Free To Be Me
The Vengeful Rogue got all Vengeful on me. I got revisions today! What does that have to do with being me? More on that in a moment. I have to ramble first.
These revisions were slightly different to the norm. And by that I meant it didn’t center around my characters being jerked around by the plot. In fact, the elements of the plot are good. Actually, so is the conflict. Actually, everything I have is fine.
So what’s the problem?
Layers. It’s all there, but I haven’t gone deep enough into it.
The heroine for example. She’s not a simple woman. She’s a CEO. She majored in business. She’s a daughter. She’s doing what she’s supposed to do, what her father needs her to do. She’s keeping the family business, the family tradition, alive. She’s failing at her job. She doesn’t want to do it. She’s an artist. She’s confident in some things, insecure in others.
In short, she’s complicated. Anyone surprised I haven’t managed to get her perfect? 🙂
But it’s all about showing things in layers. Not just throwing it all out there and down on the page. But slowly peeling back the exterior layers to get down to the real woman, not just to the things she does, but who she is.
And what about being me?
That’s another big thing. They want me to focus on making it more unique. On making it more ME.
This is cool, because I was talking to very cool twitter buddy Jen Lazaris about this very thing the other day, and now, I need to take my own advice! It’s not about copying or imitating what you see other people doing in a line. Yes, it has to fit the requirements, but if your voice has humor, use humor.
My characters tend to have a bit of quirk, and I really like to use humor. I also like to pair it with dark conflict. And I’m sure there’s a host of things I do that I don’t even realize I do! (Again, on twitter, I saw Angela James mention your voice being like a regional accent…you don’t hear your own the same way other people do.)
With this particular MS, I played it a little bit safe. I didn’t step outside the theme I had chosen for the book. I didn’t really make it my own.
So that’s what I’m going to focus on. Peeling back layers, sprinkling in a little Maisey. Bake at 425. 🙂
I’m very, very excited about these revisions. Hopefully they won’t need to rein me back in. 😛
Comments
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So glad that your revisions are the fun kind!
Good luck, Maisey! I’ve no doubt you’ll nail it.
Yeah, I reckon Aimeee. She WILL nail them. Cos it’s a great story. 🙂
Im very cool? 😉
Your heroine does sound complicated, but I’m sure you will have fun adding some of your “quirk” to her layers.
Btw, thanks to your advice, I am only a few days away from finishing the rough draft of my Samhain sub! I never thought I would see this story come to a close. See? You rock!
Julia. they actually are fun sounding! Provided I can nail them. 🙂 *grabs hammer*
Aimee, thank you!! How are your revisions going?
Jackie, thank you! Be prepared to do some more reading…
Jen, natch! You are V cool! And I’m SO glad that the advice helped! 😉 Now I need to take it.
Best of luck with the revisions Maisey, sounds like you’ll have them cracked in no time 😉 x Abby
Thanks Abby! Definitely hoping I manage to get them right!