Little and less to say about writing progress today, but in the interest of accountability:
I didn't get any writing done last night. I decided to switch IM gaming nights to Thursday instead of Mondays, so I did that last night. When what I really needed to do was revise chapter 4 for a third time and post it up for critique. I also owe one or two more critiques to people. Tonight looks to be a wash as well as I'm having dinner with the wife and a old friend from out of town. (I haven't seen her in decades, literally. So I AM looking forward to dinner...I'm just also aware that I'm not being very professional in my writing tasks) Not to mention I have a few more chapters to revise from my second draft. Nothing important, just the fricking ending and the third coming of age moment. Grr. Grr, I say.
I did get back a critique on chapter 1. I'm grateful for it but I wish it could have come earlier in the week when I was revising Chapter 1 for professional eyes. (no word there, but I'm not expecting any for a week or so). Some of the criticism was useful, I do start too many sentences with 'But' 'And' and worst of all 'Then'. I need to cut the word 'then' out of the book entirely.
On the other hand, it was over-analytical. I'm a big 'nit picker' when it comes to critiques but this guy was asking questions like 'why does Jacob care so much about helping Jael'? 'Why doesn't he want her to die?' That's a new one. It feels like someone asking 'why would you help someone?' You help them because you need help. Because action reveals character. You find out what kind of person you are in a crisis, when someone needs you. Honestly, some of the comments boggled my mind. I was almost expecting him to ask, 'Why did you write this in English?'.
Sigh.
I know the book isn't perfect. I'm not yet good enough to write perfectly, I guess. But I'm improving and making it better, I hope. I need to pay attention to corrections about grammar and structure but I think I need to also ignore comments that question the basics of what I'm writing and why. Not everyone reads fantasy novels and that's ok. I'm writing this novel to people who do. I'm writing it for the fourteen year old boy I used to be, the one who devoured every fantasy novel he could find.
I didn't get any writing done last night. I decided to switch IM gaming nights to Thursday instead of Mondays, so I did that last night. When what I really needed to do was revise chapter 4 for a third time and post it up for critique. I also owe one or two more critiques to people. Tonight looks to be a wash as well as I'm having dinner with the wife and a old friend from out of town. (I haven't seen her in decades, literally. So I AM looking forward to dinner...I'm just also aware that I'm not being very professional in my writing tasks) Not to mention I have a few more chapters to revise from my second draft. Nothing important, just the fricking ending and the third coming of age moment. Grr. Grr, I say.
I did get back a critique on chapter 1. I'm grateful for it but I wish it could have come earlier in the week when I was revising Chapter 1 for professional eyes. (no word there, but I'm not expecting any for a week or so). Some of the criticism was useful, I do start too many sentences with 'But' 'And' and worst of all 'Then'. I need to cut the word 'then' out of the book entirely.
On the other hand, it was over-analytical. I'm a big 'nit picker' when it comes to critiques but this guy was asking questions like 'why does Jacob care so much about helping Jael'? 'Why doesn't he want her to die?' That's a new one. It feels like someone asking 'why would you help someone?' You help them because you need help. Because action reveals character. You find out what kind of person you are in a crisis, when someone needs you. Honestly, some of the comments boggled my mind. I was almost expecting him to ask, 'Why did you write this in English?'.
Sigh.
I know the book isn't perfect. I'm not yet good enough to write perfectly, I guess. But I'm improving and making it better, I hope. I need to pay attention to corrections about grammar and structure but I think I need to also ignore comments that question the basics of what I'm writing and why. Not everyone reads fantasy novels and that's ok. I'm writing this novel to people who do. I'm writing it for the fourteen year old boy I used to be, the one who devoured every fantasy novel he could find.
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