Yesterday, I poured over my laptop, scanning my editors' notes. I was halfway through a chapter six revision, and suddenly it hit me-- I had found the heart of my novel. I don't want to give away too much, so I won't elaborate, but it was the romance angle I'd been looking for. Within this ghost-, mafia-, business-, spiritual-, and romance story, I had been too focused on the main character's anguish, on his pain. After reviewing my China trip notes, I realized how hilarious many of the situations were, and I have integrated those within the first chapters. Man, does that make a difference in the way it reads!
But back to the romance. I didn't want a Harlequin-esqe storyline, but I didn't want to be too cool and calculating in my description of the romance between Ben (maybe it's Tom now) and Hong. After living with my coauthor and his wife for nine days, and seeing their relationship firsthand, I have found the balance between soppy sugary romance writing and the aloof style of many modern romance storytellers, you know, the "I'm really just too cool to feel these feelings" kind of thing.
So within Gary and Hong's dialogue and infrequent miscommunications, I found the warmth between them, and that's what I injecting into the novel. Tonight, I'll be revising the last third of the story, and then it's back to our editors for the final round of editing.
We will run our first thousand copies in mid-November, and keep our deadline of a December 15th release. Cross your fingers for me.
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