Artifacts
A very astute reader (the only kind I use) pointed out that my manuscript for book #2 seemed a bit off. She didn't understand the ending in the context of the character's emotional and narrative arc. I understood what she was getting at. And I knew what the problem was: I had written the ending alongside the beginning. That is, when I was writing scenes before I began writing the book, I had two that I quite liked: the opening and the ending. I edited the beginning quite a bit but the ending not as much. I should have, because, as my reader noticed, it seems incongruous given all the events that lead to it.
That's the danger in artifacts. You can grow attached to them and lose sight of what they are supposed to represent. I've noticed I'm always much more receptive to suggestions such as "change the ending" or "remove that major character" when I haven't seen the story in a long time (several months). Physical distance somehow begets professional objectivity. I trust the first reader's eyes, perhaps even more than my own, because they're seeing the story new and I never can at this point.
So I'm looking forward to destroying some artifacts...
