Writing update (mopey)
August 28th, 2006
I’m in a strange place writing-wise. I could blame dog-house-move but I think I’d be working on TFN2 even so if I was enthusiastic about it.
Instead I feel stuck wondering if it’s worth going on. The depression I anticipated coming with quitting seems to be focused around feeling like I’m an insignificant ant with nothing to make me stand out from the crowd of nobodies and wannabes. My blog posts aren’t entertaining enough, my stories aren’t gripping enough, I don’t have the artistic or technical skills to make other kinds of projects stand out.
The beta reader situation is as follows: 2 readers have completed it, with minimal comments and general praise. 2 readers are very slowly slogging through it (that is, less than halfway through after a month or two). 2 readers have it but have not yet started it (as far as I know). Of the readers, one finished is my husband and one is somebody who may or may not prefer that genre, but I think enjoys close cousins of the genre. Of the sloggers, one definitely doesn’t read the genre, and one does. Of the yet-to-readers, I think both are familiar with the genre.
I think about this stuff because it matters to how I weight reactions. While my husband is an invaluable resource in improvements, he has reasons other than ‘this is a good story’ to encourage me to go on with the project. (Admittedly, probably so does everybody else involved, but less immediate day-to-day reasons.)
Originally, I was going to do the three books of the trilogy because it was going to be good practice. And I still think three practice novels is a good idea. I’m just no longer convinced a trilogy is right. I mean, if the idea just isn’t working, maybe I should put it aside and start fresh? So I have a chance to apply my studies to multiple kinds of stories?
This might just be mid-story writer sloggy-slog-slogness. No longer fresh and shiny, still lots of work. I dunno. Maybe I shouldn’t have sent book 1 out for comments and feedback. Previously trying to get midstory feedback has been a mistake… I guess I thought it would be different because it was a whole book, darn it. And I’d done some pretty crazy things in it and I /really/ wanted to know if they worked.
Mope mope. Stay tuned for something more interesting though. Well, as interesting as I can make these things.
Categories: Structure Tutorial, Writing | Tags: Writing
Just a Thought:
I’m about to hand out the first three chapters of something to my beta readers (the whole book is written, though it’s theoretically first in a trilogy, but I only have *ahem* most of those chapters edited) and I was sort of planning on including a pack of “how to critique” materials with it. Because “this is good” or “I like F” isn’t terribly helpful to me, where “I like F but when she does X on page # I feel Y” would be.
You should make it possible for me to be another reader.
What I read in the first draft worked well for me. I continue to think that you are selling this book short, possibly because you don’t consider it ‘art’.
I have really only barely started the edited version, so I’m not sure where I am in your summary.
It may be helpful to try to look for either more people to add to your pool or more people who are of a writerly bent and would be better able to give constructive criticism (I personally believe this is a skill I’d be lacking in).
I wandered over tonight from LJ while procrastinating on writing. Can I see the novel? I am always curious about books written by old friends. (And, my instinct is that you should write whatever you’d most like to write just now — Book II if that’s what’s on your mind, or something else if you’d rather. The thing about writing a trilogy — some people do sell their first novels. But a lot of writers who don’t sell their first, DO sell their second. But that won’t happen if the second book you write is the second of a trilogy.)
Hi Naomi!
Yeah. The original idea behind the trilogy was that it wasn’t to sell. It’s supposed to be practice on writing skills (without much concern for original ideas) for the other stories I want to sell.
I’ve just been looking at my reading copy and I think while I’d happy to let you look at it, I’d rather clean up some of the writing first. Can I give you a raincheck?