Editing Pains

I posted my first ~2000 words of Liv Leigh to my crit group this week. Overall, the feedback was positive. Good voice, fun character, blah, blah, blah.

BUT...

The biggie: My protag's actions don't really make sense. They don't get her motivation.

Now, in my head, I can see her motivation and her background and what drives her to do what she's doing. But how do I get at least some of that into the first five pages?? Because, her actions are a little odd and she's doing something that most of us wouldn't do. And I have to make her believable right away or no one will read on.

Least of all an agent or editor.

So I've spent the last couple of days agonizing over this. And I think I've finally got it figured out. It requires reversing the order of the scene to make it chronological (thanks Sherry!) and adding a phone conversation (thanks Pam!).

And, sheesh, this was just the first few pages. I can't imagine what'll happen with the next 200+! Writing the first draft was way easier. Wish I could pass it off to someone else now and just get busy on the next story that's bouncing around in my head.

In other news, I think I've decided what line I want to target this to. So, I went to the library and checked out a couple dozen books to read. I also threw in a few from other lines, just to see. THEN, I'll probably start buying books from that line in order to stay current on what's being purchased.

And, hey! I noticed that a Harlequin Blaze novel was made into a movie and will be shown on the Oxygen Network tonight at 8 p.m. It's called: Romancing the Bride. Gotta check it out.