Good morning! Happy wonderful day!
Sun's coming up (good thing, that). It's looking like it's going to be clear (not so good, considering the drought). We got a little rain on Friday night into Saturday morning - about 0.5 inch if I believe the weather people. The Giants won in Colorado last night. It's shaping up to be a good day!
I have some obligations - my mother-in-law's pill boxes and a few other things, but nothing major. The errands got done yesterday, so today it's all house stuff. The dust is thickening, so I'll take care of that later. Sam, my cat, is feeling needy this morning, so he'll keep me working to settle him down. After that and getting my coffee, I'm looking forward to reading and commenting upon a new book from the Authonomy site.
There's a group of us, the Women's Fiction Critique Group that, every three weeks, does a read of a new book and provides observations, comments and encouragement. It is the one place on the site where I'm confident that anyone reading my books will not pull any punches whatsoever.
The first time through, I stumbled out the other side, battered, bloodied and bruised, with confidence greatly shaken because the critiques were not soft and fuzzy. There was one, in particular, that still bothers me more than a year later. "She's a bitch!" and "I hate your MC!" followed by "I can't read any more of this!" Ouch! The rest were all mildly to moderately encouraging and all, even the hardest hitting one, had valid points. It was just a surprise to have my 'masterpiece' so thoroughly trounced. Looking back, not all the points were valid but many were, and it's those I need to take to heart when the time comes to go back to it.
So this is the group to which I will submit my observations on this next book.
I'm torn about the last crit I left. One of the members came back to me after and said I was too harsh. Perhaps I was. The deal is, though, that I was dead honest and pulled no punches because, in my view, if someone, anyone is going to put that book up for sale, the purchaser has the right to expect top quality. This was an early version and, because of gaps in the plot and storyline, there is a lot of work to be done.
There is also the obligation I feel when I do a critique. I will not say 'this sucks' and leave it at that. That benefits no one - not me, not the writer, not other potential critics. If I'm going to say something bad or negative, I'm going to give chapter and verse on why. It's not fair to anyone to say, 'yeah, this sucks' and leave it at that, so I dont because it's not just the receiver of the crit who sees that there. There are others who follow-on and see the points made. If I'm blunt and decisive, clear and spell things out, perhaps others will benefit.
Do I feel badly? Yes. Obviously since I'm trying to self-justify here. I wasn't happy with my comments before I posted them, and after having my "brutality" confirmed, my comfort level is set squarely at Squirm.
I've been there, had that done to me but, on the other side, for me it was a HUGE wake-up call. What I thought was beautiful and delicate genius was tedious and naive. In the end, despite hurt feelings, a 'why did she say those horrible things?' and a 'why am I doing this?' reaction, my story will be much better and stronger, more real and believable than it was. It will be a better product for a potential reader.
If my critique has the same effect, almost everyone benefits (but I'll still feel uncomfortable when I think of it). Tough love is a good term to use.
I love reading. I love good stories. To me there is nothing worse than picking up a book, paying for it, and realizing partway through that I have wasted my time and money because it's not what I hoped for or expected. To me, that's like the movie that you sit down to watch and discover, 'OMG - what is this!??'.
When I'm done with a story, I want it and the characters to be restlessly pacing at the back of my mind long after the cover is closed for the last time. When a book does that to me, it's a better than average book, and that's what I want to see produced. That's what I want to produce - living characters that catch a reader's mind and imagination, and that is one tough nut to crack but that is what I strive to do in everything I write.
I have received great encouragement from two beta readers whose opinions I value. They are instrumental at the Inca Project site (http://www.incaproject.co.uk/) and both were, from my perspective, wildly encouraging.
'I loved it.' 'I didn't want it to end.' 'Looking for the sequel.' 'A brilliant read.'
Music to a writer's ears! Minor picks - a few typos and editing changes, some repetition, but nothing that little things wouldn't fix. The next step is Create Space where I will enter it into the sweeps and see what happens with it. Probably this summer since I have a few other things to get in order. The cover is done though! Oh happy day!
Now - I am off to get my coffee, do pills and rid the house of dust dunes.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Check out "Lothario & The New Girl" my erotic romance on www.authonomy.com
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