Author: katiefortinwrites

When editing, it’s possible to become too attached to the red pen. This results in essential parts of the story being cut from the book because they are not directly informing the plight of the protagonists. This week, I worked through outlining the major rewrites of my project with a focus on cutting out anything that clouded the central conflict between Charlie and Sam. I ended up devaluing Amy and Jo as characters and their roles in the book. Not exactly what I was going for.

Amy’s transformation began with Sam’s. One main thing I learned from outlining my first draft was the necessity of separating Charlie and Sam. The distance helps them gauge their positions and understand their roles in the larger situation and come to their conclusions by the book’s end. In the first draft, Sam and Charlie briefly separate but it’s Amy who steps back from the conflict for a long time. When outlining the current draft, I didn’t want to overload the plot by having both girls leave, so I decided to let Sam go and have Amy stay, not realizing the impact it would have on her character. By removing Amy’s conflict with Charlie, I take away her boundaries, her emotions and her personal stakes in the story.  That diminishes Amy and Charlie’s friendship and is a disservice to Amy’s character.

Jo shares Amy’s fate, though in a different way. Early on, I arbitrarily decided to make her a professional gymnast. I needed a way to remove Sam from the situation on the night of the second suicide attempt and used Jo’s career to do it. The reality is, I know precious little about professional gymnastics, and despite my research, it doesn’t fit well in the timeline of the rest of the book. I decided to remove it, and Jo instantly became less significant than she had been.  Without the meets, she and Sam have less opportunities to spend time together, and without her training, it’s unlikely she’d be as absent as she is. Jo’s athletic journey, marking her success, also serves as a visual statement about how abuse survivors can thrive and become healthy as they grow. Her wellness and coping methods are on display in her sports and even her authority is diminished without her them.

Neither change was made to hurt Jo or Amy; I made the changes to support Sam. I didn’t want the redundancy of having two characters leave the situation, despite their different motives, and thought it made more sense for Amy’s relatively small arc to take that cut, rather than Sam, the protagonist. I changed Jo’s story because I don’t know much about gymnastics and am running out of time to research it properly. I wanted to keep the story focused on Sam and Charlie, and I didn’t realize the cost that that decision had on the other characters, and their arcs and personalities.

Understanding the mistakes that I’ve made is a good thing. It helps me know how to fix it. My mistake was that I did not understand Amy and Jo’s full contributions to the book, and I was trying to make decisions based on that understanding and what would be best for Sam. I didn’t consider the group; I know better now. Amy and Jo are fundamental to the story and cannot be removed or changed without changing everything. I look forward to returning them to full potential.

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Thank you for joining me on my journey and for your input and wisdom.

Project Status: The rewriting continues.

This week involved coming to terms with my audience, my portrayal of characters, my overall vision and with myself, and how all of these different factors play a role in my book. I had to remind myself why I made certain choices and what they offer to the narrative and accept that people will disagree with my decisions. Humility and being open to critique is necessary for an author, but so is resolve in one’s vision. Change is necessary in editing, but it must never be arbitrary. That was what I learned this week.

It all started with the comment that my book was lacking male perspectives. Thinking about it, this is a valid statement. The main cast is made up entirely of females, and of the two prominent males, one is neglectful and abusive, and the other, though a more positive influence, was on the editing chopping block for a relatively negligible role. This comment got me thinking about my portrayal of males and how it might improve my book to include more masculine perspectives.

The comment brought me back to the main cast, one of which is based on a male. That reality caused me to consider gender swapping the character, and matching it more closely with my experiences.  It would round out the male perspectives of the novel and open the book up to more readers, but it would also go against my authorial intent. I made the decision early on to change the gender of the male member of the main cast, for several reasons, narrative flow and relational openness not the least of which. I made that decision for a reason, and I was hesitant to change it, even though I valued the critique and understood its validity.

I brought my plight to different members of my community, including my writing mentor and individuals directly involved in the original situation. With them, I discussed how gender-swapping a main character would affect the story, and they asked me how it would benefit the story to do so. I would have to change several scenes and completely rework a character to make it work, but I couldn’t see how the change would implicitly improve the work. Thoughts of changing other main characters based on females were also dismissed, frankly, because I like their characters and I want to keep them the way they are.

By talking about the issue with trusted authors and friends, I realized how important it was to me to keep the characters the way I envisioned them. I chose to change the character early on for specific and necessary reasons, and it matters to me that I keep those reasons intact. The characters based on my team are special to me, but also different enough from their source material that I can treat them differently and do different things with them. Given my character’s setting and social situation, it makes sense for their friend group to be composed entirely of girls and I wanted to maintain this new dynamic and use it to explore the characters. This isn’t to say I dismissed the advice about men; I outsourced it.

The critique about the male presence in my book was valid, and I didn’t want to ignore it. I looked into the father figures in the book, and doing so, I realized something about Sam’s father, Mark. I learned that he was more important than I previously recognized. Present mainly to create juxtaposition between himself and Charlie’s father, his role is brief, though supportive, but he also acts as the instigator of a novel-wide project that frames Sam’s character and values. It isn’t an impactful scene, but it leads to one, giving Mark more influence than I initially gave him credit for.  This act saves him from the editing chopping block, underlining him as a subtle yet necessary character and a mainstay in the book.

This week was about seeing my work in new ways and recognizing the way I want the book to be. Different perspectives will always be welcome, but in the end, the final product is my responsibility and my vision. It was strange to be reminded of that, especially since I’ve become so involved in reworking my original ideas into something almost entirely new. But the heart of the work is still the same, and that’s the important part.

Thank you all for your continued support and presence on my journey, and the ways you challenge me to be better.

Project Status: Rewriting significant portions of the book and condensing multiple chapters into smaller ones.