Under A Spell is revised, returned, and the new official title is Love Spell! The front page will get changed to reflect that. BIAW group said those pages counted towards my total, so I went over my goal for yesterday. Hurrah!
The fun part about revisions, aside from cursing Word and all denizens of Redmond (I mean, can somebody tell me why hitting “delete comment” does NOT delete the comment?!), is that it’s the first reader feedback I get. Lois McMaster Bujold wrote a beautiful piece about the silent collaboration between writer and reader which you can find in Dreamweaver’s Dilemma, and it’s true. A piece of writing doesn’t feel complete until it’s been read and responded to.
So yesterday along with agreeing that I’d misused more than one comma in Spell, I got to read the first comments on the story. I’d had a general “I loved it” when I got the contract, but this was more in depth; a paragraph highlighted with comments on how beautifully the action demonstrated the hero’s character and central dilemma. More sentences and sections marked to tell me how well it worked. Until I get that feedback I don’t really know that I’ve pulled it off, that I’ve succeeded in what I wanted to do. I know it works in my head, but will it works in a reader’s? I have to wait to find out. And the revisions are the first confirmations.
I’m still working my way through Dangerous and getting the same experience. I’m also looking forward to reader response coming in from reviews and other readers as Love and Rockets gets underway. Writing a book is like starting a conversation and then waiting for somebody to answer. I’m my first reader (I write for myself first, because it’s the story I want to read) and then I wait to see if others feel the same way.
These reflections brought to you by remarks around RTB and other blogs about who a reader is. All writers are readers. Editors are readers. Agents are readers (see JJ’s RTB column). Reviewers are readers. And the person trying to decide whether or not I’m worth $6 and a couple of hours of time is a reader. We’re all readers or we wouldn’t be in this business. I don’t know about you, but I’m here because I think it’s the greatest way to spend my life there is. I may not be rich and famous, but I’m happy because I always have a story and somebody to share it with.
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