Novel Update #11: New Discoveries

January 20, 2015

Well here we are in the New Year and I am back at the manuscript.

Before the holidays ended, just before New Year’s Eve, I received a 20-page very detailed evaluation of my manuscript for FALLOUT.

It was the first official chance ANYONE has ever had to read my entire work from beginning to end. I felt so relieved and tremendously thrilled when my Editor began her remarks by thanking me for the pleasure of reading my book.

Really? A pleasure?

That lifted my spirits and warmed my heart so much especially after a grueling wait for her response once the manuscript was in her hands.

The bottom line was that the structure and story are solid but that there is much work yet to be done.

This did not surprise me at all. In fact, I was, and still am, totally prepared, eager and excited to tackle the challenge of the next draft.

But what I discovered above all else was how insightful someone else’s views and opinions (substantiated by actual examples in the book) were about every aspect of those 500+ pages.

First of all, it is too long for publication appeal. So that will have to be considered. Not a problem.

Then Point of View must be addressed in a more concise and constructed way as I tended to hop from one to another perspective and then back to the first approach more than once.

There are a bit too many characters which I’ve always known to be true but that falls into the love one has for their created world. I admit it has been difficult to let go of some of them. But, unfortunately, now is the time to reassess again. The warning is out there my dear imagined friends.

I must also look to a number of other aspects like precise Setting and other characterization and story development points.

Yet at the end of it all, I am not upset (probably since the wine my Editor suggested I have accompany my read through helped relax any anxieties when I read it the first time).

Today (Monday) I made my own notes and questions and am now prepared for our official discussion tomorrow.

I look forward to improving my work, getting to know my craft more fully and learning all I can from this incredibly talented and experienced Author/Editor I have been blessed in finding.

Until next time…

Paula Antonello Moore, The Novel. Copyright: Monday, January 19, 2015.

Image: Writer at work, Getty Images.

Post navigation

← I Can Only

Novel Update #12: Character Prompts →