Kill Those Babies!
February 18, 2013 
Since I’ve posted last I’ve done quite a bit of work on my novel. Next week I will be talking with Lambert about the first twenty pages…the inciting incident I moved up front…and go from there. In the meantime I’ve completely taken out a character (Sarah) that I thought at the beginning served to lighten up my story a bit and add some more romance to it. But now she’s gone. I’ve decided to make the story darker, more along the lines of a “thriller,” than what I’ve had before. Walter serves to add romance to the story for Minerva’s sake, but John can go find a girlfriend somewhere else!
I’m also rewriting John a little. He’s now stronger and I’ll be working on giving him a make-over. He will no longer be slim or on the smaller side. I will have him contrast with Piper more even though they are twins.
My editor has not suggested these things, but my son, Christopher, and I have talked about it.
It’s all about taking out what doesn’t move the story and having the courage to do so.
I have no trouble “killing my babies.” Some of them seem rather weak and downright awful.
Now my novel has 90,000 plus words instead of 97,000 plus words, and that is with the twenty pages added up front. I have cut SO much!
I’ve read that new writers tend to either write too much or too little, and I’m thankful it’s looking like I wrote too much. Seems like it’s easier to cut than to add.
I’ll be in touch.
