{"id":1338,"date":"2019-03-19T20:12:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T00:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/?p=1338"},"modified":"2019-03-19T20:21:01","modified_gmt":"2019-03-20T00:21:01","slug":"draft-number-4927319","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dremadeoraich.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/19\/draft-number-4927319\/","title":{"rendered":"Draft Number 4,927,319"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>What?? Monday got past me without posting on my site??? I think somebody spun the clock ahead (and not just for daylight savings time) when I wasn\u2019t looking. How did I lose a whole day?\n

To be honest, things are going to be cranking in my life for the next month or so. After I got back from Guatemala, I started reading the Wheel of Time<\/em> series. About the time I was half-way through book 3 (of 14, but who\u2019s counting?), I signed up for a flash fiction class that runs through mid-April, and agreed to teach one night in late April for a Rabbi friend. At the same time, I got all the comments back from critique partners on The Founder\u2019s Seed<\/em>. Guess who\u2019s scrambling to get everything done on a schedule now?<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ I have to admit, though, that I read through all the TFS comments before preparing for my other obligations. I know it wasn\u2019t the most responsible decision, but I couldn\u2019t help myself.<\/p>\n

As always, there were a number of story points about which different readers had diametrically opposed opinions. One might say \u201cI love this character\u2019s depth!\u201d even though another says \u201cThis (same) character is flat, undeveloped.\u201d Several people suggested I change my first scene (which admittedly reveals a great deal of setup) from being in one character\u2019s head to show it in dialogue between two or more characters; another reader thought an opening scene with just the main character was ideal. One reader hated the whole thing, couldn\u2019t get into it at all. Others enjoyed it, some even \u201cloved\u201d it. One made me promise not to make him wait years for the sequel. (That felt good.)<\/p>\n

Every reader is different. In my experience, it\u2019s common to find that one person just doesn\u2019t get (or misses) a plot point or reason for a particular detail. That\u2019s not necessarily a problem. If three out of five readers don\u2019t get it, or misunderstand a plot point, then I look more closely at where the confusion can be clarified.<\/p>\n

Some comments are so obvious I feel a need to smack my forehead (#headdesk) and say \u201cHow did I miss that?\u201d Others can occasionally be less clear. I have to think about them before I know how\u2014or whether\u2014I want to fix them. All of them make me take a hard look at what I wrote, think about how I portrayed it, and be certain that every detail in the story deserves to be there, and that\u2019s really the point. Still, while I appreciate every single critique reader, sometimes the changes they suggest don\u2019t resonate with where I want to take the story. Writers, you know what I mean.<\/p>\n

On occasion, when I\u2019m not sure whether the suggestion is a good one, I\u2019ve been known get a second or $\"\"$ third opinion. Last weekend I sat down with the Bobinator and a writer friend, John. Together, the three of us went through one of the markup copies to discuss which changes made sense to them as readers, and which did not. We spread out in our complex\u2019s brand-new clubhouse at the conference table and spent several hours poring over the draft. After a break for dinner (thanks to Bobinator, the Pasta King), we were back at it until we finished that one markup. It was so helpful! I was able to make informed decisions about most of the changes, even if there are still a few I agree need clarification, but I\u2019m not sure how to do so. Stay tuned for that.<\/p>\n

So I may not be able to post every week for a couple of months. I have been working on this manuscript so long, I want to be done<\/strong> with it. Anyone who\u2019s written a novel will know that feeling. But it\u2019s more than that. I want it to be the best it can be. I want to traditionally publish. And I want to see it in the hands of readers because they want<\/em> to read it, not because they\u2019re critiquing it. I\u2019d like to hope this will be \u201cthe last\u201d draft, but I know that\u2019s a lost cause. Even if I land a publisher after these revisions, it\u2019ll go through several more rounds of edits before it comes out on the shelves. That\u2019s part of the deal, and I accept it.<\/p>\n

Keep your fingers crossed for me. Once I finish these edits, I\u2019ll get one or two more readers, then I\u2019m querying. I\u2019ll need all the good ju-ju you can send.<\/p>\n

Frustrated MacUser, by Charlin Janene<\/a>. Courtesy of reshot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Red Pen photo courtesy of pxhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"