What I learned from Editors, part I

I've been blessed with good editors since day one in my writing career.

The first, at Harlequin Mills & Boon, sent me a revision letter three pages long (this before she ever bought the book) which detailed the issues she wanted addressed.

Boiled down, she said, "There are four things you need to work on: the hero, the heroine, the plot and the ending."

So I did, and sold her the book.

That was when I learned to love rewriting.

Of course I also love those handful of books that have gone straight through with no revisions at all. And I long for another one because I don't hate them so much by the time I see them in print if I haven't seen them in several incarnations first.

But that doesn't happen often.

It probably won't happen with Demetrios, though of course I can hope.

I'm the process right now of doing my own 'editorial' work trying to bring all the pieces together and then write the ending that is promised in the beginning (I just have to figure out what it is).

But as I've been working, I've been remembering what I've learned from each of the editors I've had, because they have all given me insights and understanding and I've learned something from every one of them (even if it's how badly I've communicated what I'm trying to get across to them!)

One who had a huge influence on my ability to rewrite is Silhouette editor Ann Leslie Tuttle. I worked with Ann Leslie for several years and enjoyed the process every time we worked on a book together. What I appreciated most, though, was her ability to see what wasn't needed.

I tend to write long. Mostly, I suppose, so I can grope my way through the book and find out what I want to say. Sometimes I get there with less wandering than I do in others. But when I did wander, I could count on Ann Leslie to make me cut to the chase.

She never cut things herself. She would make notes and ring me and say, "You know, I don't really think you need that scene in the ranch house before the fire."

I don't?

But I slaved days over it. It was the bog I thought I'd never get out of so I could write about the fire!

But when I went back and read it, she was absolutely right. Not only didn't I need it, the book was much faster and sharper without it.

Maybe the truth is that I needed it to see where the story was going and what the mindset of the characters was before the fire, but once I knew it, the book didn't need it -- and neither did the readers.

I could always count on Ann Leslie to point those spots out to me. She made me a better, sharper critic of my own books. But I still wish she were reading Demetrios now, pointing those places out to me.

I am trying to do it myself. But I'm not as good at it.

I cut a scene the other day and thought, "Ann Leslie, you'd be proud of me."

But a chapter later, I realized the reader really needed it, so I put it back.

Still she taught me the difference between what I need to get from one point to the next and what the reader needs.

So, thank you, Ann Leslie, for your wisdom and your deft use of the red pencil and those brackets marked [delete?].

Demetrios wishes you were here!