Master of Confusion
The responses to last week’s post made me raise my eyebrows a bit because I realized I wasn’t very clear. When I’d written “they should have the background acquired in the first book”, I’d meant because it’s serial, not episodic like the Cera Chronicles. I suppose unclear is my root issue.
You know how they say you’re not supposed to read the bad reviews?
Well, guess what I did for Thanmir War.
Of the four reviews from people I don’t know, two of them talk about the book not holding their interest. To me, that sounds like “it’s boring” and boring usually equals lack of tension. Maybe that’s not the case here. I don’t know. I think a good number of reviews touch more on it being confusing than anything else. Hrm. I suppose I am an expert at confusing people. *grumpy face* If the first book was confusing, how will the second one fare?
I suppose I’ll wait and see. This week, I’m reaching out to beta-readers. I’ve got a handful of critique partners, but I know they’re pretty busy with their projects and a sweeping epic would probably hamper their progress. So I’ve asked my sis-in-law’s friend and a couple of coworkers. For the writer’s view of things, I’m eternally grateful to Aldrea, my longest standing CP, for tackling my chapters in the midst of her own.
I’m open to other betas if anyone out there is interested in undertaking a 187K epic fantasy. No need to have read the first book. Isto is written so people can start there and get the gist of everything pertinent. Yeah, it brings up events and characters from the first book, which is why I said it’d be a better reading experience, but it’s not (at least it shouldn’t be) necessary.
As a side note, I’ve been playing with animations (as you might be able to tell if you have a browser that supports animated PNGs). Is it a productive use of my time? Eh… It’s still a fun little side project.
Do you like animated book covers? Do you ever read reviews when you shouldn’t? Anyone get the urge to beta read my book and tell me if it’s confusing?
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