Simplification -- It's a beautiful thing

Those of you who've read my books know that I have a tendency toward packing a lot of action into 300 pages. With one main character (Raine), four supporting characters (Mychael, Tam, Phaelan, and Piaras), the villains (it's always fun to have more than one), and the "special guest" characters -- my books are packed tighter than my suitcase going to a convention.

But there is too much of a good thing. As my editor said when she was making recommendations for trimming MLTF, "You've just got too much good stuff for one book." That's what I'm wrestling with now -- deciding what subplots, scenes, and new characters have to wait until future books.

Though yesterday something very important came to me and I typed as fast as I could. With a little polish, those four sentences could make great back cover copy. And believe me, back cover copy ain't easy to do, so I was thrilled to have this pop into my head before the book is even started good yet. Those four sentences say "this is what this book is about." I have now achieved pinpoint plot focus -- yea! Now I'm running it by my editor to see if she likes it. (fingers crossed)

Lisa