Steve’s Update 11/11/2018

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Here’s the latest update!  So where are we?

So what have I done the last week(s)?

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: Done with the editing – and the eBook cover!
  • Way With Worlds: I got the next book finished.
  • Other: Nothing overly big.

What am I going to do this next week?

  • A Bridge To The Quiet Planet: I’ll start the final pass on the book to get it ready for publication.  It’s mostly done except for some formatting issues and a few quick checks.  Right now I’d say it’ll be out very end of November or start of December.
  • Way With Worlds: I’m going to outline the next book probably so I can work on that while publishing the other.  Which might not be my smartest choice.
  • Other: I’m going to see how it goes.  I know I got all sorts of stuff I want to do, but . . . then again Thanksgiving week slows down, so who knows!

Steven Savage

Insensitivity Readers

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

There’s a great concept I hope most authors have heard of – the sensitivity reader.  Someone who can help bring to light places you’re insensitive to people, suggest ways to better portray people not like yourself, and so on.  My own experiences have taught me how important that was (co-writing a book about Sailor Moon and being the only man involved was educational).

But I’d also like to suggest you may need Insensitivity Readers – people who will call you on your own bullshit and who don’t think like you do.

I found this out while working on “A Bridge To The Quiet Planet,” where some of the best feedback were people calling me on certain takes, stylistic choices, etc.  The contribution was invaluable.

I think there are times that we accept certain stylistic choices, writing patterns, and so on because other people do them.  I’ve noticed that if you have a kind of Pratchett/Adams take, people will sort of accept it’s good.  I’ve also noticed people will accept certain overembellished styles if they’re a bit winking at themselves – kind of retro-Victorian bodice ripper styles.  You get the idea.

There are also concepts people just accept, tropes and archetypes.  We just accept them.

So someone has to tell you – your choices may suck.  Some people need to be your Insensitivity Readers.

This is a difficult thing to deal with, as I found.  Sometimes your beloved ideas kinda may not work.  Sometimes you didn’t so much fail, but didn’t reach.

So someone calls you on it.

In my case, the person who called me on some stylistic choices, who was unimpressed with the way I did certain things, made my novel a hell of a lot better.

Sometimes you need sensitivity.

Sometimes you don’t.

Steven Savage

The Editing Haul

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

OK folks, I’m in the end run of editing A Bridge To The Quiet Planet.  This is a long haul, and there’s a lot to do, so I might not be posting here as much for November . . . or I’m going to be making all sorts of bizarre and incoherent assessments.

It’s weird to finish up a novel.  It’s been awhile since I’ve done fiction, and I forgot just how much it differs from nonfiction.  Fortunately with my great pre-readers and my fantastic editor, it looks pretty good.

However, I’m also a perfectionist, so I’m taking an extra run to get this right.

Stay tuned . . .

Steven Savage