Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Revising again

I chatted with my agent about Blackbirds this morning.  She loves the book and the particular way I've portrayed the past (more on that later, for those of you who haven't yet read the novel).  But, as all fantastic agents do, she offered suggestions for making the book stronger.

Some alterations in the beginning will be tricky, but I think I can work them out with some tweaking and finessing.  I have too much flashback in the opening that needs to be moved into the main meat of the story.  Not impossible, but it'll definitely keep me busy over the next month or so.  As I've mentioned before, I love looking at plots as if they were jigsaw puzzles.  Sometimes the pieces need to be altered or moved to a different position to work just right.

Thanks for your input, Barbara!!  And thanks again to everyone who gave me suggestions before she read it.  Some of the aspects she liked best were the result of other readers' input.

2 comments:

Ara Burklund said...

GAH!!!! There. I said it, because I'm feeling your pain. Well, we talked about the possibility that she might wants those opening flashbacks rearranged, and now it's reality.

Good luck making the changes! I know you'll succeed, it's just going to be a whole lot of work. And think of it this way: going on submission during the holidays isn't the best time of year anyway.

Cat Winters said...

I've started tackling the scenes today. This is going to be a challenge.