The Wisdom of Crowds

One of the challenges of having a manuscript lying around in search of a publisher is the temptation to go back and tweak things. Every time I open the computer file for Rules for Giving I find myself making a change, deleting a word, tightening something up.

Then there are the bigger temptations—making more large-scale changes.

Chapter 4 of my novel recounts the protagonist accompanying his teenage girlfriend to a clinic for an abortion. Things take an unexpected turn.

I have considered on several occasions making this the opening chapter in the novel because of the gravity of it. A reader of one of the early drafts told me she didn’t think it was a good idea. The chapter deals with a heavy issue. Without any vested interest in the characters the reader might be turned off.

I took her advice and left the order of chapters untouched—until the rejection letters from agents started coming. Any agent who requested the first chapter as part of the initial query answered with a rejection.  I feared that the opening was a yawner. I felt as if I had to inject an in-your-face attitude into the plot. A visit to an abortion clinic should do it. I rewrote and re-arranged the chapter, but wisely shared it with my critique group.

They shot me down.

“This is a great chapter,” one lady told me, “but I didn’t want to hear it.”

“I had no interest in these characters,” another told me. “This was a harrowing moment in their lives, but I didn’t care.” She went on to explain how in the original draft the reader met the characters, began to like them and by the time this chapter came along, the reader had empathy and concern.

They were right. I was so intent on developing a whiz-bang first chapter that I didn’t see the obvious. Thanks to my critique group, though, I now see the wisdom.  

See ya’ later.

WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Comments

[Writingariver.blogspot.com]

This is a great post. It shows so clearly why we need to trust our intuition and not give in to fear.
I was tempted to do the same thing you did with my novel and get rid of the first few chapters to create a beginning with more immediate impact. But it didn't work because the new beginning was too confusing.

Love the title of your blog.