Feedback is Vital
Today, a colleague was giving me feedback on my first novel, which she had just finishing reading for the second time. I had to explain things to her that she didn’t understand – and did not like – about my main character, Louise. After two readings, there were major things she didn’t understand.
The fault wasn’t hers. It was mine. Once I explained a few things, she said, “I see this character very differently now.” She didn’t like Louise any better, but she understood her, which remains a problem for me. More than a few readers have told me they don’t like Louise, which will affect my editing on the sequel, SUNRISING.
More important, if I have to explain my character to an intelligent and discerning reader in person, one who has read my book twice, I haven’t done enough explaining in the book itself. That’s a problem, and perhaps one day I’ll rewrite my first book to fix that. Meantime, I can still fix SUNRISING so that everything I feel about Louise is reflected in the text.
Feedback is vital. You can’t get enough of it.
About The Author
Jeff Heller
I'm a historical novelist who focuses on Colonial America, particularly the French-Canadians who settled North America in the 1600s and 1700s. My first novel, A FALSE DAWN, features Louise, a young wife and mother who must search for her son and her husband when the English invade their home in French-held Montreal and torch the city.