Your questions answered!

by Wanda Ottewell

Hi, everyone!

My apologies for responding so late! My past few days, um, exploded. So, bear with me while I run through the Q&A (and yes, those who had questions will have to go back and read what you asked).For some reason I can't seem to post this response at the tail end of my own blog from a few days ago, so the blog powers that be have decided to post it as a separate addition.

Kristin, we do send slush manuscripts to freelance readers. Once they've read the submissions, they fill out reports that give us a brief summary of the story then dive into specifics about the strengths and weakness of the writing, the conflict, the characters, etc. They make recommendations about next steps--reject, reject with encouragement, ask for revisions, etc. Once the manuscripts come back in-house, the editors read enough to determine whether we agree with readers. Then we write the appropriate response to the authors. For me, I have agreed and disagreed with our readers, which is why we do take another look at the submissions before making our decisions. It's always fascinating to see people's personal pet peeves come through (I have one or two or my own, LOL).

Marcie, re: best way to revise. Great question! I think it's a blend of personal style/work habits/process and the type of revision required. There are some revisions--such as what backstory is relevant--that sometimes can't be figured out until the first draft of the manuscript is written and the story feels more clear. One of the most frequent pieces of advice I hand out is for authors to finish that first draft, get to know the characters (which often only truly happens when you're faced with moving them through a scene and discover while you want them to do A, they're going to do B) then revise the front end to fit where the story lands. There are other revisions that need to happen before an author can write the rest of the story, such as when a character makes a move that isn't in keeping with his/her personality or the plot and that's preventing the story from moving forward. Beyond that, I know that some authors like to revise by layer--they fix the emotional layer start to end, then fix the external plotting start to end, etc. Others prefer to fix individual scenes and chapters in sequence, while others hop all around the manuscript. As with most writing, it's about what works for the author and the story.

Re: most common revision... You know, there really isn't one. It seems each manuscript requires its unique solutions. Even for authors with whom I've done many books, each story has a unique set of revisions. Yes, there can be certain issues that I always tackle with particular authors--for example, time line consistency--but no one revision common to most. And thank goodness, otherwise I could be replaced, LOL!

Toni, I'm not as focused on the specifics of the stories as how they are told. I've read some incredible stories I couldn't put down about some of the simplest themes. And I've read some stories that fall flat, even though they push the boundaries of the genre. The types of stories I want to see in Superromance have to have romance stories first and foremost (I think sometimes that gets lost in talk about the other elements of the stories). So I want to feel the hero and heroine falling in love with each other, working throught the obstacles and getting a very satisfying ending. I expect believable and sustained conflicts, which means they build through the story and the stakes get higher and the tension mounts and it seems this might be the one romance that won't end well! I don't want to read the same old story with the characters responding in the same old way to the same old situations. I don't want to see contrived plot devices. I want to be pulled into the story and surprised (in a good way) but how the story unfolds.

As for how far to push the edge, it depends on the story and characters. For Superromance I expect believability. If the heroine is a shy, small town girl who's never taken a chance in her life I'm going find it hard to believe that she will singlehandedly take down an evil villain in the jungle, turn into a hottie who snags the best looking man ever while doing the club circuit in a big city and become CEO of the leading tech company. It doesn't resonate with who she is. I encourage authors to be innovative and push the boundaries within the specifics of their own stories. For that same small town heroine, the edginess might be finally standing up to her dominating so-called best friend and quitting the job she hates to pursue an art career. If the boundary-pushing doesn't work for the story, you probably will know.

Thanks for your patience, everyone! See you next month.

Wanda