My previously published books have been in the traditional
mystery genre. Now I’m in the midst of writing my first cozy series,
Southernmost Secrets. Writing the first book of any planned series is a
balancing act. The writer needs to introduce characters, especially the core
group, make the setting come alive, and make readers care about the characters
and their lives. The writer needs to do all of that without an information dump.
That’s basic writing 101. No information dump.
Unfortunately, the writer is participating in the same learning curve as the
reader. When I started Pirates on Parade, the first of the series, I had no
idea of the depth of my characters or the details of their lives or setting.
That is something this writer learns through the writing.
I raced through the book to chapter 13. Then, I stalled.
Dead-in-the-water stall. Blank-page-for-days stall. Something was wrong and it
held me back. The premise? The lead in? The plot? Whatever it was, I could not
move forward. Not without fixing the foundation. Rather than follow the stellar advice of Jodi Picoult that you can’t edit a blank
page and soldier on, I decided to go back and review my prior chapters. Try to
identify where the story went off the rails.
The problem was in chapters 7 to 10. My characters talked
about life in the Florida Keys. Hank Wittie, the protagonist, shared her love of
her home and how the Keys shaped her. They brought the characters’ emotional
side to life and laid the foundation for part of Hank’s story arc. They were
wonderful chapters. Except they did nothing to add to the story at hand. They
were four chapters of three women sitting on a porch in the Florida Keys
talking. INFORMATION DUMP.
I loved those chapters, but they had to go. The story needed
action not introspection. It’s a mystery not a history. With a heavy heart, I
highlighted all four chapters and moved them to my outtakes file. I killed my
darlings. Know what? It hurt. Oh yes, they had served a purpose for me, I got
to know a lot about Hank by writing those chapters, but the reader does not
need to know how the sausage is made. Nor should they know.
Chapters 7 to 10 are now in the work-in-process stage. They
will likely become chapter 7 and maybe 8. Depends on what action Ozzie, the Key
West Police detective, decides to take. This is where he needs to shine. Hank
and the rest of the characters will share their stories, but in teaspoons, not
quarts.
I killed my darlings. I’m not sorry.
Writer, have you ever had to painfully kill your darlings?
Readers, do you think some darlings need killing?
