A Twist on Things
"I like the twist. It's a good twist."
That's what Lyndsey told me yesterday. In a week, she went from begin in single digit chapters to having reached chapter 20. After reading that large block (including chapter 14), she first mentioned her displeasure with chapter 20.
Her problems with the story always stem back to a central idea: my characters need to have more character. It's not just that my characters need to be more believeable. Truth is, I'm likely very close on a lot of fronts. Angie and Lyndsey actually debated the quality of my characters, so I'm on the right track, I just need to refine them.
However, I need to follow Lyndsey's suggestions more. Not just to improve the quality of my characters, but to better match with expectations of the core audience. Being a literary-minded, college-educated woman, Lyndsey is the closest thing I have to an ideal reader--so I need to take her thoughts into a bit closer consideration than most.
Editing is a rough process, some say the hardest part of the whole thing. Guess I needed reminding of that.
That's what Lyndsey told me yesterday. In a week, she went from begin in single digit chapters to having reached chapter 20. After reading that large block (including chapter 14), she first mentioned her displeasure with chapter 20.
Her problems with the story always stem back to a central idea: my characters need to have more character. It's not just that my characters need to be more believeable. Truth is, I'm likely very close on a lot of fronts. Angie and Lyndsey actually debated the quality of my characters, so I'm on the right track, I just need to refine them.
However, I need to follow Lyndsey's suggestions more. Not just to improve the quality of my characters, but to better match with expectations of the core audience. Being a literary-minded, college-educated woman, Lyndsey is the closest thing I have to an ideal reader--so I need to take her thoughts into a bit closer consideration than most.
Editing is a rough process, some say the hardest part of the whole thing. Guess I needed reminding of that.
Labels: Bridgett
posted by LEN! at 3:38 PM
2 Comments:
So when she says "more character", she means it should take more than a few sentences to describe the character's personality, or she doesn't feel they react to situations believably, or something else?
She doesn't think they react believably. She also feels they are "flaky" and "whiny."
Damn, I wanted a book full of Ayatos and ended up with a book full of Shinjis. But none of my characters are guys, much less mech pilots.
More on this topic soon.
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