Why I love GA

[PrivateTim]

I know there is a topic on "Why I love Mark Arbour" that we are not supposed to respond in (although I don't quite get why not), but why I love GA is part of why I love Mark and his writing and being into the story as he writes it.

 

I love reading and read a lot of non-GA stuff. Patrick O'Bryan was a favorite, which is one reason I loved the Granger series, as was Bernard Cornwell with his Sharpe series. Alexander McCall Smith is one of my current obsessions and I am reading three of his series, rotating through books.

 

What is frustrating is that I can't provide feedback to Mr. McCall Smith as he writes his stories and get feedback back from him. I would love to give him feedback on his characters Isabel Delhousie and her niece and lover (two different people) and Bertie and his father and mother and get an idea of where his head is at.

 

It is so nice to be able to dialogue with Mark and get an idea of how and why things happen the way they do and even cooler, I think Mark takes the feedback seriously and makes changes in his stories because he has considered the feedback. That is so unique in the world of literature. I wonder what it would have been like to have chatted online with Dickens online as he wrote his serialized stories.

[Cia]

A good author writes the story in their head, but must take in consideration for the way that story comes across to the readers. Writing is, in my mind, all about flexibility. That and the moving pictures that make up the stories in my head must be let out, or I go a tad bonkers myself. I love that GA lets you interact with all of your favorite authors; and honestly, a lot of the books on publishing I've read have all said to have betas and editors. You see dedications to them in books from mainstream writers that are well known. GA is just a bit wider of a net.

 

Oh, as for the "Why I love..." from Lugh about authors, I think he was aiming to get some fan love pm's about the authors and their stories for the blog. However, it spoils it if you put the response in the post where the author can see it, lol. I don't know that for sure, since he didn't tell me, but it is my assumption.

[Mark Arbour]

I know there is a topic on "Why I love Mark Arbour" that we are not supposed to respond in (although I don't quite get why not), but why I love GA is part of why I love Mark and his writing and being into the story as he writes it.

 

I love reading and read a lot of non-GA stuff. Patrick O'Bryan was a favorite, which is one reason I loved the Granger series, as was Bernard Cornwell with his Sharpe series. Alexander McCall Smith is one of my current obsessions and I am reading three of his series, rotating through books.

 

What is frustrating is that I can't provide feedback to Mr. McCall Smith as he writes his stories and get feedback back from him. I would love to give him feedback on his characters Isabel Delhousie and her niece and lover (two different people) and Bertie and his father and mother and get an idea of where his head is at.

 

It is so nice to be able to dialogue with Mark and get an idea of how and why things happen the way they do and even cooler, I think Mark takes the feedback seriously and makes changes in his stories because he has considered the feedback. That is so unique in the world of literature. I wonder what it would have been like to have chatted online with Dickens online as he wrote his serialized stories.

 

Thanks Tim. That cuts both ways, too. For me, it's great to hear how readers perceive things. On a few rare occasions, feedback has been rude, but otherwise, it's been extremely productive.

 

There are times when I'll be working into a situation with a character and I know it's going to cause issues, and the feedback helps me modify how I explain what's going on. In that way, it can shape the stories, but usually I have things pretty well mapped out...at least a few chapters ahead anyway!

[PrivateTim]

Of course the flip side of the chapter at a time, provide feedback thing is that you have to wait and wait to get to the next chapter. Paternity is a story that if I had bought it as a complete book I'd have stayed up all night reading it, blown off work and life until I finished it. I would have read Chapter 1 at 6PM last night, not five months ago so the continuity of the story would be easier to follow then trying to remember when certain events happened and even remembering if it was this book or the last.

 

All things being equal though, I still enjoy the ability to communicate with the author as the story is in progress.

[naaz]

But why can't we post to 'Why I Love Mark Arbour' besides that it's locked?