On Tue, 29 Apr 2003 14:30:44 -0500 Shalanna  writes:
> Just for grins, in case anybody's keeping up, I heard back again from 
> the   nice lady agent.  This time it's the blow-off, please go away
thing. 

Sorry (VERY sorry) for that....
however:
> Either you have the  suspense 
> and urgency, or you have pages of angst-ridden inner monologue.  

Not necessarily true.
They CAN go hand-in hand.
Look at the Hammettesque Detective Novels.
True, in first person, EVERYTHING is monologue, but you can color events
in third person (particularly if you use the close focus 3rd person (one
half-step removed from first person, because *I* find first person
narrative tedious, myself) I tend to like.
It's NOT either/or, but balance.  Hand AND footholds on the mountainface,
if you will.
Look at Hamlet, for heaven's sake....
Unless you're writing something that's all about action, or something
that's all about introspection (both marginalizing their markets), any
compelling fiction is a BALANCE of in and out.
And there's where writing becomes the big headache of pleasing the reader
over your shoulder... particularly that most jaded reader, the keeper of
the publishing contracts.

Whatever you include, the writer needs to  maintain appropriate tone and
pacing.... the fine measure of which tends to vary reader to reader.
I, for example, have no patience for many of the Cozies (of my direct
experience/sampling) because I find characters are acting too
unrealistically, snapping my suspension of disbelief. But that doesn't
bother my husband a whit -- he soaks 'em up, over and over again. 
OTOH, scraping my brain for examples, you might sample James Doss'
mysteries -- there's a LOT of inner and outer work there, including
fretting over love affairs and other bits of life, not to mention enough
othernatural to make you think, "WHAT? This guy (the author) works at the
[Los Alamos] LAB?!? Whoa!" But all the bits of inner and outer action
still work together to keep the story flowing... 
You might take all manner of liberties with the wall paper and the
molding and the furniture, but the current (and not so current) readers
DO tend to *prefer* at least a SENSE of story structure, of solid
framing, a feeling of "going somewhere" -- though, yes, there are plenty
of counter examples).

True, we have to deal with readers of varying experience projecting their
belief quotient (and expectations) onto our work -- so there's a LOT of
prayer that our writerly taste and brain power is up to the task.

And, yes, it's maddening.

And, yes, wailing and gnashing of teeth is allowed (just don't kick the
dog.... or the spouse; they don't understand and it really doesn't help
matters, unless it falls under the Travelling Salvation Show altar call
my father-in-law at 13 was forced to "answer" (his Grandmother SHOVED him
into the aisle). He still regrets the little dog with the bad timing --
but the rocket of yiping dog hitting the "ConFESS your SINS" Evangelist
directly in the chest was priceless. Especially for his (couple years
older) uncles, who said, "WE'LL take care of Rupert, Mom" and allowed
them all to beat a retreat. And if ANY of you use that I expect payment
=warning look=).

> One takes 
> away from the other.  

=sternly=
That's like saying complementary colors can't work together.
(Go look at Van Gogh's Sunflower paintings.
And, of course, folks SAID just that to Van Gogh at the time, too....)

> I think she's wrong about Camille as a character not being 
> developed.  

Now this may well be.
Readers are often wrong.
(Writers are often wrong, too -- but that's the beauty of the
subconscious for you. We're SOOOO easily misled by ourselves.)

> Actually, I think she just hasn't read that much or that  widely.  

This may also be.
But she also has to resonate with the projects she represents.
And she could tell that in a few paragraphs.
And THAT facet of the biz has always been thus -- I have a first-hand
witness whose godfather was one of the NY Publishing Biggies (I forget
which one, or the really famous Pulitzer Prize winner he made the
decision on in, like, 15 minutes or less).

True, you are dealing with one person's Opinion.
True, you have a specific agenda with Camille that this one person didn't
get.

Then you need to ask yourself: 
Is it simply a stylistic thing, or is something I'm doing or not doing
not getting my intentions across?
Usually it's a mix of the above, since none of us are perfect writers.

See how the modern genre are handling the tough-girl on the streets.
Or interview some street urchins, or case workers that work with them.
[Though fiction has to be more "believable" (which often means pandering
to Expectation) that real life.]
Some, yes, are NUMB.
OTOH, the protagonist needs to be emotionally accessible, or readers lose
interest.
They need something to hook into in the tale to carry them along... their
"belief" needs to be fed enough that the suspension of disbelief doesn't
slosh. But you know that.

> If a woman does not keep pace with her companions. . . she's just 
> screwed,  that's all.  

Or doomed to keep trying other doors in the labyrinth.

Now.
I understand the bitter disappointment.
I understand the impulse to diss and/or deny -- "She's just not GETTING
it!"
The director that didn't cast me as Hamlet's mother nor Beatrice lacked
imagination, too (hell hath no fury like the woman who didn't get the
part). But beware the impulse to wallow in it.

True, we throw up sheilds of words to protect our innermost selves.
But don't get so thick with bandages you suffocate.

There are those of us who flip the world off and keep dancing, because we
LIKE our idiosyncratic drummer.
Others leave the floor and only dance when no one's watching.
Others still decide it's important enough to learn the steps of the
latest rag.
Most are a mix of all the above.

Where you decide to go next, is, of course, fully (insofar as ANYthing in
our confounding lives are "fully" or even more than marginally
intentional) up to you.

For now, it's a Bitter Disappointment.
And it's ok to mope around and feel sorry for a bit.
Just don't stay there.
And be careful that the words you use to console yourself compound the
scartissue rather than heal....

But that's MY life-model talking. [In all regards.]

Still and all: We *DO* care.....
=HUGS=

-B

====
It is amazing how frequently we march off to battle without knowing what
the war is all about. --Harriet Goldhor Lerner; "The Dance of Anger"
====
Of course, most of us secretly believe that we have the corner on the
"truth" and that this would be a much better world if everyone else
believed and reacted exactly as we do. --Harriet Goldhor Lerner; "The
Dance of Anger"

--- Rachel's Little NET2FIDO Gate v 0.9.9.8 Alpha