messyYesterday when I had stacks of dishes to do, a little flutter of excitement ran through me. There was a story I wanted to get back to reading to see how it turned out. Then I realized it was my manuscript I was thinking about. Crazy! I know how that story ends–I wrote the ending. Then I revised the ending. Then I rewrote the ending. I’ve been working on some revisions and made some significant changes to one particular scene this week. Thus the tummy flutters. When I was composing this book, I frequently felt that excited pull to see what my characters would say or do next. I love that feeling. I’m glad it’s back. It goes with the creative process and not so much with the revising.

I’m sorting through feedback and hopefully making my last revisions before I begin the submission process. My sister has been the absolute best at picking my work apart. Thankfully she’s seen the flaws and given me a lot to work on. I have another friend who has picked out annoying phrases I overuse and reminded me to show not tell. Then there’s the online writing group I joined recently. Two members read the first chapter and agreed that there was too much detail–they got lost from the story. For all of these criticisms, I am very grateful.

Then my sister said the one thing I needed to work on now was getting inside my MC’s (main character’s) head. Putting that suggestion with the comments about the description getting in the way of the story helped me realize that inside the MC’s head is where the story really is. So how do I show that without launching into page after page of monotonous narrative?

I decided to do some research so I went to the library and picked up four books. One was The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale which I thoroughly enjoyed. Two others were by an author who self publishes so I was interested to see how her work was. I decided she really needed an editor–too much repetitive monologue/narrative.

The last was the most helpful to me at this point in my revision: The Icing on the Cake by Elodia Strain. I would classify this as LDS Chick Lit. This was a delightfully fun read. It is written in first person as is my novel. I was fascinated by the voice of this piece. The main character Annabelle is nothing like my main character yet I could see exactly what my sister meant by letting the reader inside the main character’s head. Annabelle tells her story with a lighthearted and often humorous touch. I know exactly what’s going through her mind without long expositions and it’s never boring. Hopefully I’ll be able to do this with my manuscript.

Today in my revisions I tried to implement more of my MC’s thoughts into the story. I also fixed a scene that left the reader to wonder, “Why didn’t she do it this way? It would have been a lot easier.” I’m so much inside my characters’ heads I forget that the reader doesn’t know all the motivations and thinking behind the different character’s actions. Are there any other things I should be on the look out for in this last revision? Anything that bothers you in books you’ve read? I’m looking for any help at all since I really want this to be the last time through the book.