Advice to Myself & Weekend Roundup

I’m reading a book that uses the term “platonic”wrong. I mean it’s just wrong…like what the characters are doing is the opposite of platonic. I even looked it up in the urban dictionary to see if the word has taken on a new meaning in certain circles. Near as I can tell…nope. Normally this would be a reason for me to DNF (do not finish) the book. But I didn’t, which is pretty amazing because lately, I’ve had zero patience in my very limited reading time. My last couple months have been non-stop rounds of editing on two different books, literally getting hammered by content editors, copy editors, line editors and proofreaders on every single little thing (as is their job–I’m explaining my mindset, not complaining). So much so, that I’ve stopped Wizard in the middle of the story with editorial comments like, “You just used a dangling participle.”

He either ignores me and goes on with his story, or if he’s feeling brave, he’ll reply with something like, “Just checking to see if you’ve learned what a dangling participle is yet.”

“Not funny.”

“Can I finish my story?”

Being magnanimous, I of course, nod for him to go on. And he does, until I stop him again. “There was no subject in that last sentence.”

He sighs dramatically. “Are you sure? Maybe we should ask your editor since she manages to find all your sentences with missing subjects. How many did you have in Caged Magic?” He hands me a glass of wine. “Are you sure you know what a subject is?”

Okay, I’d be pissed and smack him, but I don’t want to spill the wine. So I take the glass and sip it. “Here’s a subject for you — brownies.”

He perks up. “What about them?”

This is just too easy. “I’m not going to have time to make brownies for a very long time.”

His face falls and I enjoy my wine-laced victory.

But my long-winded point is that I’m deep in editing-picking-books-apart-mode. Yet this book has made a couple significant mistakes and I keep reading.

Why?

Because the sheer power of the author’s voice mixed with and engaging story keeps me reading! If a book has those elements, a couple mistakes here and there won’t ruin it for most readers.

That’s my advice to myself today :-) It’s time for me to let Caged Magic go and send it to the formatter, but I’m stressing that I’m missing something. I want this story to be good, but at this point, changing one word, or catching one overlooked mistake, won’t save a slow, boring or confusing plot or lackluster characters. Either the book has a compelling story and engaging voice, or it doesn’t.