Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Openings veins is never easy

As I am working through my revisions, I realise that I do not like opening veins and bleeding on the page. The manuscript has places where my editor has gone and...so what. This means that I have had to up the level of emotion and really cry as I am writing it.
Poignant moments as it is all about emotion.
I had thought that I had put my characters through the mill, but now see that I haven't.
It is easy to up emotion in many ways but difficult in others. It is also about getting the right emotion at the right time. You don't want to peak too early. Or to overload the emotion so much that the ending becomes washed out. Also if you do not connect the inner conflict and growth with the inter personal, you risk a soap.
As my editor said -- good to hint but at some point, you have to tell and if you have been hinting BIG, it had better be BIG.
Still, it is improving, I think and hopefully it will be a great read, once it hits the shelves.

2 comments:

Cheryl St.John said...

And how about getting the feel that this is an emotional story into a synopsis? AWK!

suburbanbeatnik said...

Hey Michelle, I just wanted to drop by and say how much I've enjoyed your books! I read and loved "The Roman's Virgin Mistress," and am now looking for other books you've written. By the way, I thought you'd be interested in this post I wrote on my blog about vintage paperback cover art for swords n' sandals epics. You've got men in armor without pants! Debauched empresses with whips! Random parrots! I'm sure you'll be amused. :)