Work Wednesday: Joy of Rewriting

I wrote this on social media this week: “I feel like I have hammered and honed chapter two into a lovely opening to act 1.” No matter how I might gripe about the process, rewrites are actually very satisfying. Watching a story come sharply into focus is thrilling.

As I mentioned last week, Full Sail, the third book in the TJ Wilde Trilogy, needs some major rewrites. The problems were glaring by the time I hit chapters twelve and thirteen.

I’ll talk more about those issues and how I am setting about solving them in later Wed posts. But for today, let’s discuss what’s working.

The plot is solid and the pacing is brisk, which is what I like for a beach read. The secondary characters are fleshed out and interesting. A couple of them are so compelling I wish we could spend more time with them. But that would not serve the story in any practical way.

And the crimes are grounded solidly in facts. Their resolutions work to wrap up not only the novel itself, but nicely dovetail into solving a few outstanding mysteries in the trilogy. And the main characters in the trilogy all have a satisfying ending that gives them a life beyond the books.

With that, it’s time to get back to work…