I did some more work on condensing my novel yesterday. I don't know why it's so much work, but it really is. I'd already removed chapter upon chapter 'til I was left with the story's bare bones. I'm now in the continuity phase.
At times intermixing past and present works fine. Other passages, however, are too choppy. Part of my difficulty is psychological. I don't truly believe I can make something of this. And I refuse to publish something I can't be proud of.
While I eliminated some characters all together, some of those that remain are now one-dimensional, because I removed all the meat. The main character's dad makes a couple of appearances, but he appears to have no personality other than concern for his daughter. That's just lazy editing. In the original, of course, he was fully fleshed out. The ex-fiance fares even worse. The way he's portrayed now, one wonders why she ever fell for him. The problem is, he exists only in the past, and I'm trying to ground the story in the present. All his good traits have been exorcised. These are all aspects that need fixing.
Perhaps by the end of the month this'll be in some kind of shape to publish. Or to trash forever. At this point, I could go either way.
No comments:
Post a Comment