So I’ve just received some feedback on yesterday’s post that I began to respond to, but I quickly realized it would be the world’s longest comment. This post is not meant to be about any one person or any particular feedback…it’s just my feelings about how people write today and how people take feedback to an extreme. I’ll try to keep it as clear as possible for you, which means quoting a comment. But, I’m going to unapprove the comment so that this person can remain anonymous if s/he should so choose.
Again, this isn’t about anyone one person—it’s about my feelings on feedback and people not staying true to themselves. To quote a friend, “If I please everyone, then I have no book!”
* * *
This is how my response/comment started::
Thank you so much for your feedback! It’s greatly appreciated—truly.
As far as the rest of the prologue, it’s changed as well. The one you read previously is an old, old version, and not really relevant anymore. It’s changed immensely!! My Authonomy page has the most recent version pretty much at any given time 
I adore the word lovely and anyone who is picking up a faery book is going to know what it means. Faery is simple, so I try to use other words throughout this scene. =)
As it’s sort-of dreamlike, it’s not supposed to be concrete… The reader is supposed to feel detached and wonder “wtf?”
When it goes to the part where you’d stop reading (as soon as it switches from Ankou’s release to the faery mother and her child — this is what s/he told me), it’s in his memory so it can’t be physical as it’s not part of the scene.
I absolutely appreciate your feedback more than you know, but the important (and awesome) thing that I have learned is to take only what makes sense to you or me, as a writer, out of feedback..
For example, the sentence you restructured by deleting the comma and adding a ‘just’ (which I avoid if I can), well I don’t see it as strengthening the sentence in any way. In fact, it adds meaning that isn’t needed because the fact that it happens once a generation has already been stated…
{[Here is part of the original comment::
--This sentence lacks force because the grammar is shaky.
"Each generation Ankou was granted such an opportunity, he made damned sure to savor every moment."
Better is:
"Each generation Ankou was granted such an opportunity just once and he made damned sure to savor every moment."]}
As I just said, this second option changes the meaning. The grammar is not incorrect in my version. ‘Each’ is just another word for ‘every.’ The reader read it wrong, thinking I was saying something different than I was…
Substitute ‘each generation’ for even just ‘each time.’ They mean the same thing, but the first option is more specific to what is in my story.
Here’s that change::
“Each time Ankou was granted such an opportunity, he made damned sure to savor every moment.”
A completely sound sentence, grammatically. =)
See, this is what I love about having a blog and reading blogs.
Everyone has differing opinions and different tastes and that’s so awesome!!!
As far as approaching a book as a movie, well that’s the easy way out. That’s writing down to your readers, and (I think I blogged about this somewhere before—on one of my sites) if we write books as movies, then we are just catering to thes f*d up generations that are in our society today…. (Sorry, but it’s true. I read as a child and played outside and used my imagination. Nintendo didn’t even show up ’til almost middle school…)
One author I read a while back said something along the lines that it’s a sad state of affairs if we are writing books for people who aren’t apt to pick up a book in the first place. Write for yourself and for your readers. Not for movie-goers who don’t read books…
You mentioned that a director would have a lot of work to do to in order to provide a storyboard for my scene. Well, that would be the screenwriter’s job—not mine, as a novel writer…
This scene sets the tone for a lot that is to occur later on and it’s just a taste of different things that are to come. Now, I’m not saying it’s perfect, but I certainly will not write it out as a screenplay. I don’t want this scene to be too concrete in the reader’s mind because it’s just a prologue. It’s not the ‘true’ beginning of the story, and when I revisit the prologue later, in chapter seven or eight or whenever, it flows better to have it just have been an idea that Alexis is learning about. If Alexis can’t have been there, then I don’t want to reader to truly be there. Does that make sense??
I know I’m defending myself a lot here, and that may seem bad, but I feel that (at least for this part of the story which I’ve revised 30-40 times) I’m confident enough in my work and I should defend myself. Not cater to what other people are telling me to do. If I do that, then why am I even writing? I might as well let others write and just spend my time reading, right?! lol
Not really—feedback is crucial and so wonderful to me! I love that someone will take the time to read my work, first of all, and then to spend even more time commenting. Wow! That’s absolutely amazing. So I don’t mean to come across as ungrateful. I’ve just experienced myself, and have seen with others, that if one changes their work to suit what others say it *should* be, then it becomes a twisted, sub-par version of the original work and usually ends up lacking.
I have actually witnessed one person miss out on a possible contract because s/he changed his/her story to please others and the agent and publisher said that what had been changed needed to be there. This agent/publisher didn’t know the story originally had what it seemed to be lacking. If the author had stuck with his/her gut instinct and kept the story how it was in his/her head and not listened to others, s/he might be on the road to publication right now instead of rewriting said novel…
OK, looking down, I see this has hit over 1k and I like to keep blog posts shorter than that if I can, so I’ll end this here. There’s still a lot more I’d like to touch on, but that will have to wait….
For now, thanks for listening, and please do not take this as me not wanting feedback. The exact opposite is true!! Many of the things I have done to my story to make it what it is now have been because others pointed out holes or other such problems to me. I’m a good editor, but it’s hard to be objective with your own work.
For what it’s worth, and to solidify what I’m saying, the person who made the comment that led to this post thought nothing was wrong with the first part of chapter one. Interestingly, I just typed that out and changed a few things with one brief edit. It’s truly a first draft…
So, maybe, just maybe, we *should* write with the door closed, as Stephen King says (and does)…
But here I am throwing my work out for all the world to see, so who knows what I truly feel. 
I guess the point is that I’ve discovered that feedback is needed, but I’m confident enough in my writing to take only the feedback I agree with. If it doesn’t feel right for my story, I don’t do it. And I suggest you do the same with your work.
Thanks!!
xx
) but is too afraid to show her true self to others. for many reasons, mostly fear of rejection or being shunned for being a freak.
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obvious solution! July 11, 2009
Tags: derailment, eden tyler, editing, floggingthequill.com, ms word, ray rhamey, revising, the abandoned edge of avalon, word comments, writing, writing solutions
Ever since I changed my book to what I was told it should be like, I’ve been having problems. I chunked five chapters and totally redid the beginning only to realize that having so much action only led to less tension. Everything happened and was answered right away. Well, not everything—of course there’s more to the book, but…
Anyway, I put four of the five chapters back in and rewrote the beginning. I wrote it how it was originally. It’s better now because I’ve had ridiculous amounts of revising practice, but it took a few months to get it back to where I feel the story is how it should be.
The problem is that I was thrown off track. Big time. And I’m pretty much back, but the wheels aren’t sliding into the rails exactly right. (or however trains work…idk)
I have had to leave where I’d stopped writing before the crazy revision—about chapter 14 or so—and jump ahead to write later chapters. Those were the only ones that were working themselves out in my head. I was struggling with ch14…it’s still only half done. But I have 4 or 5 later chapters completely finished. One towards the middle, and the rest fit in between the middle and the end somewhere.
I guess it’s perfectly fine to write this way, but I was doing so well writing sequentially and then…Nothing. Nada. No words came out. And if they did, they were all wrong.
Of course I have an idea of what I want to do with the chapter. I know what needs to happen, I just don’t know how to do it.
Then here comes Ray Rhamey, giving me the answer that’s been right in front of my face. Duh, Eden!
Comments. Yes, Word Comments. All I have to do is highlight the last bit of text and add some notes to the side to briefly outline what will happen in that chapter and subsequent ones.
Now, I’m not an outline type of gal, so the really obvious answer won’t work for me. Not at all.
But comments… These will work.
See, if I write down something, then it’s out of my head and I can move on. I’m that way with anything. I’m actually that way with speaking, as well. If something’s on my mind, I just have to get it out and then it’s done and over with. Resolved.
So, if I write down the bones of the chapters that have been in my head for months, it will trick my mind into thinking I’ve written the chapters. Part of the trick is that these ideas and such need to be in the document. Which is why outlines don’t work for me.
Once I’ve made notes in a few comments, I can move on. I know I’m capable of writing later chapters, as I’ve already done so.
Once I’m back in my rhythm, I can go back and fill in the details and really write the action, dialogue, and such.
Yay for MS Word and Ray Rhamey.
Read what gave me hope!
And read other articles of his, as he has great insights into the editing/revising process. Heck, even the basic, beginning writing process. I’ve bookmarked many of his individual pages, on top of bookmarking the main page for daily updates.
This will be the third time I’ve linked to his article in this one of mine, so go check it out!