Mountain and Sea.
My neighborhood.
The place where I live.
8 am and 74 degrees.
I am ecstatic. Thrilled. Happy. I stayed up until midnight going through my manuscript. It arrived from my editor.
She is brilliant.
I have decided.
(Are you reading this P.v.A.?)
The subject today?
KILLING YOUR BABIES.
No.
Not like that.
But all writers know this.
Intimately.
One favored word. A uniquely turned phrase.
That well crafted scene displaying your cleverness, your adeptness, your profundity.
Those sentences which show the world that
YOU ARE ONE HELL OF A WRITER DAMN IT!!!!
And that needs to be cut out so your story can move forward.
Remove.
Surgically excise.
Make disappear.
And you know what?
After I took them out.
I didn't miss them one bit.
Go figure.
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3 comments:
Joy!
Kim S
BTDT. I love my prologue, it's brilliant! ;) Just kidding. But it does set the tone for the novel, and hints at conflict to come.
But it doesn't do its job to yank the reader smack into the story. It's kind of slow. On purpose.
I love it. Yet, it can't stay in. I doubt any editor would let it (esp. if *I* know it must go, LOL).
But then, I've been reading the Crap-O-Meter too long. Miss Snark and I have opposing tastes, apparently, or I'm just clueless as to what works, and what doesn't.
Pat, as you know, I so relate. This is one of the hardest things to learn, how to LET GO of your perceived past brilliance so you embrance the star that lies beneath (chuckle... waaay too much eggnog, huh?!)
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