After several late nights, early mornings, and staring off into space trying to figure out how to get my plot to work, I did it. The third draft is completed at 73,000 words, which is roughly 9,000 more than my first draft. The overall storyline has remained basically the same, but I've added a lot of elements to it. I love how it's turned out, but now comes the true test.
I've given it to my first beta reader. Beta readers are people who provide criticism for manuscripts before they're sent to agents or editors. So who did I choose to read it? One of my husband's coworkers - an English teacher and an avid reader of young adult literature who loves dystopian thrillers. I sent her an email asking if she'd be interested, and she said yes, but that she'd probably be pretty harsh. While this makes me absolutely terrified, it also makes me happy. There's something unnerving about handing your manuscript off to someone who you know as opposed to some literary agent whose address you pulled off of the internet. Your personality and thoughts are reflected through your manuscript, and to allow someone to critique it, it's pretty intimidating. I know that she'll provide an unbiased opinion on it, and that's what I'm craving at this point. So now I will wait until she sends me her critique before I look at the manuscript again. The best thing that I can do is to let it rest for a while so that I can return with an objective point of view.
Fingers crossed, here's hoping for good feedback and workable changes.
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