Oh, so much richness! From wanting to "stab her in the face" to "even the weather found something to complain about..." Everything is vibrating with gorgeous rage.
With your omniscient narrator, you've managed in this chapter to bring everyone's point of view to the fore. And though it has been, at times, hard to deeply love any of them, you've also managed to build, for me, empathy for all these folks so connected by the deceit you mention in your epigraph. Curtain down, indeed. Your writing is magic. Others, who read this note: You gotta start at the beginning. I will also restack another note, Eleanor, my dear friend and colleague.
Reading the chapter closely, especially the paragraph about Roz, I sense some ambiguity, that there's something I don't know that will be revealed.
And then there's this sentence, off-stage, regarding the people who wield great power over Roz:
"Meanwhile in bed, last night, Diane and Peter had agreed that it was the last straw."
What struck me about this chapter was two things. First, how you fuel the desire of the reader to know what happens next and to clarify what has been happening (or maybe I'm being dense and parsing the words too closely)
Second, in reading a serialized novel, there's an extra level of tension because I don't know where we are in the novel. If I had the complete book in hand, I'd know how close to an end we are, but since I don't, there's greater uncertainty, thus greater suspense.
After you've finished publishing it, I hope you write about how serializing affected the writing. As a reader, all I can say, I'm eager, and a tad impatient, to "attend" the closing performance party, i.e., you've done a great job of getting me hooked!
Do you know, just a minute ago I was thinking of this exact thing, how the reader of a serialised novel doesn't know how close or far to the end they are... I'm going to leave that there, as of course, you will find out. And for your close reading, I'm happy.
Oh Em. Thank you. I wait impatiently for every chapter but then take my time to the right moment to read it. Loving your work
🙌
Everything IS breaking! 🙃
The equal of last week. This must be how World War I started.
hahaha yes. This is how wars begin.
Oh, so much richness! From wanting to "stab her in the face" to "even the weather found something to complain about..." Everything is vibrating with gorgeous rage.
The way you capture the very particular lens through which each character is viewing the web they’re all sharing is so subtle and so brilliant.
Thanks, Chloe x
With your omniscient narrator, you've managed in this chapter to bring everyone's point of view to the fore. And though it has been, at times, hard to deeply love any of them, you've also managed to build, for me, empathy for all these folks so connected by the deceit you mention in your epigraph. Curtain down, indeed. Your writing is magic. Others, who read this note: You gotta start at the beginning. I will also restack another note, Eleanor, my dear friend and colleague.
Thanks, Mary. Once it's finished, I'll talk about how it was received when, 5 yrs ago, I sent it out on submission, the "hard to love" aspect.
I would love to talk with you about exactly that and the omniscience point of view, as well.
Maybe someone can ask us a “writing hard to love characters” question….. the same subject came up earlier in a note Tom Cox posted and I replied to…
Reading the chapter closely, especially the paragraph about Roz, I sense some ambiguity, that there's something I don't know that will be revealed.
And then there's this sentence, off-stage, regarding the people who wield great power over Roz:
"Meanwhile in bed, last night, Diane and Peter had agreed that it was the last straw."
What struck me about this chapter was two things. First, how you fuel the desire of the reader to know what happens next and to clarify what has been happening (or maybe I'm being dense and parsing the words too closely)
Second, in reading a serialized novel, there's an extra level of tension because I don't know where we are in the novel. If I had the complete book in hand, I'd know how close to an end we are, but since I don't, there's greater uncertainty, thus greater suspense.
After you've finished publishing it, I hope you write about how serializing affected the writing. As a reader, all I can say, I'm eager, and a tad impatient, to "attend" the closing performance party, i.e., you've done a great job of getting me hooked!
Do you know, just a minute ago I was thinking of this exact thing, how the reader of a serialised novel doesn't know how close or far to the end they are... I'm going to leave that there, as of course, you will find out. And for your close reading, I'm happy.
Such a wonderful change of mood from the last chapter, from euphoria to despondency and anger. And that last bit about the wind - a touch of Dickens.
Gorgeous writing.
*faints with joy. Becomes insufferable to family. 😂 🙌 thanks, Jeff.
😂
strong late night reading here in the City of Angeles -- Audrey Hepburn on a pub crawl! blow Eleanor, blow.
I had to listen to her god damn voice really closely to hear what it was reminding me of. And then Tessa got it in a nutshell. xx