Lost Characters and Found Insights: Draft Two Drama

My developmental edits are back, and let’s just say, Without Light has officially lived up to its name—because wow, it was in the dark. As I sat down to tackle my second draft, I was greeted with more plot holes than I thought possible. These aren’t just tiny potholes, mind you; these are plot craters, the kind you could lose a whole caravan of main characters in. Who knew my novel’s dystopian landscape resembled a war-torn battlefield?

In my defense, the entire story lives in my brain, okay? The plot may have made perfect sense in there. My two main characters? Oh, they were perfectly fleshed out… in my head. You’re supposed to like them just because they’re the main characters—who needs unique voices or personalities? Certainly not them! I just assumed readers would fall head over heels because I said so. I’d like to think that’s how Harry Potter did it, right? (Joking, obviously. I don't dare offend a Potter fan!)

But now, as I go through this draft, it’s painfully clear that my characters were lost in their own scenes. Yes, there’s a lot of darkness in my story—part of its charm!—but at some point, one of my characters went entirely missing. And I don’t mean he had an emotional breakthrough or wandered off into the woods to find himself. I mean, like, gone. Poof. Thomas, can you hear me? (Come on, sing it with me. No Barbara Streisand fans?)

And yet, here I am, cheerfully filling in all the holes. I’ve found even more gaps than my editor did (overachiever much?), but I’m not discouraged. In fact, I feel like a carpenter building a house with, you know, actual walls this time. Every edit brings me one step closer to turning my story from a colander into something sturdy enough to hold soup.

And this process? This is what takes writing from good to better, and who knows—maybe one day, it’ll even reach best. For now, I’ll settle for pretty darn solid. I'm diligently finding the holes, filling them in, and emerging with a story that won’t fall apart if you poke it.