What We're Writing. Hank's in the fun part! Editing.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:   So this is the fun part. The interesting part. The part where the book becomes the book. 

Last week, hooray, I sent in the second draft of my first draft of the new novel. My 13th, which is completely crazy. Now I'm working on the last draft, pre-copy-editing. YAY!

 But remember several months ago, or whenever it was, I showed you one of the chapters of the book? It was about a college girl, Cassie, and I was wondering whether she seemed too petulant, too self-centered, too unlikable. 

Here, we all thought she was a very typical college girl. And I loved that chapter, too. 

 However. 

 That whole chapter is now gone. Boom. Deleted. Cassie is now lovely, and you will adore her, I hope, from moment one. And then you will worry about her. I hope.

 Of course when you change someone from a bit of an unlikable but understandable person to a totally sympathetic person, everything has to change. Not only what she does, but how people think about her.

 So for instance, in the first version of the book this is main character Lily Atwood thinking about an incident that happened when she was growing up with her older sister Cassie. 

 She’d worked on a jigsaw puzzle, just that once, with Cassie. Her mother had ordered the sisterly game, and Cassie had not been happy about being parked at the living room coffee table with a thousand pieces of Van Gogh Sunflowers. At one point, with the puzzle half done, Cassie had purposely jabbed the board with one elbow, sending the tiny interlocked puzzle pieces flying, and ruining the slowly materializing picture. 

Lily, maybe age 6, had burst into disappointed tears. She’d wanted to see the finished flowers, longed to see the final painting. 

 But Cassie had laughed. “Earthquake!” she’d exclaimed. “Too bad.” 

Lily felt like that now. The puzzle of Greer had been forming, Lily’s mind putting the intricately connecting pieces together. But if they were all Banning’s pieces, what did that mean about the real picture? 

But now, with good Cassie that doesn’t make sense! 

So here is the revised version. 

 She’d worked on a jigsaw puzzle once, with Cassie. Her mother had suggested it, and Cassie agreed to be parked at the living room coffee table with her little sister and a thousand pieces of Van Gogh Sunflowers. At one point, with the puzzle half done, Cassie had unintentionally knocked the board with one elbow, sending the tiny interlocked puzzle pieces tumbling to the floor, ruining the slowly materializing picture. 

Lily, age maybe 6, had burst into disappointed tears. She’d wanted to see the finished flowers, longed to see the final painting. 

 “Oh, Lillow!” Cassie had exclaimed. “I’m so sorry. But don’t worry! We can try again.” 

 Lily felt like that now. The puzzle of Greer had been forming, Lily’s mind putting the pieces together. But if they were Banning's pieces, what did that mean about the real picture? 

 Isn’t it interesting how the same situation, with just a few tweaks, can become a completely different situation? This is why I call it the fun part. I adore doing this, and mining the book to see where I can tweak and polish and emphasize and…manipulate. 

 The other hilarious thing about a draft is that, every time I write a book, I realize how critical having the correct name for a person is. 

There was a guy in this book and I have to say he wasn’t – – how do I put this – – getting on the page. Yes, it’s partly my fault, because as a person who works without an outline, I was not sure if he was a good person or a bad person. It could’ve gone either way. 

I named him Bennett Rand from the beginning but then someone else had the last name Banning so he couldn’t be Bennett. So I made him Carson Rand. And then, that didn’t even sound like someone’s real name, so I made him Carson Bennett. And Bennett Carson. And that just wasn’t working. 

 And some days he acted a certain way, and some days he behaved like a completely different person. And no wonder, right? I didn’t even know his name. 

 Now he is Samuel Prescott, and boom. It all works, it all falls into place, all meant to be. Why is that? 

 In other editing news, the first first draft clocked in at 118,000 words. My final book only be 100,000 words. At most! (Do the math.)  Here is what my pages are beginning to look like. (Yes, that is the life of a person who writes without an outline. Somethings seem like such good ideas at the time--then they have to go.)  But I LOVE to cut! It's one of my favorite parts.

But now, Reds and readers, we need a title. We have a working title, and it is almost set in stone, but not quite. Someone asked me to describe this book in 10 words and I said Fame. Fortune. Your perfect daughter. Can you keep one secret? And yes, it’s about celebrity, and the vulnerability of celebrities and their families, and the difficulty of keeping up the image of perfection. 

 It’s a twisty manipulative cat and mouse thriller, of course. And I have seen cover mock ups! Cannot wait to show you when we get a final one. It’s just…what will the title be?

 It is also about a reporter who gets viewer tips – – and then starts getting anonymous ones about herself and her family. Uh-oh. My first title was The Next Caller. Everyone hated that. And then: Every Word You Say. Which I loved, but sadly, I was the only one. 

 And a quick promo – – what are you doing tonight? I will be interviewing James Patterson at a 21 library event! Here is the link if you want to join us. I adore him, and I’m really looking forward to this. 

 https://www.crowdcast.io/e/1c92w0bh/register 

 I have to say, writing this to you, it makes me realize how much I love this work. And you. 

 Now. Any titles? And Reds and Readers, have you had the experience of someone just having the wrong name? What did you do?