Hello, writers. Well, my long painful revision is done. Now the manuscript goes out on submission to about ten editors. If any of them like it enough, they will probably… ask for a revision.
If you tell people you write, they ask “Have you ever been published?” The same question could be rephrased: Have you ever revised something over 300* times?
*Am not, alas, exaggerating.
If you have, chances are you’ve been published. Or are about to be.
One thing you might look for when you’re revising is whether your characters are acting like reasonable people.
When a crisis arises, reasonable people don’t let themselves be distracted by petty annoyances and hostilities. Reasonable people work together to overcome adversity.
This seldom happens IRL, and it makes for very dull fiction.
If you really want to have fun writing, put two characters together who are bound to annoy each other. In fact, let’s try that now.
Remember the Callow Youth?
A callow youth (male or female) is the Chosen One who must obtain the sacred jewel of Togwogmagog in order to save the kingdom.
Let’s resurrect this young person (esp. if, like pico, you’ve already killed the poor kid off) and put him or her back on the track to that marvelous jewel.
Tonight’s challenge:
The jewel is in the hall at the top of the mountain. It’s a stormy night, and there are soldiers or dragons or something patrolling, and nobody can even really climb this mountain by themselves, it’s that tricky. Plus the hall itself is guarded and there are witches or assassins or witch-assassins hunting for C.Y.
Fortunately your protagonist has a stout companion… who is the most annoying person C.Y. could possibly imagine.
Now get them up that mountain…
(If this challenge isn’t challenging enough, add in a 100-word limit.)
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