Friday, March 16, 2012

The Lucky Meme Award and My Toughest Beta Reader

Many Thanks to Tara Tyler who awarded me with The Lucky Meme award!!!
Here are the rules for receiving this award:
  1. Go to page 77 of your current MS.
  2. Go to line 7.
  3. Copy down the next 7 lines - sentences or paragraphs - and post them as they're written. No cheating.
  4. Tag 7 authors.

From page 77 of The Crystal Sword
As she reached the tunnel entrance, Master Dantor reached out a hand to stop her from exiting. “We have to hold them until our people reach the ship,” he explained.

          “There’s a ship?!” Clara said.

          “We were the last refugees from the city, and we have some unexpected friends,” he said. Now, I need you, Stelia, and Salene to help me slow these scum down.”

          “Yes, sir,” Clara said, wishing she could at least step out of the cave into the sunshine. She wished that good strategy would allow them more fresh air.

Congrats to these lucky 7 authors:
L.G. Smith at Bards and Prophets
The Golden Eagle at The Eagle's Aerial Perspective
Karen Lange at Write Now
Emily R. King at Get Busy Writing
Justin W. Parente at In My Write Mind
Allison at Geek Banter
Tag, you're it!

Keeping to rule #3 was tough for me on this one because currently I'm struggling with my third draft. I made major plot changes. The ending seemed impossible to write, and I kept writing junk chapters that delayed writing the end. I struggled and struggled, and finally decided to print out the mess and see if it made more sense after I had killed a small tree.


My ten-year-old daughter woke up in the midst of the print job, and asked if she could read it. I gave her a pink highlighter, and she found two typos in the first ten minutes of reading, asked me questions like "why doesn't the evil villainess kill the king off and just take over?" and in the midst of our discussion gave me an idea that helped me write one of the end scenes.


So I really wanted to fix that section from page 77, but instead I covered my draft with pink and green highlighters, and orange sticky notes.

Anyone else in the midst of a struggle to end their manuscript? Have any kid beta readers who are willing to ask you tough questions about your plot?

16 comments:

Emily R. King said...

Thanks for tagging me! I'm in the middle of a rewrite, so I know how you feel. Only I'm the one questioning everything about my MS. I'm not ready for betas yet.
Good luck with yours!

Karen Lange said...

Thanks for the award, Tyrean! I am honored. Will have to go to page 77 and see what awaits me. :) It sounds like fun.

Wish you much success with your manuscript!

Thanks and blessings,
Karen

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Science fiction or adventure?
Never thought about tapping a kid for advice, but maybe I'll try that!

Joanne said...

Very Creative award!
Blessings, Joanne

Tyrean Martinson said...

Emily - Good luck with your rewrite!

Karen - You're welcome! Blessings!

Alex - Adventure fantasy, but I just realized how it could sound like scifi . . hmm, another sticky note moment. Thanks!

Joanne - Thank you! Blessings!

Carol Riggs said...

Thank you!! This is a fascinating award/meme. I'm hoping what happens on my pages aren't too revealing to the plot, but we'll see. ;o) I like your excerpt--intriguing! :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

Carol - Thanks!

Luanne G. Smith said...

I love reading these excerpts for the Lucky Seven meme. It's a little glimpse into everyone's stories. And I hear you on the typos. I have a friend who often e-mails me first thing in the morning to point out all the typos in my blog posts. I swear I never see them. :))

Thanks for passing this on. It should be fun to see where page 77 takes me.

Tyrean Martinson said...

L.G. - glad I'm not the only Typo Queen. :) Have fun with the meme!

Angie said...

I like it! I am struggling with my WIP right now. I think I have finally broken through the block, though. I hope so!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Angie - Thanks! I hope so too! Blessings.

Allison said...

Thanks for tagging me, Tyrean! I liked your excerpt, though like Alex I was wondering whether it was fantasy or sci-fi--hard to tell with just the word "ship"! I have posted my own page 77 excerpt. I agree, the urge to edit is hard to resist!

Golden Eagle said...

Thank you so much for the award! :)

It was great to read your excerpt.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Just visited your blog, and I love that scene! Nice tension and intrigue.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Golden Eagle - You're welcome!

Tara Tyler said...

ooo, a ship and a cave! sounds good to me!