Unpublish or not

[S.J.]

Hi all,

I need some advise. I received a review yesterday and once again the issue of character development came up. I know that it is impossible to please everyone however I can't help but feel that perhaps my inexperience as a writer is hindering my story.

When I started out with the story for The Dark Side of Chemistry in my head, I spoke to my editor and told her I had an idea and wanted to find someone to write it for me.

She convinced me to write it myself and honestly, I am at my happiest when I am writing. Here's the thing, I did not major in writing, I barely paid attention in my creative writing class in high school. I do not know the first thing about character development, I just write them as I see them in my head.

I've been thinking of taking a creative writing class but don't at this point have the time to do a course.

The other issue, and I touched on it in my blog is that my book ends on a cliffhangar and the sequel will only release 2016.

Here's where I need the advise. Would you guys recommend that I unpublish until such time as I can complete a writing course and finish the sequel?

I have been receiving great reviews but I can't help but worry that if my characters or storyline lacks depth and the theme carries through to book 2, I could well spoil what I believe is a great story.

Thoughts?

[Owen]

S.J. wrote: "Hi all,

I need some advise. I received a review yesterday and once again the issue of character development came up. I know that it is impossible to please everyone however I can't help but feel t..."

I haven't read you book, so this is hard. Personally, I think everyone is an inexperienced writer. IMHO an "experienced" writer is likely a bored one who may be phoning it in. I don't believe in writing courses - I suppose some help (by exposing you to other writers). Some writing courses are just write-by-number. I don't think that helps.

It's true that the cliff-hanger ending might have been a tactical error, if the sequel won't be ready until next year. When we screwed up, we started put new chapters of the next work on our blog until we got close enough to announce a date. The problem there letting people where to find them. But, if it were me, I'd try something like this:

Assuming you anything written for the next book -- a prologue, a first chapter, whatever -- release a new edition of the book with that included at the end. State that further info will be on your site (with link). Call it a new edition and ask KDP to do a push so people who bought will get the update.

Lastly, excuse me if I'm outta line, but it sounds to be like you've got new-indie-author butterflies. Releasing a book can feel like sending your toddler off in a tightrope over a flaming pit full of crocodiles. And the kid's out there in the middle, bouncing and laughing and waving it's little arms, 'cuz it thinks that flaming pits full of crocodiles are totally awesome!

Yeah, that's nerve racking. But the kid won't fall, the pit ain't there, the crocodiles just want to be left alone, and the world isn't gonna end. Just keep writing, and asking questions, and keeping writing.... : )

[S.J.]

Owen wrote: "S.J. wrote: "Hi all,

I need some advise. I received a review yesterday and once again the issue of character development came up. I know that it is impossible to please everyone however I can't he..."

Thanks for the giggle Owen, you certainly have a way with words and I think I would like to read one of your novels the minute I get a gap. And you are 100% correct except the butterflies are more like pterodactyls.

I think you are on to something in terms of adding a chapter to book 1. As soon as I have it back from my editor I will definitely do that.

Thanks once again Owen.

[Owen]

S.J. wrote: "Thanks for the giggle Owen, you certainly have a way with words and I think I would like to read one of your novels the minute I get a gap..."

Well, pterodactyls can call for sterner measures. Personally, I resort to single-malt scotch, 12-yrs old.

Thanks for the thought on the book. (Do read the sample first though...)

[S.J.]

Owen wrote: "S.J. wrote: "Thanks for the giggle Owen, you certainly have a way with words and I think I would like to read one of your novels the minute I get a gap..."

Well, pterodactyls can call for sterner ..."
I will do.

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

S.J. wrote: "Hi all,

I need some advise. I received a review yesterday and once again the issue of character development came up. I know that it is impossible to please everyone however I can't help but feel t..."

You know, I had the same feeling S.J., and while I think I might be able to do with a brush up or 2 on specifics of grammar, I believe that as long as your writing is remaining clear you just need experience. As Owen said, I don't really think there are any experienced writers, just the one's that are persistent and learn from their mistakes. Unless there are BLATANT horrible errors in a book, I would just stay the course and try to correct as Owen suggested.

[Micah]

Ultimately, S.J., only you can determine if it should be pulled or not.

I'm agnostic on writing courses. I'm sure they can be helpful if you use them correctly, but the two biggest things that develop a writer are:

1) Reading. A lot.
2) Writing. A lot.

But you need to read with focus (mindful reading...there's a self-help block buster in that idea!), not just to entertain yourself. When something in the book delights you, stop and figure out why, and how. What did the author do that made it so awesome? Same when you read something that puts you off.

There have been plenty of times I've read sentences by Tolkien, or Dan Simmons, or Alastair Reynolds, etc. where I've come to a complete stop and just re-read the sentence over and over again, figuring out what they did, how it's constructed, how it works so well. What's said is often not as important as how it's said. The structure of sentences can add or detract subtlety and nuance.

And there's nothing like practice to hone and humble an author. I finished my first novel in 1996 and tried getting an agent/publisher interested. Long months of rejections later I gave up. When I self-published my first novel (not the first one I wrote), I went back and re-read much of that earlier work....OUCH! It was bad. Not the story, but the voice, the characterizations. Very melodramatic and overtly emotional. I still love the actual story, it's complex and profound (in some ways). But it's not me. The voice of the novel sounds completely fake. It's someone trying to sound like a serious writer, but written by an amateur.

This is not to encourage you to back away from your book, but just to let you know that your early work is almost always going to sound wrong to you once you've written more. I'm pretty sure that no matter how many books you've written, you'll find most of your older work will embarrass you in one way or another. I feel that way about my stuff, certainly (and I've only been publishing for 2 years).

So...do what you feel is best.

On cliff hangers, though (true cliff hangers where the main characters are put in a seriously compromising position...and left there), I dislike them quite a lot. That is not to say that every plot angle must be wrapped up. But every book should come to an end that at least feels like a logical stopping point.

I've just finished re-reading the award winning novel Hyperion, which a lot of people criticize for ending on a cliff hanger. It doesn't.

It's the first of a two-part series (two other books were later written in the same history/universe). It follows 7 people on a pilgrimage which will almost certainly end with them all being horribly killed.

It's written like the Canterbury Tales where each of the pilgrims tells their story. This first novel ends with nothing at all being resolved of the main plot...but all the tales have been told, and we're left with all the characters knowing their travelling companion's reasons for being on the pilgrimage, and with all of them heading off on the final stage of their journey.

That's not a cliff hanger. There has been resolution of many mysteries, and it ends with a perfect kind of penultimate denouement: the characters are literally walking off into the dawn of a new day, walking directly into the second book, which will deal more with the main conflict/mystery. It was like a mini resolution, a big sigh before the meat of the action begins. Perfect!

...Sorry for the huge wall of text!

[[deleted user]]

No. You have 4.4/5 stars on your amazon reviews. If you are concerned about someone buying it before you release your next edition, raise the price to $9.99 to keep anyone from buying it for a while. I would check your less-favorable reviews and see if you can pinpoint what the weaknesses in your prose are. If you don't have time for a formal course, there are plenty of books out there on creating writing, growing a novel, etc... Three books I found rather helpful was "Description," by Monica Wood, "Mastering Point of View," by Sherri Szeman, and "The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes,' by Jack M. Bickham. I'm sure the other authors have their favorites, as well.

Morris

[Iffix]

In my experience, S.J. (There is no such thing as an experienced author, Owen. :P) some characters are meant to be flat. (As terrible as that sounds.) A flat character is really someone who hasn't seen their key character arc yet; they aren't being reshaped now, but that doesn't mean they aren't real in your own mind. In that case, you need to determine whether the "flat" character is your main character. Then it's a problem.

If you have a character firmly in your head and you know in your heart that he would do exactly what you wrote (you aren't just allowing him to be a puppet on a string under your control)--and it sounds like you're letting your character have that freedom--then he is perfectly fine. A good test of this is to see that at some point within his arc he is doing something you really, really wouldn't want him to do because he's acting of his own volition. (A number of writers will connect with me on this point.)

There are plenty of negative reviewers out there, and as soon as they actually go through the entirety of the writing process themselves, I allow them to have an opinion. :D Otherwise, people in general like to knit-pick; don't believe every last one of them.

So long as everyone who told you it was gold isn't a part of your immediate family, there may be some truth to it. In addition, if you keep those doubts in your mind (don't let them win), but use that energy to move your writing to new heights, those pterodactyls are flying in formation. And that's a very good thing.

This is coming from an "experienced" writer, who like yourself never took a real college-level creative writing course. (If you have it set in your heart to experience the writing courses but you don't have the income or the time to invest, you can learn a lot from folks like Brandon Sanderson and K.M. Weiland right from the comfort of your own couch. Search for them on YouTube. Their advice has been tremendously helpful to me over the past few years.)

[Micah]

Oh...and maybe look into online writers workshops like critters.org. They do require commitment (to read and critique other writers before you qualify to have your work critiqued), but a lot of growth can come from private, objective criticism from other writers.

[S.J.]

Riley wrote: "S.J. wrote: "Hi all,

I need some advise. I received a review yesterday and once again the issue of character development came up. I know that it is impossible to please everyone however I can't he..."

Thanks Riley.

[S.J.]

Micah wrote: "Ultimately, S.J., only you can determine if it should be pulled or not.

I'm agnostic on writing courses. I'm sure they can be helpful if you use them correctly, but the two biggest things that dev..."

Thanks Micah,
Now that I have written my own novel I rarely read to just read. I always wonder why the author chose to write certain things as well as how much research went into the story. I think you make a great point regarding analysing sentences and what works and what doesn't.

[S.J.]

Micah wrote: "Oh...and maybe look into online writers workshops like critters.org. They do require commitment (to read and critique other writers before you qualify to have your work critiqued), but a lot of gro..."

I will do that. When I pluck up the guts that is.

[S.J.]

Morris wrote: "No. You have 4.4/5 stars on your amazon reviews. If you are concerned about someone buying it before you release your next edition, raise the price to $9.99 to keep anyone from buying it for a whil..."

Thanks Morris,

I will look at getting those books. It can only help.

[S.J.]

Iffix wrote: "In my experience, S.J. (There is no such thing as an experienced author, Owen. :P) some characters are meant to be flat. (As terrible as that sounds.) A flat character is really someone who hasn't ..."

Thanks for the advise Iffix.

I appreciate every review I get as one can only learn from them I guess but I hear what you are saying regarding the nit picking.

I am currently in the unfortunate position of having to review a story which I thoroughly enjoyed yet there are a couple of parts in the story that are so off course for the era of the story and circumstance that I find myself with a bit of a dilemma. That being whether to highlight the issues or not. I never hint at the negative aspects of a story yet in this case I feel that if I don't it would not be honest.

[Richard]

About "unpublishing." I'm 89, written 4 novels since 82, won an Indie Excellence Award, never took a writing class, ignorant of grammar rules and have been accused of never seeing a comma he didn't love and not developing characters well enough. Those comments made about book that won prize after I re-edited it with help of good editor.
Remember, your talent is as a storyteller, not a grammarian. Write your book and then get a good editor to help with development of characters etc. Good Motto?
JUST WRITE THE DAMN THING. (rlwren.com)

[Riley, Viking Extraordinaire]

Richard wrote: "About "unpublishing." I'm 89, written 4 novels since 82, won an Indie Excellence Award, never took a writing class, ignorant of grammar rules and have been accused of never seeing a comma he didn'..."

The old man offers sage advice.

[Troy]

Richard wrote: "About "unpublishing." I'm 89, written 4 novels since 82, won an Indie Excellence Award, never took a writing class, ignorant of grammar rules and have been accused of never seeing a comma he didn'..."

Very wise words that I agree with 100%