After I typed "The End" on my wip, I cracked open a glass of wine, danced around my office, and announced to the hubby that he would get to see my face for more than a couple of hours a day now. Then a scary thing happened. I read the manuscript in it's entirety.
I wanted to run screaming from the room. I'd changed a couple of character's names mid -story, including the villain. I realized that at the beginning of the book, my heroine was a weenie. And not only was it only forty-two thousand words, it needed a serious rewrite. I felt like there was a major conspiracy going on and I was in my own version of writer's hell. Someone had let the air out of my balloon and left me standing around with a string and a limp piece of rubber.
Thank God my crit partners had some suggestions on areas that needed expansion. I'm very wary of expansion. I don't believe in fluff. You now those sometimes endless snippets that have nothing to do with the story? You can almost hear the author pounding at the keys chanting, "I must increase my word count." It's made me put a book down on more than one occasion.
So now, I'm back at page one, the critiques from my crit partners at my side, and luckily, tons of ideas of my own. I see so many opportunities that I didn't see before. And none of it's fluff. But it's definitely not "The End."
Blog question: Have you ever had to expand after you thought your story was perfect? How do you avoid the fluff?
Posted by
Shawn
comments (11)
