A Little Perspective

Just goes to show that one should follow one's own advice. So, I read my new book to my normal collaborator (who wasn't on this one because, hey, it's a YA romance) and, surprise, he hated it because it's not his thing.

So I started hating it even though I LOVED it. I did two things. I addressed a repetition/pacing issue by mixing up perspectives in the novel (complete rework) and I told a friend of mine about the characters. And, she completely got it.

Which argues, at least some of the time, matching audience to novel matters. I feel better (though I'm not touching it again for at least a month). She got a kick out of a chance to read it. And I'm on a more even keel.

So, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to try to tackle next, in the non-noveling category. I've mentioned before that, when it comes to drawing, I lack talent. My sister, Shakespeare hogged not only all her artistic talent but the stuff that should have gone to me. That's my position and I'm sticking with it. Instead, I have tried to express much of the same thing with words.

Well, my obsession with manga has made me realize that just isn't good enough. Take a look at that four beautiful panels from the wonderful manga Shinobi Life by Konami Shouko (which is absolutely worth reading over and over again). Note that I am an advocate for purchasing the manga and I'll have the next three of this one as soon as they come out. [I took these images from the manga site MangaFox]:

 Admittedly, this will mean more to me since I read the 31 chapters that came before this.

My point is, I had got a wealth of subtle information from these page, despite the minimal dialog. Subtleties in character and emotion that would have taken me far longer to express far less effectively in words.

And that is driving me crazy, so, I'm going to do something most likely fraught with failure. I'm going to try to draw some manga, notably turning my first novel into one. It will take a long time. I may never show you the end result because, hey, I'm a perfectionist. But I'm going to try and use that pursuit as something to fill in my in-between novel times so my subconscious has time to cook up something good.

Wish me luck. I'll need it.