I was recently editing Lost in a Heartbeat for voice when I came to the following flashback:“So where’s your boyfriend?” he asked.
“How do you know I have one?” I did, of course, but Liam wasn’t there. There were only a few weeks left of summer vacation then he’d be leaving for college, so I didn’t think there was anything wrong flirting with this guy. Neither relationship was going to go anywhere, either way.
But I realized the main character, Calleigh, wasn’t the kind of girl to flirt with another guy when she had a boyfriend. Even if the boyfriend was going away to college and she'd no intention of having a long distance relationship. So I tweaked it:
“So where’s your boyfriend?” he asked.
“What makes you think I have one?” Liam and I had broken up only a few days before that. Or rather, I had dumped a Blue Raspberry Slurpee on his lap after Alejandra told me the latest gossip. He’d been caught getting all hot and steamy with a junior varsity cheerleader at a party just the week before. We hadn’t officially broken up, but I figured the Slurpee incident pretty much said it all.
Great except for one problem. Yep, you guessed it. It caused a snowball effect. Other sections then had to be rewritten because of this one little change.
Yes, it was a lot of work, but it was worth it. The result was a domino effect that started with Liam cheating on Calleigh, and which resulted in the story problem. Now you see why I love editing. *grins*
Has this happened to you? Has one little change in your novel led to a snowball effect that you were excited about? One you never expected when you wrote your first draft—or edited your fifth?
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6 comments:
You love editing??? *grabs chest, falls down*
I do not like editing. Sure, I like the results of it, but I don't want to go through it.
And yes, the snowball effect can be quite severe with just the tiniest change.
BTW, I'd love to read more of that novel!!
Aww, Elana, you're so sweet.
Tell you what, you write the first draft of my next book, and I'll edit it. :D
You have to check out Daisy Whitney's blog today. She talks about the EXACT same thing! Too funny!
Changing something so little creates an immense ripple effect. It is insane how much you have to edit from the aftermath of one teensy little tweak!
dont even get me started! :)
Oh, I know that effect so well, and isn't it amazing what happens once you're on the roll down that editing hill? Good job. Look forward to seeing this one on the shelves. Let us know!
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