My Muse has slipped her leash again…
My WIP is reaching (I hope) its conclusion. Now in its twelfth incarnation, it has undergone numerous changes. It has lost its original ending (recycled to a later book), 15,000 words, and its original POV format.
The city in which the story was set has changed and even the genders of the two main characters has been switched round.
As a result, the very early notes bear almost no resemblance to the later and completed story. I imagine that this isn’t unusual, though.
But what I don’t know, despite all of this upheaval, is this; has the story improved at all?
From version 5.0, the first form in which I was prepared to let anyone else read it, my WIP has been passed out to more than a dozen friendly readers.
This has normally been followed by an ear-straining silence from them.
I can’t help but wonder (nail-biting newbie writer that I am) if this is because my work is so appallingly bad, stuffed with cliches and bad dialogue, that they can’t bring themselves to tell me the truth for fear of hurting my (admittedly sensitive) feelings.
Patience (for several weeks), polite queries (have you had a chance to read?’ and ‘hope I’m not bothering you, but…’) that are answered by ‘um…not yet’ or ‘I started on it, but…’ only encourage the fear-Kraken to rise anew from the depths.
My thoughts spiral down into ever-tightening coils of concern;
They’ve read it.
They must have.
And they HATE IT!
But how do I get them to admit it?
Do I want them to admit it?
The whole subject becomes an elephant in the room; a source of tension.
Mild paranoia sets in;
Do I say something?
Do I say nothing?
If I ask them, will they resent me for it and hate whatever I’ve written and still not tell me? Or worse – they might just say it’s nice. But if I say nothing will they just forget to read it or believe I don’t care what they think?
What’s an uncertain writer to do?
At the other end of the scale, ephemeral feedback such as; ‘I thought there was too much dialogue,’ ‘Yeah, it was good’ and ‘I liked it,’ (yes, I’ve had all three) is worse than useless to a writer. How can anyone glean anything remotely useful from that?
Scathing criticism, on the other hand, can completely shatter a writer’s confidence. ‘We can see no market for this type of story,’ one agent told me.
Hmm, no market for supernatural romance. I see. Better pass that onto Alyson Noel, PC Cast, Stephenie Meyer et al.
So, already traumatised beyond all reason by this experience, the newbie writer explores another avenue – that of the impartial reader. Other writers seem like a good choice. After all, they’re in the same game, right? They should know a good effort from a stinker, correct?
Only is everyone is honest.
Propping up another writer’s ego with praise when cold, honest critique ought to be levied would be a sin – as bad as well-meaning friends who can’t bring themselves to voice their honest opinion – ‘it needs more work’ (citing Chapter X, paragraph Y as ‘completely confusing’ or ‘difficult to read’).
The most encouraging comments I have received in the past few weeks have been from fellow bloggers (and one friendly reader asking for ‘more, please’ by email).
It’s made me wonder, having seen what others are writing, if reading outside our own genre would produce the best (and the most impartial) feedback.
For One, the reader is less likely to get drawn into the story to the exclusion of remaining ‘editorial’. I would never have chosen to read a contemporary book about a teenage runaway who gets sold into the slave trade,and yet, when it was passed to me, I was able to read, enjoy and yet remain detatched enough to be able to critique it. The story has stayed with me to this day.
For Two, the reader is less likely to make numerous comparisons with their own WIP – and there will be less risk of ‘idea trawling’ – a reassurance for the writer involved.
So I hereby pledge (*raises right hand) to read more of other’s work, whatever the genre, to judge it impartially and honestly, even at the risk of providing feedback that may not be exactly what the writer wishes to hear.
What are your thoughts on feedback? Could you you cope with honest, if discomfiting, critique? Could you remain on speaking terms with someone who described your WIP as ‘too slow’ or ‘unengaging?’
Write on!
The Other Me
Aug 20, 2012 @ 19:42:28
Man, I can’t wait to get where you are! I’m about half way and I have a feeling my final version will also end up quite far away from its origin. Good idea, letting readers that wouldn’t normally read you genre sample your work. I think I’ll try that. Had no real useful feedback yet. Good luck with it. Selfie or old school?
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Andrew Toynbee
Aug 21, 2012 @ 07:22:25
It’s a good sign that your WIP is markedly different from your original outline – that’s your story improving itself already!
As an example, my original outline had two characters discussing their next move in a coffee shop whilst the world was descending into chaos around them.
My current WIP has them running for their lives, driven towards their next adventure by fear and necessity. Better? I hope so.
A small tip; don’t pass your WIP onto anyone until you’ve revised it at least twice. I was glad that I didn’t – the howlers that had crept through my initial read throughs were positively embarrassing.
Selfie or old school? Um…I’m entirely self-taught with one exception – I undertook Holly Lisle’s ‘How to Write Sideways’ on-line course a couple of years back. Not essential, but it has been fairly useful.
I would also recommend the Procrastinating Writers blog – it’s full of aspiring writers.
Best of luck with the WIP – what’s your genre?
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The Other Me
Aug 21, 2012 @ 07:50:52
When I asked selfie or old school? I meant were you’re planning to self publish or go down the agent/editor route.
Genre? I guess i would describe it as a surreal fiction. A bit Murakami perhaps. I have a part of a chapter here if you’ve got 5 mins to kill.
http://seanjrankine.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/oceans-swim-novel-excerpt/
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Andrew Toynbee
Aug 21, 2012 @ 11:54:09
Murakami isn’t something I’m familiar with – I will definitely have a look.
As for publishing, I have queried over 120 agents and had no success – so it’s looking increasingly likely that I will be self-publishing via Amazon.
If it’s of interest, I have put up a little of my WIP at
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Pat
Aug 19, 2012 @ 19:29:58
I think getting a sensible critique is very hard. Even if you have someone who is genuinely interested in your genre, if they are too close to you, you won’t get the truth. If they’re not close enough to care about you, you won’t get constructive ways to improve it, just ‘didn’t like it’ ‘it didn’t really grab me’ or worse ‘didn’t finish it’.
When we want to improve, we need someone in the middle. Someone who will not only read it, but care enough about how you feel about your writing to spend time working out what might be wrong.
I think tick-lists are a good idea, but they don’t always get to the bottom of what is wrong.
In the end, it kills me to say this, but probably the only way to get a truly useful crit is to pay someone a lot of money to do it.
Or another writer of your genre who has just finished their WIP and needs a break.
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C. A. Husted
Aug 19, 2012 @ 03:15:42
The whole goal when it comes to seeking a review on your work is to find out if an individual enjoyed the piece, and if so, whether or not they enjoyed it enough to give you information for improvement. — Notice the emphasized text there? Yes. Exactly. — When it comes to critiquing work of an enjoyable genre, anyone will likely agree, it’s most difficult when you’re drawn into the story and relate to the characters. With that being said, it is much easier to critique a story of which is outside of your general interests, so you are able to focus more on the story in front of you, and what parts may need improvement. (…as you also suggested.) Creating too close a connection may end up blinding readers by enjoyment.
Perhaps you’re not asking the right individuals to critique your work. Or, maybe they’re busy with other aspects of life and honestly haven’t had a chance to read over your work in a manner that would result in a meaningful review. — It’s also not hard to imagine the number of writers who wish only to have their egos stroked, so they may purr in front of the fire with a lightheartedness about them.
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Andrew Toynbee
Aug 19, 2012 @ 07:50:30
I think you’ve hit the nail on the thumb exactly – many of my genre-friendly readers have busy lives and have little time to spare to cconstuct what would constitute a useful review.
As Aayla avalon suggested elsewhere in this post, a short list (with spaces for notes) of questions to accompany the MS could prove to be useful, along with some kind of simple code that readers might use to identify particular areas; page, paragraph, line.
The simpler the better – that way the reader can make the note, then continue along.
Ego-stroking achieves nothing – certainly nothing that would improve the story.
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Aayla Avalon
Aug 15, 2012 @ 06:03:11
Andrew, I am curious…Are the people you asking to read your novel interested in your particular genre? If not, then the feedback they give might not be what you are looking for. I was in a writing critique group and two of them women in the group would never read the type of writing I did and I found their criticism very unhelpful.
Also, if people are not drawn to your genre they might not be interested enough to read it all the way through. Perhaps in order to help them help you, you could prepare a very brief list of questions to give to people when you hand them your manuscript. It would offer a guideline for them understand what type of feedback you need in order to fine tune your work. It also keeps it more business like so they can be honest without being afraid of hurting your feelings.
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Andrew Toynbee
Aug 15, 2012 @ 07:30:27
A list of questions – of course! How could I have forgotten to do that?
Waybackwhen, I’d planned to do just that ‘when the time came’.
But when the time did come, I completely forgot.
Thanks for the reminder!!
X
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Andrew Toynbee
Aug 15, 2012 @ 07:56:58
Oh, I forgot to answer your first question (it’s my age, you know).
Yes – I only pass my WIP to genre-friendly’ readers.
🙂
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Candace Knoebel
Aug 14, 2012 @ 14:31:58
I’m still facing that problem! I don’t think it ever ends (except for when you become famous and have an agent and plenty of readers who tell you, you can do no wrong). Keep your chin up and know you’re not alone. I’m sure there is a market for you full of joyous readers!
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Andrew Toynbee
Aug 15, 2012 @ 07:33:59
I’m convinced that they are all waiting round the corner, giggling and waiting for ‘the right moment.’
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Candace Knoebel
Aug 15, 2012 @ 15:25:05
Probably lol
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Sonya Loveday
Aug 14, 2012 @ 14:05:13
Andrew ~ I’ve been one of your lucky readers! The excerpt you so generously let me read, I honestly liked 🙂 As far as critiquing someones writting – I find myself just reading the story and if it catches my interest and flows then the “editing” side takes a back seat until I finish reading it.
The writter side of me cringes when waiting on an honest review. Honesty really is the best policy and I don’t think any of us like to hear what we’ve done wrong as far as our WIP goes. After banging our heads a lot, we go back and make our story stronger in the areas that someone else thought they were failing. There are so many people out there with so many different ideas on what is good and what is not so good. I think we have to remember that we can’t please everyone and that if we changed our stories to reflect on what others think it should be – well, then it would no longer be our story, would it?
Good post!! I think you’ve captured what we all think while waiting for that “yes” to come 🙂
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Andrew Toynbee
Aug 15, 2012 @ 07:52:26
Sonya
You might be right – read the story as a punter (customer) first, then go back and view it as an editor.
If it’s allowed, mark anything that trips up the flow with an ‘X’ and go back to critique later.
Otherwise it would be like skipping through brambles – you’d lose momentum very quickly and fall flat.
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jumpingfromcliffs
Aug 14, 2012 @ 13:36:14
Sorry, just realised I topped-and-tailed that post with smileys…
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jumpingfromcliffs
Aug 14, 2012 @ 13:35:36
I think we all share your pain 🙂
The Silence of the Readers can be worse than scathing criticism.
Now, I really don’t want to cast aspersions, as I’ve not read any of your work, so please don’t take this the wrong way. In my experience, when friends I’ve asked to review drafts have gone quiet it generally meant one of two things: 1) they couldn’t be bothered or 2) they were neither blown away nor disappointed. Generally silence has indicated that they neither loved nor hated it, which is possibly the worst of reactions.
BUT (and this is an important but, hence the caps) their passivity was almost always on the basis of “it’s not really my cup of tea.” genre plays a huge part in both willingness to read and quality of feedback.
Whilst I personally totally agree with you that broad and genre-agnostic reading is a fabulous thing, I know all-too-many people who know what they like and like what they know.
So they may in fact just be protecting your sensitivities by not wanting to say “the stuff you write isn’t the stuff I like to read” or even protecting themselves from giving inaccurate feedback on a subject area they’re not familiar with.
Have you tried reaching out to other bloggers/authors who write in a similar genre for their feedback?
Oh, and I’d suggest haranguing those non-responders mercilessly – and possibly even physically sitting on them – until they give you some feedback! 🙂
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Andrew Toynbee
Aug 15, 2012 @ 07:48:43
:)Silence of the Readers – lmao!
What you said makes complete sense. The friendly readers were all carefully selected as ‘genre-friendly’ – it’s a tentative process – and gently quizzed before being handed anything.
As for reaching out to bloggers in a similar genre – here I am, gently probing! 🙂
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mymagicalescape
Aug 14, 2012 @ 12:57:38
It was the “scathing criticism” you referred to that kept me from writing for months. Very good thoughts though, Andrew. 🙂 Good luck, and have a great day!
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Andrew Toynbee
Aug 15, 2012 @ 07:58:29
Hopefully you managed to shake off that particular dark cloak and get back to producing unique and compelling prose?
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mymagicalescape
Aug 15, 2012 @ 10:55:29
Yesterday I posted a wee bit of my story along with a drawing I created to accompany it, and yesterday I typed up two more chapters. So, yes…I’d say I was finally able to shake it off. Thank you!
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