When I’m working on a book, I spend a lot of time in the story’s world.
I hang out with my imaginary friends. I think about what they’d do in different situations. I wonder what makes them tick.
I frequently think about my storyline and characters’ personalities as I drive the car around town, brush my teeth, or run the vacuum.
To come up with a good story, we do have to immerse ourselves in it. It takes a lot of time to think about all the different aspects that make up the book.
But then, even though we’ve put a lot of thought and emotion into the story, the time comes to back off a little bit and look at it objectively.
I’ve been working on revisions on one manuscript that have been fairly extensive, compared to the revisions I usually get. I’ve gotten requests for changes for both the manuscript’s editor and my agent…different ones, too—for different issues.
That’s where the distance comes in. My agent had a real problem with one of the minor characters in the story, but was trying to work with me to fix the issues. “I just don’t understand why he’s doing this. How about if we have him do this because ______. Then you can have his ex-wife to do _______ instead, then the woman he was seeing could do _______.”
I looked at her suggestions and the domino effect of changes that the motivation change would make. Then I thought about the character himself. Was he pulling his weight? Was he doing his job in making the story work? Clearly he wasn’t.
“How about if I just get rid of the character?” I asked Ellen. “If he’s making problems, then I’ll just ax him.” Not literally, though—I already had my victim. :)
That worked out just fine and I went through the book purging out all references to the character. But then both my editor and agent had a problem with a separate character in the story. And they wanted another suspect more deeply fleshed out.
So I looked at the story again. Counting my characters, I had a pretty good-sized cast. “How about if I fuse this character into the one who needs more development? I could tinker with the personality a little when merging the two characters into one. Then I’ll have a pared down cast, I’ll have gotten rid of the unlikeable characteristics of one of the characters, and I’ll have more deeply developed the one that needed work.”
It worked out pretty well as a solution.
It wasn’t always this easy to make really radical changes to a book for me. I think now, though, I subscribe to the idea that it really does take a village to write a book. It’s a collaborative effort and the more collaboration that I accept, the stronger the story gets.
I think, now, that once I hit “send” on that email with the story as an attachment, that I’ve lost some of my attachment to the book. It’s like the child that leaves the nest—you still love the child, but it’s time to back off and let the child grow up.
It helps that my editor and agent care just as much about the book as I do—they need for it to be successful, too.
How do you pull away from a project enough to get some objectivity?
You it’s funny, but I love this sort of work. For me it’s a part of the emotional investment (especially where the characters are not pulling their weight!)
But it is really nice when you have someone who will tell you these things – if not an editor, a critique partner who gives you the reader reaction to the _characters_ is great.
That is a really tough one. I am pretty sure I would find it very difficult to axe a character, but I guess it does have to be done sometimes.
But distance is imperitive when you are editing.
Elizabeth – It’s funny you would bring up emotional investments in our characters and story. I had to do the same kind of letting-go that you did in my own WIP. There were parts of it that were just wrong, and part of that was that I was too invested in, of all things, the setting. I was also invested in a couple of the characters. When I realized that the book as it was was going nowhere, I had to pull away, just as you did, from my preconceptions. I started over and although it’s meant a delay in the WIP, I think it’s much better. It’s hard to do, though, because our characters, etc., are our creations.
I’ve had to take a couple of weeks off from my wip in order to process some feedback. Distance works for me and specific comments that give me something to target.
Probably the ONLY good thing about how slowly the process moves is that you do have time for distance. Culling characters is tough, but you have to look at them for what they’re doing for the story, not as those friends they’ve turned out to be. And how wonderful that you have such support.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Romance with a Twist–of Mystery
I’m getting to this – where I’m going to have to judge for myself what to change, what to get rid of, what doesn’t work etc.
I guess that’s why I allow myself to go crazy and be wordy so when I’m editing, I can cut without feeling too much of a loss. I hope. I think I’d enjoy changing a character or even getting rid of one.
Thanks for the post, Elizabeth.
Jessie Mac
http://www.jessiemac.com
I’m working on growing the village right now. But distance…what a great question. I’ve noticed this kind of dance I’ve been doing w/ my manuscripts. Step close, pull away fast. I think it’s at the point when you’re unwilling even to consider changes you might, just might be too close.
Sometimes it helps me to get caught up in a painting project.
~ Wendy
I think this is a fabulous story of author, editor, agent working together. Also, it shows what a mature, experienced writer you are that you were able to take their suggestions and come up with solutions.
I haven’t made it to the village yet. I’m still wondering around in the forest, trying to finish my manuscript draft.
I must ask, do you have beta-readers? Are there any readers out there you give your project to so you can answer the question, does this story work, overall?
I’m still very connected to my characters and can’t wait to cut the cord and let them fly on their own.
I can only hope that, someday I’ll have some published work under my belt, and have such a great relationship with my editor and agent as you.
It’s hard especially for me when I have to make changes to a character. Minor ones, not so much, but major ones, I have a hard time with it because for me, they’re real. I have a character in my latest novel that is very secretive and my writing group are noticing I’m not touching on his inner emotions enough. I don’t know why I’m pushing him away but I have to be objective and just dive in.
CD
I’ve never been asked to kill a character yet. Doing so for even a secondary main that I’d developed for months would be tough. My editors – I have two that I use and trust implicitly HAVE asked me to tone down or develop and use more of this or that character, but … thank God no killing yet.
I was struggling with my current work and stopped working on it for a while. (A new PC game to play helped there!) Then several new ideas struck me and I’ve attacked it anew, changing many aspects. Which means, rewriting from the beginning. But that’s okay.
I loved how two of my characters change my manuscript. They brought in more crime than I had anticipated. Another character was murdered. I thought they were going to be beside my MC all the way.
I have recently merged two females to make one, and love the result. For me it showed me I had control over my manuscript. I was no longer scribbling a story. ☺
Interesting post, thanks.
I think this is one of the hardest lessons we writers have to learn; to loosen the emotional strings on out work. When we’re writing those first drafts, we love our characters. Sure we’re aware the writing itself needs polishing, but those characters? We love ’em. But with a bit of distancing, one can see that perhaps some aren’t pulling their weight, or they’re not adding a unique voice. I’ve learned, as time-consuming as it may be, out they go.
I set my novel aside for a while after I finish the first draft. Then I come back to it and take a close look at all the characters to make sure there aren’t inconsistencies or issues with them. My critique group helps a lot too. Someday I’d love to have an agent that loves my work as much as I do. It’s awesome that you have that!
The Daring Novelist–It’s so *important* to have someone be honest. The tendancy, of course, is for us to want to tell our friend that their writing is wonderful…but sometimes it’s just better to be honest (gently..except I don’t even require gentleness anymore) and give them the honest lowdown on the book.
Rayna–And sometimes that switch has to be done so quickly.
Jessie–At first you think that cutting a character would be a lot of work–but actually, for this minor character, it took about twenty minutes for me to make sure all the references were purged and any holes left in the story patched up. And the story really is better.
Wendy–I’m jealous! Wish I could paint. Absolutely love paintings…
Helen–I think my agent and I were actually a lot more blunt with each other than usual since we were on top of a deadline. But then everything got done so QUICKLY with the revision that way. No beating around the bush. And I gave my agent and editor other options too…because there’s always more than one way to handle a revision. But this time the extreme way won out.
Margot–That’s a lousy feeling! But when you do a major revision like that, it’s *always* better. It might be a *mess*, but the story is better.
J.L.–I have my mother. :) And I have a couple of writing friends that have really nicely offered to be betas. The problem has been that I have been on TOP of my deadlines lately because I’m working on more than one project. I hate to hand out a manuscript that’s still a mess to a beta, but by the time I clean it up, it’s time for my agent to take a look at it. I’m going to try to leave myself some space for the next deadline (Nov. 1).
Jemi–That would REALLY help me out. I’ve got to get things done a little quicker and give myself some breathing space.
Clarissa–I like secretive characters myself..especially in a mystery. But if it’s a sleuth, maybe some clues about why they’re secretive–maybe bits and pieces for the reader to figure out.
The Old Silly–Developing a character is easy…this is the first time (I think) where I had a really superfluous character. He just didn’t serve a purpose, soooo…with only 75,000 words, we don’t have any time for a non-contributor!
Alex–I bet it’s going to be great after the rewrite! Ah…a gamer, are you? :)
Glynis–More crime! I love it! Those crazy characters take over the story sometimes. I liked the merging of the two characters…and really, I don’t think anything was lost–it was all a gain.
Terry–They all have a job to do, don’t they? If they don’t do it, they’ve got to get fired.
Heather–I’m lucky that she likes to edit! And over Labor Day weekend! I feel bad for her…I did make her some extra work.
Elspeth–I felt a little sorry for the character I fired. But oh well! And the story was just so much better. Maybe he’ll show up in another book sometime…as long as he pulls his own weight.
With my first book, some of the suggested changes freaked me out just thinking about them. When I made the changes, I realized how much better the story was. Now I look forward to receiving this input.