The Next Stage

Marginalia from my editor, in blue

I’m in a close editing stage now where I have marginal notes from my editor who has given me feedback at the sentence level for The Keep of Ages. It’s a shifting puzzle. If, for instance, my editor suggests that I move a greeting from the bottom of an airplane ramp to the top of the ramp, I may discover in the process that I have a character on stage too early, and I need to rework the passage to make it less awkward by having him show up a few sentences later. Or she might point out that late in the novel, a certain discovery brings up new issues when it might be better to go deeper into a resolution, a healing. She’s nicer than I am, and she’s right, so I take a few pages to experiment with a new scene.

It’s precise and satisfying work, and I’m pleased to know I’m closing in on the final version of this book.