Editorial Feedback (Part II) -- Minor characters

For those of you who are on the verge of getting an agent, or signing that first publishing contract, I'm going to take a few days (or maybe the entire week) to cover what's involved once you start working with your agent and editor, and what you can expect during the editing process. I'll be using snippets from my editor's "editorial letter" for Magic Lost, Trouble Found. See yesterday's blog on how I cut about 100 pages from my original manuscript.

Remember that every agent and editor handle feedback differently, and each book is different, so in other words, no two books or editorial letters are alike. Kristin Nelson (my agent) preferred to give her feedback on MLTF using track changes to insert her comments directly into my manuscript. Anne Sowards (my editor at Ace Books) sent an letter (actually it was an email) that was 7 pages, single spaced. Anne organized her comments by topic, and then called out specific pages where she had questions/suggestions.

Today's topic is based on the suggestion from Anne to further streamline the MLTF's plot -- either deleting unnecessary minor characters, or incorporating their roles into my main characters. It wasn't as difficult as it sounded, and it worked like a charm.

I think at one point, I counted 96 named characters in Thief of Souls (the book that became MLTF). Now I'm pretty decent at juggling the proverbial "cast of thousands," but dang -- 96 is a lot of warm bodies to keep track of in one book. Anne pointed out that I had so many named minor characters, that when the genuinely important characters showed up again she couldn't remember who they were, what with all the other characters she was trying to keep track of.

She went on to say that readers generally assume that named characters are going to have a role to play. I had a lot of minor characters who I mentioned one or two times and then they fell off the face of the earth, never to be seen or heard from again. She suggested that rather than naming necessary minor characters that I identify them by their function ("the steward" instead of "Rakta", "the healer" instead of "Aubina", "Bertram's assistant" instead of "Hollis", etc. It was a fabulous idea, worked like a charm, and freed up some names that I could put back into the name pool to use for later books. It's hard enough to think up good names, so the more I can put back into storage for later use, the better.

Then there are the minor characters who are mentioned more frequently, but their presence doesn't move the plot forward. And that is the key to every book in existence -- the plot must move forward. Constantly. The scenes with Alix and Parry were fun, but they did nadda to progress the plot. (See the "Interviews" page for "Outtakes from MLTF" where you can read those deleted chapters with Alix and Parry, among others.) Anne pointed out that while Alix and Parry are Raine's friends, that they really don't do anything in the book that somebody else doesn't already do. She recommend saving them for a book where they can be integral to the story instead.

Anne also suggested cutting down on the number of each characters' "identifiers." Nachtmagus Nigelius Nicabar is referred to as both Nigel and Nicabar, and this doesn't seem necessary, and can be confusing. Once his full name is given, I should just call him "Nicabar" every other time he's mentioned to simplify things. Similarly, just call Quentin Rand "Quentin" once he's introduced. I had also refered to Quentin as "the Rheskilian." And the fact that he was Rheskilian wasn't essential to the plot, so I got rid of it.

Tomorrow's topic: Editorial Feedback (Part III) -- Character crowd control.
Plus, some REALLY cool news from my publisher. ; )

Have a good one!
Lisa