Rewriting the Rewrite

Apologies to our few, steadfast and dear imaginary readers for the late Tuesday post. If you haven't heard, we're having a hurricane! It's official. Hurricane Isaac is on the way... and Mississippi and Louisiana are in his way. Needless to say, the Peas have been a little distracted with storm preparation and giggling at the repercussions of The Weather Channel's reference to our state as a land mass. Ah... the entertainments provided by the clash between social media and the national media. It's endless. But enough on that. Let's get to my actual blog topic today. Rewriting.

Every writer knows writing means rewriting.
(At least any writer worth their salt.)

And every rewriter knows that there's always a chance of another rewrite. Often times multiple rewrites. In some cases, years of rewrites. That is where I'm at right now with my own manuscript. Rewriting the rewrite. For me, its a daunting frustrating experience. Even when I fully understand and accept the necessity of it.

To catch ya'll up...

I've been on the cusp of completing a manuscript for about a year. I've long since written the last page. I've pitched it at ITW's Agentfest with great response. I've queried it with no response. I've had full manuscript requests for it from agents and even an editor. But I've never finished it and sent it out in earnest. Because I know it's not ready. Not ready enough to stand on it's own two feet and exist as a thing of true publishing potential.

It's my first finished book.

I'm not that good a writer yet.

This summer I let out my little creation to some non-biased readers. An old mentor, a friend who happens to be an agent, several renown instructors at a writing conference, and even a beta reader or two of known published authors. The feedback was staggering. And quite confusing. I've gotten everything from "send this to my office immediately" to "I'm sorry, you don't have any business sending this out."

What's an insecure upstart writer to do?

Rewrite.

It's all I can do.

At least if I want to ensure that I've written the very best book I possibly can. And why wouldn't I? With so much competition in a rapidly changing publishing landscape, I have to write the very best book I can if I want to have a hope of publishing success. Which, for me, means picking my book up off a bookstore shelf and knowing it's reaching as many people as it can. Why else would you write a book and publish it?

That said, I have to stay true to the story I'm trying to tell. And let me tell you...
Everyone has an opinion on how you should write your book, how you should change it, what will make it better, more sellable, more likable, just.... more.

As a writer you have to learn to filter through all that. Which is the hard part. Anyone can sit down and rewrite a book -- transfer changes to the page and hit save. But it takes a real writer to make the right choices which actually enables that book to take flight.

That's where I'm at.

Daunted, overwhelmed, and terrified I will make the wrong choices and may nudge my manuscript off kilter and send it careening off course where it it crashes and becomes a fiery pile of horse manure, ending my nonexistent writing career before it starts. So what do I have to do to save it?

Cut the cast of characters in half.
Make the protagonist likable.
Show the reader who to root for.
Create a more commercial conflict.
Narrow the focus.
Widen the social/cultural conflict and commentary.

And...well... there's a laundry list of suggestions from a multitude of critics I have to consider. Now whether I consider and toss away or consider and apply...that's the real test isn't it? Will I make the right choices to attract the largest audience I can? No one knows -- least of all me. All I can do is rewrite the best rewrite I can and put it out into the world again until either someone else or myself decides... yup, it's ready.

In the end, I'm the only person who can decide when it's done because it will never be finished. I know I can write a better book and I will try my damnedest to do so. Then when I'm happy enough to close the laptop on this bugger, I'll send it out and move on. Until then, I'll be right here, rewriting.

Because writing is rewriting. Every author worth their salt will tell you so.

Stay safe world in the path of Isaac. The winds are picking up here and the rain is starting. I'm going to shut this down and post before the storm lands. Peas be with you, always.

Book Review: This Glittering World

A few months back, I popped into Kmart for some random stuff, and, as always, my route detoured through the small aisle dedicated to books {because sometimes you find a gem somewhere other than the big book chains}. That particular day, planted in the young adult section, was this beautiful, peaceful, snowy cover that drew my attention for two reasons. One, I missed snow {and this was the only way I was going to get any}. Two, it had a really pretty bird on it {Yes. I'm that easy to please}. So I picked it up.

"Please let this sound half as interesting as the cover is pretty," I muttered as I flipped to the inside cover copy.

And you know what? It did. Just the first little intro, "T. Greenwood, acclaimed author of Two Rivers and The Hungry Season, crafts a moving, lyrical story of loss, atonement, and promises kept," had me hooked. {To be fair, I'm sort of a sucker for books that hold any promise of making me cry}.

I didn't get to it right away {had another couple books ahead of it in the queue} but I kept passing it on my bookshelf, fingering it's spine and promising it, "you next." Eventually, I made good on my promise. And I finished it in a total of maybe five hours.

About this book I can now say two things:
It was in the wrong section.  -and-  Covers can be deceiving.

This Glittering World, by T. Greenwood, gripped my heart in a stranglehold and left me reeling.

You know those giant, hand-inked bibles with parchment-thick pages you find in ancient monasteries? Well, that was the weight of this 10 oz. book on my chest when I closed its covers. {Yes, I actually weighed it}. It was heavy.

The story follows Ben, a part-time History professor, as he struggles through the aftermath of finding Ricky, a Navajo teen beaten to death and frozen under a blanket of freshly fallen snow in his front yard. Because of a past filled with loss, which he's buried deep in the corners of his heart, Ben can't seem to let this incident go. Then he meets Shadi, Ricky's older sister, and their shared experience of loss opens a channel to Ben's buried past and gives him a reason not to let it go. The authorities chalk up Ricky's death as alcohol-related, despite the obvious foul-play. So Ben, in hopes of filling the cracks his past has left in his heart, begins searching for the truth about Ricky's death - searching for justice. At the same time, Ben begins to look inward - to question everything about his life, including his fiancé, Sara.

Now, I have to tell you, Ben didn't get much of my sympathy. In fact, most of the time, I pretty much just wanted to smack him. Or hit him with my car...
He's so deadset on dealing justice for Ricky's death, and fulfilling his own desires, that he lets himself overlook the injustices he's inflicting upon Sara {and later, upon Shadi and himself as well}.
He's a selfish man and an unlikeable character. He does nothing to change himself or the situation {that he caused}. He admits to himself that Sara deserves better, but he won't better himself, nor will he man up and leave her so that she might find someone better. Hardly any of his other choices {or lack therof} are any better. And the ones that are come too late.  
He is, without a doubt, a tragic hero. He makes one bad decision after another, and never learns from his mistakes.

Which is part of why I very quickly found myself empathizing with Sara. At first, I felt as though it was some individual quirk of mine that I identified better with her. She is often sullen, guarded, angry, and suspicious, after all. But Ben's own explanations for her attitude and behavior, despite his best efforts to convince me otherwise, justifies her. Sure, the girl has flaws. She loves Ben {or maybe the idea of him} to a fault. And she's constantly jumping to the negative in every situation, unable to find a way to make herself happy. But I get it. Her reactions may not be the best, but they aren't invalid.

Then there's Shadi. As someone with "card-carrying" Native American relatives, and just enough Native blood to be considered one myself, I liked Shadi right away. In fact, by the end of the book, despite her role as "the other woman," I respected her the most of any of the main characters. She was wise, strong, and reacted the way I would hope any woman who caught my husband's affection would when she found out Ben was {engaged to be} married: She backed the hell off and called him out for being a "selfish asshole" {her words}. She was, at times, the only voice of reason in this book.

But even Shadi's words of wisdom weren't enough to save Ben from himself. Especially because he didn't listen to them. And so, at the end of this book, I was left uttering one {vast and heart-breaking} question: "...at what cost?"

And that is why, despite a five-day struggle to get my words in order, I chose to review this book. It was not only beautifully written, but here I am, so worked up by these characters actions that I've taken days picking through all the things I had to say about them in order to write this. Days, I might add, which I refused to pick up another book {I have a very large to-read pile screaming my name} until I could write out my feelings about this one. If you want characters who jump off the page, whether you like them or hate them, This Glittering World has them.

Am I saying this is an easy, happy read? Hell no. {Sure, it was a quick read... But only because I couldn't bare to put it down without knowing what happened to these people.}

What I'm saying is this book meets my criteria {previously mentioned in What I Read vs What I Write: Alexis's Take} for a good read. I was invested. Completely. It gripped me, it kept me thinking on it days after I'd finished, and it had at least one character I wanted to do physical harm to.

A note of caution: If you have been through any tough or life-changing situation that you're still emotionally dealing with {which may or may not appear in the pages} this story may make you spiral into a place you don't want to be - that you might have worked hard to get out of. BUT it may be extremely cathartic, pulling you out of the last of whatever it is you're going through. {Okay. Now I can at least say, "Don't say I didn't warn you."}