I came across a title over at a critique group that rung a bell. I was very sure that I’d seen this title before. I took a peek. Yep. I had seen this one before. Some four or five years previous. Same title, same start, same exact story, different critique venue, but same flaws.
…Same flaws. Not so much as a misplaced comma adjusted.
Worse, the author was the same, too — snide, argumentative, whiny, obstreperous. (OBSTREPEROUS: noisily, stubbornly, aggressively defiant.) No matter how many times this author receives feedback — the same feedback, variably worded depending on the source — it is ignored. The advice is ignored, but not the poor saps who give it. For them, the blade-sharp edge of the author’s tongue, including public calls for tar and feathering.
Luckily, each time I’ve come across this manuscript, I’ve sat back in my chair with idle fingers. Not so for a close friend who is a legitimate editor. He barrelled in and the author fled, tail between legs. We all gave a huge sigh of relief.
So here the same manuscript and its author surfaces again. And my friend, having retired, isn’t a part of this venue, damn it. Me? I’m still idling. Won’t go near it, thanks. If the author so believes in this book, why isn’t it being shopped? Why does it appear repeatedly in critique venues around the Net year after year? What’s the point of offering opinion on something when everything that could possibly be said concerning it has already been typed?
In this particular critique venue, it has been making its rounds since 2006 and still isn’t getting the much desired standing ovations. Does the author so believe the book to be noteworthy? Good. It’s good for authors to believe in themselves. So why seek the opinions of those, many of them published, whom one obviously feels stand far below one’s own literary expertise?
I will say one thing. The author is certainly loyal to this manuscript’s each and every word. That’s self-confidence. That’s dedication. A lot of us could take some lessons here.
Recently:
- An After Christmas Story
- The Deepening is Open Again!
- Writing Lies From Truth
- Fodder for Stories & Novels, an Example
- Literary Litter
- Diary of a Human Outlander, 9-16-08
- Dedicated to Each and Every Word
- Okay. Back in the Saddle. I’m Writing, Again.
- Moving is Tough on Writing Novels
- Move complete & back online…when the DSL doesn’t falter
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