So, who do you trust? Nobody? Wife or husband or agent?
According to the Guardian the other day, Ian McEwan has a few friends looking out for ‘flickering log fires’ in his books. Not that I personally mind stuff like that. It just goes to show how blind/tolerant I am. Delete whichever suits you. But real authors don’t want common clichés, and it seems that it’s generally the person they sleep with (!) or their agent who gets to read their manuscripts first.
And why is it still a manuscript in this electronic day and age? (I’m sure that’s a FLF, btw, but I don’t care.)
Meg Rosoff has a husband, who reads and criticises. Who do the rest of you use?
I read aloud to my wife and daughters, though not necessarily all at the same time, and whilst they might not always notice things that need changing, the very act of reading aloud highlights things for me. Beyond that it’s down to my agent and editor.
Hi Bookwitch,
Interesting question. In the last analysis I believe writing is a communication bond between two people. That’s a very personal thing. Whether you establish that bond with 1, 100, 10,000, or 1,000,000, the fact that you’ve communicated information or emotions to another who has found them valuable defines your work’s importance. If it’s cliche that aids in this, so be it. Personally, I use 15 folks (several with hostile profiles) to read my scribblings and test whether I’ve established that bond. All to often I believe we write to “industry standards,” rather than the reading market. That’s why we saw the “Harry Potter” saga. The industry rejected it for years, it was out of the norm, it finally was printed out of the rejection pile, walla, history. Writing is an artform, not well suited to “corporatization” that is currently controlling traditional publishing. So few control so much. The book buying people I meet are looking for those bonds and aren’t finding them in what’s offered currently. I love publishers, agents, and book stores for they make the printed word possible, but I sometime wonder if it’s a coincidence that “BIG” and “BAD” both have 3 letters and start with “B.” Excuse me as I climb off my box.
Visit me at http://www.SandySays1.wordpress.com for a few laughs; I’m not always so dire.
Nice to meet you Sandy. Take care; on and off the box. Some doggy books for you:
http://bookwitch.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/love-that-dog/
http://bookwitch.wordpress.com/2009/01/13/all-dogs-have-adhd/
Keep your friends close, and your test-readers… as far away as possible, I say. Get my partner to read my manuscripts? I don’t even like her reading my finished, polished books.
My oft-used test reader lives as far away as terrestrially possible (in New Zealand).
Unlike Nick, my first readers are my husband and teenage kids. They are always honest. Then my teenage godson and various teenage friends. The cliches come out at editing stage. One day I will slip a FLF or DASN (yes, I know you know what that one is!) in there and no one will notice or care. My mother always says ‘brilliant, darling’, so her opinion is discounted forthwith.
DASN? I’m having a ‘thick day’ here. How do you know that I know, Lucy?
Nick – New Zealand; is that to protect you or the reader?
I read to the cats. They always look bored and tolerant of me. I used to force my kids to listen but they have got too old now and don’t read the published books either. I used to read to my partner but he always falls asleep after the second page or says the work is repetitious.
I think I will stick to reading to the cats.
It was a DARK AND STORMY NIGHT. DASN! The ultimate cliche of cliches, which I secretly long to start a book with….
Hi Sandy — I know you’re a dog, and I’m not averse to talking to dogs, but I don’t agree with your rant. ‘Writing is an artform, not well suited to “corporatization” that is currently controlling traditional publishing.’ In my experience, publishers take amazing risks, publish hordes of people they know won’t make them any money, and while subject to the usual conservative pockets and frightened jobs-worths, it also seems to have more than its share of intelligent mavericks willing to take a punt on good writing, not expecting much in the way of a return.
And that’s MY rant for the night!
My first reader, sometimes listener is my husband. It’s lovely to see him look for the next chapter when it isn’t yet written, though he funds thats very frustrating.
Like Lucy, I worry about clichés only at the D2 stage.
And if Ian McE has so many FLF readers how come he could produce the dreadful Saturday?
I’m writing a PhD, not a novel, but my proof-reader/typo-and-cliche-spotter is generally my mother, even though she lives on the other side of the world. She’s not the most critical reader, but she’s brilliant at spotting dangling words, strange phrasing and sentences that go on for pages. So thanks Mum!