So, I've been chugging along on my MMG rewrites, pretty happy with the results. Until I realized that I'm 85 pages in and Kitty's only had one brief contact with the man who will change her life. Now I believe it's important to show her life before the change. But 85 pages? How can I shorten it? Ah, cut one of the holiday gatherings and move any important info to the other one. Great idea.
The problem is that that was one of the comments made by several of my readers from the first time through. Thanksgiving and Christmas with the family was too repetitive, and I should cut one or the other. I balked (as I have been known to do on one or two occasions). They were both important. She was with different relatives at each one. It gave me a chance to introduce two different hauntings.
But they were right, dammit. I can just rejigger the hauntings.
This is all by way of saying that I'm extremely thankful for my writing friends. Now I just need to listen to them from the get-go. Although I do think the normal reaction is to question what they're saying. And that's not necessarily a bad thing as long as I make myself justify why I disagree. If the answer doesn't serve the story, it's not a valid reason.
