Tag: constructive criticism

Strange words.

G. Derek Adams5 Comments

I was looking for something else in my notes, when I stumbled across the piece I put up this morning – The Umbra.

Apparently, I wrote this.

Do you ever have that happen? You read something in your notebook, or Google Docs — and it’s clear that your brain and hands produced it — but you have no memory of actually writing it. It’s like reading something that your doppelganger from another dimension wrote.

It’s a neat feeling, honestly — approaching your work as a reader only, without any context of the process.

I’m sure this is the goal, when sages suggest you let your first draft sit for a month or two before giving it the first read  — it helps with objectivity — and wouldn’t it be amazing to read your novel as a stranger? That Thing occupies a sizable portion of my psyche — how cool would it be to read it that way?

So get on it, doppelganger!

Any of you guys have stuff like that on your blog? I’d love to read it — hear your anecdotes!

This line is bold for no reason.

Sticking to the schedule.

G. Derek Adams9 Comments

Hit my word count mark for the week –despite the negativity and pressure from all directions. JUST LET ME WORK PEOPLE.

Ha — it’s fun channeling your inner angsty tween. [Is there any other kind of tween?]

I’m getting into a bad habit of waiting until Friday to do the bulk of my week’s allotment. It’s mostly been other work/life factors that have contributed to this — but still. STILL. Putting myself on notice — for all the good that will do.

The pages I wrote this week, were something of an experiment. I decided to write a side chapter/villain interlude — then go back and plug it in somewhere earlier in That Thing. A little nerve-wracking, honestly. I’ve been so focused on keeping forward momentum with the plot – that it felt very much like leaving my security blanket at home for my first Big Boy sleepover.

I’m pleased with the results — and after some constructive criticism from my beloved, the villain interlude improved markedly.

Two more villain interludes – then back to the fray with …oh wait, you don’t know the names of my protagonists.

AND ITS GONNA STAY THAT WAY, NOSY. GET OUT OF MY ROOM, DAD.

Emotions are hard.

G. Derek Adams10 Comments
Catbus dislikes your prose.

My beloved gave me some constructive criticism on my writing recently, and of course I handled it maturely.

Which is to say, I was dismissive, hurt -and jerked my knee REAL HARD. Rejecting what she said out of hand, and refusing to accept any remote validity to her statement.

Fifteen minutes later I realized she had a point.

Then I pouted for a day or so.

Then the crying.

And now that I’ve processed, I’m ready to obliquely admit that she had a point, a small point.

[Read: She was completely right.]

Her criticism was:

Since you write in third person exclusively, you have a tendency to not show character’s emotions. I understand that you’re trying to “show, not tell” — but I’d like to get more inside the character’s heads, and get a sense of their emotions. [Heavily paraphrased, she’s the one with the eidetic memory.]

I read back through a few pieces, and I can totally agree with this assessment. And while I’m always going to err on the side of allowing my audience to make their own conclusions about characters — I feel this is a tool I need to be able to master, because it can be extremely effective.

So, my question is: How do I do this, without my stuff sounding like a Harlequin romance?

I can’t just write “The mage was sad. Her sadness was strong, and full of more sadness.”

Can I?

Opinions, suggestions, and examples if you got ’em!

Give me back your feed.

G. Derek AdamsLeave a comment

I’d love any sort of constructive criticism on The Cost – I’m writing one small chunk of it a day, and posting it to the site with very little editing or rumination.

You know, like I do.

This is a continuation of Another Story – and this character is very near and dear to my heart. I know a lot about him before and long after this moment, but I’m curious how effective this piece is without much context for the main character.

Let me have it!

Politely, of course.