Tag Archives: Windfall

Constructive Criticism

I wish Amazon would require people who “review” books to back up negative statements with facts, including examples and/or suggestions.

This past week, I received my first “negative” review about WINDFALL. The reviewer gave the novel two stars out of five. Basically, there were two complaints.

First, the reviewer thought Windfall wasn’t a thriller. My question is, if it’s not a thriller then what is it? There was no opinion offered. The reviewer merely stated the book wasn’t thrilling. This particular comment doesn’t bother me too much because choosing a genre is rather subjective. Many books can be classified in several genres. But, I wish I’d been given an opinion as to what genre the reader thought Windfall should be in.

Secondly, the review stated Windfall had frequent grammatical errors. I had numerous people read the novel before I published it and none of them said a thing about grammar. They had a lot to say about characters or story line but nothing about grammar.

Now, I’m not saying Windfall has no errors. I am, after all, human, and I don’t have a professional editor watching my back. But when a reviewer states a novel has frequent grammatical errors, I truly think they should back up their statement with facts. Did the reviewer find one error or several hundred errors. By using the word frequent the reviewer states the writer constantly made mistakes. And, in this case, I think the reviewer is wrong.

Liking or disliking a book can be a very subjective thing.

But, when a reviewer is negative about something specific, it would be helpful if they backed up their comment with facts and/or suggestions.

It’s called CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM.

Charles Dickens

Blocking or Beating a STORY…

This week my writing has focused on two stories. I’m blocking out the sequel to Windfall (Windfall is currently for sale on Amazon.). And I’m in the middle of writing a new novel, Finding Verity.

Another word for “blocking” a story is “beating” out a story. In essence, I’m working on a type of outline. I block out a story by writing a paragraph about each scene. Writer’s choice! The paragraph can be  detailed or general. I  think of blocking as a kind of map. I have a starting point and an ending, but I need to list the steps that get me from Chapter One to “The End.”

Blocking Windfall’s sequel has been interesting. Because I know many of the characters I’ve been able to focus more on the plot. While I plot the story, I let the new characters “bake a little in my brain.” Like I did with Windfall, I will write the screenplay first and follow that screenplay with the novel.

As I write a paragraph about each BLOCK or BEAT of the story, I ask myself several questions. The first two questions are: WHO will be in the scene and WHAT will happen in the scene. The next question is: what is the scene’s PURPOSE. Why is the scene necessary?  If the story can be told without the scene, then maybe it’s not needed

The scene might introduce a new character or locale. It might create conflict, provide a transition, or do any number of other things. But, in all cases, each scene should (1) reveal something about a character or (2) move the story forward.

The way I write will not work for everyone. Many writers “write by the seat of their pants.” They start with a vague idea or a colorful character and then begin.  If this works for you, then HOORAH you don’t have to do as much work as I do. I’ve tried to write this way but find, without some kind of an outline, I get confused, my writing becomes unfocused, and I eventually get frustrated and lose interest in the project.

My progress on Finding Verity is steady because I know the story and it’s just a matter of getting it into my laptop. And, I know the story because, before I began writing, I blocked it out, and now I’m using that work as a guide. Every day I try to work on Finding Verity for two solid hours. I begin each day of writing by editing the previous days work so, in some ways, I’m working on the first and second draft at the same time. Right now the word count on Finding Verity is 29,347.

I’d love to hear how other writer’s approach their projects. Do you do a lot of prep work? Or do you write by the seat of your pants?

1910 – Reading in a Fire Station