Productive week and first five pages critiqued

1/23/2012

Whew. Productive last week. Sorry I was quiet last week, Snowpocalypse took up a lot of my life but not all of it was bad. I got some serious writing done.

I did write and submit a short story last week. I'm still a week 'behind' but I have hopes I can catch up. I went on a writing binge yesterday, I wrote for 7 hours straight without a break. I was in the grove and I frelling went with it. Maybe I went too far, by the end of the session, I was exhausted, couldn't focus my eyes very well and was drenched in sweat. Ah the glamorous life of a writer. :) I ended up writing 10,000 words. I think. Possibly a bit more. This is on top of another 3 or 4k words for the same novel that I wrote earlier in the week. The sad part, this is all for a novel that probably will never see the light of day. But I'm glad I got so much done, sooner this book is out of my system, the sooner I can get back to writing work that can sell.

Editing class went well on Saturday, most of the snow was gone by then or at least was easily negotiated. People in class critiqued the first five pages of my novel, which might be one of the more useless critiquing I've ever had. Seriously, there is only ONE thing you can get out of the first five pages of a novel: do you want to keep reading it. Five pages is about 1% of a novel, less for some. Now, they're important pages. If you don't nail your beginning, you're not going to be able to show most people how brilliant chapter 14 is (compulsive readers aside, yes, we're out there. You're looking at the guy who read all of L. Ron Hubbard's 'Mission Earth' series...and not out of enjoyment). So if I was to do this 'first five pages' critique again, I'd want the answer to one question only: would you keep reading?

I'm going to be sending out my Clarion West application tonight, which I'm counting for the Write 1, Submit 1 purposes. If for no other reason than for it being a big deal and a big load of work. Honestly, I don't know if I'll make the cut this year or not. I really needed Clairon West last year, I still sorta need it this year. If I don't make the cut, I'll live. And keep writing and reading. Which is the only sure way to get better at this gig.

7 Comments

Erik Lundqvist (@erik_lundqvist) link

1/22/2012 10:11:00 pm

Now you confused me. If the only thing you can get out the first five pages is to keep reading or not, surely critiquing them must be a good thing?

Mark Andrew Edwards link

1/22/2012 10:18:06 pm

Sorry for any confusion :) I sort of gave the short version of the critiquing. A lot of people wanted explanations and resolutions to questions raised...in those same first 5 pages. That would be a critical mistake in a novel.

What I'd want from a first 5 page critique is just: would you keep reading? And if not, why not?

Erik Lundqvist (@erik_lundqvist) link

1/22/2012 10:22:34 pm

I see :)

Christy link

1/23/2012 01:49:53 am

I actually find the first five page analysis to be a useful exercise. By listening to people's comments and questions I think you can see exactly what expectations you've set up or communicated, or not communicated. For example, if the majority of your audience wants to know the answer to something sooner, you might ask if you're drawing out the suspense for a good reason, like in the case of Gaston. Since its identity was being withheld, I assumed it must have a big payoff. If it's just a gun then there's no reason to withhold that information from the reader. I consider that sort of teasing to be a failure to deliver on a promise and, even though it looks like a tiny thing, it is enough to make me stop reading a novel. I don't know if that's helpful to you.

Mark Andrew Edwards link

1/23/2012 02:05:19 am

See, I consider the Gaston critique fairly useless. The question is raised and answered within the same chapter. The five page limitation puts abnormal emphasis on any question that's raised that's not answered immediately.

For example, when the Wordslingers critiqued chapter one en toto, not one person mentioned how much Gaston jarred them. (I could be wrong, I can check my notes) Because the question is raised: who or what is Gaston and it is answered in a timely manner: Gaston is a Glock and further the way Simon relations to it (a machine) by name and personifying it reveals some of his character/psychology.

We're talking about novels here, the things we tease in the first five pages shouldn't be the things we're answering in those first five pages.

I do take note of what expectations are being created, since I'm (mostly) deliberately creating them. That IS useful but honestly, I'm not sure if this exercise is a good use of class time.

I mean, it's not like the criticism was brutal, especially not by Wordslingers standards. :) But I'm still questioning the usefulness of most of the feedback. We'll see, I guess.

Steph

1/23/2012 08:21:45 am

Glad to see you around, and glad you had a productive week last week! 10,000 words in a day is waay impressive. But why won't your novel see the light of day? Maybe it's the best thing you've ever written!

Mark Andrew Edwards link

1/23/2012 09:33:19 pm

Good to see you, too, Steph!

This novel is just some id play. Something to blow off steam. Sexy sci fi drama, not something I'd want launch my career with :) It's surprised me with it's twists and turns, but I want it out of my headspace so I can work on something new.

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Productive week and first five pages critiqued

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