Friend of mine gave me pages from a book that he's writing and asked me for my opinion.

[Yavin4]

Last edited Fri Dec 25, 2020, 03:02 PM - Edit history (1)

He's a first time author. So, I gave him some notes. Now, we're in a back and forth over my notes. He's writing a SciFi novel, and unless you're completely immersed in background of the story, you won't be able to follow it.

He's starting to get defensive about my notes.

--On edit--
I gave him some suggestions like explain your character motivations better. I suggested writing the scene from the POV of one of the characters which allows you to give some backstory as well as explain things better.

[targetpractice]

1. It's a trap!

[Mme. Defarge]

2. I'm an unpublished mystery writer

and once tried working with another unpublished mystery writer as a critique partner. Gave it up when it started feeling like reading and grading bad papers during my stint as an adjunct faculty member, and only slightly less monetarily rewarding.

[wryter2000]

3. I've been in a critique group with someone who would not accept advice

Eventually, she got tired of us for not recognizing her brilliance. Just tell your friend it's his book and he should write it the way he wants. Then, see if you can avoid giving him any more feedback.

[dem4decades]

4. He's writing what he wants to, he doesn't really want you to comment other than "It's all good"

[patricia92243]

7. Bingo!!

[CrispyQ]

5. He should find a critique group of other like writers.

I'm in a fiction critique group where any genre is acceptable but there are groups that only read sci fi. It can take some time to find the right group. You want a group that is honest about your work, but not in a mean spirited, "we're going to shred you to nothing" way. But you also don't want a group that blows smoke up your ass & tells you your story is great when it's not. You want a group that will tell you what doesn't work in your story/writing, but also what does work. I found my critique group through Meetup.com. Personally, I wouldn't ask a friend or relative to read/critique my work until I'd had it critiqued by fellow writers. Part of being a writer is putting your work out there & dealing with the fact that some people aren't going to like it.

[dawg day]

6. With first time authors,

I find encouragement and mild praise are best. They need to feel good about writing... if they keep writing, they'll learn more from the process than from an actual helpful critique. If you get sucked into reading, try this... tell them something you enjoyed, and one thing they do well. And tell them to keep writing.

I think that most new writers can't really learn from advice until the second or third story or project.

[Shermann]

8. I got sucked into that trap once

Instead of acknowledgement of all the plot holes and confusing aspects I found, I got a list of justifications for why it was the way it was.

In the end, just a small number of issues I raised were actually addressed.

The finished product suffered from...surprise...a confusing story line...and was ultimately unsuccessful.

[Midnight Writer]

9. Been there, done that. It's a no win for you.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. He needs, as a couple of others have pointed out, to find

a good critique group. Not just show his stuff to one person.

He also needs to think about going to one of the many s-f writing workshops there are out there. Most of them require a sample writing submission.

I'd also ask: How much s-f does he read? What has he read? Has he ever gone to one of the many, many s-f cons out there? They are another invaluable resource.

An awful lot of first novels are simply not publishable, as in not good enough. Many first-time writers don't want to believe that. But the vast majority of successful writers had their own share of rejections early on.

[Yavin4]

11. He's writing it for the Strar Trek fanbase.

It has a ton of technical jargon that an average reader just could not follow. The scene he gave me is full of tropes. Starship encounters a hostile force, battle stations, etc. I've seen this scene a million times in Star Trek TV shows and movies. It's redundant and unoriginal.

That's why I suggested re-writing it from a POV character. Give the audience an original entry point into the scene. The POV does not have to be the captain, but a crew member.

[AmyStrange]

13. Fan Fic is different from writing a stand alone novel...

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It's usually written for fans that already know most of the important details of the story, and so the writer doesn't really put a lot of time into explaining them.

Most fan fic, that I've read, is usually written this way, so you really have to ignore that part and concentrate on their writing instead.

That said, one of the more interesting aspects of fan fic is that a lot of it is written so that two characters in the show have sex.

Spock shows up in a lot of these kind of stories, but to be honest, I didn't like THAT aspect of it AT ALL!!!

ETA: Of course, if they want it to be read OUTSIDE the Star Trek fan base, they actually DO have to provide a LOT more detail about what's going on and why.
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[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. Ahhh, that makes a huge difference.

Fan Fic is a genre unto itself.

I'm a science fiction person myself, reader, and occasional writer, but have no interest myself in that aspect of it.

As AmyStrange has said, the fans will know what it's all about, but if you hope to reach a larger audience, it's quite different.

[AmyStrange]

12. The writer DOES have to tell their story in their own way, but...

-

ignoring plot holes and confusing the reader is a damn good way to lose them.

I think the problem is that many first time writers think their stories are great, because they already know the whole plot, but they forget that the reader doesn't. They also forget that the ones buying their books are more important than them, because without them, there wouldn't be any need for the writer.

I've written four books, and I know my writing isn't perfect, but I did at least try to get those two things right.
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[abqtommy]

15. Reading the greats like Heinlein, Asimov and many others is a good education in how to

write. Remember, not only did they do a thorough job they also got paid by the word!