Dave Birchbauer's Blog: Alec's Dream - Posts Tagged "alec-s-dream"
Dear Diary: Latest Reviews
Reviews have come in... from Bookplex. I didn't want the reviews for advertising, I just wanted some opinions. They were well worth it... thanks Bookplex.
Summary: Alec's Dream starts out bad and ends great. (note to self: the beginning of a book should draw people in, not scare them away)
What they said about the beginning.
1 - Too technical.
2 - Time-lines are confusing.
3 - Confused as to who the main character s were.
4 - Seems to jump around.
I first tried rationalizing these criticisms like "I always thought the technical part was a necessary evil of science fiction." After some weeks of thinking it finally occurred to me what the problem was.
"IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!"
The beginning of Alec's Dream is about ME. It is self indulgent. It chronicles MY inventing anti-gravity, starting MY company and presenting it to the world. Alec, Jessie and the rest of the cast are just supporting characters.
Funny, before I came to this realization, I couldn't see the problem (duh... how can there be anything wrong when the subject is you?). Now that I understand (the mental block is broken), the fix is obvious. So I decided to put a hold on my current project and rewrite the beginning of Alec's Dream. I am extremely fortunate that I seemed to have hit upon a successful writing style as the reviewers seemed to love the last two-thirds. If I can pull this off, I think I may send out some agent queries again... and maybe try a small indie publisher or two.
Wish me luck.
Summary: Alec's Dream starts out bad and ends great. (note to self: the beginning of a book should draw people in, not scare them away)
What they said about the beginning.
1 - Too technical.
2 - Time-lines are confusing.
3 - Confused as to who the main character s were.
4 - Seems to jump around.
I first tried rationalizing these criticisms like "I always thought the technical part was a necessary evil of science fiction." After some weeks of thinking it finally occurred to me what the problem was.
"IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!"
The beginning of Alec's Dream is about ME. It is self indulgent. It chronicles MY inventing anti-gravity, starting MY company and presenting it to the world. Alec, Jessie and the rest of the cast are just supporting characters.
Funny, before I came to this realization, I couldn't see the problem (duh... how can there be anything wrong when the subject is you?). Now that I understand (the mental block is broken), the fix is obvious. So I decided to put a hold on my current project and rewrite the beginning of Alec's Dream. I am extremely fortunate that I seemed to have hit upon a successful writing style as the reviewers seemed to love the last two-thirds. If I can pull this off, I think I may send out some agent queries again... and maybe try a small indie publisher or two.
Wish me luck.
