At the end of April, I finished FAERIE. My intentions were to edit the story over the summer when my kidlet was out of school.
--it didn't happen. Instead, I diddled around with the beginning of an old partial that I had put away, rewriting the first few chapters/synopsis from scratch.
I've gotten about all the rejections I can handle with GNOME, so I'm 'officially' retiring it from active querying. It's time to move on. And yes, I've been pimping GNOME for over a year. Got some nibbles (partials and fulls), but no takers. *sigh*
So, I pull out my FAERIE query, make a few tweaks and send it to a few people. I got some comments back, but I'm shelving the query for now. Why? Because I did a name change of my main character in FAERIE's first draft. I skimmed the story when I was 'finding and replacing' and realized that I have a HUGE amount of work ahead of me--more than I thought or expected. I need to buckle down and get the manuscript into shape BEFORE I consider querying it.
Therefore, I'm changing into my EDIT hat and will dive into the story today. The problem that I have, and will ALWAYS have, is that I tend to dink with the sentences and paragraphs each and every time I read them. During the second draft is NOT the time to do this.
On an aside: THIS is why I don't want someone to crit to this depth and request only general comments--slow pacing, unbelievable dialogue, or confusing sentence--you get the picture. But it doesn't stop the majority of critters from trying to change the story into the way they would write it.
If you are a critter, please, please, please, try to respect the writer's wishes and do the type of crit they request. Writers, just like critters, have different strengths and weaknesses, along with different needs. If you are unable to do that type of crit requested, then decline the request.
Here's my plan:
1) read the story all the way through without making changes--jot notes/comments throughout
2) make big picture corrections--this tends to involve little corrections, too
3) read the story again for pacing, characterization, dialogue, blah, blah, blah--adjusting spices as needed
4) find willing victim . . . oops, volunteers to sample finished story
5) scream/rant/rave about their comments as they 'ruin' the story
6) put on big girl panties to use the suggestions to improve my story
7) read the #$@#$ thing again.
8) lather, rinse, repeat as needed.
So--if you have another method, PLEASE tell me your method as I might be able to improve mine!
TTFN!
Write on!
I keep changing sentences too, so I wait until I have a fairly finished draft. Only then do I send to critiquers. At that time, I want them to rip it apart. I don't want anyone to hold back. I have strong opinions, and my gut tells me if they're wrong on some picks or strong.
ReplyDeleteI KNOW better than to send a rough story to someone, but sometimes I don't want to tweak, tweak, tweak and then discover my pacing is off for the entire thing! Which is why I usually ask my critter for a specific type of feedback. Oh, well. ;P
ReplyDeleteI'm uncertain about the whole critiquing thing. EVERYBODY has their own unique opinions about things - what works for one may not work for another. How do you sort it? How do you identify valid critiques from personal preferences?
ReplyDeleteThere's the rub, Jods. I could write numerous blogs about critting, but in the end it's up to the writer to take what works for her story and disgard the rest. The only way to know if a partnership will work is to trade sample crits of a couple of pages.
ReplyDeleteSome critters excel at grammar--I've learned not to ask for a crit from a grammarian until well after my fourth or fifth draft. It doesn't make sense to have them 'fix' my sentences when I'm changing 90% of them within the first couple of drafts.
When I crit, I try to take my preferences out of the equation, but I do tend to crit/judge within my genre preferences as I'm familiar with their publishing requirements.
I look for the big picture items: pacing, characterization, conflict, etc. BUT the critter also has to understand the requirements of the genre for which the writer is writing to.
Category romance is different from Single title romance. Other than being romance, they have vastly different requirements for each. The first BIG difference is word count. Category is around 50-65K, while ST is around 80-90K. ST can have subplots, while it's difficult to fit in a subplot in category. How Marilyn manages it, well, you'll have to ask her.
And my comments are simply the ice cube floating in the North Sea. I guess I'll save the rest of my comments for a future blog.
Excellent post, Margaret! You've given me a great check list.
ReplyDeleteI think fresh eyes of someone you respect and who knows the genre to give you an opinion.
Sorry about GNOME. I've shelved my latest one. Sigh....
So . . . are you saying I can send FAERIE to you, Meg? :-) After I finish slicing and dicing, of course.
ReplyDeleteI try to think of my shelved stories as my 'backlist'. It makes me feel better, instead of thinking about how they are mouldering away on my hard drive.
Ah, there's another sticky wicket. Genre. My work defies genre - there's nowhere to place it. Hard to find anybody that understands it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving me the opportunity to use the phras "sticky wicket." I just love it. :)
Ah, very Brit of you. Been watching more Dr. Who? :-)
ReplyDeleteYou can still have your stuff critted by other carefully selected writers, Jody. Just define your needs when you ask them to read your stuff. I would guess you need to know about confusing and awkward wirderubg over characterization or dailogue.