I've read a couple of books that I thought were over-edited. One had the feel of something the publisher might have asked for 10,000 words cut out of to suit the usual less than 100,000 words. It had big gaps in the plot & character growth as if chunks of the story had been taken out. Another one had the blandness of something worked over with every rule in the book in mind. There was nothing 'wrong' with the writing if you looked at it technically, but it had no pizzazz. I remember feeling that perhaps it lost its individuality in the push for perfection. In our efforts to make our writing the best it can be, we run the risk of losing the rawness or freshness of our original vision. After years of working on something, it's easy to lose that spark under a pile of prunings. I know, because I think that's what's happened with Lethal Inheritance. To fill you in. I got an agent for my YA fantasy novel Lethal Inheritance back in 2010. She asked for some changes and the removal of … [Read more...]
On dealing positively with feedback
I discussed some of the issues my writer friend, Laurie, raised about my manuscript in my last post. Here’s the process I used to work with and apply the rest of his feedback. I hope that sharing this will help others to work positively with any feedback they get. Oh and by the way, I didn’t have that nervous little heart flutter before I looked at Laurie’s feedback. Does that mean that ego has finally taken a back seat to the quest for excellence? Laurie said… ‘Its a really good yarn ... I got quite caught up in it. It’s inventive and new! The plot is great – always something new and exciting. The work you have done to embody meditation principles is brilliant. The characters are generally good ... and interesting. ‘I found myself very comfortable with the way Walnut explains things but had a little more difficulty with Maya’s voice. At times she becomes something of a caricature of an old wise woman. I would run against stereotype here and make her … [Read more...]
Evaluating feedback & balancing the romantic element
Both my critique reader/writers have sent back their feedback, but like all feedback it requires evaluation before acting on it. We need to evaluate it objectively, in terms of what is best for our book, and that means loosening our attachment to our work as it stands. This process of evaluation has shown me that a writer’s perception of what they’ve written may not be the same as what they actually have written, and the only way you’ll learn that is through someone else’s eyes. Here’s a couple of examples. The issues are things that any YA author with a romantic element in their work could check in their ms. Among other things, Laurie said… ‘The one thing I’m having difficulty with is the Nick-Ariel relationship ... I think its overwritten ... the prose sometimes borders on Mills and Boon ... And the many repetitions of their eyes meeting for a moment and then the energy that passes between them that wore me down. Maybe it just ignites too soon and goes on too long. Partly … [Read more...]
