proudly creeping people out for thirty-one years and counting
Yeah, so…had the last meeting with my revisions tutor today. What the hell is a revisions tutor, you ask? Well, it’s just a fancy name the Brooklyn College MFA fiction program has given to a professor who is assigned to work one-on-one with a second-year student. It’s a program requirement. I guess if you’re a short-story writer the “revision” part is more accurate. Me? Still working on the first draft of the novel. Well, that’s not entirely accurate either, as earlier parts of it have already been reworked. Still moving toward the first completed draft, though. (240 pages and counting…)
It’s been helpful working with this person, as she’s a very good critical reader but someone whose style is rather different from mine, in both her own writing and in what she likes to read. She likes a very clean style; I’m definitely a writer who’s all about the layering and echoing, if that makes any sense. It’s been good to get the perspective of someone who isn’t going to be naturally drawn to what I do, who can look at it with a colder eye, and who would need to be seduced a bit.
Anyway, she gave good very positive feedback today on the chunk o’novel I turned in, but one very interesting thing. She was creeped out by a particular scene and the direction it’s leading the narrative. Totally creeped out. (No, I can’t tell you what that scene is, because I want you to read it in context when the novel is published. *crosses fingers, arms, legs, toes, eyes. Offers up complicated supplications to the great gods of publishing*)
No, I’m not changing it. Not toning it down. It’s very good to know it had that effect on a reader, that that can be a response I can expect from some people… Other readers have reacted to it very differently, and that’s good to know too. Mostly, I’m just thrilled that it’s making people react at all. Emotional response to this beast of mine is good. That’s very much a part of what I’m trying to do…
Sorry to be so mysterious. Part of me wants to share more specifically about the book and what it deals with, but I can’t. If I put it too much out there before it’s finished, I suspect it might just kill it. Baby’s too fragile for the daylight just now. Suffice it to say that things are getting shifty, are taking disturbing turns, and I couldn’t be happier.
Oh yeah…and Em likes her socks! Woohoo!
I knew it: you do like creeping people out.
So good to hear that you’re getting the hoped-for responses to The Beast.
Posted by: Iris
Man, I love getting creeped out by stories. Hooray for getting the reaction you wanted!
It goes without saying that I can’t wait to read it.
Posted by: Em
I must be on the shortlist to read, ok? Puh-LEEZE?
Posted by: Norma
I knew it: you do like creeping people out.
So good to hear that you’re getting the hoped-for responses to The Beast.
Posted by: Iris
Man, I love getting creeped out by stories. Hooray for getting the reaction you wanted!
It goes without saying that I can’t wait to read it.
Posted by: Em
I must be on the shortlist to read, ok? Puh-LEEZE?
Posted by: Norma
SPOOKY.
Posted by: carolyn
Between this post and the last one, I sense a theme…..
Posted by: claudia
Getting a visceral response to your writing – especially from someone who reads because, well, it’s part of her job – is stupendous! Even more so when it’s exactly the type of response you wanted in the first place. Congrats!
Rockin’ socks, too.
Posted by: mindy
I love creepy stories. I can’t wait to read this one.
Posted by: jackie
I also love to be creeped out, I can’t wait!
Posted by: melanie
Ohhhh, I’d buy it 🙂 Did I mention I hate secrets?
Posted by: Vicki
Ooh, intriguing…! I love being creeped out.
Posted by: J Strizzy
Well, good luck and congrats! We’ll be all ears waiting to hear what happens next.
Posted by: margene
You are my writing hero! You are so much farther along than I am. I cheer you on from Oregon!
Posted by: LeAnne
I think you’re right not to discuss the project you’re working on, except in controlled bursts with people like your tutor, and only because you have to. I’m gradually realizing that– for me– any work or effort I put into the talking about it is work or effort I don’t put into the writing it, and things can kind of dissipate before you know it. Weird…
And creepy.
Posted by: Sutton
I don’t creep easily, wanna test it on me? In fact, I don’t enjoy it at all. Yes?
Posted by: valentina
SPOOKY.
Posted by: carolyn
Between this post and the last one, I sense a theme…..
Posted by: claudia
Getting a visceral response to your writing – especially from someone who reads because, well, it’s part of her job – is stupendous! Even more so when it’s exactly the type of response you wanted in the first place. Congrats!
Rockin’ socks, too.
Posted by: mindy
I love creepy stories. I can’t wait to read this one.
Posted by: jackie
I also love to be creeped out, I can’t wait!
Posted by: melanie
Ohhhh, I’d buy it 🙂 Did I mention I hate secrets?
Posted by: Vicki
Ooh, intriguing…! I love being creeped out.
Posted by: J Strizzy
Well, good luck and congrats! We’ll be all ears waiting to hear what happens next.
Posted by: margene
You are my writing hero! You are so much farther along than I am. I cheer you on from Oregon!
Posted by: LeAnne
I think you’re right not to discuss the project you’re working on, except in controlled bursts with people like your tutor, and only because you have to. I’m gradually realizing that– for me– any work or effort I put into the talking about it is work or effort I don’t put into the writing it, and things can kind of dissipate before you know it. Weird…
And creepy.
Posted by: Sutton
I don’t creep easily, wanna test it on me? In fact, I don’t enjoy it at all. Yes?
Posted by: valentina
Does the scene have anything to do with a lady whose house is filled with life-sized stuffed dolls all dressed in handknit items, by any chance? *spine-tingling chills*
Ditto to everyone: I can’t wait to read it. Will you autograph my copy?
Posted by: alison
I just love reading the little tidbits you let drop — I know baby can’t come into the light right now, and neither can mine, but they can send out little messages like this, can’t they?
It makes me happy that we’re both writing.
Posted by: Rachael
I can’t wait to read it. Despite falling into the lawyer gig, I write short stories in my head all day long. Some of that energy is helped by the blog, but I think I may have to put pen to paper some day. Bravo to you for doing that now. Writing is a brave career to choose. I’ll just slink back to my lawyerly hole now… xox, J
Posted by: Julia
Does the scene have anything to do with a lady whose house is filled with life-sized stuffed dolls all dressed in handknit items, by any chance? *spine-tingling chills*
Ditto to everyone: I can’t wait to read it. Will you autograph my copy?
Posted by: alison
I just love reading the little tidbits you let drop — I know baby can’t come into the light right now, and neither can mine, but they can send out little messages like this, can’t they?
It makes me happy that we’re both writing.
Posted by: Rachael
I can’t wait to read it. Despite falling into the lawyer gig, I write short stories in my head all day long. Some of that energy is helped by the blog, but I think I may have to put pen to paper some day. Bravo to you for doing that now. Writing is a brave career to choose. I’ll just slink back to my lawyerly hole now… xox, J
Posted by: Julia