Merm-8 Critiques are Finished


I've finished going through all the critiques for Mermaid Story.  That means I've gone through what everyone's said, and made my notes.  Now I need to organize those notes and integrate what needs to change into the story.

And this is the part that always depresses me.  The great thing about beta-readers is that they find the plot holes and inconsistencies.  They find the places where you missed the mark emotionally.  And they tell you what scenes are boring, and what they want to know about.  That means I'll have to rewrite some small sections, like the ENITRE ENDING.

And now it's my job to fix all that.  That unfortunately involves a great deal of creation, brainstorming, idea-generation.  It's not the writing of it that bothers me, its that I have to come up with a whole new idea.  And it can't be just any idea, it has to be a GOOD idea.  It has to work in the context of the story, relate to the themes.  And I have to like it.  And the audience has to like it.

It's a pain in the ass to come up with whole new pieces of the story.  When I get to these moments, I'm plagued with self-doubt.  And the worst part is, I've never felt the story embodies what I originally planned for it.  I don't know why.  It never seems like any of them ever do.  It feels like I lose all ability to write, and I'm never come up with a good idea.

Well, that's enough bitching for now.

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