advice 4

Now this is more interesting for me:  Hyatt suggests doing something like "director's notes" on your DVD of a movie.  Tell why I started with this scene--now that's a good one because it's always tricky to decide exactly where to start.  Some editors want you to start "in media res" (or is that "in res media"?)--in the middle of the action with no introductory scenes at all.  Other editors want you to start with the ordinary.  We discussed this dilemma at our last writers' critiquing group.  We decided it really depended on what the story was, and how it could begin differently.  Other "director's notes": what scenes were deleted and why.  Oh, I have many versions of my novels.  I came across an old file of Angels in the Flames the other day, and it had a whole list of scenes I'd forgotten all about.  Then there are the scenes that were added to improve the book--heck, I added about half a dozen totally new chapters last time I revised that novel because the editor wanted to know what the brother was doing while the girl was on her mission.  Yes, I think those chapters did improve the book, even though the editor later decided not to publish any more books for that age group.  That hurt me, but the advice did help the book.