As I’ve mentioned before, writing Alchemy was great fun. Compare that to the process for Synchronicity, which was weighted down with a) learning to write, and b) figuring out the story. Alchemy didn’t have that weight (at least not initially) and the words flowed like water from a cistern. I was confident, certain that even the first draft of Alchemy was the rare superior sequel.
Then I gave the manuscript to my editor.
In return, I received a heavily commented redline and a 17-page “summary” editorial comment. Admittedly, I was shocked. It was my best work yet! To some extent, he agreed. The bones were there. It was a good follow-up to Synchronicity and the plot-lines were well-developed and interesting. However, in the process I’d sacrificed two important characteristics of what made him love Synchronicity: a strong sense of place, and room to breathe for the characters.
When writing a character like the Skinwalker in Synchronicity, the temptation was to embrace the stereotypical. He’s a supernatural legend steeped in evil and violence. Frankly, it may have been easier to write him as a monster, but that seemed like tread ground. Instead, I grounded him in the psychological need for redemption and a strong sense of place. The Skinwalker scenes allowed you to feel what it would be like to live in the Wasatch mountains and to struggle with finding peace after a life of anything but (and far removed in time from your origin). In my 93,000 word Alchemy manuscript, I’d given the place descriptions short shrift, despite there being ample and obvious opportunities to do better. My editor noted this.
Additionally, he commented that the book felt like I’d become overly focused on the plot. I was too far removed from the characters at times, particularly the main characters, as they struggled with major transformations in their lives. They accepted the strange things happening to them too easily, without fear, uncertainty and doubt. I’d also taken half of the underlying tension between Travis and Meg and moved it behind the scenes, which didn’t allow it to play out effectively for the reader.
Sadly, he was entirely right on both counts.
So I went to work, first making the edits using his redlined copy, then writing three new chapters to bring the tension more into the open, and finally doing a comprehensive read-through (twice) with a focus on all the spots where I’d hurried over character reactions, particularly for Travis.
The end result is a stronger manuscript with ties to the best parts of Synchronicity, both in plot and substance. It also bulked up the word count (shockingly, to me) from 93,000 to 106,000! And these aren’t filler words. I didn’t add a bunch of Scrabble-winning adjectives and call it a day. Instead, you get to feel what Travis goes through and how Meg struggles with it instead of just reading it. More than anything else, that is the value in working with an editor.
Alchemy is book 2 of Psycons & Grace. It is available for pre-order and will be released on Amazon September 21, 2020.