Editing Darkness & Light
So, I recently decided to post Darkness and Light to Media Miner so I could possibly get some fresh comments and figure out what it is that is not working about it other than the fact that it wants to be a novel instead of a short story. I opened the file for version 1 - the Mariko POV version - and started to read. I found four technical errors in the first two paragraphs. Despite having been read by 5 or 6 people who have all given me feedback, all of us missed those errors that are now so glaringly obvious. What a difference three years makes.
Other problems also stand out much more clearly now and I don't think it's just the old trick of putting something away for a while and coming back to it. I set myself a task three or four years ago. If I found myself thinking that something worked particularly well, or was particularly bad, in a story I was to stop and ask myself why. If it was something that didn't work, how could it be fixed?
Basically, I wanted to figure out the anatomy and physiology of writing. Why did Picture Me, an Inuyasha fanfic by Midoriko-Sama, grab me so hard that I've re-read it at least 6 times since I found it last year even though it has many uncorrected typos, some bad transitions, and uneven pacing? What is so very right about it that I don't care about those things at all, even though they might be enough for me to dismiss another story without a second thought?
What is it about some fictons that keep people from all walks of life returning to them again and again even when the stories set in them are by different authors?
Why don't other stories work for me at all despite being absolutely technically correct? What do they lack? Is is just me? Do others feel this lack?
There are several sites on the 'net devoted to picking apart bad stories and I've become addicted to them since I discovered them a few months ago. It really helps to watch someone dissect a story and explain what is wrong and why. Apparently at least some of that is sticking with me and it's time to apply it to my own work.
Other problems also stand out much more clearly now and I don't think it's just the old trick of putting something away for a while and coming back to it. I set myself a task three or four years ago. If I found myself thinking that something worked particularly well, or was particularly bad, in a story I was to stop and ask myself why. If it was something that didn't work, how could it be fixed?
Basically, I wanted to figure out the anatomy and physiology of writing. Why did Picture Me, an Inuyasha fanfic by Midoriko-Sama, grab me so hard that I've re-read it at least 6 times since I found it last year even though it has many uncorrected typos, some bad transitions, and uneven pacing? What is so very right about it that I don't care about those things at all, even though they might be enough for me to dismiss another story without a second thought?
What is it about some fictons that keep people from all walks of life returning to them again and again even when the stories set in them are by different authors?
Why don't other stories work for me at all despite being absolutely technically correct? What do they lack? Is is just me? Do others feel this lack?
There are several sites on the 'net devoted to picking apart bad stories and I've become addicted to them since I discovered them a few months ago. It really helps to watch someone dissect a story and explain what is wrong and why. Apparently at least some of that is sticking with me and it's time to apply it to my own work.
posted by Ranuel | 9:02 PM
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