Quillings

I’m at Starry Heaven this week. It’s the same format as Blue Heaven, if you know what that is. If you don’t, it’s a one-week novel workshop in which twelve writers get together and hack each other’s novels apart. We start with slashing the first fifty pages and move on to demolishing the full novels. We’ve made it through the first-fifties today.

I got quite a lot of good, sound feedback. I very often (and my current novel, Winds, is no exception) try to paint the protagonist as human, and in doing so I write in weaknesses. Trouble is, the reader’s first impression is then of a weak character, and it has a lasting impression. I really have to work on choosing the right amount of heroism for the protagonist and later show weaknesses.

The other primary issue that came across was the timing of the novel opening. Specifically, I was starting the story a little too early. It’s a common problem, and often easy to fix. Just start later and sprinkle in any necessary information that was cut into later parts of the novel. I think this one will be an easy fix. The character issues? Not so much.