The Question of Compromise

[sartorias]

Yesterday's discussion about synopses led to this exchange, which I thought might be useful for further exploration.

green_knight made a response to a line from fashionista_35's comment, I fall firmly in the shooting myself in the foot category in that I refuse to compromise.

by saying: It's a continuum. I've looked at some of the things I've written on this topic (

Comments

[corrinalaw]

:snerk: on the Kushiel reviews. My thought was somewhat of a variation. "What's risky about long descriptions of torture porn in which the character can heal themselves and the main torture sequence with the Big Bad fades to black?"

But I digress. I was asked to change the flavor of a fairly risky scene in a book that I have coming out with a small press. I had agreed with other suggestions made by the editor and decided to try something I thought might work. It did.

However, a short story for them had the same problematical issue and I couldn't alter it, it was too key to the story concept. I didn't change it, they didn't want it. Which was perfectly understandable to me.

I think I agree: If you try the suggested changes and feel at peace with them, then they probably work for the story.

[sartorias]

Yes--there are so many ways to tell a story. If one ingredient gets substituted, and the rest of the story is the story you wanted to tell, why not?

But when the story is about the thing in question . . . tough call.

[asakiyume]

But when the story is about the thing in question

--yeah, at that point, you can't really compromise. "Tell the story differently" versus "Tell a different story."

[sartorias]

That's a great way to put it--the first, many can live with. The second?

[sartorias]

Heh. I suspect you have enough gravitas in the world in which you write that that might have stung the publisher. Mos of the rest of us? They wouldn't even spare us the breath to say "Whatever."

[sartorias]

Understood. I know a few people who have had to make this decision, and still have the project sitting on their hard drive. But know it was the right decision.

[la_marquise_de_]

Thank you for this. This is an incredible post.

[sartorias]

Glad it resonated.

[kateelliott]

[sartorias]

Oh, I remember that! I think the gatekeeping changes for different people, not just because some handle iffy subjects better than others (or appear to) but because an author with a following will light up the "market" side of the editorial brain, where a new writer won't.

[kateelliott]

I remember that Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer caught quite a bit of flak for a scene in one of their collaborations, where a willing woman throws herself at the male protagonist and he sleeps with her, even though he will end up with someone else. The hero is not in a relationship and has only just met his future love by this point, he is not in love with her yet. Yet some readers felt he was being unfaithful by sleeping with the other woman and infidelity is a hot button issue for many habitual romance readers.

Cora

[ex_fashioni]

Oh Lordy, ain't that the truth, Cora? It boggles (not to mention frustrates) me no end when the diehard romance readers can't look beyond "but he's MET the twuuuuue wuv, he can't possibly sleep or even look at anyone else!"

Because that takes a valuable sheen of realism off-- and it's so odd how so many readers demand the fantasy in the contemporary (should be realistic) romance but are willing to let all manner of tropes be bend any which way in paranormal and fantasy romances.

It makes my head hurt.

[anghara]

"How can you tell when advice to change things is good advice, and when not? In refusing advice, how can one tell the difference between ego-massage and the high moral ground of protecting the integrity of one's art

[sartorias]

I think identifying what the battles are can be a difficult thing for some writers, when their perception of the story's structure is so different from the editorial one. There is not just the matter of marketability (one of the biggest motivators for the editorial lens) and investment (the author's biggest lens) but accessibility, among other things. A story that a writer considers their life's masterwork that makes no sense to anyone else, or is just plain boring (this happened to several very famous writers, who set aside their usual storytelling mode, the one that made them famous, in order to write their One True Work) . . . well, is it art or a failed draft? Or maybe a rutabaga?

[ex_fashioni]

I vote for rutabaga