Thursday, October 10, 2013

Writers Cramp

About a year ago I thought I had finished writing a book. It had taken me a year to write (which makes me jealous of some writers who seem to be able to write a book while taking their morning crap). Anyway, I sent it out to a few of my relatives hoping to get some feedback on it (Queue the crickets). My mom read it and when I asked her about it she used the word "well..." a few times, and then threw in the word confusing. I then sent it off to a few dozen literary agents. About a third of those took the time to send me polite replies, and in many different forms told me that it sucked. Finally one of my sisters suggested I contact a friend of hers, who knew a woman who did book editing. Here's what the book editor suggested, after I paid her. Bad ending, rewrite it. Bad beginning, rewrite it. Also, she told me that I didn't deliver on the subject that the title had suggested. That was about six months ago. I have done very little since, other than to add some details within the story and change the title. I did try to rewrite the first chapter only to make it worse than before. As for the ending, I am going to throw out most of the last chapter and turn it into three chapters. Finally, to spice up the story a little bit, I am going to turn one of the characters into a wizard, add some very kinky sadomasochistic sex scenes, and have the teenage daughter of the family marry a black vampire. I'll let you know how it all turns out in about a year.

5 comments:

  1. I'm intrigued and excited by the new plot twists...
    Also, f*ck the critics. Self publish and see what happens.

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  2. It is hard for family to critique, no one wants to hurt feelings. A better idea to pay an editor!

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  3. Oh the "wells" from a mother. You know that means she didn't like it, don't you?

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  4. Ah, ye bane of thine life... writers block. Hope yours gets lost soon Alan, know how you feel on this one. I heard that writing some really simple poetry can help one out of this, maybe worth a try :-)

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  5. don't forget to include zombies in your book.

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