Thank you, honest critique partners.

Mondays have become my catch-up days.  Mostly I catch up on sleep, but I try to be productive with other things too.  I began a new job last month, and I'm currently working weekend nights, 12 hour shifts.  This means I'm about worthless on weekends! But I accomplish so much during the week, the new job is worth it.

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you all a response I received from a good writing friend of mine.  He read SHARDS OF GLASS and gave me some good and not so good news.  Isn't that the way it goes sometimes? Hey, truth hurts, but we need to hear it.  And I'm glad he gave me an honest critique. 

So here's the good news.  The emotional element is strong.  Evoking a reader's emotions can be difficult, but that connection is what bonds the reader with the character.  Mission accomplished!

Here's the bad news.  My ending doesn't work. 

Now here's the thing.  Critiques should be reviewed and thoughtfully considered.  However, the writer is the one to make the final decision.  Therefore, I could totally ignore the critique because I love my ending.  I absolutely love it; it makes my romantic heart melt.  But since I respect my writing friend, and since I recently had another critique say the same thing, I've given it a lot of thought.  And I'm afraid they are right.  The ending is almost too good to be true.

Thankfully, there is a silver lining that makes this more bearable.  I can revise the ending to make it more realistic, and the final outcome (for the characters) will eventually be the same.  That outcome just won't be shown in SHARDS. 

So that's my news for today.  Now please excuse me while I catch up on other things....

Accepting Constructive Criticism

My writing philosophy is this: anyone can write.  However, not everyone can write well and tell a good story while doing it.  Writing takes a lot of work.  And one of the things a writer must be is objective.  Let's be honest.  We love our stories and our characters.  However, we can't let our feelings overpower our objectivity.  This is especially true when it comes to critiques.

I recently blogged about the novel I am working on titled REKINDLE.  As I began writing, I felt the need to get the story set up properly.  Thinking I was off to a great start, I continued with the story.  But something felt off.  I couldn't put my finger on it, but I was not connecting with Kallie at all.  Joey's scenes were going great, though.  So each time I sat down to write, I would edit and add some more.  I'd do the same thing the next night.  And the next night.  With just over 8,000 words (four chapters), I stopped.  I couldn't go on.  I am not one of those writers who can "get the story down and edit later."  Yes, I edit when I've got my first draft done, but I can't keep writing when I know something is so terribly wrong.

So what did I do? I posted my first chapter at Absolute Write.  After receiving some awesome advice, I deleted the first couple pages.  I didn't even try to edit; I just took them out completely.  I did revise the new opening scene, and guess what? The story reads better.  It's not burdened by an unnecessary opening.  I can connect with Kallie much better.  And now I can continue.  With a few minor revisions to the remaining pages, I'll be on my way.

I could have reacted differently.  I could have insisted that the opening was necessary (I loved the first paragraph!) and tried to edit.  I could have pleaded my case and tried to figure out something else.  But I didn't.  Instead, I looked at the story objectively and acted accordingly.  And that is necessary for all writers to do.

Glad To Beta

Last week I finished beta reading something for a fellow writer.  It was just what I needed, but I didn't realize it until I turned my focus back to my own story.  As you all know, I've been editing my novel for quite some time now.  And as close as I am to my story, it's hard for me to look at it objectively.  I can't just do a critique on it the same way I would on someone else's work.  And whenever I take a break from my story, I don't really take a break.  In other words, I might not write or edit anything, but I still focus all my thoughts on it. 

So after deciding to expand on a certain element in my story, I needed another break.  It's taken up tons of my time to get the word count down to a reasonable amount, and this decision was going to force me to add more words.  Not knowing where to start had me frozen, even though I didn't think it would take much to change it up.  About that time, a fellow writer made a request for a beta.  I jumped at the opportunity.  And I am glad I did!

I read the story submitted to me before offering my critique.  Then I went back to my story.  Without getting worked up about how to start, I started on page one and began reading.  Errors I had never seen before jumped out at me.  Why? Because I'd gotten used to watching for them in the story I was beta-ing.  Critiquing somebody else's work helped me to see my errors, which is always a good thing.  And not only that, it really cleared my head.  My over thinking about my novel had become my stumbling block.  Now that block is gone, and over the weekend I sailed through a third of my 113K word manuscript.  I tweaked here and there, added a bit in a few places, and removed unnecessary narrative/dialogue/etc.  And it's reading much better. 

Sometimes the editing process can be draining.  And for me, it's seldom fun, although it is necessary.  Thankfully, after putting all my focus on somebody else's work, my excitement for my story has been renewed.