Congratulations, Susan. I hear you on the nearly immutable.

You know in school, when you memorized a poem? Or in Sunday School when you memorized Bible verses for a program? And when you lost your place halfway through, you couldn't pick up where you left off, you had to start over? That's the trouble I've had with mine. The way the first quarter of the book is written has made deep grooves in the surface of my brain and there's no way I can deviate from those grooves on my own.

I have no trouble deep-sixing whole swathes of text, I'm not really going to fight for phrasing or even characters that are really backstory. I once lost an entire third of a poem on an editor's sayso, and the resultant poem was transcendent! Well, to me, anyway. The editor was startled at how easily I slashed my precious words. So this isn't that sort of reluctance, it's just I can't tell the forest from the trees. Deb? Do you have the name and address of a good book doctor?

Bev, I just wish I was qualified to do it for you, since I owe you, and since I love the way you write.

Alas, the genre precludes my utility; I'm a fantasy moron. Completely ignorant of the tropes. All the feedback I *was* able to give was specifically on the characters, and even there, I felt like a fraud half the time, since I could only look and crit on the level of their believability.

Whay I need is somebody to read the whole honkin' thing--I think you only got half--and point with scissors: "Here, here, here, and here. Make them gone. Now make it tidy."

And I could do that, willingly, gladly. I've also been advised to lop it into two books. Which is a bare possibility, I'm not sure there's enough actual story there for two books. But I've also been told by various members of my group to add sex, remove violence, add magic. I backed off long enough to realize that each of them was advising from the POV of their own reading preference, and shelved all those suggestions, along with the ms.

It's no wonder it's been in a drawer for a couple years. Maybe that's where it should stay.

But just by the way? You are nowhere a moron, ma'am. And I love you for the compliment.

No, I really am a fantasy moron. It's so completely alien to me that it might as well be in another language. Example: a few years back, my MIL (who loves fantasy and reads it voraciously) gave me magazine piece to read. I dutifully read it, lifted an eyebrow, and made a polite noise.

It was a satire. Apparently, it was an over-the-top parody.

I couldn't tell it from the real thing.

Fantasy moron am I.

bwah...in this, Deb is me.

I get fantasy, but I'm not a good big picture editor. (Yet. Maybe going through it a time or two on my own work will change all that.) I'm better at line edits--polishing sentences, catching little continuity glitches--and strengthening scenes.

Bev, fantasy is my genre and I'd love to help, but I just can't realistically commit to it right now. I already feel terrible about the fact that I didn't finish my beta for Deb in time for her revision process, and I don't want to screw up a second time.

t feeling overwhelmed and guilty

Don't be overwhelmed on my account, sweetie - I always factor in the fact that real life time constraints are going to hit half my beta readers, and I got feedback from about half the people who asked for it.

And the half was good solid feedback, and it worked.

No guilt, Kristin, please. You're busy molding young minds--no better occupation! Plus, you have your own opus.

Susan, I'm pretty much detail girl myself. I'm pretty good at the microscopic, but the big picture isn't my strong suit, either. Actually, that maps pretty well onto my physical vision, as I have very sharp sight up close, but past the end of my arm everything's just a big multicolor blur.

From the depths of the World's Worst Cold, I bring you this week's drabble topic!

Drabble #22 (bells) is closed.

Drabble #23 comes from Connie: under the bed. Make with the drabbles!