The dreaded editorial letter came in on Sunday. Good news, I don’t have to rewrite half of my book again. Author Crash Course liked my revisions and loved my world building. But unfortunately, my manuscript still isn’t query-worthy yet. The reason? My protagonist Ezrah isn’t three dimensional. Feck! Like I said to my editors, being told you have a flat character, especially the most important figure in your book, is like having carrion crows rip your heart into itty bitty pieces. I may have cried a little. Okay, maybe a lot. My editors connected with my other characters: Incertus, Orban, and Asher (they really adored him and even compared him to Jon Snow), though all of them need a little more fleshing out too. But my beloved Ezrah? They just weren’t impressed. She needs a lot of work.
So, July’s primary focus will be on finding Ezrah. I need to illustrate what her interior and exterior motives are through her actions. I need to show her dark and twisty past. Her mistakes and fears and vulnerabilities. I need my readers to WANT to be invested in her, so they keep turning pages. My novel’s premise started with the idea of Ezrah. She’s my baby, and I love her. I just need to describe her in a way so that my readers adore her as much as I do. It doesn’t matter how fantastic my plot is or how unique my world is. If my readers aren’t invested in my characters, they have no reason to keep reading. That’s a death sentence for any book.
What obstacles are you guys working through now? How many revisions are you on? Leave a comment or drop me a line. I promise you aren’t in this alone.
Until next week—happy writing,
-RF
