Friday, August 7, 2009

My Novel: As Seen From the Moon

A while back I blogged about revising, and Booknapped reader Milli Thornton (and writer of a cool screenwriting blog) extolled on the virtues of Microsoft Word's Print Preview feature. I love Print Preview too, but it occurred to me that others may not be using this feature the way I use it.

First, a story:

Because I drink too much caffeine, one day my finger was shaking on some computer button and I inadvertently shrunk my Print Preview down to 10%. Talk about seeing your manuscript from a new perspective.

When I revise, I highlight areas that need work. The amount of yellow in my manuscript shows me how much work I've yet to do. Here is a Print Preview of several pages from the last quadrant of my novel in its current state:

As you can see, I still have miles to go before I query. Put the coffee on. It's going to be a long night. I dare you to open up your manuscript and view its Print Preview. At the very least, you will be amazed at all those words you wrote--your entire novel splayed out before you like a patient etherized upon a table (sorry, couldn't resist).

5 comments:

  1. Marie, your screen shot is such fun! You've taken Print Preview to new heights of visual impact. ;~)

    I loved the "patient etherized upon a table." I would not have guessed at first glance that was part of a line of poetry from T.S. Eliot, so thanks for the link! Enjoyed the Robert Frost reference as well.

    Great idea to link to the Bird's-eye view page at Wiki. This is what I call a classic blog post. Will definitely link to you when I write about Print Preview over my way. And thank you for the kind mentions. :=)

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  2. cool, i never though of using it that way, thanks

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  3. Hey Marie, I'm finally In The Club, sorry it took me so long to come over and play! Cool post I love seeing things like that!

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  4. LMAO! Nice. I'm gonna check mine out. I've been performing major surgery on my MS. Hope it survives!

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  5. Wow! That must feel amazing... I'd love to have so much of my own novel to look at. :) Good luck with your revision.

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