Aargh!

I’ve been working on The Monster Within and the section I was going over yesterday was just plain sloppy. I think you’ll know when you get to it. I don’t know how many times I’ve gone over that area, but it simply lacked polish. Lots of misspellings, awkward dialog, references to a character who doesn’t exist anymore, stuff like that. I also think there are a still a couple of chapters that are either redundant or distracting.

Overall, though, I’m glad I bucked up and sent copies to some of you guys. I wasn’t at all nervous about it until after I sent out the first few copies. Then I got more and more jittery as I realized how many people were reading it and now when I find a mistake or a problem I know you’ve seen it too. I don’t know how many times I’ve said to myself “How did I ever miss that?”

It’s an important step for me, though, to get comfortable sharing my work with others. (I think strangers will be easier, but less constructive.) I’m considering making a questionnaire that covers some of my concerns for the story and to help you provide feedback. The questionnaire would contain spoilers, so I certainly don’t want you guys to look at it while you’re reading. If you would rather provide feedback another way (or not at all—I have this awkward image of a friend feeling the urge to lie and say they liked it when they didn’t, which doesn’t help either of us) that’s fine, too. Remember, I want both the bad and the good. It probably goes without saying, but if you post commentary about the novel on this site, please be courteous to other readers and avoid posting any spoilers.

Late breaking news: The Epilogue makes no sense whatsoever now. Please disregard. Also, I have recovered from the really stupid idea that just like in real life, people you meet in books could have the same name. I had wanted to create a parallel, but let’s face it, that’s just confusing.

10 thoughts on “Aargh!

  1. Looked at the latest batch of photos — those last two of Amy are utterly stunning. I notice a couple of things when you show up in the shots: You’ve always had Mom’s crow’s feet (they’re my curse too), but when did you get Munzy’s cheekbones? All I got was Dad’s baby face.

    I guess I didn’t notice those cheekbones on the Catalina trip because your face was covered in fur.

  2. Got enough pages in some semblance of order to give it a start. Don’t worry, you will have time to fix the epilogue before I get there.

  3. Almost got the rest printed out. Was trying to save paper, and do the old double sided thing. Printer doesn’t want forests. I probably won’t be able to share my copy with anybody, unless they are apt at solving puzzles. So far, I have to say, aside from the printing process, I am enjoying the book quite a bit. I’ve circled a few typoes here and there, but nothing major yet. Impressive!

  4. I think you are going to need a place to discuss the monster where people who have not read it won’t have any spoilage. In other words, despite the printer, I have finished it.

  5. I finally got around to reading it — I’m most of the way through now. Can you set up a book-discussion mailing list? (or at least send an email with everybody’s name at the top so we can just “reply to all” to keep up the discussion?)

  6. I put a comment in the monster within section earlier in the blog. I figured it’s much more difficult for people to accidentally run across the discussion and ruin their reading experience.

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