JAN. 22
My mentor has a great deal to say about the next submission I send him. He starts off on a note that is not too devastating by saying “Overall I still have good feelings about the potential of the book.” Which I translate to mean, he hasn’t given up on me completely. He goes on to say “I would say though that as a reader I’m feeling a little scattered.”
My mentor is just warming up. He becomes very critical of how the time frame and POV switch so frequently in the story. He has no sense of where the story is headed. He goes on to state that my central character, Wernher von Braun, feels more like an archetype than a real flesh and blood character.
My mentor has a great deal to say about the next submission I send him. He starts off on a note that is not too devastating by saying “Overall I still have good feelings about the potential of the book.” Which I translate to mean, he hasn’t given up on me completely. He goes on to say “I would say though that as a reader I’m feeling a little scattered.”
My mentor is just warming up. He becomes very critical of how the time frame and POV switch so frequently in the story. He has no sense of where the story is headed. He goes on to state that my central character, Wernher von Braun, feels more like an archetype than a real flesh and blood character.
My mentor also laments how Lyndon Johnson, whom he calls the “most grounded and relatable character” in the story, is now dead and gone and, with his departure, “one of the sturdy legs of the story.”
Wernher does not compare favourably. According to my mentor he and all my major characters need more immediate motivations and conflicts to move the story forward.
Wernher does not compare favourably. According to my mentor he and all my major characters need more immediate motivations and conflicts to move the story forward.
Conflict… it has been the most difficult concept for me to embrace as a writer. I instinctively shy away from it. I have to force it into the story. I don’t seem to handle it especially well. It could well be that this weakness disqualifies me as a novel writer right from the start (playwright as well). Sigh…
Well… I was looking for specific, no-holds barred criticism. I am certainly getting it.
It might not hurt so much if my mentor wasn’t fairly impressed with the first segment I sent, lulling me into a very false sense of security. My mentor’s earlier words “you are clearly a skilled writer,” seem pretty hollow now and I’m sure he would take them back if he could.
I am left feeling deflated and fraudulent. I can almost tangibly feel my confidence wasting away. So MANY things to fix, and I’m not sure I have the skill to fix them.
I do not dispute any of the mentor’s comments. He is a pro; I am an amateur. He sees with clarity far in excess of my own. But I am left with the great fear that the entire manuscript is irredeemable, that no amount of editing can fix a story without a solid structure which might be a fair description of Lunatics at this point.
Well… I was looking for specific, no-holds barred criticism. I am certainly getting it.
It might not hurt so much if my mentor wasn’t fairly impressed with the first segment I sent, lulling me into a very false sense of security. My mentor’s earlier words “you are clearly a skilled writer,” seem pretty hollow now and I’m sure he would take them back if he could.
I am left feeling deflated and fraudulent. I can almost tangibly feel my confidence wasting away. So MANY things to fix, and I’m not sure I have the skill to fix them.
I do not dispute any of the mentor’s comments. He is a pro; I am an amateur. He sees with clarity far in excess of my own. But I am left with the great fear that the entire manuscript is irredeemable, that no amount of editing can fix a story without a solid structure which might be a fair description of Lunatics at this point.
Nevertheless I have paid my money and I all shall forge on: making corrections and edits where I can, restoring chronological order, and trying to make my characters more believable.
