Bang! Thunk! Crash! Pardon me if the noise is a little loud, I’m dismantling my book.
Boom!
I just blew up the first chapter. Thank God we don’t build houses the way we write novels. Most novels get written, then blown up, rewritten, then blown up again, and so on. Imagine if we built a house, blew it up, built it again, blew it up again – you get the point.
So, I’ve gotten my first round of feedback from my beta readers. Almost unanimously, they said the first few chapters dragged. I went back and looked at them. Guess what? They were 100% right. I wrote these chapters, literally, years ago, before the rest of the story unfolded, before I found a voice and a style. Before I had a clue what I was doing (I don’t really have clue yet, more of an inkling). I had too much back story, not enough action. BORING. I don’t want you, dear reader, to have to slog through that to get to the good stuff (but thankfully my beta readers did – their feedback was invaluable).
So I pulled out the dynamite and blew big chunks of exposition away. Small pieces ended up later in the book because they contained important information. Other bits will only exist in the early drafts. I spackled the big gaping holes with dialogue and action. It’s looking better already.
This brings to mind a very famous and popular saying among writers; that you must “kill your darlings.” Its origin is attributed to Author Quiller-Couch, though almost any reputable writing book or blog will eventually reference it (and now mine can be added, minus the reputable part). Writers get attached to their words and sentences. We work hard to put them in the right order, to convey the nuances of our characters. Sometimes a sentence appears on the page so well-turned and witty it’s love at first sight. But sometimes, that sentence doesn’t fit. No matter how lovely and poetic, it doesn’t advance the plot or reveal anything about anything. And then it must go. You must kill it. I like to use TNT.
So that’s what I’m up to these days, in between cleaning and cooking for Thanksgiving
With that, I’m off, dear reader. *settles construction hat on my head* I’ve got some editing to do.
BOOM!
Get more of me on Twitter @aereichert.
