of episodes, but like Dark Place they don't make DVDs for it in the US :0(

[naomi-jay.livejournal.com]

Aw, shame, it's very funny!