I’m Back…I Think…
Friday, August 4th, 2006
Well, I’m back…sorta. I don’t think I’m any less busy than I was previously; I just seem to (for once) have a better handle on things. Amazing, huh?
As I suspected, as soon as I said I wasn’t going to write for a while, I got the urge to write. I worked on my fantasy novel off and on for a few weeks. Not sure I actually got a whole lot written, but got a bit more of the world and characters pounded out.
Then I actually got the guts to sit down and read the critiques from a contest I entered back in March. I had entered mainly for the sake of said critiques (just as entering in the Golden Heart contest was more of a get–the-silly-thing-out-there than any real thought of winning), but when I saw I had come in second to last (OUCH!) in my category, I just closed down the email and didn’t look at it again for a long while.
That was the end of May. End of June, beginning of July, I finally opened the judges’ scoresheets and was shocked to find they had really enjoyed my book! Yes, there were a lot of things that needed tweaking, but on the whole it was a pretty good story. The score was only relatively low, in comparison to the other 17. All three judges said they would have kept reading (after the first 3 chapters) to find out what happened to my hero and heroine. Even better, they gave a lot of very good advice on what worked, what needed help, and what needed to be pitched out the window.
So now I’m wading in for a rewrite: chopping the beginning, deepening and defining characters, merging scenes, etc. Bonnie’s series on Donald Maass’ book Writing a Breakout Novel has been very helpful (thanks bunches, Bonnie!)
I’ve discovered two things that, once remedied, will greatly enhance the story.
My hero and heroine need to grow up.
I really don’t know my hero as well as I thought I did.
More later…