Which book should I edit today?

Last week I was busy putting Nine changes into the electronic ms. I felt very confident that I would get all my changes in in about a week and then I would pick it up and start writing on it again. I don't like it just sitting there. I like the story a lot and I like the MC. I even like writing in present tense (inside TC joke there).

Then on Thursday night Hawk was out (1) at a meeting and (2) playing D&D. So I had the kids downstairs, which is easiest, and I didn't want to play Sims or start a new story. So I looked on the computer and saw WS -- the rewrite I'd done in January 2007 (according to how I titled the file). So I thought, "Okay. I'll read a book."

Then I saw a change I wanted to make. Changed it. Kept reading. Another change. Then a line to cut. Then I'm thinking, "Ugh. Why does he keep using all these extra words?" So I start editing in earnest.

Because of his language, I felt distanced from Jake (the narrator) and I felt like I didn't get to know enough about his character. So I kept making cuts, mostly small ones. Then I got further in and I still felt like he was telling me too much and I wasn't learning about who he was. Now I'm getting frustrated.

So I get up to the scene where he goes for tea and it's like it clicks in that all of those things he's telling me in the beginning actually are telling me about him. I know what he notices and what he thinks is important and what he really has on his mind. Then when he goes for tea and Maggie gets him to open up some, I realized, "Okay, here's why he's been kind of a guarded narrator up to this point. Now someone else is making him show things about himself that he might not have wanted to show me (the reader) and he won't have any choice but to open up." I felt like a therapist with a client sitting across from me who wants to tell me things but wants me to chip away at his little layers.

I wondered if that might not be too much to ask of a reader, to stay tuned until we're 40 pages in.

Then I read Pt 2, wherein we switch narrators, styles and time periods. I really, really like that section and I like how it falls into the story. I admit, when I wrote it, I was concerned that the diary format was gimmicky but I forgot that I was reading a "diary" as I read it fresh last night. And yes, when I start to read part 2, I always read it in a day -- a sitting if I can.

I think structurally it hooks you out of part one and pulls you to the top of a hill and you just go with it and roll from there. The pace increases over part 2 and we learn a lot of things that, I think, reflect on and enhance Part 3 (where we go back to Jake and "present day"). I haven't reread Pt 3 yet; I'm doing that today. I need to get more of the stiffness out of Jake. I understand where he's coming from, based on how he would have had to present himself to people and the time when he lives. How he'd be guarded about his thoughts and emotions. But Seth (RFM) is the same way and he didn't hold back. I knew who he was on page 1. So I'm wondering if it really works: is it better to discover who your narrator is as the story unfolds or do you want to know who he is from the beginning? I think it depends on the story.

I'll let you know how part 3 goes and if my opinions change.

And then I'll get those Nine change fixed and then I'll probably dig into RFM again just because.