Dealing with Reviews
I write reviews. And I write some scathing reviews. But when I do that, I try and deconstruct why I don’t believe the story works. There can be a lot of reasons for this: from bad plotting to thin characterisations to tonal inconsistency (and then lots of stuff in-between). The overriding priority is identifying what the story’s trying to do. This comes from my years as an editor. When I ran editing workshops, I’d instruct the participants to talk to the author and understand what they’re attempting. Disaster looms when the author and the editor aren’t simpatico. For example, if the author’s written a book they believe is a a…
The Next Work: Part II
After I’ve finished a manuscript, I’ll usually reread it several times, fleshing it out while the story’s still fresh. When I no longer think I’m getting anything meaningful out of it, I print it out and give it to my alpha readers. I’ll then incorporate their feedback and go over and over it again until I’m back at the stage I think I can do no more. Then I’ll sit on it. I’ve sat on ‘Prudence’ for almost five years. That length of time is unusual. Other things have taken up my time. Pride, Just Another Week in Suburbia, and August Falling were all published in the interim, and each…