BOM: The Editing

I've just finished reading Jasper Fforde's "The Eyre Affair," and boy, was it different! I think it would appeal more to folks who love fantasy, because this is one weird world, but I found it very clever. It helps that Jane Eyre was one of my favorite novels growing up.

The editing of DSLN was fairly straightforward--I remember one big improvement suggested by Becky Nesbitt. If you're familiar with my plot skeleton, it's important that the ribs "swing," or more from positive to negative, from despair to hope, and I'd forgotten that. She suggested something about Thomas that, once implemented, put the positive back in a complication and made the ending so much more poignant. A very good call.

My editors were pleased with the humor in the book. I didn't set out to write a funny book, but the characters were funny, so the humor just came out. Little boys are funny. Exasperated mothers are funny. And sometimes when the going is rough, you have to laugh lest you cry, so I figured Jen had better do some laughing.

Tomorrow: results and reader reaction

~~Angie