Tuck and Roll - The Writer's Highway: Part Two

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A couple weeks ago, I posted the introductory for a serial called: Tuck and Roll - The Writer's Highway.   If you missed the post last week, here it is.  

This series is meant to encourage and inspire you as a writer along your journey.

I brought out the illustration of a caterpillar.  Hence, the picture on this post.  We'll view this little guy as a sort of mascot the series.

So let's begin.  Today we'll discuss overcoming obstacles at these points in our journey: Editing your novel and receiving criticism.

Editing
So you pull yourself through the second stage.  You convince yourself your book is worthy of saving and you're going to put more work into it.

But after the tenth pass through you're getting really sick of reading it.  Maybe you're even starting to think it stinks again. 

TUCK AND ROLL!
If you're going to succeed with your writing it will be a balance of pleasure and pain - as is the case with all good things.  If you want to master your craft you have to refine it.  Keep at it!

Receiving criticism
This one can be a painful stage.  You spent all those hours editing and refining to have your beta readers and / or editor come back to tell you of different things you can and should revise.  Maybe they find plot holes.

TUCK AND ROLL!
Keep at it!  You've come this far!  Not many people can even write a novel, let alone brave the edit stage and the sharing of it with others.  This shows that you have grown in your writer's journey.  Try not to take things personally, look at advice objectively.  And don't be afraid of refining you work.  This is necessary.  Don't be close-minded to feedback and criticism, but you don't have to take everything you're told either.  You know your book better than anyone.  Be true to yourself while balancing the finer aspects of the craft.

Comments

  1. Cally JacksonDecember 16, 2011 at 6:38 AM

    Thanks for the encouragement. This is the stage I'm at right now, trying to decide which feedback to take on board from a group of beta readers. What makes it really tricky is they all have quite different opinions - do I listen to one of them over the others or do I figure since none of the feedback has been consistent, I leave it as is? Decisions, decisions!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carolyn ArnoldDecember 16, 2011 at 6:24 PM

    Cally, that definitely is a tough place to be in and ultimately you have to make the decision. I`d weigh all their opinions for a few days, wake up fresh one morning and decide - first gut reaction.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sara-Jayne TownsendDecember 21, 2011 at 6:09 AM

    Timely advice, Carolyn. I'm at this stage now with the second Shara Summers books. I think I'm going to go and think about the critiques for a while before I make a start on the next draft.

    Sara

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jill BorakDecember 25, 2011 at 5:06 PM

    I knew I had progressed to some higher level of writerly-ness when criticism stopped being painful.

    My first beta reader warned me her crits were harsh, so I didn't even read them! Too painful.

    Flash forward to last month, when a panel of agents gave me advice on my writing and characters -- advice that included words like confusing, stupid, and sick.* I lapped it up.

    And it didn't even hurt (much).

    *I'm being overly dramatic -- the agents gave me plenty of positive feedback, too.

    ReplyDelete

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