So, this is what happened. An editor from Harper Collins told my agent that while she liked the premise of the book, etc, she had difficulty with the main character, Signy. She found it hard to connect to Signy. Didn't think she'd be likeable enough to sustain a series based on her.
I panicked. This has been my fear all along. Signy was always a pain to write and my initial reaction was sure, I'll change everything. Signy has always been a tough character for me to know so why don't I relegate her to the basement and make Grace the star of the show.
What I forgot was that the very reason I wrote this book in the first place was to give a voice to people like Signy. Prickly, irritating, often unlikeable people who are never heard as a result. People who use extreme behaviour instead of words in an attempt to communicate. People who don't have the skills to negotiate complex relationships and who end up living on the margins as a result.
That is the person I tried to bring to life. The fact that I had difficulty connecting to her and some readers find her difficult, as well, speaks to the type of person she is. She is supposed to be hard to get to know, hard to like, hard to root for. But, in the end my task was to try and open a crack in her world, a tiny fissure from where she starts to see people and events in her life in shades of gray. Where she softens enough to start to risk something real.
Maybe that is where I fell short. Maybe I kept her hard and brittle for too long? I think with some editing I could address that.
As I write the second book, she and Grace have forged a much tighter partnership. Grace is still the mentor and Signy backslides occasionally into her black and white world, but they are a great team. Kim throws a monkey wrench into the works for both Grace and Signy - but not in the same dramatic way as the last time. Signy reacts but is able to bring herself back to equilibrium more quickly. She is evolving - slowly but surely.
The bad guy, Dr. Solomon Smiles and his wife, Lisa, are far more complex and interesting than the Russian mobster cliche. The way Grace and Signy both are bamboozled by this duo is fun to write.
Fingers crossed that a different editor from a different house will see the character for what she is...a nuanced, complex, pain in the butt AND someone who is trying to do better.
If not - then it's back to the editing table for me!
Either way - it's a challenge and what could be better than that?
