In the last revision of Julius, I threw away an entire chapter. I went back and forth whether I should chuck it or not because there were some darlings I wanted to keep, but more importantly it gave the reader more insight of what type of person Jake is, his yin to Corinne’s yang.

After further analysis I decided to file it away and work on what I showed in earlier chapters. Does that mean I’m still revising the first part? I’m afraid so. Does that mean I won’t finish it by my deadline? I’m afraid so. Does that also mean you’re still researching? No, I think I’m done with that. But now I’m looking at every scene and analyzing whether it has the necessary components to keep or to file away. Does that mean I’m seeking perfection in crafting the story? Again, I’m afraid so.

I tend to be very stubborn and when I have an idea in my head I have this stick-to-it-ness. For example, it took me a very long time to be convinced that backstory could kill a narrative’s pace. Because I was so close to the material and that part of the story, I couldn’t see how it was dragging down the action until I noticed it in other writer’s drafts. Lo and behold, I was giving them the same advice that had been given to me: kill the long exposition, and include some elements of the backstory in dialogue. Something I’m working on and hoping that it sounds natural.

But I’m also grappling with conflict and tension, which is new material that’s in the works. The reactionary character has a much larger role, his job is to discredit the Merry Marxist’s ideology via vengeance because of Corinne spurning him. Another character who shares the same leftist beliefs is just a plain troublemaker and acts more like an Iago, insinuating that Corinne lied about her past and might be having an affair.  A lot of stuff  to play around with and most likely make more of a mess, but that’s the way to learn: play around with your characters, put them in all sorts of situations and see what works and what doesn’t.

Now it’s time to make a mess. Poor Corinne, she’s due for some big surprises.

For the past few days I’ve been in editing mode. I’ve taken my sharp eye and sharp pencil and read through the first seven chapters of Julius, and cut, cut, cut.

A lot of what I’ve taken out is back story. I know. It’s surprising that I, lover of back story, decided that it should go out with the rest of the garbage. But I’ve seen the error of my ways, and I discovered in this past reading marathon that backstory, indeed, slows the narrative down. So one issue has been put to rest.

Unfortunately, however, Julius has many other issues and I have to tackle them all one by one. The first part of the book sets everything up for the second and third parts, so that means I really can’t move forward until Part One is perfect. It’s  frustrating, but it has to be done. In the meantime I can start outlining the second and third parts when I need a break from the editing.

Back to the salt mines…

The jury is out. My back story chapter–in the words of  contributing Vogue editor Andre Leon Talley (yes, guilty as charged, I watch America’s Next Top Model), “Dreck.” Well, truthfully, the comments were not that harsh. The few comments I received was that it slowed the story’s pace.

[BIG sigh]

I knew in my gut that it wasn’t working. Now I have to figure out how to pick up the pace and have the parts fall into place. First I need to call the Yountville Sheriff’s office and get some basic information (ugh, hate to do that because I don’t think they’ll be very cooperative).  Second, I have to scratch the flashback within the flashback. Third, I have to rework the relationship with my new character earlier in the book.

[BIGGER sigh]

Book two of Julius is turning out to be more complicated than I want it to be. My instincts are telling me to simplify while my head is telling me to add more meat to the story. What body part do I listen to?

[Covers face with hands, props elbow on desk , and rests head in her hand while she contemplates her next steps]

I don’t know. I should give it until the weekend and mull it over, right?

[Strangling noises]

Arrgh! I’m on a freaking deadline. I need to have a cumulative total of 18 chapters written by the end of the month. I can’t wait until the weekend.  I need to resolve this NOW.

[Sips lukewarm coffee and stares at the screen]

I should hang it up. I’m a hack. Oy, gevalt.

Yesterday I started a very brand new chapter for Julius.  As you might recall, last month Ritz, my accountability partner (Hi Ritz!) had suggested that instead of breaking a chapter with a flashback or back story that I make it a separate chapter. Well, 1,490 words later, I have a chapter that includes a little information (no, a lot) on Corinne, my MC.

Way back, when one critter on IWW, whom I greatly respect, noted that my characters tend to eat a lot. They go out to restaurants, the order take-out, they’re cooking and a lot of the dialogue and action revolves around food. He thought I should shake it up a bit. At first I agreed with him, but then I realized that for these characters food is important. It’s one of the bourgeois pleasures they have and won’t give up (that, and collecting antique Patek Phillipe watches).

What does this have to do with my chapter? It introduces four things about Corinne. The first one is how she ended up in jail; the second is her introduction to fine dining; third, her love of films, and fourth, how one of her obsessions leads to disappointment, a loss of identity, and believing in herself –I have to tweak this a bit.

In a very early post, I wrote about introducing a new character and that “person” appears in this flashback. And I love him to bits. I wish he could be a bigger player in the story, but I think it would be too confusing. Maybe he merits his own short story or possibly a larger role in future novel?

I’ll keep working on this chapter. I suspect it will be a long one and then revise it before I send it off to the Novels List at IWW.

And for now, it’s time for my short story seminar!

I write a lot of back story, and some critters–the naysayers–inform me that agents and editors don’t like back story. If that’s the case, why is it that I come across novels that have a lot of flashbacks? (and let’s not mention prologues and epilogues).

The back story to Julius has its purpose. First, it delves into the narrator’s psyche. You can’t understand her actions, beliefs, doubts, dreams without the story behind the story. Secondly, as I’ve written before, I believe that you need to know history before you fully understand what’s happening in the present. And a lot of Julius is based on history.

I tend to intersperse flashbacks within the primary action and what I’ve discovered is that sometimes it works and other times it can get clunky. The question then is to ditch it or not? I discussed this before with Ritz (my accountability partner) and she likes the back story, but she suggested that maybe I can make some of these past events into separate chapters. I thought about this for a whole five seconds and loved the idea. The reason I’m so enchanted by it is that my prologues are back story, and they’re strong. So why not include these memories as separate chapters?  The last chapter I revised I included a line that foreshadows an upcoming scene, but it also introduces something that happened in Corinne’s past.

It’s time now to write a back story chapter and see how it all works out!

Most writers know that at some point they have to “murder their little darlings.” This means that what we thought was great prose and dialogue gets the chop and goes into the virtual rubbish can or filed away for future use.

I recently introduced three characters into the plot. One was originally in the story and then taken out. I finally decided to add her back in and manipulate her in a way that she works in the story. A secondary character I recently introduced is part of the narrator’s backstory and he is appearing in the present to instigate trouble. So what’s the problem? I don’t know how to fit him into the story line that makes sense and that we won’t become a distraction to readers.

I’ve spent several days pondering the particulars in my head, writing different scenes, deleting them, and ending up with this question: Should I dump him?  The answer: I don’t know.

It’s been a back and forth battle of wanting to get rid of this character and then feeling very bad for all the time and effort I put in the backstory. What to do? Give it a few more pages and hope to see the light if he really works or doesn’t. If not, it’s off with his head. If he plays well with others and cooperates then he might stick around…

Sigh, back to the salt mines….