findingphilblog

Wow. Dave’s already gotten back to me with a critique. I deeply appreciate the fast response because it gives me a lot of time to work on it. Thanks, Dave!

For the second time, I’ve heard that my dialogue writing is fine, but that my super-structure needs work.

Sigh. I must need a class or something because this is the third attempt (I did my own rewrite about a year before I sent it to Paul) to right that wrong. I essentially make too many assumptions about what people know. But it’s funny because another reader suggested that I go overly long on the exposition and I need to leave more to the reader’s imagination. Editors! 🙂

And if I had to critique myself, I’d say that the novel still doesn’t feel as sophisticated as I’m imagining it should be. There’s an elegance I feel I reach every time I do a major edit, only to watch it skitter away when I put it down and then re-read it.

So, it’s time for me to once again to back to the drawing board. Maybe this time with a hammer and chisel instead of just a red pen.

Better get crackin’.

In an effort to once again kick myself in the pants, I’ve turned my book over to another friend, David DeKok. Dave’s a longtime journalist and author who specializes in historic non-fiction. His books about Centralia, a cholera outbreak in New York and an unsolved murder at Penn State have all gotten lots of positive media attention, so I’m eager to hear his thoughts.

Learn more about Dave here.