tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7489828862286549092.post3481582776185619465..comments2023-05-18T04:24:50.676-04:00Comments on Consult the Editor: Evaluating a Fiction ManuscriptKarl Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03587358000156945375noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7489828862286549092.post-59505274732150162722010-04-30T09:06:23.922-04:002010-04-30T09:06:23.922-04:00Hi again,
Thanks to all of you. I have told all m...Hi again,<br /><br />Thanks to all of you. I have told all my writing friends to check out your blog. You offer a writer not just help, but hope. It's difficult to understand what an editor/agent means by comments they make unless you have guidance. It's hard to know what to with your plot or how to do it. It's like cooking without a recipe and even with a recipe you still need a master chef, it's like dancing without an instructor or acting without a director. Certainly there are Master writers out there who can write in isolation and be brilliant. I am not one of them. PS.. I received The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass. Brilliant:) I have a countdown on my live journal 131 days to finish this draft of my novel. I'm on my way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7489828862286549092.post-17712796969498001152010-04-27T09:57:12.955-04:002010-04-27T09:57:12.955-04:00Loretta, In the early stages of working on a novel...Loretta, In the early stages of working on a novel, it's good to be expansive in your thinking. My experience is that initially most people don't know exactly where every plot twist and turn is going to take them. After you've finished a first draft, though, you're in a much better position to evaluate the success of a plot development because you can see how your ideas have played out. And you can see how your ideas relate to and support your theme -- or not.<br /><br />In the best of all possible worlds, plot development and character development are so closely interwoven that it should be hard to separate them. After your first draft, it's time to go back and do what Arnold suggests: Make sure that the plot events grow out of character -- or a character's choices -- and make sure they help lead the characters to the climax of the action. If they don't do both of those things, then they're not serving you.Nan Gatewood Satterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06696814425291487431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7489828862286549092.post-27703513940154886002010-04-26T21:42:00.316-04:002010-04-26T21:42:00.316-04:00Ha! Judy that sounds hillarious and exactly what h...Ha! Judy that sounds hillarious and exactly what happens with my characters. I will absolutely pick it up and read it. Thanks for the suggestion:)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7489828862286549092.post-76569610123669776192010-04-26T12:10:34.404-04:002010-04-26T12:10:34.404-04:00Loretta--
this probably isn't going to help y...Loretta--<br /><br />this probably isn't going to help you discipline your creative mind but you'd probably enjoy reading a great novel by Muriel Spark called The Comforters. It's about characters in a novel who find out they're characters in a novel and try to do something different from what the author wants them to do--with all kinds of problematic results.Judy Kernhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12706544245805322751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7489828862286549092.post-33235055981979565582010-04-24T19:52:09.192-04:002010-04-24T19:52:09.192-04:00Thanks so much. I think that if I keep asking myse...Thanks so much. I think that if I keep asking myself the question, "is this taking my plot where I want it to go?" then I will more likely stay on a path that builds up. It is great to be open to new ideas. Sometimes, though I wish my creative mind, had more structure and that I had the ability to see a novel from start to finish before I begin writing. Instead, I get an idea and I just start writing and I can't ask the question "is this where I want to go?", because I don't know the answer yet. I have to discover it. After many drafts, re-writes, etc. I finally see the 'real story'. Thanks again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7489828862286549092.post-10732144382801154512010-04-23T23:45:01.253-04:002010-04-23T23:45:01.253-04:00You pose a tough problem--that is, it's hard t...You pose a tough problem--that is, it's hard to tell you how to avoid letting your mind wander. In fact, that's not necessarily a bad thing in itself. I think it's important to keep your mind open to new ideas. But it seems to me that what you have to do is examine each new plot idea in terms of a) whether it really grows out of the character, and b) whether it takes the plot where you want it to go. That's a crucial test.Arnold Dolinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7489828862286549092.post-32377626275673521052010-04-22T23:57:58.848-04:002010-04-22T23:57:58.848-04:00I have a question that maybe all of you can help m...I have a question that maybe all of you can help me with. Speaking of plot. I had a comment about my current novel building out and not up. I understand (or at least I think I do) what that means and am trying to correct it. I think the problem is that I keep finding new problems/conflicts to throw at the MC, but I'm not sure they all relate to the main problem. I seem to wander and I'm not a good plotter. Even when I do plot, I tend to stray because my mind just keeps throwing me new ideas. Do you have suggestions of a good way for me to evaluate if a plot element is building out or up? Thanks for any suggestions.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7489828862286549092.post-66847019267189194392010-04-07T23:23:42.181-04:002010-04-07T23:23:42.181-04:00Yes, very clear and helpful, Arnold. Thanks. You...Yes, very clear and helpful, Arnold. Thanks. You mention that it's important that an author have a voice that a reader wants to spend time with. I frequently make the same observation and extend it to saying that the protagonist (almost always) has to be someone with whom a reader wants to spend hours and hours. There are genuinely unlikable protagonists in successful books, of course, but this is hard to pull off. Better, and easier, to create characters with whom readers want to spend time.Nan Gatewood Satterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06696814425291487431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7489828862286549092.post-32079117392252420592010-03-28T11:03:26.347-04:002010-03-28T11:03:26.347-04:00Really clear and helpful post, Arnold.
I'd l...Really clear and helpful post, Arnold. <br /><br />I'd like to add one more element specifically for the middle-grade and YA writers out there: Age-group. There's a difference between fiction appropriate for middle-grade readers and that which will appeal to teens. (I'm going to do a full post on this). The age of your intended readership will affect everything Arnold details above and is a critical factor in assessing a manuscript submission.Carla Jablonskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00745370495557613967noreply@blogger.com