Oh, Man...OT just under 116,000 words and I'm still not positive about the revelation scene -- AKA: Killer Angel. Yes, I've got titles for each chapter and wonder if that's just a bit too cutsie...but I can't decide now; my brain's mush. And I'm still fighting that damn cold. I felt better this morning, but now it's making headway, again. I'm so loaded with OJ and vitamin C and juice and tea, I think I slosh as I walk.
I'm also an emotional basket case. As I finished up the book, I began to weep. Couldn't stop. I'm now afraid I may have fallen in love with my words and am not telling the story right. That maybe I'm letting Jake down. He doesn't seem to think so...but there's a part of me that is sure I've screwed up in some way. I always do.
When I send it out to the beta readers, I hope they'll let me know if anything doesn't make any sense or if it's hard to figure out. The revelation took a different turn so I re-did that part four times and fear I may have cut out something important...something essential to explaining the mystery.
I'm not making it super easy, by deliberate choice. I don't really like the Agatha Christie/Earl Stanley Gardner set-up of detailing exactly what happened to whom and why they were thought to be the killer until the final reveal. Jake does a little of that, but spread through the last few chapters.
Oh, Jesus, I don't know...I don't know! I've never been this torn up about the end of a book, before. When Bobby Carapisi was done, I felt right enough about it to let it go. The Lyons' Den was finalizing publication as my mother was dying, so even after the final pass by the editors on that one, I asked to do a rewrite of a couple sections. They nearly canceled the book. But I talked them into it and kept to the final format and they were happy about it, as was I.
All I can do now is hope for the best.
I'm also an emotional basket case. As I finished up the book, I began to weep. Couldn't stop. I'm now afraid I may have fallen in love with my words and am not telling the story right. That maybe I'm letting Jake down. He doesn't seem to think so...but there's a part of me that is sure I've screwed up in some way. I always do.
When I send it out to the beta readers, I hope they'll let me know if anything doesn't make any sense or if it's hard to figure out. The revelation took a different turn so I re-did that part four times and fear I may have cut out something important...something essential to explaining the mystery.
I'm not making it super easy, by deliberate choice. I don't really like the Agatha Christie/Earl Stanley Gardner set-up of detailing exactly what happened to whom and why they were thought to be the killer until the final reveal. Jake does a little of that, but spread through the last few chapters.
Oh, Jesus, I don't know...I don't know! I've never been this torn up about the end of a book, before. When Bobby Carapisi was done, I felt right enough about it to let it go. The Lyons' Den was finalizing publication as my mother was dying, so even after the final pass by the editors on that one, I asked to do a rewrite of a couple sections. They nearly canceled the book. But I talked them into it and kept to the final format and they were happy about it, as was I.
All I can do now is hope for the best.
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