What would work? That's a great question, and if you come up with something I'd love to hear about it...
Maybe I should bring this up on the Open Thread instead, but it's relevant to what you're talking about here.
I recently had an experience sharing my work with several friends and I have no idea what to do with it. About a year ago I wrote a sword and sorcery novella in the vein of Robert E. Howard. I wrote the thing in a weekend in a fit of inspiration, and then set it aside. About a month ago I came back to it, reworked it a bit, and decided it was my best work to date. I asked several friends for their opinions.
Friend 1 works in TV production. He's trained as a filmmaker and writes screenplays. Friend 1 loved the story, pronouncing it "very professional, very publishable." Friend 1 is my age (30s) and I've known him since childhood. He doesn't read much fantasy in general but is the type of Tolkien fan that has reread the Silmarillion multiple times; that seems relevant to his ability to judge work in the genre.
Friend 2 is a published writer. He had some success with a YA novel some years ago. More recently he had a novel in manuscript optioned for a lot of money by people in Hollywood. However the manuscript remains unpublished-- he tells me that the various publishing houses passed it around, saying they wanted a bestseller and weren't sure if it would be a hit or not. Friend 2 is in his 70s.
Given Friend 1's reaction, I was prepared for Friend 2, who is someone I admire, to react similarly, and to acknowledge me as Also A Writer. Instead Friend 2 tore the thing to pieces, telling me that the first half was a complete bore, he could tell it was written quickly, and he couldn't bring himself to finish it. Now, being mindful of the tendency you described above of aspiring writers to react badly to this sort of thing, I did the opposite, and assumed that Mr. 2 was absolutely right in his assessment. Friend 2 does not read fantasy or science fiction, only literary fiction, and is the type of person who says things like "That's why most great writers are atheists." Nevertheless, as I said, I deferred to his opinions, given his experience. He had said at one point "You absolutely cannot send this out," and I decided not to tell him I had already done so.
At this point I was dreading hearing back from Friend 3, who may be reading this. Friend 3 enjoyed it a great deal, calling it "excellent." Friend 3 is a writer of somewhat more advanced skills and publication credit than myself, and both reads and writes in the genre; Friend 3 is a bit younger than me. At this point, though, I'd completely lost confidence in the thing. I restrained myself from writing back and saying "You are wrong, Friend 3, it is terrible." And then I further restrained myself from writing back and saying, "Don't humor me, Friend 3, this is awful work and we both know it." Actually I haven't written Friend 3 back at all, and it's been a month, and if you're reading this, Violet, well, now you know why you haven't heard from me...
Friend 2 wasn't being deliberately cruel as far as I can tell, and didn't act like a competitor at a writing workshop. Instead, he said, "If I didn't think you had talent I would just tell you 'It's good work, best of luck to you.' But I know you're going to make it as a writer so I'm going to tell you what's wrong with it.'"
The last thing that happened is I heard back from the magazine I'd sent it off to, a big name in the genre. A form rejection, which didn't surprise or bother me. Upon doing a bit of research, though, it turns out the editor uses a couple of different templates for his form rejections, depending on why he rejected the story. And it turns out that this was actually a high-level rejection, indicating that the editor read the thing to the end, but that something about that ending didn't work for him. Which still leaves an unpublished story, but it's a different reaction from "completely boring until page 25."
So... Where does this leave me? At this point I have basically no idea what I've written. I've been afraid to go back and touch the thing, because I don't know if it's good, or if it's terrible, or what would make it better. Given a situation like that, what would you do?
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branchandroot
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Date: 2018-03-04 09:34 am (UTC)What would work? That's a great question, and if you come up with something I'd love to hear about it...
Maybe I should bring this up on the Open Thread instead, but it's relevant to what you're talking about here.
I recently had an experience sharing my work with several friends and I have no idea what to do with it. About a year ago I wrote a sword and sorcery novella in the vein of Robert E. Howard. I wrote the thing in a weekend in a fit of inspiration, and then set it aside. About a month ago I came back to it, reworked it a bit, and decided it was my best work to date. I asked several friends for their opinions.
Friend 1 works in TV production. He's trained as a filmmaker and writes screenplays. Friend 1 loved the story, pronouncing it "very professional, very publishable." Friend 1 is my age (30s) and I've known him since childhood. He doesn't read much fantasy in general but is the type of Tolkien fan that has reread the Silmarillion multiple times; that seems relevant to his ability to judge work in the genre.
Friend 2 is a published writer. He had some success with a YA novel some years ago. More recently he had a novel in manuscript optioned for a lot of money by people in Hollywood. However the manuscript remains unpublished-- he tells me that the various publishing houses passed it around, saying they wanted a bestseller and weren't sure if it would be a hit or not. Friend 2 is in his 70s.
Given Friend 1's reaction, I was prepared for Friend 2, who is someone I admire, to react similarly, and to acknowledge me as Also A Writer. Instead Friend 2 tore the thing to pieces, telling me that the first half was a complete bore, he could tell it was written quickly, and he couldn't bring himself to finish it. Now, being mindful of the tendency you described above of aspiring writers to react badly to this sort of thing, I did the opposite, and assumed that Mr. 2 was absolutely right in his assessment. Friend 2 does not read fantasy or science fiction, only literary fiction, and is the type of person who says things like "That's why most great writers are atheists." Nevertheless, as I said, I deferred to his opinions, given his experience. He had said at one point "You absolutely cannot send this out," and I decided not to tell him I had already done so.
At this point I was dreading hearing back from Friend 3, who may be reading this. Friend 3 enjoyed it a great deal, calling it "excellent." Friend 3 is a writer of somewhat more advanced skills and publication credit than myself, and both reads and writes in the genre; Friend 3 is a bit younger than me. At this point, though, I'd completely lost confidence in the thing. I restrained myself from writing back and saying "You are wrong, Friend 3, it is terrible." And then I further restrained myself from writing back and saying, "Don't humor me, Friend 3, this is awful work and we both know it." Actually I haven't written Friend 3 back at all, and it's been a month, and if you're reading this, Violet, well, now you know why you haven't heard from me...
Friend 2 wasn't being deliberately cruel as far as I can tell, and didn't act like a competitor at a writing workshop. Instead, he said, "If I didn't think you had talent I would just tell you 'It's good work, best of luck to you.' But I know you're going to make it as a writer so I'm going to tell you what's wrong with it.'"
The last thing that happened is I heard back from the magazine I'd sent it off to, a big name in the genre. A form rejection, which didn't surprise or bother me. Upon doing a bit of research, though, it turns out the editor uses a couple of different templates for his form rejections, depending on why he rejected the story. And it turns out that this was actually a high-level rejection, indicating that the editor read the thing to the end, but that something about that ending didn't work for him. Which still leaves an unpublished story, but it's a different reaction from "completely boring until page 25."
So... Where does this leave me? At this point I have basically no idea what I've written. I've been afraid to go back and touch the thing, because I don't know if it's good, or if it's terrible, or what would make it better. Given a situation like that, what would you do?
-Steve T