With great trepidation did I open the e-mail from my editor. I knew what it was. First round edits *She screams, shrieks, pulls her hair* And then she settles down and opens the darn thing.
No one likes to see her baby splattered with blood, okay it was cyber-ink, but you get the idea. But still, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see first-hand what a real live editor would do to improve my work. What an awesome idea. What a terrifying ordeal.
My editor had read my story with gusto and worked very hard to point out (in yellow and red) each and every flaw. Yikes! I don't even like to look too closely in the mirror. Again with the shrieking and hair pulling.
Once I settled down, I realized it wasn't so bad. After a couple of chapters, my fatal flaws were peeking up like venomous snakes in the grass. No, I did not repeat myself over and over. Ooops, yes I did. And why didn't I flesh out my heroine better? The hero's black moment? Where was it? How many times can one writer put the word "that" in a manuscript?
Now that my editor has turned the spotlight on those snakes, it is easy to chop their heads off and be a better writer. Isn't that the goal anyway? To be the best writer I can be?
Thank you, dear editor, for your help.
My grass is snake free. Until the next time.
Dear writers, what are your fatal flaws and how did you kill them?
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