New house? Yes. New office? Definitely. New book? No.
As I shared a couple of weeks ago, the moving process –going
through things deciding what to keep and what to pitch energized me to revise Libby’s Cuppa Joe. Keeping the good
stuff…tossing the rest.
These past two weeks I reintroduced myself to the characters
and plot. I like the book but I know it needs work. You cannot lay down a plot
and write off the cuff and expect the story to be stellar on the first or even
second draft.
So what have I done so far?
First, I had to reread the entire manuscript to remember all
of the nuances I had included.
Second, I switched the order of the first two chapters. It
is amazing what that simple change did to immediately engage the reader.
Third. My main character, Sonja, is a young woman bent on
business success. She has loving parents who did their best in raising her, but
Sonja has rejected church with all its trappings. She pretends to be someone
she is not when she is around her family. I realized in reading through the
manuscript, I need to make that point clear earlier in the story. I’ve changed
some of the conversations Sonja has with friends to reflect her perspective and
worked on some of her thoughts or motives as she makes decisions in those first
few chapters.
It is a fine line to walk. I want Sonja to be a likeable,
nice woman. A good person. I also want her to struggle with what she believes
and to be a bit confused. I want her, like so many others, to confuse a personal
God relationship with membership in a church.
That part of the revision will morph over the course of many chapters.
Finally, I’ve added a few quirks to a couple of minor
characters. I’m happy with those. They will help the story along and give the
reader some relief from time to time.
I have more to do. I discovered a couple of places in the
middle where the reader is bogged down with details. I also think I rushed
through a crucial life changing event that could serve Sonja well as she
rethinks her own life and future. Those changes will come over the next few
weeks and will likely add a couple of thousand words to the manuscript.
The big lesson here? Revision is not the same as editing.
There are no hard and strict rules for revision. Revision takes time, immersion
in the text, and a willingness to change.
New house? Yes. New office? Definitely. New book?
Hmmm…maybe. At least it will be a better one.
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