As for Susan and Tebbitt at the end of Part 2... I liked reading about it though it wasn't something I cared for much, which is odd. ... To some extent, I think because even though I was expecting it, the scenes in the lift and the closet seemed somehow... rushed? ... Not sure if that's the right word for it. Or that it was more of extra "filler" ...While I'm happy that you did Go There with Susan and Tebbitt, it didn't mesh as well with all the other chapters that came before it. It felt a bit like I could take it or leave it.
This is not harsh criticism my friend. Harsh criticism in my real life is in the nature of my colleague saying "This is crap and I have to rewrite it," and in professional fiction it is the "I don't care that you love that part, if you don't find a better ending, we're not printing it." No, what has me going AHHHH is that RTH MISJUDGES AGAIN! I have been reading feedback very, very closely this past few months and in it I did notice a certain increasing equivocation and omission. I had assumed precisely the opposite -- that readers who otherwise liked my stuff weren't comfortable with the Susan/Tebbitt content and were trying to say something nice rather than nothing at all. I have assumed that it wasn't that there was too little of said content or that it wasn't developed adequately, but that it was there at all.
Based upon what I have assumed were pretty serious misgivings of this nature from long time readers whose opinions I value, I have had really grave concerns about Part 3 given where I had always intended to take the story. In other words, if people I hoped to maintain reader relationships with through Part 3 didn't like the sharpened focus upon a Susan/OC ship at the end of Part 2, this meant real trouble for Part 3 once I had aged the characters enough that I could explore these things further.
OK time for Saturday errands where I will fortunately be alone in the car for some extended conversation with me, myself, and I. Thank gawd for the bluetooth in my ear.
no subject
This is not harsh criticism my friend. Harsh criticism in my real life is in the nature of my colleague saying "This is crap and I have to rewrite it," and in professional fiction it is the "I don't care that you love that part, if you don't find a better ending, we're not printing it." No, what has me going AHHHH is that RTH MISJUDGES AGAIN! I have been reading feedback very, very closely this past few months and in it I did notice a certain increasing equivocation and omission. I had assumed precisely the opposite -- that readers who otherwise liked my stuff weren't comfortable with the Susan/Tebbitt content and were trying to say something nice rather than nothing at all. I have assumed that it wasn't that there was too little of said content or that it wasn't developed adequately, but that it was there at all.
Based upon what I have assumed were pretty serious misgivings of this nature from long time readers whose opinions I value, I have had really grave concerns about Part 3 given where I had always intended to take the story. In other words, if people I hoped to maintain reader relationships with through Part 3 didn't like the sharpened focus upon a Susan/OC ship at the end of Part 2, this meant real trouble for Part 3 once I had aged the characters enough that I could explore these things further.
OK time for Saturday errands where I will fortunately be alone in the car for some extended conversation with me, myself, and I. Thank gawd for the bluetooth in my ear.