Ouch but awesome…
Posted in Query on 01. Apr, 2010
You know when someone pokes you REALLY hard… it makes you jump and maybe scream like a school aged child? And maybe it even hurts a little but after you rub it for a second you are good to go…?
But the reason they poked you, totally worth it… right?
Well okay, not always… but maybe sometimes. Like say:
*poke* “Hey isn’t this your stop?”
*poke* “Aren’t you suppose to be leaving?”
*poke* “Is that your car being towed?”
*poke* “Your butt’s onfire!”
You know, those types are totally worth the pain.
So yah, I was poked yesterday. Okay, maybe not to tell me my butt was on fire, though really it needs to catch a spark or two… but for completely different reasons. It was the kind of poke that makes you say… “OMGoodness is that a fire?!?! Quick put it out!”
“What, pray tell, are you talking about Eisley Jacobs?”
I am so glad you asked… I received my ABNA reviews back yesterday… there was definitely a poke in there. Like a quick hard one that made me fall off my chair. One that told me, “You missed the mark.”
Ouch.
Now, I bet you are wondering where the “awesome” part of the title comes in… Haha, well it’s the whole idea, “I want to know if my butt’s on fire” kinda thing. And my butt was just about to light up like a Olympic Torch in a NO FIRE ZONE! Because I was turning in the first 30 pages of this SAME manuscript… in the morning. THIS morning.
Still again, where is the awesome? Well… Haha this is the place I come in and tell you to ALWAYS go with your gut… ALWAYS. Because I didn’t… And my butt almost caught on fire.
“Explain, Eisley Jacobs.”
I had a prologue in THE RINGS OF TIME that was a dream sequence. It was ominous and dark and really just set up the idea of the book… very, very loosely. VERY. It was designed to make the reader say, “WHAT THE HECK!” and apparently it did… but one of the reviewers said he thought it was two different books. ROTFL… Oops.
Okay, so yah. I already knew this… months ago. I actually took the prologue out a long time ago. Like 8-10 months? But upon some advice, I added it back in… though I didn’t know if I should. Oh well. I did. Peer pressure! Haha… Ahem. My fault. No ones but mine. Moving on.
Then I had this flashback sequence… I loved writing it. And it was chapter 2… but another peer says, you should make that the first chapter so we know “THIS AND THAT” right up front. Against better judgement, and my gut, I switched it around. Again, my fault.
When I uploaded my chapters to ABNA I realized the parts they would read didn’t even have much mention of my MC! But that should be okay… right?
Uhhh, no. No. No. No. No. NO! Eisley, your gut said right then that something was wrong… why, pray tell, did you not fix it?
*headdesk*
So when these reviews arrived yesterday as I am prepping my partial submission… I realized I needed to bring it back to it’s true form… and I did. Which brings in the awesome. The reviews arrived JUST IN TIME.
No prologue… Chapter 2 is now chapter 1… chapter 1 fits right in as a flash back… and chapter 3 fits blends right through.
PHEW!
Thanks for the timely *POKE* ABNA reviewers… I needed that. I might be sore… but it was worth the pain because I am going with my GUT!
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Ahha! I hate and love those types of pokes! Yes, always go with your gut when writing, it hasn’t failed me yet and I’m sure a lot of other writers will say the same!
I remember when we were on WW and everyone had a differing opinino of how my stories and characters should be set up. This was frustrating b/c I found myself editing the stories SO much that it no longer seemed MINE, but what everyone ELSE wanted.
Bottom line, use your intuition–it’s YOUR story, and you’ll never make everyone happy, but do you tell a STORY? Everyone has an opinion (especially us writers!
). Do what you feel is in your heart for YOUR story.
With reviews and feedback, I look to see if the reviewers have noticed blatant holes, structure issues, head-hopping, too much dialogue, dynamic flow, and grammar. Everything else is irrelevant to how they think the story should go.
My beta readers were simply readers – not writers, not industry experts, just readers. I went to them first because of my marketing background (always find out what the customer wants). They loved it and gave me great feedback and ideas, not just for the first book, but for the ones to follow. I made many revisions. Then I read all kinds of books, blogs, articles, feedback from agents on partials, etc., and revised more, more, more. I didn’t like these ideas so much, but that’s what the so-called experts said I should do. I ended up hating the book. It was no longer the story I was given. I’ve since gone back and put it closer to how it was after my readers’ feedback. And that’s the book I love! That’s the book others love. That’s the book that will be released, even if it goes against the experts’ advice. Because you know what? Just about every bestseller breaks the rules.
Follow your gut! Create the story you are given, not what everyone else thinks it should be. If you don’t love it, how can you ever sell it?
Best wishes for the partial!