I’ve been away from the blog awhile, fighting a war of words: editing my Civil War story. It’s dangerous work. Dirty. Deadly.
Ann Patchett is so good I was ready to run for cover while I read BEL CANTO. She selects only and exactly the words required. She foreshadows everything that matters with one simple clause, referring to the kidnapper/terrorists early in the siege: “who would all be killed.” These five words haunt the book thereafter, building an increasing urgency for the next several hundred pages as we come to know what she wants us to know about the people kidnapped, as well as their very human kidnappers. Who is innocent or guilty? And of what? That we might lose any of the villains who are no longer villains comes to seem unjust, too harsh a punishment; losing all of them becomes unthinkable.
[spoiler alert]
We lose them all, in less than a page. Ann Patchett broke my heart.
Editing my imperfect prose thereafter added more heartbreak. A character I love is gone. Another must give up his best scene. A line that always earns a laugh is off the mark, so banished. Two chapters need to be one. Detours must be derailed. Adjectives waste ink. Say it once, move on.
No ammunition can be wasted in a war zone.
Then a message crosses enemy lines, under a flag of truce. This is a true story:
VOICE MAIL MESSAGE: “Jennifer, this is LuAnne. I’ve just finished your pages and I’m thrilled. Congratulations. It is lively, colorful, rich. It’s wonderful. Very nicely done. I’m just so pleased. You’ve really transformed it. I just had to share with you my excitement. I’m really enchanted. Let’s talk soon.”
You can find this miraculous woman at Dowling Edits. www.linkedin.com/in/luannedowling. She has a strong heart, a clear eye, and brings her own flak gear.
