So about the big read. (See my February 11 blog post about this process.) I'm about two thirds through, and it's easy to tell my novel in progress needs a lot of work. In fact, in the words of Anne Lamott in her wonderful book on writing Bird by Bird, it's a "shitty first draft." I just don't know if I'm clever enough to give it what it needs to turn it into a "good second draft" and a "terrific third draft" that she predicts will happen. I'm finding little problems like lots of typos, inconsistencies, and redundancies those I know how to fix. It's the big problems like creating more interest in the characters and the story that is the major work. I need to describe the characters better; I need to make the story more interesting and suspenseful. In truth I need to figure out a way to make my readers want to turn the page. This morning I read a LinkedIn conversation about whether to include prologues or not lots of pros and cons on the subject. So I need to revisit leaving … [Read more...]