The 29th Day by Evadne Macedo is more than “mildly amusing” or “amusing.” Terry Fallis says The 29th Day is “funny!”
I recently met with Terry Fallis, award-winning author of The Best Laid Plans and The High Road (to be released in September 2010) to discuss his comments on my first novel, The 29th Day. Terry said that he “loved” it and that he read it in a few long stints over a week and a half. Terry was kind enough to make editorial comments throughout. Typically humble, Terry excused his lack of experience editing by saying he could only offer me the sort of editing comments Doug Gibson (legendary editor of McClelland and Stewart) recently made on The High Road - wow! I intend to accept each of Terry’s suggestions as they were very insightful and fit with my idea of the manuscript, which I want to make as good as it can be. As my goal is to be an award-winning novelist like Terry, it would be rather foolish to ignore the advice of an avowed grammarian, Leacock medalist and second-time novelist! Terry’s top 10 tips on writing were just published in the National Post (along with those of the other Canada Also Reads finalists).
I am rather relieved that, overall, the changes required to polish The 29th Day for an agent’s eyes are quite manageable, perhaps even nominal.Terry noted various grammatical errors and was even kind enough to remind me of the basic rules of writing when I repeated a mistake throughout the manuscript. More importantly, Terry pointed out inconsistencies in the point of view, situations in which the narrator described on something she had not personally seen and the need for more descriptive information to help the reader situate him or herself in certain scenes. I had some ideas that I ran by Terry, and he confirmed that they would likely improve the manuscript (for example, trying to move some of the middle content to the beginning and the beginning content to the middle so the reader is drawn into the crux of the central conflict sooner in the story).
Terry also helped me stop deluding myself in some areas. For example, I had added an awful last line. That sentence bothered me, but I resisted deleting it. At the end of our meeting, I asked Terry whether anything in the book was cheesy. He reluctantly admitted the last line was. I crossed it out, relieved that this internal debate had ended.
Thanks to Terry, I am one massive step closer to completion of my manuscript. Terry suggested that I think about his comments before acting on them, out of an abundance of caution. I don’t feel this is necessary– I trust Terry’s advice as it validated my own instincts — but will probably wait because I am rather busy with work right now … and am increasingly being drawn into Viral Hatred (more on that below).
Terry’s final comment on The 29th Day was that he wanted to read more, needed to know what happened next. Terry really encouraged me to write a sequel, just like Anna (my first fan!). I think this is great– that after 100,000 words, my readers still want to read more. Unfortunately, they will have to wait! I will let the ideas build up — and I am into Viral Hatred right now — but I would like to write a sequel to The 29th Day later. The more readers ask for a sequel, the more compelled I will feel to write one.
There is so much I am still discovering about myself as a novelist, but one thing is sure: I need to have an eager reader in order to write a novel. I write short pieces for myself, because I love writing. But, I am only motivated to put them together into a coherent story when I know someone is waiting to read what I have written. Terry was that person for The 29th Day, and I will be grateful for that forever! If I had not met Terry, and had his interest in knowing what happened to my protagonist, Karine Fortuna, I would not have completed version 1 of The 29th Day. So, I am very excited that I have been invited to join Pradeep Solanki’s writing group.
I first met the group on February 23, 2010 for dinner with guest of honour, author Sarah Sheard. This was the best night ever – imagine delicious food, a fascinating author ready to answer our questions, a group of interesting people all of whom happened to be writers and a full evening to talk about writing (well, that’s my idea of a good time!). The group meets once a month to review and comment on work-in-progress. The first meeting I will attend with my written work is on March 9th. I already feel a tug that I need to get Viral Hatred going, so they will have something to read– I will aim for a new chapter or more each month (I have written 15,000 words but they are not necessarily in order yet).
I am very pleased with how well my novel (or parts thereof) has been received by industry experts this past month– I now have confidence in my ability to write humour because of Terry’s feedback on my whole manuscript, and comments on page 1 from Kim Moritsugu and Sam Hiyate at the Humber Writers’ Circle on February 20, 2010. So, whenever work settles down, I will focus on finishing The 29th Day and getting more into Viral Hatred (incidentally, I came up with a funny opening and have replaced the one that Antanas Sileika thought was “heavy metal” … not worth risking alienating readers on page 1).
