testing 1....2.....!

Feedback time!  We workshopped the story in class.  It would take up far too much room to post everyone's input, but here's my response to what they gave me. (I'll post the final portfolio draft soon... ish).

ps.... the actual story is in the last blog entry below (the quarry).

2/6/11

Writer response

For me, one of the most important aspects of creative writing is engaging the reader.  Because ideas are more wholly developed when looked at from more than one perspective, I am always grateful for the opportunity to run my work by readers who look at the piece from a writer’s point of view.  The feedback provided during the workshop and on the class blogs was both very encouraging and very revealing.  I also ran the story by a few trusted friends for some additional input.

Most reviewers were very complimentary about the mechanics of the story.  The flow of the plot and integration of dialogue was not a sticking point for anyone, and most readers did not have a problem with the diction, although I am aware that I should be cautious about using any flashy wording that calls attention to itself.  It appears as though I was relatively successful in maintaining the suspenseful tone of the story.  I do believe that part of the tension in the narrative was because of purposeful omission of backstory and motive, but the most common suggestion for improvement I received was to answer some of the questions.

Readers wanted to know what the woman had done, why the man was angry, why the murder was taking place.  They also wanted more specific physical descriptions, about the setting and about Eli.  To be honest, I was a little hesitant about spelling out the character motivations to the letter because I didn’t want to interrupt the reader response.  I really enjoyed hearing broad extent of people’s ideas about what had happened between the two characters (was it an affair?  what did she know that he didn’t?) as well as who Eli was (vampire, soldier, assassin), and I didn’t want to take any of that exploration away.  I was also worried about how I would add setting details without interrupting the build-up of the story, although one person pointed out a major continuity error involving his use of the gun.

In the end, I did receive a couple of very useful suggestions in how to achieve clarity without intrusion.  I can add some physical context by inputting small description tags within character action.  I have also started to work on specifying the dialogue to provide some more clues for the reader.  The mystery will stay in place, but hopefully will be a less confusing and more provocative ride for the reader.