How About We Don't Fake a Death?

How About We Don't Fake A Death?
and other fun editing questions

The second third round of edits for Murder in Heliopolis is well on its way to being finished, and with it, I find myself honing in on a set of decisions that are transforming the book for the better. 

(By the way - you can read the original first draft right here. Enjoy! ...Sorry about that ending. I'm fixing it!) 

After months away from both the book and writing, I came back to the manuscript with a fresh pair of eyes. I tried to be brutal in my edits. I wasn't pulling any punches. At the end of the day, I want the best for my story, and that means getting over the fact that editing is hard work on a number of levels. Sure, there's the whole emotional element - I love what I wrote, but it's just not working, etc., etc. - but there's also the actual mechanics and stages of editing.

When you're editing a book and you're changing up scenes, plot points, and even worldbuilding elements, there are a lot of threads that you need to keep an eye on. You need to be aware of them, and it's hard sometimes to keep track of it all. That alone can be overwhelming. In my case, I was adding scenes, adding new characters, removing characters, switching around the order of some events, and having to deal with the consequences of those decisions. 

For example, I moved the contents of Chapter 20 - the interview with Patina Grove - to much earlier on in the story, so that now it happens at around Chapter 4 or 5. Huge difference, especially given the fact that Patina reveals something of critical importance in her discussion with Laith. Now, I have to deal with that reveal happening a lot earlier on in the story. How does that affect Laith's investigation? How does that information change the way the story unfolds? 

That's just one of many examples. Having to keep that in mind and keep in mind the edits that have already happened and keep in mind how different characters may fit into things or react differently with different information at their fingertips - whew! It's a lot of work! It's a lot to keep track of. Little by little, though, I'm doing my best to manage.

Speaking of how characters react, one of the main reasons that the story is changing so dramatically is because I re-evaluated the behaviour, decisions, and actions of my characters a little more in this edit. I find that a lot of the time, when I'm stuck with something in my story, it's because a character is acting out of character. 

For example, Pheonix is a critical character, and he's supposed to be a very intelligent inventor. Very solutions-oriented. Good at solving problems, at using things to make other things, and generally just uses his brain really well. So, his thinking, decisions, and actions need to reflect that. Therefore, way he approaches a situation (like protecting himself from a killer) will be different from how, say, Laith would approach it. And I need to work on making that more evident in the story, for all the characters. It's also a great way to figure out their strengths and weaknesses. I'll make a more detailed tutorial on how to do this in another post. 

This is also why there are some plot points that I now think are probably a little too premature, too far-fetched (for the characters in question), or just simply unnecessary. One of those is (SPOILER ALERT) Laith faking his own death. I'm considering removing that and replacing it with an event that is instead more on-brand for the characters involved, and less of a huge, steep escalation. Honestly - it really comes out of the blue, doesn't it? What was I thinking?

As you can see, a lot of work is happening now on MiH! It's a little bittersweet, actually, because the only reason I'm working on this story is because I am, once again, dealing with some health issues. After such a long time spent away from working on anything, I've decided that I can't just... not do things until I heal. So, here I am, soldiering through. I didn't expect to have gotten so much done in just a little over a week, but since I'm essentially bedridden, it's been a great distraction. 

Well, that's really all there is for me to say in this post. I wanted to make an update a little earlier, but life has a way of throwing wrenches in all of my plans. We're working on it. Anyway, don't forget that I've decided to make most of the items on my shop free, so if you've ever wanted to take a crack at reading Apartment, or if you want to get your hands on some resources, now's the time. 

Pssst! Have you noticed the new blog theme? I felt like doing something different with the place, but I also didn't feel like making anything myself. I'm not up to doing any big work just yet. So the theme is a nice little compromise. It ain't perfect, but it's somethin'. I recommend zooming in until the side bar disappears. That's how I'd prefer it looked, but apparently that's not an option. 😂