I love my editor. LOVE. Her. She catches everything and makes me tow the line.
One of the issues I worked on this round was on “talking heads.” I’m using the term loosely because my characters do move and have internal thoughts, but they don’t necessarily interact with their world in early drafts.
While editing, I focused on identifying places where my characters could move about their world and (as my editor suggested) I layered in WORLD BUILDING while doing it.
For example, the main character in SHIFTING PRIDE, my YA paranormal romance shapeshifter novel, is a werecat. She also has a lead role in the Drama Club play. So, I had her interact with a Cats poster in her room.
How do you handle “talking heads” in your manuscripts?
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Interacting with a poster? Did he say, “You takin to me? Are you talkin to me?”
Yeah, this is a hard one. I always end up with characters who are walking and talking a lot, and though there’s action in walking, it’s pretty boring. Interacting WITH the world is definitely something to keep in mind!