Fresh Eyes
Amazing what you learn from fresh eyes. I sent the first 3 chapters of the novel to a friend a few days ago, asking for feedback. The good news is that she didn't have trouble following the story as it leaps back, and kept turning the (virtual) pages. The better news is that she pointed out a big problem that I was able to fix fairly painlessly. The protag is a teenage girl, but the story is told in first person so it's not likely she's going to blurt out her age. My friend thought it was a young woman in her early twenties! A little back and forth, a few word changes, and I think I've fixed it so that it's clear in the first chapter that she's a teenager, not a grownup. I'm so glad to have had someone point this out at this stage of the game. The opening is key to setting the scene, and having confusion about this would have caused major problems as the story progresses. This is exactly why it's important to have multiple readers. Whew! Bullet dodged.
posted by angie @ 9:44 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I hear ya, dahling. I'm about to dump my new second to last chapter on my writing group. I already have a fairly good idea about a couple of areas that need work, but I also know they'll surprise me with something that will make me strike my forehead and say, "Duh!"
Yeah, feedback is critical. The nice thing is that Kim (my friend), isn't a writer & didn't know much of anything about the storyline. So, she had no idea of what was going on before she started reading it. Getting a read from someone like that is just invaluable.
Thought about you today.
For inspiration.
cool. :-)
I love the fixing it part of writing.
It's nifty you have a willing reader who is not a writer!
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