I've just returned from my daily There is also a very helpful critique from K.D. Wentworth (it's a multiple P.O.V story; she suggested that I strengthen one of the characters and add more conflict*). Otherwise, she was quite complimentary. I feel honoured and touched to have received it. As anyone who keeps up to date with WOTF knows, K.D. recently passed away, so I actually didn't think this critique was going to happen.
It was a lovely surprise to come home to.
* I actually deliberately wrote this story with a more dreamy, inevitable, magical, unfolding flow, but perhaps I need to get real about the difference between what I want to write and what pleases readers. This story keeps almost making it. Perhaps a K.D. inspired tweak will, as Jack Dann keeps saying at his workshops, ' get it over the line'.
7 comments:
What a boost for the confidence to get a good critique from her! I guess you'll be inspired to start tweaking that story.
I sometimes think one of the hardest things is to go back to a story that you thought was finished.
Just out of interest, what's your preferred way to revisit a story that needs some reworking? Is it the same for every story, or does it depend on each story's particular needs?
Nice work, Gitte.
Top 16 in that contest is nothing to sneeze at.
Steve
Thank you, Steve. I appreciate the encouragement.
Hi parlance,
You really got me thinking with that question, which is why it has taken me a while to respond, because yes, it's different for each story, and I've usually got so many stories out in the world or in progress or maturing or sitting on the backburner that I'm not always conscious of the process.
Mostly, if I have no editorial advice or critiquing input to work with, it's a matter of putting stories aside long enough to completly forget them and then look at them again with fresh eyes. Sometimes I put them aside for years, and then suddenly, some cross-pollinating idea will make it obvious what the story needs, or provide the much needed voice. More crudely, with really long stories that keep getting rejected, I tell myself I have to make do with a much lower word count, and amazingly :), forcing myself to cut a few thousand words usually focuses what was before a "brilliant" mess.
With this particular story, I'm really reluctant to make the suggested changes, as I very deliberately wrote it as a mutliple POV, pass-the-parcel story that circles back to the character I started with. After a string of dark, dystopian stories, I wanted to write something light and fanciful, and I'm afraid I like it the way it is. But that doesn't mean I won't stew on the advice and possibly have an epiphany that satisfies all concerned. Cross fingers.
Thanks for the interesting reply. I know what you mean about something sparking a revelation about what a story means. I had a story about a guy who is a gardener and lives with his old mum - obviously not sf, lol - and I decided I was so stuck that I'd start an art journal. As I was drawing and doodling with the lovely, lovely oil pastels, I noticed a bird shape, and realised my draft had a pet budgie in it and also chooks (silkies, which I think are so gorgeous). I'd just been to a community garden in St Kilda and spent ages mooning over a pen of silkies. I suddenly realised the turning point of the gardening story was the birds.
I'm not experienced enough to have redrafted much, let alone had feedback from an editor - sigh... Yet I can imagine it must be hard to work with suggestions that simply don't fit your dream.
It's funny how it works. Writing, I find, is mostly about being open, observant, receptive, able to hold more than one thought at a time, and very, very patient. And then there's the actually sitting down and putting down words part...
I have stacks of notebooks and like to do diagrams and doodles, but I've never tried the art journal approach, or the photos around the desk, but I've always meant to give it a go, especially after reading a post by Margo Lanagan 11 February 2012 about the scrap books she put together while writing 'Sea Hearts'. They look so beautiful, haunting and inspiring, just like her work.
http://amongamidwhile.blogspot.com.au/2012_02_01_archive.html
Thanks! Off right now to follow that link. Glad to read on your latest post that your muse is with you.
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