First Reading

There’s a reason for having rules. I let my grandmother read my work in progress and she finished reading it yesterday. Once I got past the fact that this wasn’t her favorite piece I’ve written, I learned a lot from this breach of rules. While she only made three notes on the manuscript, I took away a lot more. If I want to keep readers interested from beginning to end, I need to speed up the flow of action.  She ended up enjoying it, but it took her a while to get through some of the slower parts, she informed me.

At first, I was a bit disappointed. I wanted more notes, more help, and I eventually realized that I wanted more ego stroking, too. She usually loves my writing, but she was not as enthusiastic about this piece as she usually is. Ultimately, she enjoyed it—she told me that she wanted to know how it ends.

So I took a hard honest look at the beginning of the story. There is a lot of story setup in the beginning as I try to introduce the new characters and give them a basis for why they are important to the story. But I have too many characters, especially a character whose only job was to give my main character a ride when he is stranded at a gas station. I spent way too much time describing this character, her history, and how my MC knew her. It was about 2,000 words long, my character’s interaction with this Deus ex Machina character. I devoted way too much space to a character that shows up to save the day, simply because when I wrote that section two years ago, I couldn’t think of any other way to get the MC from Point A to Point B.

I cut about 2,400 words out of the beginning of the story, including the Deus ex Machina character. Cutting words always hurts—I always feel like it’s backward motion. But I woke up this morning excited about the edits. I had written down a bunch of questions that my story hadn’t answered about a week ago, but there were two that I had not yet tackled. Eliminating Sally Frieman answered both of these.

So now I am further away from my 65-68K word goal. But I am closer to having a well organized plot. A lot closer.

So I broke a rule, on purpose, by letting grandma read my WIP. It didn’t have the effect that I wanted, and that hurt a little, but it worked out the way I wanted it in the end. I need to grow thicker skin if I want to write a good story.

Breaking My Own Rules

I've taken a break from my work in progress to let it escape my mind for a little bit. I am up over 48,000 words at this point--the goal is between 65 and 68K. I usually would just let it sit until I can return to it with fresh eyes so that I can see the gaps in the story line, but I gave my manuscript to my grandmother for her to read.

This goes against a lot of rules that I have for myself. One,  don't let others read a manuscript until it is finished. Two, don't let family read drafts until they are complete.

I broke these rules for a couple reasons. One, I really value my grandma's opinion when it comes to literature. She reads probably 100 books a year. I read 31 last year. She reads primarily mysteries and thrillers. My WIP is a thriller. This leads to point #2: she has a good eye for what works and what does not. I am at a point where if something doesn't work, I would need to rewrite a good chunk of the manuscript. I don't want to do work I don't necessarily need to. Point #3, I want to finish this as quickly as possible.

Maybe this is laziness on my behalf. I don't think it is, though. Well, at least I hope it's not. I've never been more excited about a piece that I've written and I think that this book has a good deal of potential. I am excited to finish it, but I have become too submerged within the story line. I know what happens in a linear order, but I didn't write the book in a linear manner, so I need fresh eyes to help me point out what eventually works and what fails completely. Could I do this myself? Of course I could. But I would need at least a month away from it. Having my grandma read it saves me a lot of time. This is a big advantage for me, so I am breaking my rules in this instance.