KEEPING YOUR READERS
A work of art has to bring a response, some deep feeling, or it is not art. It’s the same with a novel. I recently finish THE FOREST OF GOOD AND EVIL, and I gave it to my first reader, Nell, my wife, to read. Nell doesn’t sugar coat her critiques. She knows I need an honest opinion.
“I hate it,” she said, before she had hardly got into the book. I knew Nell, as a woman, and mother, might be somewhat squeamish about a certain scene I wrote, but I hardly expected the response she gave me.
“Is it about the baby?” I asked her.
“Yes I hate that. It’s so terrible.”
“Yes, I know it is, but if I take the baby out, the book will not work. The baby is critical to the plot,” I said in defense, my feathers ruffled.
“I don’t care, it’s just too gruesome,” she said.
I persuaded her to read the rest of the book. She read it, and said she like it.
I sent the manuscript to another of my female readers. After one day, my curiosity got the better of me. I called her on the phone.
“Hello Mary, this is Bob, have you begun the book yet?” She was silent for a long moment–not a good sign.
“I had to put the book down, it effected me badly,” she said.
“Do you mean that part about the baby?”
“Yes, it was so shocking; that I couldn’t read it any further, until after lunch.
“I’m sorry Mary.”
“I did something that I never do,” she said, “I turned to the last chapter and read it. I have to tell you, they (she meant the couple) wouldn’t want to stay there, after what happened to them.”
After I said goodbye and hung up the phone, I told Nell what Mary said.
“She’s right. I wouldn’t stay there either.”
All of my female readers gave me the same response as Nell and Mary had.
What a dilemma! I had made art (strong response), but I want my readers not only to learn something, I want them to like my books. The problem was that I could not cut the baby out of the story entirely.
If you want to keep your readers you have to listen to them. So, I cut some paragraphs, changed and toned down the part that tore my reader’s souls, and still managed to keep the baby in the story.
After thinking about it, I saw that my readers were right. I wouldn’t stay there either. I rewrote the ending, letting my couple move out of the forest. Now, my readers are happy and I am too. The point is you should listen to your readers, if you want to keep them.
A work of art has to bring a response, some deep feeling, or it is not art. It’s the same with a novel. I recently finish THE FOREST OF GOOD AND EVIL, and I gave it to my first reader, Nell, my wife, to read. Nell doesn’t sugar coat her critiques. She knows I need an honest opinion.
“I hate it,” she said, before she had hardly got into the book. I knew Nell, as a woman, and mother, might be somewhat squeamish about a certain scene I wrote, but I hardly expected the response she gave me.
“Is it about the baby?” I asked her.
“Yes I hate that. It’s so terrible.”
“Yes, I know it is, but if I take the baby out, the book will not work. The baby is critical to the plot,” I said in defense, my feathers ruffled.
“I don’t care, it’s just too gruesome,” she said.
I persuaded her to read the rest of the book. She read it, and said she like it.
I sent the manuscript to another of my female readers. After one day, my curiosity got the better of me. I called her on the phone.
“Hello Mary, this is Bob, have you begun the book yet?” She was silent for a long moment–not a good sign.
“I had to put the book down, it effected me badly,” she said.
“Do you mean that part about the baby?”
“Yes, it was so shocking; that I couldn’t read it any further, until after lunch.
“I’m sorry Mary.”
“I did something that I never do,” she said, “I turned to the last chapter and read it. I have to tell you, they (she meant the couple) wouldn’t want to stay there, after what happened to them.”
After I said goodbye and hung up the phone, I told Nell what Mary said.
“She’s right. I wouldn’t stay there either.”
All of my female readers gave me the same response as Nell and Mary had.
What a dilemma! I had made art (strong response), but I want my readers not only to learn something, I want them to like my books. The problem was that I could not cut the baby out of the story entirely.
If you want to keep your readers you have to listen to them. So, I cut some paragraphs, changed and toned down the part that tore my reader’s souls, and still managed to keep the baby in the story.
After thinking about it, I saw that my readers were right. I wouldn’t stay there either. I rewrote the ending, letting my couple move out of the forest. Now, my readers are happy and I am too. The point is you should listen to your readers, if you want to keep them.