Monday 9 March 2015

Bea Flummoxed

I wrote a story last week. (In fact I wrote more than one, but one in particular is on my mind today.) It was not my normal style and took me out of my comfort range.

I thought it was a good one. But because it was intended for a market to which I don’t normally submit, I asked the advice of an online writing group.
But when my fellow writers shared their thoughts on my story, I was flummoxed. Because the slightly quirky tale with a supernatural twist which I thought I had written so well wasn’t understood that way at all. Their interpretation was of an issue led story with an inconclusive ending.

So this morning I read it again. Thank goodness for my helpful writerly friends. They were right. I had tried too hard to be subtle and failed to address the supernatural element properly. Sometimes we can be too close to a story to read it objectively.
So I have now redrafted the story and placed it in its envelope for submission. Fingers crossed.

2 comments:

  1. Sometimes it's really hard to know how people will read our stories. We know what happens and what our characters are like which makes it hard to tell if we've properly explained everything.

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    Replies
    1. That is true, Patsy. It is even harder to know how editors will read our stories.

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