I’ve been quiet on here for a few weeks. You see, I’ve been working with a professional editor on my novel. Louise Walters has edited some 250 novels in a range of genres. For six years she was editor-in-chief of an independent publisher, and she has published five novels of her own. She undertook to read my novel and give me feedback on its structure, plot, pacing and characterisation. In particular I asked her to tell me what was working well in the novel and what were its main flaws and limitations. I sent my manuscript off to Louise thinking that she would come back to me with a pretty long list of defects.
Ten days later I got her report. I opened it with trepidation. Louise said she “enjoyed my writing very much”. She thought that my “central characters were really well drawn and sympathetic. The growing bond between them was well written and their relationship was affecting. The era was well evoked, with good period details, and my description of the natural world was very nicely crafted. The plot was good, pace and tension were fine.” I was glowing with pride. Surely I would soon be on the shortlist for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Then came the defects. Louise told me there was one main problem. I had “too many named characters. My novel was a bit like an over-grown garden, it needed thinning out.” She recommended that I cut my character list. She also recommended that I cut the six chapters written from the antagonist’s point of view. Focus and readability would both be improved if my novel were only narrated from the protagonist’s point of view.
My initial reaction was no, I’m not going to do that. I sweated long and hard over those six chapters. Then I thought, what was the point of paying for professional advice and not listening to it? After all, I could easily lose all the named characters that didn’t have speaking parts. But lose the antagonist’s six chapters as well? That was a good idea I’d nicked from John Banville. I pondered her advice further. The six chapters were short, only 4000 words in total. It wouldn’t hurt to take them out, just as a trial. So I did. And Louise was right. The focus of the novel was improved, as was the pacing and tension.
I’d highly recommend Louise Walters. She’s very professional, insightful and easy to work with. You can read more about her here. https://www.louisewaltersbooks.co.uk/editorialservices
