Thank you Andre Dubus III, for pointing me to this great quote from Willa Cather:
"...a creative writer can do his best only with what lies within the range and character of his deepest sympathies."
I wish I had that advice before I hammered away the 80,000 words of my first novel.
After my beta-readers, who probably read the manuscript so that they could fulfill any obligations to me and never have to see me again, responded that they love characters B, C, and even D -- but hated Character A.
Small problem. A is my protagonist. The hero.
Damn readers! Can't they just get it? Why do they have to be so difficult to please?
I realized they were right though. They sniffed it out right away. I wrote characters B, C and D with real feeling. Character A - I tried to manufacture with all kinds of craft BS in my head - challenges, goals, conflict, obstacles -- blah,blah, blah.
So back to the drawing board I go, moving into draft verison 3 -- this time -with sympathy.
"...a creative writer can do his best only with what lies within the range and character of his deepest sympathies."
I wish I had that advice before I hammered away the 80,000 words of my first novel.
After my beta-readers, who probably read the manuscript so that they could fulfill any obligations to me and never have to see me again, responded that they love characters B, C, and even D -- but hated Character A.
Small problem. A is my protagonist. The hero.
Damn readers! Can't they just get it? Why do they have to be so difficult to please?
I realized they were right though. They sniffed it out right away. I wrote characters B, C and D with real feeling. Character A - I tried to manufacture with all kinds of craft BS in my head - challenges, goals, conflict, obstacles -- blah,blah, blah.
So back to the drawing board I go, moving into draft verison 3 -- this time -with sympathy.
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