Working with an editor to get my characters out of the “Waiting Room”

This month was really busy with marketing and promotion, in addition to getting edits back on my newest book. My revisions have begun and already wore me out a little because now I realize how much work is needed to have a submission ready manuscript.

In terms of PR work, my interview with the crew from TBR Trio was posted early in the month and I think it turned out fantastic. I’ve gotten a lot of compliments that it’s my best interview so far, and I agree. What I think was special about it was that it was in a local bookstore and the conversation was very natural and let me hit on a couple points about the books that I normally don’t have a chance to when discussing regular writing topics. I connected with them again at a local book fair that was not too far of a drive away a few weeks later and recorded a soundbite that they used in one of their recent social media posts.

Later in the month I also recorded a podcast episode with Authors’ Alcove. I enjoyed the chat, even though there were some internet / AV troubles in the middle and at the end. Hopefully with some editing magic the episode will come together and be posted soon. I’ll share the link on my Media page when it goes live. I also have an interview scheduled with Pixigonal that I think will be fun. More details on those interviews to come later.

The big thing for the month was that I got a critique letter and comments back from my developmental editor. I worked with Lindsey Anderson of Star Scatter Publishing and am really happy with the work she did on my manuscript. Her reading of my draft was absolutely thorough and her critique letter was over 80 pages! While there was some encouraging notes in the in-margin comments where I wrote something well, what was most helpful was the identification of the fundamental problems with the story. Once pointed out they seemed obvious, but I need her to really help bring them into focus.

The problem that kept appearing in my draft was in the second half of the story where my main characters were trapped in what she called “the waiting room.” Like it sounds, this is where characters have nothing to do because things are happening off-page and the plot is stuck until the characters can react to something. The “waiting room” is bad writing because it takes away character agency and really slows the pace of the story down. With nothing to do, the characters become boring.

After nursing my bruised ego for a couple weeks, I had a follow-up call with her and we discussed where the story was working well and how to prioritize area for revision. Thankfully, it was not an intractable problem, and the conversation was very productive. Overall, I am extremely happy with Lindsey’s work as a developmental editor and plan on engaging her again on my next project.

What has happened since then has been a week or so of making an outline of revisions. After considering the areas that need the most work, I was able to come up with a plan where I can fix the first half of the story with some modest changes of perspective and character agency. The second half of the story was plagued by the “waiting room” scenes, so there is much more intensive revision needed there. I’m in the thick of editing now, and at times it feels like I’m pushing an even heavier rock up the hill. However, I know that the end product will be better for it, so for the next few months I’ll put my head down and plod my way forward.

Thanks for stopping by.