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Merry Christmas!
Sorry, folks, no post this week, but MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Wow, new blogger interface is really weird. We’ll see if I stay with it, but honestly, I’ve been contemplating making changes here anyway. This may just be the (invisible to you) beginning of them. Well, I wanted to let you all know I won’t have a real post today, but if you come back on Wednesday I’ll have a review of Jeannie Lin’s “The Dragon and the Pearl.”
We Apologize For the Inconvenience
Sorry, folks, no blog today, I’m busy fighting Ninja. However, I will have a review of an outstanding boy’s book on Wednesday, so please stay tuned, true believers! 😀
Blogging from a smart phone
Is not fun, so I’ll ask you what are you’re most frustrating writing or blogging moments?
Rewrite Anguish
Okay, so I’ve rewritten this book so many times I’ve lost track of draft numbers. The opening alone has been through more work than anything else I’ve written and I’m now on yet another rewrite.
In fact, the new opening is why I recently had asked yet another Beta Reader to look at it. She’s someone whose book is under consideration by a publishing house and she told that one of my book’s favorite characters is introduced wrong. Just so we’re clear, this is one of EVERYONE ELSE’s favorite characters. (I don’t know if I have a favorite.) This Beta reader has told me that not having his goal stated up front leaves the reader confused and unable to settle into the fictive dream. This is the first time anyone’s complained about this character’s lack of goal, which is his character flaw. It is purposeful. This character is someone who submits to everyone else’s will until he realizes he’s in a no-win scenario because of his lack of direction. It’s not that I disagree with what she’s saying, because I’ve read books whose characters would have benefited from this treatment. The problem is, I don’t think I can make this change without changing the character, which would in turn change the book and lessen its impact, so I’m not going to do it. At least not without editorial input!
However, I wanted to ask you, is this something you have to have in the introduction of characters? Do you need to know where they’re headed from the beginning?