Third time charm?

The third rejection is in. A publisher. Turns out, this time was a charm. They explained in detail why and sent very helpful comments. I understand most agents/publishers do not bother, or don't have time, to explain why they are rejecting a manuscript.

Besides that, something really cool happened the other day. I’ve been struggling with the beginning of Livinity since…the beginning. And I hadn’t quite figure out why or what to do about it, except to just move on and hope that something would magically happen.

The magic was much more practical than I would have guessed. A fellow writer (Thank you, John!) at our critique meeting pointed out some things in a scene that needed a serious overhaul. Not at the beginning, but about 1/3 of the way in. So a little bit of magic sparked an idea to use some of his critique notes at the beginning. Really, they could be used throughout the whole book, but one step at a time!

I’ve been discouraged from starting the book with a prologue. I had one originally (8 years ago) and quickly discovered that it didn’t work. I never considered revisiting a different kind of prologue because I heard multiple times—NO! No prologue! I can’t remember why it’s taboo in most cases. But in my novel’s case, it may turn out to be essential.

When building a world that is not Earth—Livinity is a planet somewhere—the reader needs to see how the world operates and functions. That is what my first prologue tried to do, and failed. It was the history of Livinity in about a thousand words. Not especially long or cumbersome, but just not appropriate to grab my reader.

So now I have another idea. And I really think it will work. I am taking my girl, Chloe, back in time to the moment of her biggest life change. The scene is referenced much later in the book, but never detailed out. I am very optimistic that the scene will spark the reader’s curiosity and interest. Where the current opening lacks as a start, the scene may turn out to be the missing element I didn’t know I was searching for all along.

The real test will be…what do the agents/publishers have to say? Stay tuned.