Every Writer Needs One of These Exasperating People in Their Life

This year, I read two young adult, post-apocalyptic novels that had me appreciating my editor.

The first one, I won’t name since I have nothing good to say about it. Well, maybe one good thing to say: It had a creative premise. But other than that, I was severely less than impressed.

The main character was uninspiring, the other characters were un-compelling and the writing style was lackluster at best. I found myself mentally and emotionally disengaged almost from Page 1, and the ending made no sense whatsoever. Despite its supposed cliff-hanger finish, I won’t be wasting my money on either of the sequels.

Then there was Powerless, which I loved! I couldn’t put it down, and I don’t care how much money I have to spend to buy the next one. When it comes out. Next year.

[Stage Direction: Insert despondent sobbing.]

In the end, I, as a reader, was so taken with the premise and the characters and the beginning and the middle and the ending… and… and… and… Okay, you get the point. I was captivated by this book. I’d recommend it to anyone. In fact, I already have a few times over.

However, as a writer, I did notice how there were some issues that should have been caught before the publishing date. Emotions swung too far and too often, random plot points were brought up that were never resolved, and I believe there were a few typos too.

Which is why I have to hand it to my amazing, beautiful, talented, pain-in-the-neck editor of an older sister, Christina, who catches stuff like that for me, including…

·         An embarrassing amount of adverbs. Sometimes 20 or more per page. I scoffed at her when she pointed out how many “ly” words I was using… and then I realized she was right and did something about it, which turned my stories into much smoother reads.

·         A “whiny” main character whose emotions jumped around too much. I snipped at Christina when she called me out on it… but I ended up applying her advice anyway, ensuring my audience would want to cheer my protagonist on instead of shut her up.

·         A bad tendency to get too far inside my characters’ heads, where I fixate on their mental processes instead of their larger journey. I threw a little temper tantrum about that one too, but guess what? She was right on that one as well.

It’s sooooo annoying how often her advice proves accurate and necessary.

That’s why I have to say, if you find any errors in my stories, it’s because I tried tinkering with them AFTER Christina handed them back to me.

I take full blame. Except for being exasperating. That’s all on her.

P.S. Love you, Christina! You’re the best.