Guest post by author Kate Albus
Kate Albus grew up in New York but now lives in rural Maryland with her husband and children. She loves reading, baking, knitting, hiking, and other activities that are inherently quiet. Her debut novel A Place to Hang the Moon is for fans of The War That Saved My Life and other World War II fiction. It follows three orphaned siblings who are evacuated from London to live in the countryside with the secret hope of finding a permanent family.
Characters are family.
That’s true for me as both a writer and a reader. Characters make their way into my heart and lodge themselves there, and I think about them even when I’m not with them on the page. When I’m making myself a cup of tea, I wonder if one of them might like to join me. I think about whether they’d maybe prefer cocoa (they almost always prefer cocoa). When I’m doing something boring or unpleasant – like pulling weeds or loading the dishwasher – I imagine one of them alongside me, chatting away and passing the time in good company. And sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night worried about one of them, as if they really were part of my family.
Which is why finishing a story is just a teeny bit sad. I don’t mean to sound dramatic about it, but writing THE END sometimes feels a little like mourning. Those characters that I’ve spent every day with for the past weeks… months… years… aren’t there anymore. At least not in the same way. And I miss them.
That’s why revision is such a gift. It’s a chance for a reunion.
When I’m asked what it’s like, sending a book into the world, a lot of the questions are about the editing process, and there often seems to be an expectation that it’s fraught.
How many times did you have to edit your book before it was finally done?
Was it hard when you had to make changes to your story?
Did you have to fight to keep anything that your editor wanted to remove?
The underlying assumption seems to be that editing is no fun. That it’s a struggle. That it’s unpleasant at best and adversarial at worst. Maybe I just lucked out, but the truth is that for me it was none of those things. It was the exact opposite, in fact.
I see revision as the most exquisite writerly gift there is. Getting to think in more detail about a given character – really think about her – is like finally sitting down for that cup of cocoa you’ve been wanting to have with her ever since you wrote THE END a few months ago. You get to talk about the old times. Stay awake all night, just catching up, hearing that funny story she meant to tell you the last time and just forgot. You know… the one about the flea circus? You get to know her better. Would she really have said that snarky thing she said on page sixty-five? That story she told you about the time she got in trouble for ducking under the ropes on the field trip to the museum… did she feel guilty about it, or maybe just a little bit proud? And what about that big decision she made in chapter twelve… how did she get there, exactly?
So bring on the edits. Put the kettle on and stoke the fire. Maybe bake some cookies. Definitely make up the pull-out sofa in the guest room. Then cozy up with those people who’ve planted themselves so firmly in the soil of your heart and welcome them home for a while.
Treasure every second with them for the gift that it is.
