It may seem melodramatic to say that I have been to hell and back in the space of a week. But it's a familiar journey for every writer.
The
standard story arc prescribes that every
protagonist must reach the point of no return, the all-is-lost moment, the ordeal, the life-or-death crisis.
Every heroine must battle the dark villain, face her deepest
fears.
The editor noted a long list of things she liked in the manuscript. In the business, we're all well-trained in the "critique sandwich", the bread of compliments at the beginning and end of a critique meant to cushion the blow of the meaty middle, the problems, issues, what's not working in the
story.
The manuscript had more and much larger problems than I suspected. The years of work had not produced a story that could be quickly or easily made to work.
I entered, if not the gates of the inferno, the well-worn stages of grief.
