State of the Writing

[jessicasteiner]

I reached another turning point in projects, so I thought I'd do an update.

Today I finished the first draft of my originalbigbang story, which isn't due until September or something, lol. I wanted to get it written and out of the way so I wouldn't have it weighing on my mind as I work on other projects, and I'm glad I did.

It's called Grim Opera, and is the fifth instalment of my Hunter Grim short story series, which is a series of gay erotica stories set in a post-apocalyptic world, depicting a love story between a vampire hunter (who is also a vampire) and his shape-shifting apprentice. I'll probably release the stories as an anthology someday. It was fun to revisit this world, and it definitely won't be the last time I do.

I got a little positive feedback from one of my beta readers for The Sleeping Death, which was nice to hear. I also got back into contact with my editor, who had been on vacation. I signed my contract, sent my deposit and my manuscript, so now all I have to do is wait.

I'm pretty excited. I feel fairly confident that the book will stand up generally to scrutiny, and I'm very interested to learn where I can improve it. I'm sure that my editor will have things to say, of course, and I'm sure I'll learn a great deal and that my writing generally will improve because of this experience.

I'm also a tiny bit nervous that it'll hurt a lot to get the feedback, but I have faith that Marie-Lynn will give me constructive criticism gently, and that it won't be in the vein of "this sucks, start over". Anything less shattering than that I can probably handle. After all, I've been writing fanfiction for over 13 years. I've gotten lots of unhelpful negative comments in my life.

In the meantime, I've started work on my draft of The Dreaming once again. I started this book quite a long time ago now, and I keep making a lot of progress in short bursts and then putting it down to work on other things. I'm determined to get it done without getting distracted this time, partly because I'm really getting excited to get started on my next project, which is my "Harry Potter in Space with Aliens" series. I'm doing character profiles for that series, whenever I don't feel like writing.

So that's where I'm at!

Comments

[kay_brooke]

Congratulations on finishing your first draft!

[jessicasteiner]

Thanks!

[thistleburr]

If you want a great place to get useful critiques, I highly recommend critters.org.

[jessicasteiner]

Oooh, cool website! I've seen the odd place like this here and there, though the one time I submitted to a place (not this one) I got a lot of very...unhelpful responses. That was many years ago, though, with an old novel that has since been consigned to the dustbin for unrelated reasons.

[thistleburr]

Well different websites will obviously give you different results. The only time critters seems to provide "unhelpful" comments in bulk is when the manuscript is in such poor shape that it really isn't ready to be submitted yet - mostly because in cases like that, it's harder to actually provide much that's helpful.

[jessicasteiner]

Haha, I hear you. Some of the feedback I got was somewhat useful back then, but it was pretty contradictory.

I think most people are genuinely trying to help, but it made me a little gunshy about seeking feedback from reams of total strangers who are going to dig deep to try to come up with *something* to say, no matter what.

[thistleburr]

Contradictory responses from the audience are just a normal part of any creative expression. I don't think that's something you can really avoid. Anyway, I've gotten good results with it but I understand if critique groups just aren't your thing.

[jessicasteiner]

Of course, and the point I was making is just that I didn't really enjoy the experience or find it useful enough to make it worth it. Perhaps it's something I'd try again at some point, if I felt the need, but I really feel no urge to subject myself to it again right now. I do think that they have their place, and are probably really useful to many people.

What I'd personally rather have is a group of people I trust who are also good writers and able to give me good crit, for a whole host of reasons, primarily being that I do far better receiving and internalizing crit from people I know and whose opinion I trust, rather than a whole lot of strangers.

Obviously no one can stop strangers from giving their opinion, and sometimes I will read feedback and agree with it and make changes, but it's a lot easier to dismiss said opinions, and a lot harder to have an open dialogue with a stranger about how one can improve.

[thistleburr]

Yeah I hear ya. Personally I like a mix of both - strangers aren't invested in my feelings so at least I know they're being honest ;)

[jessicasteiner]

That's true! I think my editor will be honest, at least XD

[ize]

Congrats on being done with your first draft!

Good feedback should hurt a little, I guess. It hurts to get out of our comfort zone, to see someone else poking at our drafts and pointing at the little wrongs we've done.

See, it almost makes me shudder! Haha. On a bright note, it's highly unlikely these comments will be unhelpful negative ones, so at least there's that? I wish you the best of luck!

Ooh, I hear you. I just started a new Scrivener project to organize my novel. It helps me when writing is like pulling teeth!

[jessicasteiner]

Thanks! I'm sure they'll be really helpful, so I just have to try not to be too sensitive and keep an open mind, haha. I think everyone struggles with that.

I do that, too. Sometimes I just don't have the right brain for writing, but can totally take notes and organize things. I use Liquid Story Binder for my projects.