We’ll get to that.  But first, let me tell you what’s been going on the past month and a half.  First, I haven’t looked at my novel, and I’m proud of that.  Gotta take a step back.  Then other things happened:

My Deadline Passed

The date January 14, 2014 came and went.  When I first started this blog, that was the deadline I gave myself to finish a first draft.  When I hit it early, I changed the goal to finishing editing by that time.  So that’s where my novel is at at the moment, in the best state I could make it without outside feedback.

I Paid for Professional Feedback

Yup, I paid a million dollars to have the project reviewed by Writer’s Digest 2^nd Draft Developmental Editing Service.  Basically, they read your entire manuscript and provide a 12-15 page report that includes a synopsis of your novel, an emotional response chart, detailed comments on dialogue, characters, plot, writing skills, and concept.  They also provide ratings on all of those items and tell you whether they would recommend, consider or pass on the project.

I was very happy with the results.  They accepted a revised version a few days after I sent the document, agreed to my request for a female editor, and got back to me in about two weeks (she read a whole novel and prepared a report in that time!). Good service.

And the Editor Liked It!

(Photo by Marcus Hansson)

She liked it, she really liked it.  Forgive me, while I bask in this glory.  After all of this time trudging along, I am allowing myself to enjoy a positive response.  Seeing my “grades,” ranging from good to excellent was one of the best experiences I’ve had in a long time!  It really meant a lot that, as I read through her comments,  it was clear that she understood what I was trying to do/say.  Successfully conveying the ideas I was trying to present was one of my biggest goals, and I love that she got where I was coming from.

In terms of genre, she labeled it a drama/love story. Finally! I know what it is! It’s pretty low on comedy (according to her emotional response chart), which I think means it can’t be chick lit? (Yes, I’m still trying to figure that all out).

But her most important contribution was definitely her suggestions, which she thankfully made in a way that came across as useful and didn’t hurt my feelings (which I was prepared for).  She gave me  insightful ideas that I would not have come up with on my own, and I really think that if I incorporate them, I can bring my novel to the next level.

Here are some comments I would like to share:

• Lessons from Robin Logline: “Francesca and John seem as though they’re meant to be together, but when they break up and get back together, they must decide whether love is enough when they want such different things.”
  • That’s pretty accurate.  One of the themes of my novel is definitely the question of whether love is enough.  I still wonder—can love be enough if both parties are sufficiently committed?  Or is a relationship doomed if people have vastly different goals?
  • Btw, according to Wikipedia, a logline is “a brief summary of a television program, film, or motion picture [or novel!!] often providing both a synopsis of the program’s plot, and an emotional “hook” to stimulate interest.”
• On concept: “While the story operates on a low-concept premise, following the break-up, reunion, and break-up of two intelligent but fundamentally different people’s relationship, the themes and motifs present throughout the story make it so much more than a simple drama or love story.  The prose style is often simple and straightforward, and this manuscript provides an easy and fun, fast read, but the content really makes a reader think and reflect quite often.”
  • Yes!! That is EXACTLY what I was going for! An easy read for a smart person. 🙂
• On plot: “Lessons from Robin is not a plot-heavy story, but the way in which the author reveals pieces of information at specific moments when they will be most significant or surprising makes the structure work well.”
  • This was very interesting to me, because the entire time I believed my story was plot-driven rather than character-driven.  Often when people say they are writing a character-driven novel, my reaction is “who wants to read a book where nothing happens?!”  But I guess that’s not what it means because stuff definitely happens in my novel—I promise!  I’ll have to think about this more later.

Anyway, like I said, she certainly shared some criticisms, but this is my blog so that’s all I’m going to say about that for now. 😉  And for the record, I know for a fact that the service does not simply tell everyone their novel is great because 1) I read a scathing review of the service (that was later taken down) by someone upset that the editor basically told him his story didn’t make sense and 2) this service is not only for people who finished their manuscript, but also for people who keep getting rejected by agents.  What good would it do to just tell someone their story is great in that scenario?