Re-Boxing
Before I find a box for the new book, I'm going to do some resizing of Flynn and Sara's box -- er, book. Turns out they are rattling around in there.
I knew the problem with this book was it feeling like a 75K book that had to be shoved into a 50-55K sha
pe. And the biggest problem with that is it starts too slow. The build is there -- but it takes too long for them to hit their stride. So I need give them a smaller box so they have less room to flail around -- basically so they fit like this bunny in the box.
Yes, I know we were talking about ducks. But you have no idea how hard it is to find a suitable picture of a duck jammed into a box.
Anyway, I'm going to be cutting a bunch of words and seeing if I can punch up the ones left so that they get the job done.
Good comments by the editor, though I find them more helpful written down than spoken. So getting them on paper was a help (after we'd talked).
The interesting thing is going to be to see how to best trim things down -- or how to shrink the box. I used to have an editor at Silhouette who was absolutely fantastic at that. She could look at a book and say, "You can cut this . . . and this . . . and this," and be absolutely spot on.
The most amazing thing wasn't that she could see what could be cut -- but that it would work with virtually no revisions AFTER the cuts. It wasn't a matter of deleting adverbs (been there, done that). It was "this whole scene is expendable. Nice, but expendable." Oh, I wish she were here now!
Gotta get this done by June 9th. So if you don't see me a lot, that's why.
Don't forget Theo's contest! You only have until Thursday night to enter. 3 great books. Just go to my website and answer the questions in the space on the Contact Anne tab.
Also, on Friday I'm 'guest blogging' at Love Is An Exploding Cigar -- a blog by several romance authors, including Samantha Hunter who invited me after my week on eharlequin talking about "world building."
Stop by for a visit if you can. There might even be prizes!
I knew the problem with this book was it feeling like a 75K book that had to be shoved into a 50-55K sha
pe. And the biggest problem with that is it starts too slow. The build is there -- but it takes too long for them to hit their stride. So I need give them a smaller box so they have less room to flail around -- basically so they fit like this bunny in the box.Yes, I know we were talking about ducks. But you have no idea how hard it is to find a suitable picture of a duck jammed into a box.
Anyway, I'm going to be cutting a bunch of words and seeing if I can punch up the ones left so that they get the job done.
Good comments by the editor, though I find them more helpful written down than spoken. So getting them on paper was a help (after we'd talked).
The interesting thing is going to be to see how to best trim things down -- or how to shrink the box. I used to have an editor at Silhouette who was absolutely fantastic at that. She could look at a book and say, "You can cut this . . . and this . . . and this," and be absolutely spot on.
The most amazing thing wasn't that she could see what could be cut -- but that it would work with virtually no revisions AFTER the cuts. It wasn't a matter of deleting adverbs (been there, done that). It was "this whole scene is expendable. Nice, but expendable." Oh, I wish she were here now!
Gotta get this done by June 9th. So if you don't see me a lot, that's why.
Don't forget Theo's contest! You only have until Thursday night to enter. 3 great books. Just go to my website and answer the questions in the space on the Contact Anne tab.
Also, on Friday I'm 'guest blogging' at Love Is An Exploding Cigar -- a blog by several romance authors, including Samantha Hunter who invited me after my week on eharlequin talking about "world building."
Stop by for a visit if you can. There might even be prizes!
posted by Anne McAllister at 1:09 PM
4 Comments:
Cutting can be fun and theraputic. I find it amazing, once you know things have to go, how fun it can be. Things that only worked slightly. Or whole conversations can go because although they were good, the plots points can easily be put in elsewhere.
Good luck. I am sure you will do it!!!!
Thanks. It's coming along. I could paste together another book out of what I'm cutting -- but of course it wouldn't have much plot!
Anne
Anne, We loved your blog on cigars and I told you in my email that I might stop by your blog. You have a great blog and I plan on checking it out often. Thanks for putting the info on Cigars for all of us. Mads:)
Madeline,
I'm so glad you came by! Thanks for stopping. Look forward to seeing you here again. And I'm sure I'll be visiting the Exploding Cigar, too.
Anne
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