Agreed that praise for the quality of your expression of lack of fulfillment is a bit odd.

But then there were 20th-century novelists (Roth comes to mind, but there are numerous others) who made a career of it. So ... depends on which way you look at it, I s'pose.

They are your personal issues to exploit! Next time exploit someone's else issues and see if the praise feels different. Seriously, enjoy the praise without reservation. Yay!

Erin, that's gorgeous!

Man, my insomnia never pays off that well. I gotta talk to my insomnia dealer...

Fantastic work, woman. Good onya.

Well, whenever I *intend* to "blow the lid off" something, it sinks like a rock. But I wasn't trying, to, say, paint a portrait of somebody who doesn't know where she's going so it feels uncomfortable taking the compliment for something I banged out in twenty minutes.

Everyone feels lack of fulfillment. It's a universal theme that can resonate with anyone.

I don't think anything really gets banged out in 20 minutes. It was about stuff you've thought about a lot and the thinking is more important than the typing.

What Ginger said. Take the praised as earned, Erika.

Sigh.

Tonight I made the mistake of asking my IRL critique group how my WIP compares to what I've written before--was it better, worse, or about the same.

They kind of looked at each other and said that they'd liked the romances better. Which surprised me, because I have so much more enthusiasm for what I'm writing now and feel more at home with my voice, and I was sure that was coming through on the page.

With one, I just don't think she's my natural reader for the new project. She liked my more domestic romance, the one with a house party and balls and pretty dresses, better than my starcrossed lovers in the Peninsular War, and she says with this story she's too busy trying to keep track of which parts are real and which ones I've invented. (She doesn't know enough history to do what I was hoping readers would do--recognize the two really famous real names among my cast but realize that the events are askew from page one.)

One of them said that she could tell I was having a grand time with the intellectual puzzle I've set myself of rewriting a big chunk of history, but that the emotional connection with the characters isn't there yet, and that's what she's loved about my writing in the past. She said that even with the romances, the emotional layer was generally the last thing to fall into place as I polished the work, so she's confident I'll figure out how to get it onto the page by the time it's ready to submit.

But...but...it still wasn't the answer I was expecting. I've felt so much more free that I was sure that exuberance was coming through on the page and strengthening the writing.

Sigh

she doesn't know enough history to do what I was hoping readers would do--recognize the two really famous real names among my cast but realize that the events are askew from page one.

You know, that is a lot to ask of a reader; most U.S. readers quite frankly are ignorant of U.S. history - let alone the history of Europe. If your names are famous enough, maybe a majority of your readers will recognize them (though even at this point I bet a large minority won't.) But being able to note that something is askew? Sorry, that is a tiny fraction of a fraction of the audience.

Let me put it this way: pretend your story is set in a small Irish village in 1849. It is a peaceful time in Ireland, England and Europe; and the story is a comic one about the rivalry between an Irish pub keeper Arthur Wellesley, and a little Corsican immigrant who runs a pastry shop. I'd be willing to bet a majority of the potential audience for this could not tell you exactly what is wrong with this picture. I suspect a substantial minority would not even get an uneasy feeling that anything was askew about it.

Well know writing rule: never assume your audience is stupid, but most of the time do assume they are ignorant.

never assume your audience is stupid, but most of the time do assume they are ignorant.

I know. It's just a challenge with the type of story I'm writing, because I can't spell out everything that's wrong in my world without breaking POV, given that my characters don't know they're living in an alternate reality.

And the biggest change I've made is obvious enough for everyone who's read it so far, even the history-clueless. But this one particular reader gets distracted by wondering whether every single little detail really happened or not, which characters are real vs. which ones I've invented, etc. I guess it could mean that the characters aren't coming to life enough, but unless other readers make similar comments, I'm going to chalk it up to You Can't Please Everybody. (My other CPs don't necessarily know what's real and what's invented either, but they either don't care or figure that's what wikipedia and my eventual author website are for.)

But this one particular reader gets distracted by wondering whether every single little detail really happened or not, which characters are real vs. which ones I've invented, etc

I have a tendency to get hung up on that with historical AUs (which I am quite fond of). A short appendix noting what's different and who was real satisfies me. Were you planning on including something like that when the work itself is finished? You might ask that reader if that would help her (even though you don't have it written for her to flip to at present, of course).