ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS

[Glenna Fairbanks]

The last several months I have been submitting large sections (50+ pages, double spaced) of the first of my Susan Edmonds series for review and critique to the Writers Group. This is quite an assignment for the group since those who don't write novels usually submit short memoirs or articles of no more than six pages double spaced. Writer #2 who also writes novels used to submit thirty or so pages but she now submits 50 or so pages. No one seems to object to the size of the weekly assignments (from us). It's a complement to our writing, I think, since the group usually says they find the reading easy and are anxious for the next section.

It's interesting that both she and I are within the same cycle of submitting the concluding section of our novels. My last reviewed section came back last week. Hers will be submitted this coming week and returned the following Tuesday. I'm anxious to see how she will bring hers to an end. And then there was the feedback I received this past Tuesday.

Since then I have been reviewing the complete manuscript (MS), making sure all the threads are complete, tying up all the ends without making the conclusion obvious before the last chapter where Susan drops the hammer in a most unexpected, but effective way. Will she finally be able to go forward to achieving her dream after everything that has happened or will the obstacles force her to take a different path? Can she forge her path without losing the support of the reader? Can I bring in surprises that the reader will say, "Aha, never saw that coming but of course - it makes sense."

Writing police procedurals is not so different from being a detective - finding the clues that were there all along. And connecting them when there didn't seem to be a connection when first presented. Love it. Maybe that's why I so enjoyed working in the field for all those years.

And then there is the other novel in the series that I've already started to prepare for the group's review while getting ready for the MWA University in mid-August. There's hardly time to make the bed these days....

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