I am a little stunned right now. I sent a working scene to a friend, a scene from the second book...Granted, it's a violent scene and violent in a sexual way and this a double risk....but it's pivotal to the story I've imagined and I've just talked to him and he hates it. He hates it in a way that I couldn't even respond to. I just caught this torrent of words and now...I don't know what to think. This is the midpoint scene. Other scenes either lead up to it or devolve out of it. The thing is, I like the scene....or at least I think I do. I'm rattled right now. I haven't had anyone jump me like that in years. So now I have this scene that's pivotal in a book I'm going to show David and show Karen in a matter of weeks and someone whose judgement I trust has just eviserated it.
The scene is risky but I think I like it. Until about an hour ago I was sure I liked it and if you ask me an hour from now I might it again. But right now I am rattled to the core and wondering if he has really hit on something that's to be extremely upsetting to lots of people (he kept using the word "repugnant") in a way that makes the whole book unreadable or throws it into the category of pulp fiction....or is he just having a personal reaction to what is, on some levels, a rape scene?
What do you do with feedback like this? Or is it even feedback? I'm shaken.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
If it's a pivotal scene, shouldn't it illicit feedback like this? I always thought it was scenes like this that made or broke a book.
ReplyDeletePS: Go with your gut. It's right.
ReplyDeleteThat's true...and part of me is thinking "If he's that upset, I must have nailed it." But just getting jumped on like this is a little stunning, especially from an old friend and a man I consider to be normally calm and politic.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. Everyone has been very supportive about this.
i can commiserate, kim. i think you're right too in that something hit him to the core- and isn't that why we read and write? yet, there may be something to glean from his critique. maybe let it cool off for a bit. i agree with rae to go with your gut.
ReplyDelete