Revised and Re-sent
Had to intro with a new baby pic. She’s doing well! I’m hoping I’ll get some sleep tonight…hahahaha!
Well, my revised (rewritten!) partial is…well it’s not even on it’s way to England. It’s there. Ah, cyberspace!
As I mentioned, these revisions kind of made me feel like my face was melting, not because I didn’t agree with my editor, but because, as it is when you first read revisions, I felt like I had no idea how to fix all of the problems! Because how could I keep the plot as it was and make all these changes? Well, I couldn’t. And the simple fact was that my plot was in the way!!
That’s where I applied my editor’s golden advice: You’re telling the hero and heroine’s story.
So as I started these revisions, I forced myself to stop trying to shove my characters into this little box that was my plot. Oh, the plot has the same premise, but now it’s shaped around the characters. Rather than saying to myself, okay, I have to get them from point A to point B and in order to do that we need to introduce Plot Device 1…I simply asked myself what Max and Alison would do if they found themselves with this certain problem, and let them take it from there.
Now, this is an MS that was finished, and I’m not sure how much of it will have to be rewritten with the partial since I haven’t really sat down to see what I’m working with yet, but all that to say, I know the characters really well. But one of the main problems I had was that I wasn’t letting my reader know my characters, and I wasn’t allowing them to act organically. For example, I needed my heroine to get to the hero’s country, so she got on a plane with him even though she doesn’t trust him. Why did she do that?? My editor wisely asked me. And I thought, well, she did it because I needed her to. Oops. Because Alison would never have gotten on the plane with him in the circumstances.
We’ll see if I executed this is well as I hope, but I think it was a mini breakthrough for me as a writer. This process was really about getting back to basics. Maximo and Alison, their issues, and how they then resolve those issues and fall in love with each other. That’s really what I want as a reader, an emotionally satisfying read, and in order to have that, I need a connection with the characters and a sense for their love. As a writer, that’s what I hope to deliver!
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That sounds really good, Maisey. And it sounds as though you kept your editor’s advice in mind and wrote their story first, plot second. Alani looking gorgeous too!
Here’s hoping they get back to you soon! (28 weeks today since I sent in my partial to M&B, but who’s counting, right?)
Gorgeous baby pic! Though when I saw it, right under the title, I thought you meant you’d Revised and Resent your baby. Already, I thought?
My fifth child screeched like a demon changeling for the first three months, having not wished to arrive at all – a late induction. Quite a shock, as all my others had been relatively quiet and good sleepers. Hope this little pinky is rather better behaved!
Your daughter is beautiful, Maisey! And congrats on getting the sub sent. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard: don’t let the plot get in the way of the H/H story. If I could just remember to follow that advice!!
Amy
LOL! Jane, you just described my firstborn, only he arrived right on time. But screeched constantly unless something was in his mouth. Y’know…he’s kind of still like that. Poor emotional child.
Amy, I know what you mean. It isn’t as though I had never heard the advice, it just seems like it isn’t always so easy to apply, and something about the way Jenny phrased it this time really helped me understand exactly what ‘don’t let the plot get in the way of the story’ meant.
Sally, 28 wks on a partial? Is that for Presents? One of my CPs is past 30wks waiting to hear back on a requested Sweet partial.
Great advice on revisions, especially since I’m in the middle of my own. Thanks!
Your princess is gorgeous, I’m sending her lots of kisses. I love the way babies smell 🙂
I think that is great advice, thanks for sharing, I am going to (try) and make sure my characters are doing what they would do and not doing something I’m making them do. *scurrying off to check the wip*
Awww, what a lovely “where’s my dinner, already!” picture. Cute! And good on you for whipping that partial into shape and sending it off. Hope you hear back soon now Britain’s beginning to thaw a little!
Husband just pointed out that the title of this post says ‘resent’ and not ‘re-sent’. Wow. Sleep deprivation is AWESOME.