Critique, Trust, Revising

Lots of ideas churning in my mind for this post this morning. I took Sunday and Monday off, mostly because I was thinking of how to fix my second scene in my proposal which introduces the currently-unsympathetic hero. Bits and pieces of dialogue and just how to make it work. Revising.

My mentor called and said she thought she'd been too hard on me and the book, but I could tell that she still wouldn't like it if the hero was as dark as I anticipated. And, you know, the majority of my readers are romance readers, so if I want them to buy this book, and to trust me, not to check every book of mine out, before they buy (which I do with writers whose work does not resonate with me every single time) I have to make the guy better. As one of my other critique buddies said, it's a matter of (his) intent.

Anyway, the bottom line here in this post was "do you trust your critique buddies" and I do. I don't have a problem changing something (ok I reluctantly give up my idea) if I know it's going to strike the same chord in my readers...in a bad way.

Urban fantasy IS darker and with an edge, with tougher heroes, but this proposal is for a trilogy. And I'll be writing lighter contemporary paranormal romance too, hopefully. So it's my career I'm thinking about, not just my concept of a book, or three.

May you enjoy the long view today.
Robin