After a thorough analysis of all the
reviews, I realized they were not as bad as those for some other authors.
Mostly, they pointed out the following:
·
The
main characters are nothing special and rather shallow.
·
The
use of omniscient POV (point of view).
·
Some
parts of my books drag , even though nearly everyone recognized that my novels
were very readable and referred to them as “page turners”.
As a result of this I did the
following:
- I deepened the characters.
- I changed all three novels so that they are told from a 3rd person viewpoint.
- I deleted all the parts that did not contain enough suspense. An example: in the book Promise Me Eternity I deleted more than 20% of the text.
What happened:
- The characters became more likable.
- The books are full of suspense from start to finish.
- Because I am now using only the 3rd person POV, readers feel more for the characters, resulting in a stronger emotional experience.
This is interesting. Some authors do much better with third person; others shouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. (I think more writers fall into the former category, but Patricia Cornwell switched to third for her Kay Scarpetta novels and completely LOST me. I'll still read them, but I don't feel the same connection to any of the characters, now. I just don't care as much. It's more detached.)
ReplyDeleteBut good for you for USING constructive criticism to improve your work, rather than wasting time being defensive about it. That's really important - to learn to recognize the "constructive" critique that rings true and use it, and to let go of what's merely "critical."