So March is over and it’s time to look back on my reading and writing for the month … as I warned, there hasn’t been much writing. My poor carpal tunnel fingers just won’t take it, and it should be only two or three weeks until they’re back on board so I’m waiting patiently and trying not to stress them too much.
I did, however, hear the bad news that my novel didn’t make it through to the next round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest. Boo-hoo! Just this morning I got a copy of the reviewers’ feedback (there were two of them, who read just the first chapter) – the good-ish bits include stuff like this:
technically superior writing … this novel has potential … I like the characters as presented … This author can write and do okay dialogue, but the strongest aspect of this excerpt is, oddly enough, also its weakest. The writer can pile up detail after detail, like layers of icing on a cake. Only a further reading of this book could determine whether the cake is sweet enough …this writer has considerable skill
The problems, according to these reviewers, is that it’s not exciting enough and they’re not sure why they’d keep reading. There’s definitely something to that, although I have had great feedback on this first chapter from other sources and I think that part of the problem in the Amazon contest lies in competing against genre fiction – there are a lot of thrillers and science fiction and mystery novels that the reviewers are also reading, so my “subtle, oblique” (their words) lit fic might not be their cup of tea. In any case, I’ve already started revisions and the next version will be even better!
On to my reading update for March, and here’s a list of the books I finished this month (full info with my opinions on each book at my 2010 reading list):
- The Imperfectionists
by Tom Rachman
- 10 Short Stories You Must Read This Year
by various Australian authors
- Hunting and Gathering
by Anna Gavalda
- The Book of Rapture
by Nikki Gemmell
- The Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold
- Juliet, Naked
by Nick Hornby
- Conditions of Faith
by Alex Miller
- The Death of Bunny Munro
by Nick Cave
- The Paperbark Shoe by Goldie Goldbloom
- My Life on A Plate
by India Knight
- Washington Square
by Henry James
Picking the best is not so obvious for me this month: The Book of Rapture was beautifully written, but in retrospect didn’t quite reach my (admittedly high) expectations; Juliet, Naked was an excellent read, but still not my star pick. I guess I have to go with Conditions of Faith, both for great writing and an interesting storyline. Stick around for the April list though – I’ve got a truly impressive pile of new novels to read and I’m really excited about finding some gems in there that I’ll be recommending highly.
Aw, I’m sorry about ABNA. I haven’t looked at the Gen Lit (i.e. adult) titles yet, so I don’t know what your competition was like… but I went through the YA field yesterday and downloaded excerpts of all the entries with 0 reviews so far that seemed interesting to me.
I also just finished The Wet Nurse’s Tale, a finalist and one of my fave entries from ABNA 1, and it was excellent! I mean, story-wise it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the voice was masterful and compelling.
The only book I’ve read from your March list is Lovely Bones, but I loved that book.
.-= Kristan´s last blog ..Check your Wanting =-.