Finished . . . for now

This week I delivered my edited manuscript for SUMMONING THE NIGHT. The original first draft of the manuscript was submitted to my publisher exactly a year ago. Mind you, it didn’t take my editor an entire year to read the draft and write up a standard editorial letter (which varies from editor to editor, but generally suggests big-picture changes to the plot/tone/characters). But I was not her only author—she had a billion other releases to contend with during that time. And as I’ve previously said on this blog, publishing is a slow and deliberate business.

It also won’t be the last time that I make changes to the the text. Copy edits are next. Those are provided by another editor entirely, a copy editor, who understands the publisher’s house style and focuses on grammar, sentence structure, word choice, fact-checking, and story continuity. After I review suggested copy edits and either accept them or make further changes, the revised text goes to another person—or team of persons—who execute the corrections and set the text as it will appear in print. Then it comes back to me again for page proofs: the last round of checks before printing. It’s pretty much at this point that I will never, EVER want to read the book again. I will hate it. I will want to throw it in the trash. I will question all of my previous plot choices and wonder if I was drunk when I wrote the book. A couple months after that, I’ll receive a box of the finished books from my publisher, and I’ll hug them like small puppies and do a happy dance. Such is the writer’s mind.

I made some sweeping changes to the last third of the SUMMONING in regards to plot and characters. Most of this was well above and beyond what my editor suggested. I’m a different writer than I was a year ago when I first wrote it. I tried my best to use what I’ve learned to improve the pacing and tone of the story. I spent several weeks agonizing over motivations and subplots, working long days, losing sleep, eating poorly, and basically declining into an hyper-emotional wreck. Huzzah! I’m fairly pleased with the story as it stands now. Come next month, though . . . who knows.  I’m one of those twitchy creative types who’s never completely happy with something I’ve made, and will fidget, poke, and retool until someone makes me stop.

Some of you shared my grief on twitter regarding the elimination of Jupe-content in SUMMONING. To clarify, my editor didn’t ask me to put Jupe in a closet, she merely suggested that I cut some of his subplot. Which I did, begrudgingly (my editor was right). Regardless, Jupe still plays an important role in the main plot, and he’s got quite a bit more screen time than he did in KINDLING. And though I cut some classic Jupe dialogue, I’ll hang on to it. Maybe one day I’ll get to write my dream books: a YA series from Jupe’s POV, circa age 16-17.

Speaking of all things Jupe, I watched ATTACK THE BLOCK this past week (from the producers of Shaun of the Dead). What a surprise! I really loved this film—Alien attack on a South London apartment complex, in which inner-city kids defend their turf against creatures. One of the kids, a character named Biggz, could almost be a British Jupe—tall, skinny, biracial, chatty. If only his hair were a teeny bit longer! Still, this guy (Simon Howard is the actor) gets my vote to play a movie version of Jupe. Check out the trailer that features a profile of his character and let me know if you agree: