I just got in the mail my scoresheet for a manuscript contest I did not win. You send in $50, a synopsis, plus the first ten pages and some anonymous published author tells you what they think. I am beginning to question the taste and integrity of the judges, because they gave my book a 77 out of a possible 100. I got a higher score on the same book last year, but with fewer comments.
This reviewer wants more sexy, fast-paced, over-the-top characters a la Sex and the City?!?!? He/she also said that my opening dialogue is flat. WTF? I can take a note--I know my book ain't perfect, but flat? Sex and the City?
Anyway, I know what's wrong with my book. I'm deciding whether or not to give it its sixth or seventh rewrite or to just focus on Carol and Philip. I've got a killer hook on the second novel and since its not mired in family baggage, I think I can do better work on it. Although Carol and Philip are not sexy in the least (they are plain, Catholic New Englanders, although I thought about setting it in California in the '80s). I'm not really excited to work more on PoE, but I have dumped quite a bit of time into it.
I go to LA tomorrow.
Posted by Zerd at May 21, 2008 03:54 PMI LOATHE SatC. I hate every character, I hate the concept, and I REALLY hate that plenty of women think it would be super to be that vapid.
Duhhhh, I'm a woman, all I care about are designer handbags and getting laid and then finding the perfect man! I just want to be FABULOUS.
Posted by: Amy! at May 22, 2008 05:30 AMFocus on novel #2. As I said before, don't sweat the review - it was a bad review because the reviewer was criticizing the novel she expected, not the novel she read. The disconnect was on her part and she should have recused herself and punted the manuscript who would actually criticize it for what it was.
It's like complaining that a Hummer gets lousy gas mileage and is too large to fit in small parking spots, or complaining that the backseat of a Porsche is too small. "Your Dell laptop is broken because it doesn't run all my Mac programs..."
Complete novel #2, shop novel #1, think about novel #3. Then we'll go back and get a maple cone.
Posted by: Bob at May 22, 2008 04:37 PMTwo words put together make me happier than "maple cone." Maybe "sesame ball" or "mo + bob."
Posted by: Mo in L.A. at May 23, 2008 03:07 PM