I just finished reading Janie’s post on her story Dark Dreams. (GREAT post BTW!) I also just finished reading this/her story a few days ago. I must admit I “got into” the story and read it too fast to try to pinpoint anything that went wrong (as in writing techniques). I plan to go back and reread to look and study.
Some of the things on her list of things that she posted as the things she did wrong did make sense now that I see them as she wrote it BUT the story worked. It was nothing like any other romance I’ve read. It was UNIQUE. So I can see how a fan base could easily be made with this line of story. ANGELS are BIG. People love them.
I also think she might be comparing her story of 1994 to the stories of today. People write differently now. Overwrought prose I think was the thing over ten years ago. I say I think because I wasn’t reading romance back then… but I do read plenty of older romances of the past mingled in with my readings of today. If that makes sense. And people still write overwrought prose even now… the biggees mostly… and I must admit I love overwrought prose ;)
The two necklaces… I have to agree with.
Dark Dreams was a dark story… so I’m not sure how she could have put in comic relief. Maybe a peculiar character or something like a Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched ;) That is a bit of teasing… I always thought Gladys was a good ploy for more comedy in that show! Maybe a few more scenes/playful and lighter interactions with the hero and heroine might have been all the relief the book needed. If there had been comedy it would have change the whole tone of the story… IMO
I’m going to have to look at Chapter 1 again.
And I didn’t think the ending was ridiculous! I already wrote about this in an email ;) Without giving any spoilers… all I’ll say is that it was totally believable. And I must not be the only one who thought that because it did get a 4+ star from the Romantic Times ;) I enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to the romance book lover. Especially the Paranormal Romance Reader!
I want to say that we are our own worst critics but I think MJH did step back from her story to analyze it with a critical eye. I appreciate her ability to do that and I hope that I'll be able to do this with own stories too. This ability to look at your own stories as an agent or editor might view them... is what makes you a better writer.
1 comment:
I plan to hit the used bookstores next weekend (since I'll be trying to finish judging my GH entries this weekend) to look for Janie's book. She made it sound so interesting, and reading your post just makes me want to read it even more!
Tanya
Post a Comment