On Becoming a Professional Amateur, #4: Character Acrobatics

I’m replaying one of my favorite posts on writing. Why? Well, in part because I’m juggling too many cats and in part because I’ve just had the issue come up in a book I’m reading.

This is not an amateur’s manuscript, not a hopeful neo’s first offering. No, Dear Reader, this is a book by a professional writer of middle school fiction that I am reading to my daughter. It is a good book, and well-written in most ways, but somehow, during the editorial process, both the author and her editors (and...