Wednesday, February 23, 2011

ROW 80 Check In

Not much more to report tonight. I've only written about 750 words since last check-in. I'm really stewing on the ending of Eaters: Dark Journey. But, tomorrow I hope to have the rough draft done! I lament the loss of my main zombie fan and beta reader, who's going out of town for the next month to learn how to build an 'earth ship'.  (With all their stores of rations and preparation, he and his family will surely be  survivors of any future apocalypse while we waste away on my meager stash of grains and sprouting seeds. ) Meanwhile, DH finally read Eaters: The Beginning and had a lot of editorial comments that I wish I'd had earlier. He's one of my new beta readers now. I'll run Eaters: Dark Journey through his mental meat grinder before putting it out there.

I've read some pretty poor reviews of George A. Romero's Land of the Dead (sequel to Dawn of the Dead). But, I finished watching it last night and didn't think it was that bad. I really dug the scene with the newly cognizant zombies emerging from the water. (Too bad that in real life, the actors were freezing their can-cans off during the filming of that scene.)

4 comments:

  1. One little note about your husband's advice and comments. You had told me before that he doesn't read fiction that much, right? Make sure, if he makes a suggestion, that it feels right to you. That's true with any beta reader. Because I guarantee you, readers will have differences of opinions. When you do get opinions, read over the scenes they're making suggestions about and see if it really adds to the story or fixes something. If it doesn't feel right to you, go with your own opinion. Don't let people rewrite your story. Some people have great suggestions and can make you see something you didn't see before. But sometimes it comes down to them wanting the story written the way they would write it. You know what opinions are compared to....

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  2. I remember those reviews of Land of the Dead, but like you, I thought the movie was good. I think fans didn't like that it was a big budget movie unlike the previous indies and many of the effects were CGI. I didn't love the CGI either, but the story was still good.

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  3. @Lauralynnelliott You're absolutely right, and I'm aware of the danger of taking other's opinions too seriously. Some comments that I've gotten are purely subjective based on the reader's image of what they think should be in the story (my neighbour would have more bone-cracking violence and gore). But, my husband's have been more grammatical and technical (like...a windshield really wouldn't shatter like that). So, I have to appreciate his input, even when I grit my teeth through the 'thank you' smile!

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  4. @Andrew Mocete It's interesting to compare modern zombie flicks like that with all the special effects and advanced makeup tricks to the more psychological horror of Night of the Living Dead.

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