Wednesday, January 5, 2011

My First Opponent slash Resonator

January 14, 2009

I copied that first draft of the preface to Paleopeople to my son in college. He got it the same time Jeanie did, but his response was entirely different than hers. He had the audacity to be critical and, at the same, time encouraging. I had run in to my first Opponent.

Kieran was in his first year at Rice University and he didn't get in to that hallowed institution without having something on the ball. He was a National Merit Scholar and, happily for me, a talented writer in his own right. He started reading at a very young age and was reading Hemingway and Ayn Rand when his peers - if they read at all - were reading Dr. Seuss. Here is his email response to reading my early preface:




"I read what you sent me, and I'll go over it with a more critical eye soon. The writing style reminds me of what I know of Louis L'amour's own style-- a good thing, especially for you.

Right now, the best advice I have is to never tell the reader something when you can show it, and to cut out every unnecessary word-- since you're using a conversational style you can bend this rule a lot, but try to be purposeful about it.

You've done a good job of making the narrator's voice strong, which is especially important in the preface.

It's flattering that you'd value my advice so much. I'll get back to you with more soon.

Love,

Kieran"



Unnecessary words? Don't tell if you can show? Where does he get off? Those were my immediate reactions and, stupidly, I ignored his advice. I took away only the positives, which is all I wanted at the time. If I had listened and understood what he was saying sooner, I would likely have cut out about two full months of editing down the road. Lesson three is - and I will stop numbering them soon - listen carefully to all feed back. It doesn't matter if it comes from your wife or son or anyone else. They are all readers and they are all potential audiences for your work. 

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