I can only imagine how rough it is to have someone pick over your "baby" and tell you you've done it all wrong. I've not even gotten that far in the process. But I can imagine.
We write with so much of our souls - to have someone tell you it all needs changing - it's like having them tell you *you* need to change.
But the trush is, you don't need changing. My god, there are so many books out there in the world. I've read wonderful ones, and I've read crap ones. And you, my dear, are SO much better than the crap ones that I wonder how those pieces of tripe ever got published before you...
I know you said you didn't need any ego-stroking over this, but you do, in a way. Remember that they would never have brought you this far if they didn't see the potential in your work.
Go have a drink, maybe two. Wallow for a night. Eat something gooey or fattening or just bad for you. Then get up fresh and sit down and look at their suggestions. Take a salt shaker with you - cause I imagine more than a bit of it will take a grain of salt to swallow. Then see what suggestions you can use and which you can't without losing your own personal "flavor" in the work.
And if all else fails, we can start a running tally of who plans to buy Shadowside when it's published. Maybe some preliminary sales numbers will sway them to keep the "you" in the story.
And to paraphrase you, "we breathe to write" - it's not about selling books. It would be fantastic if we all could! It's a potential outcome, but it's not the sole purpose of what we all do.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-01-05 03:59 pm (UTC)We write with so much of our souls - to have someone tell you it all needs changing - it's like having them tell you *you* need to change.
But the trush is, you don't need changing. My god, there are so many books out there in the world. I've read wonderful ones, and I've read crap ones. And you, my dear, are SO much better than the crap ones that I wonder how those pieces of tripe ever got published before you...
I know you said you didn't need any ego-stroking over this, but you do, in a way. Remember that they would never have brought you this far if they didn't see the potential in your work.
Go have a drink, maybe two. Wallow for a night. Eat something gooey or fattening or just bad for you. Then get up fresh and sit down and look at their suggestions. Take a salt shaker with you - cause I imagine more than a bit of it will take a grain of salt to swallow. Then see what suggestions you can use and which you can't without losing your own personal "flavor" in the work.
And if all else fails, we can start a running tally of who plans to buy Shadowside when it's published. Maybe some preliminary sales numbers will sway them to keep the "you" in the story.
And to paraphrase you, "we breathe to write" - it's not about selling books. It would be fantastic if we all could! It's a potential outcome, but it's not the sole purpose of what we all do.
Gem