Guests are gone for the day, so I've spent my time re-reading 'Blue.' It still works. I get goose-bumps reading it. When I think this story started as a lark, to help me get my mind of 'Sword' - it's dumb-founding.
I fixed a few things and have now printed it out. I plan on giving it to my daughter tonight. I'm about one-quarter of the way done with the book. I think. You probably know better than I that the Muse is laughing to herself!
I presented chapters twelve and thirteen to my writers' group yesterday. They continue to like it. There were a few critiquers there who hadn't read any of the previous chapters. They still liked it.
I have two characters, well - really three if you consider the dragon - who change to another character. I try very hard to make sure that it is crystal clear who is whom, etc. etc. Some of the critiquers were able to follow the changes and some were not.
I'm wondering if the genre has anything to do with it. Both men had no problem with it but both write science fiction. Some of the memoir critiquers struggled. That's a good thing, though. It made me go back and make sure I was not too ambiguous.
Another thing. The men seemed able to accept the 'physicality' of the chapters. The women wanted a different word for the male 'thing' that our hero/heroine suddenly has. One of the men wondered how a publisher will react to this. One of my secret fears, too!
It makes a huge difference if one is comfortable with SciFi or not. I saw the movie Dune, when it made it to television. I'd heard a number of people complain about how difficult it was to follow, unless you'd read the book. I hadn't read the book, but I had no trouble following the story. I've watched a lot of SciFi, and it followed the basic format: Give the basics vivid details. Then give enough of the basics to keep the story going and let the imagination fill in the rest.
ReplyDeleteI loved Dune and never read the book.
ReplyDeleteAbout imagination - I've got to write a post for this blog about that. Thanks for reminding me!