When Feedback Conflicts

Everyone has their own opinion. Look at the reviews for your favourite author, and you're just as likely to see people screaming about how much they loved this latest book as you are those spitting venom over how terrible it is. They're all correct in their view. No matter how hard an author tries, you are never going to please everyone. No matter how well written something is, it will simply not be someone's 'thing'. Or maybe it is badly written but people love the story and the characters anyway. There's been a lot of heated discussion over the poor quality of writing in some of the current biggest sellers. But they're still selling and people are still raving about them.

But what do you do if the difference of opinion is between two experts in their field? How do you settle that? 

This is what I consider my first year as a professional writer - ie published, and contracted to publish. Inspired by my Spacefreighter buddies and their shiny collection of Golden Hearts, I decided to enter a few contests myself this year. Keir made it as a Readers Favorite 2012 Finalist, but I also put the opening 5000 words of an unfinished WIP into The Rebecca. It didn't reach the finals (boo!), and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with that. However, receiving the score sheets back from the judges was a huge bonus and gave me some fantastic feedback. Two of the judges chose to make comments on each section, although the third only made a comment at the very end. One even made some comments in the MS itself. To see how the entries are marked and what specifically the judges are looking for, here's the scoring system -

Score Sheet

Entry No.       __                            Judge                                                                 
                                                                  

Land Of Enchantment Romance Authors

The Rebecca Score Sheet, 2012

Entry Title: _____________                                                                     
Category: ______________________________________
Total score:__________________ Finalist: Yes/No
(30 points total possible)

Scoring: 1 = Needs major work
2 = Below average
3 = Average, still needs work, but shows promise
4 = Close to being publishable, but still needs minor work
5 = Excellent, ready for submission to editor

___OPENING HOOK (1-5 points each.)
Story opens with a strong hook that pulls the reader in, and story opens at the right place.
Comments:
___CHARACTERS (1-5 points each)
Well-rounded and likable main character(s) with believable actions and reactions.  If the hero and heroine are present, their attraction and chemistry are suited to this story.
Comments:
___ CONFLICT (1-5 points)
Well motivated main conflict is hinted at by the author.  Internal and external conflict are balanced.
Comments:
___WRITING: (1-5 points)
Author handles voice; showing not telling; POV changes; dialogue; setting description using the senses.
Comments:
___MECHANICS (1-5 points)
Mechanics of grammar, spelling and sentence structure.  Manuscript is formatted for neat, professional appearance and easy to read.
Comments:
___OVERALL APPEAL: (1 – 5 points)
If you were a reader in this genre, the entry grabbed your interest and made you want to read more
Comments:
Please describe at least one area this author handles well:

Please describe at least one area this author needs to work on:

Judge’s signature (optional): _________________________

____Published Author in Book-length Romance         ____Unpublished Author
____additional (define)

Or you can check out all the details on the LERA website here - http://www.leranm.com/about-the-rebecca/ 

Overall I was very pleased with the comments, and it seems I'm doing several things right consistently. But there was one area of contention between two of the judges who chose to make comments. There was a conflict over the...well, conflict! One judge felt the elements of internal and external conflict were fantastic and well balanced. The other felt there was far too much of it, and that it was confusing.

So what do you do when the opinion of two experts is so opposite? You could base it on the merits of each judge. If the feedback came from an author who's work you loved versus one you hadn't heard of, which would you chose? Or would you take the opinion of a potential publisher over that of an author? In this instance, judging the judge isn't possible. Two of them remained anonymous. 

To me, the solution is obvious. Unless you have a very strong preference yourself, seek another opinion! It doesn't have to be an author, an editor, or a publisher. A reader is equally qualified as to whether a story is working or not, if it's someone whose opinion you value. Critique partners and beta readers are invaluable here. Don't have any? Then seek out a group like CritiqueCircle.com for feedback, or join a writing forum. Network. Find yourself a band of people you trust. But always remember that you CANNOT please everyone, and you'll tear yourself to pieces if you try. At the end of the day you need to feel happy with your story as much as satisfying at least a handful of others who love your work. Oh, and a publisher/agent of course. It's finding the balance between potentially mixed advice and a happy middle road. If you get the same flaws mentioned repeatedly, then it's something that needs fixing. If it's one voice out of a dozen...well, then it's down to you. 

BTW I'm currently trying to compile a list of useful writer's resources here including editors, cover artists and forums where you can link up with like-minded people. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment.

So while I'm on the subject, I'd like to say a huge thank you to those who've helped to kick various projects into place. As far as The Rebecca is concerned, my thanks go to Liana Brooks and SL buddy Laurie Green at this time, who both ran a critical eye over Tethered before the contest.

 Pippa's Journal 

Action! 

I'm currently waiting on my first round of edits for Gethyon - the scifi novella I contracted last month with the Burst imprint of Champagne Books. I'm still trying to finish off the final draft of Keir's sequel - now renamed Keir's Fall. I've had a tough decision to make regarding a major element in the latter part of the story which is holding me up. My aim is to have it submitted by the end of September - or else! (Not sure 'or else' what, but be assured - I will punish myself severely for any failure! *digs out the holo-whips*). In the meantime, the first round of edits for my scifi rom short that I'm planning to self publish have just gone back to my editor. Looks like I might release that before Christmas, woo hoo!

On the subject of shorts, the SFR Brigade are mulling over the possibility of a Brigade anthology to help boost the prominence of SFR. There's currently a poll up over in the Facebook group here - please come over and vote. If you aren't a member of the group and would like to be, you can request to join there too.

Happenings - I'm honoured to have science fiction romance author Aubrie Dionne guesting over on my blog here today, for the release of her new novel Haven 6. I hope you'll stop by to say hello. There's also a Rafflecopter for a beautiful piece of handmade jewellry to tie in with the novel, so get your name down! The monthly Amazon Tagging Party list will open on the 24th September with tagging taking place on the 27th.

Ping Pong - Huge, huge congrats to Sharon on receiving her first 5 star review on Goodreads AND a glittering 4.5 review from RT Book Reviews for GHOST PLANET! Not long now until you can all get your hands on this book. :)

What does a reader see?

I've always been fascinated by what someone sees when they read something of mine. A reader might have an idea what a certain character looks like from a book cover (although the cover may be nothing like what the author imagined since they're generally decided by the publisher) or even images posted by the author relating to the story or the inspiration. It should also give readers an idea of the setting/genre/theme, although that's something very open to interpretation. If someone writes 'castle' or 'forest', most people will have a general idea of what they think a typical one looks like, then adjust it as they read more details. For instance, perhaps they saw a light, silver birch wood, only to learn two sentences in that it's a dark, brooding oak forest, or a sweltering rain forest.

I can remember asking...no, pestering an author about his space ship, wanting to know whether I'd imagined it correctly, to the point of posting pictures that echoed what I thought. Luckily we knew each other well enough that I don't think I offended him. I never did get a straight answer though...

I can't draw particularly well, but I love to sketch out my ideas in words. That's part of why I write. The art comes in describing it enough to give an outline with necessary details without bogging down the story, and yet allowing the reader to use their imagination without too much effort. I've had the odd review compare my female MC to River Song from Doctor Who and even as the Doctor himself. Keir has been cast as Orlando Bloom and Aidan Turner. These kind of comments always fascinate me. But a couple of weeks ago, I received something that just blew me away. A good friend of mine decided to commission a piece of artwork as a gift to me, based on how he saw the opening scene to Keir . To say that I'm flattered is an understatement. The image is beautiful, but the thought behind it even more so.

I'm not going to tell you how close or not this is to the image that was in my head. I want people to form their own opinion. Some will be influenced by the official cover. But you can judge this one for yourself by downloading the first chapter for free from Lyrical Press Inc here or by using the Look Inside via Amazon. And if you do, I'd love for you to come back and tell me what you think of this picture then. Meanwhile you can check out the artist Jonathan Moore here. And you can check out the humorous comic strip about life in New Zealand done by my good friend Mr Reasonable here.

So, what else is new?

Success!
I've already announced it elsewhere, but to continue from last week when I said I'd had a request for a full MS, I can now confirm that I HAVE A NEW CONTRACT! Woo hoo! My scifi Gethyon will be out June 2013 with the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Champagne Books - Burst. I'm currently in the process of filling in paperwork, and already have my editor assigned and my two deadlines laid out. This meant that I dropped my Campnanowrimo project at the weekend, having reached 28K. I'm a little disappointed I won't get to finish it, but I was already struggling with the word count after feeling that When Dark Falls had a split identity problem, and that I actually appeared to be trying to write two seperate and conflicting stories. The stories won't be deleted, but what I have so far is going on my project list for next year. For the rest of this year, it will now be edits, promotion, finishing and submitting the sequel to Keir, and preparing my other sfr novella Tethered for submission early next year. I've also decided to go ahead and self-publish a short sfr story I did for a submission call that never happened. But more on that later...

Happenings
My book trailer for Keir is up for voting in the August contest at You Gotta Read blog at #20. Please stop by and vote! I know, I'm not cute when I beg so how about this?



There's also giveaways still running on my blog here for two print copies of Keir. The Goodreads one is proving extremely popular and is open until September 17th. The other closes on the 29th August and is running on my blog - all you have to do is comment, and currently there's not much competition, but the closing date is sooner! The monthly Amazon tagging list will open on the 27th, with the party on the 30th. There's an additional note on the subject of 'malicious' tagging so please read the party post carefully when it's up.

Ping Pong
Donna - interesting post on remakes. I have to say I groan a little each time I hear another remake/revamp is on the way. Maybe next year we'll see something new.
Sharon - love the post on world-building. That's one of my favourite parts of writing. :)

Pippa's Journal - 7/25/12

Good morning! This will be a short one as I haven't anything new to announce, and frankly I'm shattered. It's only three days into our summer holiday, and my children are running me ragged. Writing? Prrffft. I've been lucky to edit a paragraph in the last week, and I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to do the August Campnanowrimo without a tanker-full of extra strong coffee and some late-night candle-burning. But enough of my woes...


Happenings -

This month's SFR Brigade Amazon Tagging sign up is still open for you to add your title for the party on Thursday. Doing these monthly seems to be working out okay so I'm going to stick with that for now.
On Monday I hosted author Myra Nour on her latest tour for her latest release - Heart of the Dragon - a science fiction romance with dragons! Her guest post answered the question - Why Write Sci Fi Romance? I think a lot of us know the answer to that one, and would agree with many of her reasons.
I'm also doing a Writer Chat today with Natalie Wright who was kind enough to invite me, and who asked me some tough questions! She was mean with her choices. :-P
One of the sites that accepted Keir for review also invited me to do a guest post. I choose one on opening lines, an idea that had been buzzing around my head. Some of the SFR Brigade and my friends may have noticed me posting the question on favourites openings in the group and on my Facebook profile. I think it made for a great discussion topic! The post will be on Close Encounters of the Night Kind on the 27th July. I'd love to hear some more opinions on your favourite opening lines and what you think makes a good one.
I'm also interviewing romance author Krystal Brookes on the 31st, with an excerpt from her new release Bounty.

As I'm sure most of you are aware, the Firebirds are now in or on their way to Anaheim. I'm deeply jealous. Maybe one day I'll be able to do it too, but in the meantime I wish them all the best and hope it's a blast. Next Wednesday I start Campnanowrimo - prepare for much screaming!