I love attending writers' conferences because I always have such a powerful experience and learn so much. I got a chance to discuss the changes I was planning to make to Magical Diaries with Amanda Bergeron on Saturday.
She clarified what she thought the novel needed and this time I really got it. I understand now why readers need to empathize with Lilith's attraction to Adam and feel her pain when he leaves. Amanda said that just because they're soul mates doesn't mean they have to end up together, but we have to feel their attraction and how painful the separation is.
She gave me the example of Buffy and Angel. They're soul mates, but they can't be together because Buffy is a vampire slayer and Angel is a vampire.
Plus, I reconsidered the psychological issues and realized that I had pushed it too far. I don't want Lilith to be neurotic, obsessive, and delusional. She will deal with this stuff in the latter half of the novel when she makes a foray into black magic. A little obsessiveness I could probably get away with in the beginning of the novel, but too much of it and she begins to appear delusional, which doesn't work at the beginning because she's not delusional... and Adam's not a jerk.
I think I've got it sorted out now so I can do the revision and get the characters right so I evoke the emotions I want to evoke in my readers.
Also, one of the workshops I took at the conference was called Revising Fiction, taught by Kirt Hickman. It was so good that I bought his book, Revising Fiction. I was impressed enough with it to mention it here. For writers needing guidance on the revision process, this is a good one.
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