18 January 2009

Tough Love

Time once again to process my latest batch of critiques from my biweekly crucifixion session that is my critique group. The points are pretty brief. The passages I read totaled a mere 1,025 words. The important thing is that I finally managed to write an ending to this last WIP, and as soon as I figure out which of these critiques to use and finish up some rewrites, I can put a wrap on this beast.

The Good
  • This story (thanks to a revised intro) is now solidly and unequivocably involves a faerie--really an ex-faerie--which enabled me to emphasize her "faerie-ness" in ways people seemed to like.
  • The end had a "convincing twist." One person used the words "O Henry-like," but I'm pretty sure it was meant in a positive way.
  • There was suprise the ending was happy, even "sweet." Not my usual fare, it's true. (Note to self, next story should include some "extreme horror" elements.) ;)
  • Folks liked my juxtaposition of worlds where the mundane world of people in a dead-end job mixes with the world of faeries.
The Bad
  • Some narrative problems describing some physical mechanics involving a truck poised on the edge of a bluff, a rope, and the best place to tie...well, I could say more, but I'd be giving away plot.
  • I gave some (too) vague hints that the faerie in question had put herself in a LITTLE MERMAID-type situation. But folks needed/wanted more.
The Ugly
  • Since I created a setting where the workaday world of grocery-store employees mixes with the world of faeries, some readers needed to know the extent to which the main characters' co-workers were aware of that particular reality. (I kinda, sorta addressed this in a rewrite no one's seen yet.)
  • People wanted a little more about faerie mechanics in this little world I've set up, specifically where it relates to a plot point about faerie anatomy.
  • There was some lively debate about the ending, the implications of which were strikingly clear to some who read it exactly as I intended, and strikingly unclear to others for whom questions were raised. I admit, I wasn't prepared for that.
I'll worry about that last point once I polish off the middle section of the story. Should take me another day or two if work and school (which starts tomorrow--ack!) doesn't get in the way too much. It'll put me behind schedule, but at least I've already started my next story!!