I'm doing another deep edit of Masks. I think the polish is mostly there, but I need some more on-screen protagging and also some on-screen antagging. I had a great discussion with Mr. Levine about this that helped focus my editing efforts.
Hold on there Kami, whatever do you mean?
It's a little known fact, but many readers prefer antagonists that actually antag. My antagonists in the book are pretty shadowy and elusive and are part of a larger team of doers. I can't definitively say evil doers because the characters are more complicated than that--I root for them almost as much as I root for the hero. Anyway, like a business they variously go after the protagonist with salespeople, managers, administration-generated actions and even social pressure/misdirection and advertisements. And when all else fails they send someone to get out the duct-taped roll of washers.
This made for a reactive dynamic with the hydra-antagonist that wasn't doing the plot much good. And so I get to set up clearer targets, not by making them stupid, but by making the protagonist a little smarter than he appears right now.
I also get to remove what I've dubbed Cold Comfort Farm from the opening. It has a purpose, but not enough purpose so away it goes. Less word count is more, at least for me. I tend to write big and pare down to where I should be.
So Fireside was very productive, and a good time was had by all except for the characters, who would hate me if they knew I existed.
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