With it being close to Halloween and the days getting shorter...I hope all of us writing in the dark don't stub our toes on a corpse, fall through a ghost's ectoplasm, slip in a puddle of blood and cut ourselves on the murder weapon as we try to stand up. Maybe we need a lantern for this journey if we don't have cat eyes that see in the dark...
Oh, wait! Writing INTO the dark, not IN the dark... my bad. lol. (Written into the Dark)
"At most, you’ll find that I suggest every fiction writer TRY writing into the dark. "
I think 'TRY' is probably received better since it doesn't feel like an order from someone who isn't perceived as having the authority to give commands (the person might not know the speaker's experience and bristles at perceived orders).
I wrote that comment into the dark. I don't know where it came from since I can't remember feeling that someone giving writing advice is ordering me. But some people would and maybe I tapped into the mind of a character who would feel like that.
So, off topic question, though it is about writing into the dark, cycling and beta readers.
If you write something, and have your alpha/beta reader read it, and they say they have an issue with suspending disbelief on something that was written in the raw (uncycled) story, do you:
1. Add more detail because you assume you (as the transcriber of the story) didn't clarify it well enough (add all the character's senses, observations) so they COULD believe it in story? (we are talking fiction here, talking dogs and flying horses.)
2. Change the scene because it's interfering with the reader's trance? (Maybe just cut it?)
3. Just leave it, as different readers have different "suspend disbelief" thresholds?
4. Something else?
I know if I'm writing the story for an anthology, I would change to the editor's requests (Heinlein Rule) to get it accepted, and the editor is the audience in this case. But, if I'm writing for my own IP, how do I handle this (And I'm not talking after publishing reviews, I'm talking the "while still cycling" timeframe.
Thank you for your experience and advice in advance, I'm sure it will be great/useful/funny.
With it being close to Halloween and the days getting shorter...I hope all of us writing in the dark don't stub our toes on a corpse, fall through a ghost's ectoplasm, slip in a puddle of blood and cut ourselves on the murder weapon as we try to stand up. Maybe we need a lantern for this journey if we don't have cat eyes that see in the dark...
Oh, wait! Writing INTO the dark, not IN the dark... my bad. lol. (Written into the Dark)
Plus, there are what, four or five story ideas right there?
Lol. Right?!
"At most, you’ll find that I suggest every fiction writer TRY writing into the dark. "
I think 'TRY' is probably received better since it doesn't feel like an order from someone who isn't perceived as having the authority to give commands (the person might not know the speaker's experience and bristles at perceived orders).
I wrote that comment into the dark. I don't know where it came from since I can't remember feeling that someone giving writing advice is ordering me. But some people would and maybe I tapped into the mind of a character who would feel like that.
So, off topic question, though it is about writing into the dark, cycling and beta readers.
If you write something, and have your alpha/beta reader read it, and they say they have an issue with suspending disbelief on something that was written in the raw (uncycled) story, do you:
1. Add more detail because you assume you (as the transcriber of the story) didn't clarify it well enough (add all the character's senses, observations) so they COULD believe it in story? (we are talking fiction here, talking dogs and flying horses.)
2. Change the scene because it's interfering with the reader's trance? (Maybe just cut it?)
3. Just leave it, as different readers have different "suspend disbelief" thresholds?
4. Something else?
I know if I'm writing the story for an anthology, I would change to the editor's requests (Heinlein Rule) to get it accepted, and the editor is the audience in this case. But, if I'm writing for my own IP, how do I handle this (And I'm not talking after publishing reviews, I'm talking the "while still cycling" timeframe.
Thank you for your experience and advice in advance, I'm sure it will be great/useful/funny.
Definitely #3. But I'll address this in greater detail in tomorrow's TNDJ. Thanks.