As much as I (and probably many others) want you to shelve it and work on AQ5 until it's done, that's not really a sensible approach. I worked with a friend of his on his OF story, and after he finished it, it was /ok/, but really not that great. He stepped back for a month or two, came back, and knew exactly what he needed to do to make it better. I think that the time away from it helped separate himself from it and really see it for what it was, how it was flawed, and how to fix those flaws. I think the same would be a good idea for you.
Hmm, speshul snowflakes... snowflakes vexes, snowflake woes. So, one of my more tricky jobs on MNFF is training people to review helpfully and positively, because we basically have to treat most authors like special snowflakes unless we know them to be made of sterner stuff. Some people truly cannot take critique like adults. I don't personally give two shits who likes me and who doesn't, but as a mod, other people are my priority. I get nasty reviews here and there from my queue rejectees, so it is just proof that people are vindictive little douches when they don't get their way. Don't let their douchebaggery ruin the experience of writing your novel. Keep trucking. It might help to do your outline for AQ and then work on revision, but don't scrap it until someone who actually matters tells you it isn't worth saving.
EDIT** Jfc, my phone needs to learn to spell simple words. I refuse to blame myself. My IQ just lowered ten points reading what I typed on my phone. >.>
I wrote my post about useless critique already, in case you want to read it. Feel free to poke about on the editing tag, see if I stumble across anything useful in my rambling.
Yeah, I know I should take critiques with a grain of salt. At the same time, I'm trying very hard to give every comment due consideration. (Okay, I know "You suck and should feel bad" doesn't deserve serious consideration.) When you can see that there are some nuggets of truth even in a shit sandwich, the problem becomes sorting the nuggets from the shit.
I'm not thin-skinned, honest, or at least I am not normally. But in trying to be receptive to all comments and not be that Special Snowflake author who's all "Noooo! You don't know what you're talking about! All I have to do is one more round of spellchecking and this baby is ready to go!" I seem to have invited more self-doubt than I'm accustomed to.
There is a huge chasm between theory and practice. I know I should be devoting more time to writing than I am, and that I should make it a bigger priority. And yet, here it is, 10:40 at night, and I've pissed the entire day away on internet and Disgaea. (Well, and laundry, cats, exercise, and straightening up, but whatever
( ... )
Well, for myself I want to say finish AQ5 first, but for yourself I don't think you should give up on the SF, yet. So I'll say work on AQ5 a while - maybe finish the first draft, or write until you get stuck at a plot hole - then go and revise the SF when you no longer feel so tempted to work on AQ instead.
And remember that no story is perfect, nor will it ever please everybody. There'll always be people that find your writing not to their taste no matter how good you are and you'll never get published if you keep letting them discourage you and starting a new project. Revise this one, try to get it published and if it gets rejected by all the publishers, then it will be time to start another original novel.
Look, Snowflake - your my writing hero. Don't obsess (I feel that you are kind of obsessing a little tiny bit. Just a bit. In my opinion. I think).
I agree with Alice's wise advice - look for the patterns. I've pretty much given up reviewing AQ because it just makes me sqee like a little girl so I'm not terribly objective, but I never thought your dialog was stiff.
Suck it up, finish the thing and then AQ5.
My biggest question is how the hell am I going to which one is your book when its published??
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EDIT** Jfc, my phone needs to learn to spell simple words. I refuse to blame myself. My IQ just lowered ten points reading what I typed on my phone. >.>
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I'm not thin-skinned, honest, or at least I am not normally. But in trying to be receptive to all comments and not be that Special Snowflake author who's all "Noooo! You don't know what you're talking about! All I have to do is one more round of spellchecking and this baby is ready to go!" I seem to have invited more self-doubt than I'm accustomed to.
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And remember that no story is perfect, nor will it ever please everybody. There'll always be people that find your writing not to their taste no matter how good you are and you'll never get published if you keep letting them discourage you and starting a new project. Revise this one, try to get it published and if it gets rejected by all the publishers, then it will be time to start another original novel.
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I agree with Alice's wise advice - look for the patterns. I've pretty much given up reviewing AQ because it just makes me sqee like a little girl so I'm not terribly objective, but I never thought your dialog was stiff.
Suck it up, finish the thing and then AQ5.
My biggest question is how the hell am I going to which one is your book when its published??
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