More cutting

It's getting to be a bloody mess here in the editing suite. While more cutting has taken place, I've come to the conclusion that huge swaths of text are going to have to go before I'm done. I'm thinking that about 70 pages will be excised from the final draft of Godsend. And while I lament the loss, I do feel a little invigorated about the prospect of doing it. There will be some re-writing, but the novel will be tighter, and more realistic in a lot of ways. It's something that should have happened before. Once I get all the re-writes done this time, I'm going to re-submit to several agencies that expressed some interest before.

Someone asked on a message board about killing your darlings, which, for the uninitiated, means cutting sentences, characters, subplots, etc., that you really love from your work. A lot of people have a hard time doing this. But I really don't. If I'm so into a sentence, I keep it for future use. If I like a character, I'll place them somewhere else.

In this case, though, I don't think these pages will find their way into another story. They will be cut away, and will survive for historians to peruse when I'm gone.

Editing: You only hurt the one you love

See, I have to make some cuts in Godsend, some pretty deep cuts. I have to cut out a secondary character who runs through a major subplot. I have to cut this guy out, because I need to cut out a plot device. If I cut the plot device and leave the character intact, then it won't make a lot of sense the way the main character - Christine - will end up acting.

The problem is, it's going to take a lot of work. And while it's fun to think up the plots and even the words, getting my ass in the chair is the toughest part of the gig. Because really, writing is about getting the shit on the page. You may have the greatest story idea in the world, but it doesn't mean a thing if it never gets set into a Word file, or gets down on a piece of paper.

So I'm off to work. Wish me luck, or a broken leg - whichever's appropriate in this case.

Godsend is a novel I've been working on for the last few years, and it's something to which I'm very attached. I've been querying agents - about 30 so far - to no avail. One asked for a partial manuscript, another asked for a full manuscript. Both rejected me. But there are more agencies to go, and I plan on going through as many as seems reasonable.

What I want to do with this blog is to let everyone know what's going on with Godsend, how it's coming along, the highs, the lows, the rejections, and the final acceptance. I would love for Godsend to find a home at a major publisher. If that doesn't happen, there are other options, which I'll go over here at another time. I can't exactly reveal my master plan right away, now can I?

So come along for the ride. Some day soon, I hope to post some excerpts, which will give you an idea of what the story is like and what my writing style is like.

The story

This is how the universe works: Everyone gets a soul mate. And for Christine Barclay, a lonely, frustrated research associate at a national newspaper, it’s a man named Daniel Delacroix, a chef living and working in Washington, DC. But because of a clerical error in Heaven, Daniel died last night before they ever had a chance to meet.

To correct their mistake, agents of Heaven invite Christine to live in a parallel universe where Daniel is still alive. Of course she accepts. But there are differences in this universe. And soon, Christine discovers a dark family secret held in a box of photos. It’s a secret she feels she must avenge. But if she acts on this impulse, she will lose the love of her soul mate.