Fortunately, I don't recall any major kerfuffles with the editing. I do remember that I'd written a scene where Jen and Gerald eat dinner in the preparation room . . . and one of my editors, who had grown up in a funeral home herself, said that wouldn't happen. "There's a smell," she told me. "It's just not appetizing."
Easy enough to fix. :-) I moved Jen and Gerald out to the back porch.
I also remember some concerns about Charley Gansky (yes, that's my dog's name)--it was hard to have Leticia have her "living funeral" without her husband present, but I had to come up with a credible reason for why he wouldn't be there. Tricky.
Tomorrow: results and reader reaction. AND I'm going to give away a free copy of the book. Here's the code (which is more for my benefit than yours): FPTLAQICB.
Don't forget you can leave any questions below, and I'll answer them on Q&A day. :-)
~~Angie
6 comments:
Well then, glad you moved them to the back porch. Isn't it funny how she picked up on that? Not something your average reader would know :)
I know you said you were happy to move on because you had completed all of the plot arcs. But when you wrote it, was it hard to go through the process of Jen separating from Gerald and telling him goodbye? I've heard some authors say that characters really get under their skin. And was it not tempting to follow Gerald's daughter a little farther? That was the only piece I wish I could have seen play out, even though it was inferred.
I was reading the kudos at the beginning of Marlo Schlaskey's new book If Tomorrow Never Comes last night, and one of them said there were "surprising plot twists reminiscent of Angela Hunt's style"! That made me smile.
Yes, I sat here sobbing as I wrote that last scene with Gerald. And a couple of the prep scenes, too. And I have faith that Gerald's daughter will come around. Some prayers, I'm learning, don't get answered when we'd like them to.
And LOL about the quote in Marlo's new book. I'll have to read that one! She's a great writer.
Angie
I would have never noticed the smell from here! But glad they are moved for their own olfactory goodness.
Stop the spoilers! Some of us haven't read it yet. It sounds like I need a box of tissue next to me while reading it.
Seriously, did anything you learned during the writing of these books come to mind or were of any help or comfort when your dad passed away? I know he is in heaven which is the untimate comfort.
I really liked Buggs. Does he grow up to take over Fairlawn?
Funny, you sit crying as you write, and I sit crying as I read the same scene.
This is a silly question: How do you choose names for your characters? What organizational method do you use to keep them from landing in another book?
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