tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459094466364069447.post9137064618672157436..comments2023-08-08T02:31:11.714-06:00Comments on Third Person Ltd.: Flexibility for WritersJohn Baronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01700561722434870258noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459094466364069447.post-84679774924529103632010-05-09T16:26:41.689-06:002010-05-09T16:26:41.689-06:00Hi John!
I love your friend's Facebook status....Hi John!<br />I love your friend's Facebook status. Don't be surprised if you see it on my blog at some point!<br /><br />Glad to have you on my side Tbiz! My story takes place in a hospital. Hospital's are busy places. (Think Scrubs, ER, Gray's Anatomy.) I don't go into detail on most of the secondary characters but there's a best friend, two nursing friends, a grandfather, and a neighbor that get page space. I'm working on a new prologue now. The hardest thing is, the more I work on my manuscript and move things around, and delete and add and blah, blah, blah, the more I get tired of thinking about it and I actually dread having to work on it.<br /><br />My Mother's Day dinner is ready. Gotta run!Wendy S Marcushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09590562856819593365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459094466364069447.post-60678845117645285082010-05-09T15:04:15.444-06:002010-05-09T15:04:15.444-06:00Tyler -- I'm surprised you remember the name o...Tyler -- I'm surprised you remember the name of that (horrid, IMO) book. About all I remember is the crabsters and the door and the changing eye color. I've never been able to read one of his books through (and I can read ANYTHING), though I've only tried a couple: I don't go for the horror genre from anyone. It seemed to me (and you, from our discussions at the time) that there were numerous problems with that book, including the backstory / pacing issue you alluded to, and a whole herd of cliches.<br /><br />I like the Jack Nicholson film of The Shining, and I treasure King's book On Writing. I'll just be happy with that.John Baronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01700561722434870258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459094466364069447.post-43011843645540490122010-05-09T14:55:46.168-06:002010-05-09T14:55:46.168-06:00Wendy,
Your second revision request (which you wor...Wendy,<br />Your second revision request (which you worry is whittling away at the core of your story) triggered this post. That, and a friend's FaceBook status that I just loved: "Women are Angels ... And when someone breaks our wings, we simply continue to fly...on a Broomstick. We are flexible like that..."<br /><br />Good luck.John Baronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01700561722434870258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459094466364069447.post-12115752815599253842010-05-09T13:25:41.344-06:002010-05-09T13:25:41.344-06:00I see this (well lack of this) all the time. Last ...I see this (well lack of this) all the time. Last year, one of my roomates was so afraid of failure, that she wouldn't even try. Namely, was she supposed to be applying to grad schools, but didn't for fear of the rejection letter. Compare that to my reaction to the couple of rejection letters I got this year, "Oh well, you don't get the honor of saying I graduated from your school. Your loss." Fundamental difference. I hate showing my games to people for two reasons: 1. I always dislike something I've made right before I present it. 2. They always say nasty things (whether they meant to or not) about it. Key thing is, feedback is what checks that you've done things right, in either books or video games.<br /><br />I have to ask Wendy, how many secondary characters are we talking about here? I also like well rounded characters and knowing their background. But, are we talking ten secondary characters? Or fifty, or a hundred? Dad and I (tried) to listen to The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King on CD during a road trip. The reason we couldn't get through it was because EVERY single character was introduced with probably two pages worth of background. It might help to know that this crime lord was abused as a child, but I don't need to know how his tenth birthday went, or that he's on his fifth marriage, and how all the previous ones ended, and how he likes his martinis, and how... I think you get the point. The problem is you halt the story dead when you do that.<br /><br />So, if you have ten or so secondary characters, I'm on your side all the way. But if you have much more than that, and spend a lot of time (all at once, it's not so bad if you spread it out) with each character, then I'm afraid I'll have to side with your publisher.Tbizhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13892931260993883257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3459094466364069447.post-23052208419953009602010-05-09T12:16:31.805-06:002010-05-09T12:16:31.805-06:00Hi John!
I am smack dab in the middle of this dile...Hi John!<br />I am smack dab in the middle of this dilema! I like stories with a full cast of characters. I like to document the relationships between them, and how each member of a person's life impacts that life in a particular way. Unfortunately, the publisher considering one of my manuscripts wants me to remove most of the secondary characters and focus on the romance of just two. It's frustrating, but if I want to be published in category romance I will have to adapt or change my goal. And right now the market for contemporary single title romance novels is very tight and virtually impossible for a new author to break into. Not that that would stop me if I'd made that my goal. So I'm going to give my manuscript one last (hopefully) major revision during which I will try to maintain my overall story while whittling down my characters. I'm not convinced I can do it, but will try my hardest.Wendy S Marcushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09590562856819593365noreply@blogger.com