Over the weekend I received my first round of feedback on my current project. Verdict: Good, but need more. Here's a paraphrased version of the conversation.
Me: More what?
Reader1: I don't know.
Me: More plot, more character... (a level of asking the right questions is always necessary with this person)
Reader1: Yeah. More.
I'm thinking I need a little more direction here. Mind you, I appreciate all the feedback I receive from this specific reader, but she and I both know she's not the most verbiose when it comes to criticism. I have to drag it out of her sometimes.
I've also definitely been taking every opportunity I can to get snippets of my manuscript out there for 3rd party critique. I've been working on incorporating all the feedback I've received on both the manuscript sections and my draft queries into the final products. I'm currently still in revision stages (yet again). I am working with a self-imposed deadline, so hopefully I can meet it.
On a separate note, S asked for a trip to the bookstore yesterday. And he knows what those trips can lead to, but he needed to pick up a photography book. So you know what that meant for me. . . Yay! New reading material. I was debating between The Hunger Games and The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I have heard great things about both books and even though I'm not exactly into fantasy or horror, I have been thoroughly intrigued by both based on these reviews. Inevitably, TFOHAT won out. I mean, with a title like that, you can't help but pique people's interest, right?
P.S. Also stumbled across some clearance notebooks. I don't write whole manuscripts by hand, but I do like to have a notebook with me at all times to jot down ideas, thoughts, observations or just draw out images in my head that could turn into something. You know, notebooks that I just have around to, well, write in. It's a bonus when they're cute too!
1 comment:
Yeah, I think just a little more feedback would be useful! Is your friend a writer? I find it's easier to get useful feedback out of beta readers who are writers than not. (I like to have some non-writer readers too, though.) A writer beta reader should be able discuss:
Character
Setting
Writing (sentence level)
Pacing
But if that's too much maybe just ask your friend to retell your story to you in his or her own words.
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