DETAILS, DETAILS

After the crazy submission weekend in May, and thanks to the insightful comments of two fellow YA writer friends, I decided that more revision was in order. People were responding to the query, people were responding to the story, people were responding to the writing style. But no one fell in love with any of it enough to make a commitment.

That left only one or two possible problems. Either the pace was off for some reason (too fast, too slow, too jerky, something)or the architecture was the problem (i.e., the overall structure). Thanks again to my YA writer pals, I was able to identify problems with the pacing and structure, as well as problems they identified with a pesky little thing known as detail. In other words, in some areas I wasn't painting a clear, precise, or specific enough picture of what these characters were thinking, doing, interacting with. . .or what the setting specifically looks, sounds, smells, feels like. Ah, but what details add depth and precision and what details are filler, padding, and, well, just plain crap?

That's the important distinction.

And as one of my critique partners pointed out, "Knowing which details to include and which to omit is the difference between writing a book and writing a book that sells."

Smart woman.