Rising Fire's professional critique on Youwriteon

I'm pleased as Punch and Judy...

Today Rising Fire got its free literary critique on Youwriteon, that I won for being in the top five at the end of November. It was written by Gillian Stern, who works as an editor at Bloomsbury and Curtis Brown. I'm quoting two extracts, the first praise, the second some of her suggestions.

'In my job personal taste is irrelevant, but I can tell you that fantasy is not my favourite genre. However, happily for me, the extract of your novel is totally accessible and appealing and I found myself hooked and really enjoying the experience of reading it. I like the way in which you write and I like the voices and the characterisation and nothing about the writing or the story is complicated or inaccessible or difficult to take in. In fact once I got into the narrative, I was absolutely swept along – something I really did not expect.'

'My main criticism is that while all these good things are good, I felt that your writing is a little simplistic – not the style, but the layering within the writing. By this I mean that as a reader, I constantly wanted to know more – more about the time and place, more about the cultural, social and political context of the time and more, much more of Tor’s internal dialogue. The fantasy market is crowded and readers are used to complex plots, ideas and imaginings and in order to be satisfied, they need something satisfying and new. And I feel that, apart from your accessible style and the relationship you set up between Tor and Xantilor and of course your plot turns, there is not all that much that is earth shatteringly new here, little that would make an editor sit up and see this above all the other proposed novels on their desk.'

Gillain Stern's advice will be extremely helpful in my next revision. I've just finished one revision, but knew it needed more work, and I could do better. Onwards and upwards.

(If you'd like to read the whole review, it's on my website).