Peggy Arthur

By Peggy Arthur

Greetings!

I didn’t read my editorial letter in one sitting. 

I couldn’t. 

The letter was long, detailed, and deeply thoughtful. The kind of feedback that doesn’t just touch your sentences, but your story’s bones. And after starting it, I felt something I didn’t expect: 

I felt completely exhausted.

Not just “tired,” but mentally and emotionally drained. As if I had run a marathon using only my brain and heart. 

At first, I wondered if something was wrong with me. Why couldn’t I power through it? Why did I need to stop?

But here’s what happened: I wasn’t just reading notes. I was facing some of my biggest fears as a writer. 

One of those fears was facing the harsh reality that I had a hell of a lot going on in my story. The kicker is that I instinctively knew it, yet I thought I could bridge multiple plots together smoothly. In my mind, the connections were there. But in practice, the bridge was… invisible. Something, or someone, would fall off. 

Later, I learned a word for this: overplotting. 

I had touched on the idea before, but I didn’t fully understand it until it was shown to me through my own work. We’ve all seen it, or read it, that part that made us scratch our heads. For me, that moment hit hard, it felt like being taken to school. And when I say school, I mean elementary, middle, high school, college… maybe even grad school. My editor schooled me for real. For those who know, I could add-in Sunday school and Vacation Bible School (VBS). 

And my friends, that kind of schooling deserves rest.

Applause too, perhaps even an apple, but rest as well.

Ultimately, I reviewed the editorial letter over four days, taking one- to two-day breaks in between. Each reading session required a reset. I wasn’t just absorbing information; I was recalibrating how I thought about story.

When I finally finished, I received a follow-up email from my editor. I opened it and just… stared at it.

Not because I didn’t appreciate it.

Not because I didn’t know what to say.

But because my mind was still integrating what I had already received.

There’s a strange thing about developmental feedback: even when it’s supportive and professional, it can trigger a quiet kind of grief. You’re letting go of the version of the book you thought you had written and beginning the work of writing the one it’s becoming.

And yet, my very first emotional response to the letter wasn’t fear.

It was joy.

Joy at the realization that my plot is a good one.

Joy that it could be well received.

Joy that the character arc is already well-rounded.

That mattered more than I realized in the moment.

But then came the deeper notes. The parts where I had brushed up against concepts I didn’t fully understand, structure, tone, mood, and suddenly I wasn’t just a writer anymore. I was a student again.

And that’s when the exhaustion hit.

Because creative labor isn’t just typing. It’s thinking, unlearning, relearning, and emotionally re-seeing your work. It’s holding plot, character, theme, and intention in your mind at the same time while also protecting the fragile thing inside you that believes in the story.

And here’s the part I wish more people said out loud:

Most fiction fantasy writers go through this.

The majority of fantasy and speculative fiction authors make major changes after developmental edits. These genres carry heavy narrative weight — worldbuilding, mythology, long character arcs, layered symbolism, and series-level planning. It is extremely common for writers in these genres to:

• restructure plot

• move or remove subplots

• reassign scenes to future books

• clarify myth or magic logic

• refine character arcs

• reduce overplotting

• and simplify what was once overly complex

This isn’t failure.

This is professional-level revision.

Fantasy, especially series-based fantasy, almost always reveals its true shape after an editor looks at it. What feels like “too much” in Book One is often material meant for Book Two or Three. What feels like loss is often relocation.

What saved me from spiraling into negativity was one truth:

I am writing a series.

No pages are ever truly lost.

They are repurposed. Rehomed. Reimagined.

What doesn’t fit in Book One might belong in Book Two, or Three, or somewhere else entirely.

That understanding turned fear into possibility.

I wasn’t being told my story was broken.

I was being shown how to make it stronger.

So, if you ever find yourself needing days to read feedback…

If you stare at an email before you can reply…

If you feel strangely tired after “just reading” notes…

Know this:

You’re not weak.

You’re not behind.

You’re being educated in your own craft.

And that kind of education is exhausting because it’s real.

It deserves rest.

It deserves applause.

And it deserves patience.

Tonight, I will begin again, but differently.

This time, I will read the editorial letter not just to absorb it, but to work with it. I will make notes, highlights, and comments for both myself and my editor. I will officially and formally process what’s being asked of me so I can begin shaping the changes needed to make this story what it deserves to be.

Not what it was.

Not what I imagined it was.

But what it is becoming.

Because what comes after this stage isn’t just revision.

It’s refinement.

It’s authorship.

It’s becoming the kind of writer this story requires. 

If you’ve ever received feedback that shifted how you see your work — how did you process it?

Did you power through? Or did you need space to recalibrate?

I’d love to hear your experience in the comments.

If you’re walking the long road of authorship, through revisions, revelations, and reinvention, I share these moments honestly here. The exhaustion. The growth. The becoming.

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