When
I first started publishing, it was a bit like standing naked in the fruit
section of the supermarket and listening to shoppers talking about your wobbly
bits and the stretch marks on your butt. I dreaded hearing, “Well, that’s a bit
crap,” coming out of anyone’s mouth and I steeled myself for it. I only wanted
to hear the nice stuff.
My
first novel, About Hana, was written
out of loneliness, desperation and a desire to create a character who was
further on in her journey than I and had survived. Hana was my imaginary older
self, my successful alter ego who had been where I was and come through. The
novel was mystery fiction, but Hana was real and I had fully bought into her.
To
criticise Hana, was to criticise me personally and I was never going to react well.
I
remember likening it to giving birth to a child who in your eyes is faultless.
30 hours of labour following hot on the heels of 9 months of difficulty in
everyway possible and then, ‘Voila’ there is the sleeping product. In walks a
total stranger and declares in a loud voice for everyone to hear,
“That
is one ugly baby!”
It’s
been a fair while since those early, sensitive days. They aren’t my babies and
I am not their mother. They are my
creation and I will stand by them and own them, but I won’t sob and cry when
somebody else doesn’t find them to their taste. I’ve got through the 3-star
agony and have yet to face the inevitable 1-star, but it will come. I’ve grown
up and it’s a good feeling. I am no longer re-enacting an embarrassing episode
of ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes,’ prancing down the street naked with my novel in
my hand thinking that it’s wonderful, but afraid that actually, it isn’t.
We
do have to listen to criticism.
Filter it, chop out the ‘I hate this book or that cover’ and find a reason, if
there is one. If there isn’t, biff it
as we say in New Zealand. File it in the bin drawer and don’t look back. But if
someone has given you a clue about an element of your writing that doesn’t work
for them, take it and shine a light on your work. I learnt that from watching other authors on the Book Review Depot doing exactly that - taking their precious work down to re-edit or to dress it properly.
I
look at my early cover and feel embarrassed now. It was a posed photo of my
daughter in our paddock. She didn’t want to be there and certainly didn’t want
her face splashed all over Amazon. Just before I pressed the button on the
camera, she said,
“Why
me? Why not one of my sisters?”
I
replied,
“Shut
up and smile, you’re my only redhead!”
My
husband helped to put the resulting photo into something relatively decent on Publisher and up
it went. I’m amazed it sold. But it did. The cover of The New Du Rose Matriarch was her again, standing in our flooded
paddock holding a furry toy wrapped in a blanket and she had to hold it like a
baby. She decided after that, that it was tantamount to child abuse and wouldn’t
do anymore. I don’t blame her. It was pretty naff. Someone on a forum told me
that my covers were crap and I was horrified. They were the best I could do!
Yeah,
but they were still crap. One of them was so bad that I don’t even want to
think about it a few years on. I’ve even deleted it off my hard drive and
probably should hunt down anymore errant copies of it in the ether. Perhaps I
should get Amazon to send out an email and have an amnesty on them.
I
knew it though, deep down. That’s probably part of my sensitivity about it all.
The perfectionist in me knew that it wasn’t quite all there and I just didn’t
want to hear anyone else say it. I was deluding myself, but not happily.
It’s
like anything else. We have to cut through the rubbish in our own heads and
listen to the really constructive things that other people might have to say. Discard
what amounts to little more than ranting and embrace the rest with both hands.
Someone pointed out an adverb problem, not massive, but enough to be jarring.
So I fixed it. The covers needed work so I got help, took suggestions and
stopped trying to make the proverbial silk purse out of a sow’s ear. I bought
stock photos, learned PhotoShop and always take a second, third, fourth and
fifth opinion. One day, I will afford to pay someone to do all of it.
Everything
in the world of publishing can range from cheap and cheerful to gut-wrenchingly
expensive and you get what you pay for. But the one thing that is absolutely free
in this ruthless and confusing world is constructive criticism from decent
people who know that you can do better - and want to see you do it.
The
best thing I’ve learned is that I need to listen. Not to every pet peeve or
grumble, but to stuff that can help me. I need to keep the integrity of my work
and not change the essence of it, but I can tidy it up and give it a decent
launch pad from which to fly.
I
can trade favours with other authors who are particularly skilled in one or
more areas. And
I can take heart instead of pain from reviews in which someone has tried to
communicate my failings in coherent English and constructive suggestion.
In
short, I have had a change of heart. And guess what?
It’s
made me a better writer.
Oh, and don’t go peeping at my books
because I haven’t finished changing all the covers yet!
No comments:
Post a Comment