Re-Write Meltdown

​It happened on Monday.  I had taken a systematic approach to the task of a major re-write of my manuscript for DEAD RECKONING because my editor said it lacked punch.  I printed out all 347 pages and reviewed all of her suggested edits and there were a lot.  As with her editing of my previous book, OUT OF DARKNESS, I agreed with all her edits.  I clicked on “accept all” and that job was done.
While editing I was reading the book for our August book club meeting.  The book was suggested by one of our group who followed a prolific mystery author for years.  Summertime is perfect for a nice mystery read.  The group selected the first book in the series.  Within the first few chapters I concluded it would be one of those “quick read” books with a simple, straight forward plot line, two historical murders to investigate and about mid-way in the book a fresh murder which may or may not have been related to the private detective’s investigation.  I couldn’t help but notice the author had a lot of “filler” or “business”.   The protagonist drove throughout California and we were told about each trip in detail.  Getting from one place to another in a book is boring and this book had a lot of boring drives because interesting details like weather, smells, change in landscape were not included in the drives.  There was also a lot of eating or not eating, again boring and all the “business” didn’t advance the story, in fact, it made it sluggish and uninteresting.
I convinced myself having too much “business” was the core problem of my manuscript which had lead my editor to say the story was sluggish.  I read again with the intent of ripping out as much unnecessary background information as I could.  When I was done I cut about 5600 words or 6% of the first draft.  That’s when I had the meltdown.  It didn’t seem like enough.  For example I was still left with one chapter devoted to having all the characters in one room sharing a traditional Irish Christmas dinner.  Why did I devote a chapter to that one scene?  I dashed off an e-mail to my editor, explained my dilemma and asked for her help.
In the meantime I reviewed each of the comments my editor added to the draft manuscript.  The comments question details of the story, suggest alternate language, question plot development and a host of other details.  There must have been at least 100 comments to review.  It took me three days to plow through the comments and make decisions on how to fix the problems identified.
In the meantime my editor reviewed Chapter Sixteen, the Christmas dinner chapter.  As it turned out she suggested cutting only two sentences in the entire chapter.  Her view was that I needed the chapter because it was the first time all the characters meet each other and the dinner was a good vehicle to accomplish that story goal.
Perspective restored.  Sometimes applying what you read from other books is a big mistake.  I manufactured a problem for myself that I didn’t have.  I am lucky to have an editor who is accessible and can guide me gently through the re-write process.  Reassured that the plot was fine, I finished editing the comments and returned the entire manuscript to my editor for another review.
Whew!