Iskander: Blog

The first draft of Chapter 5 of Through different Eyes (the sequel to Through my Eyes. Again.) is now available on my Patreon. The link for this is in my profile.

Once again, my thanks to those of you who provided feedback on TMEA through the survey. The survey (the link is in my profile) remains open, so please head there if you have comments on TMEA.

Take care of you and yours in these strange times.
Iskander

I recently conducted a short reader survey asking for feedback on "Through my Eyes. Again."

It was particularly interesting to read one set of feedback from a reader that did not like the book. Whilst reading the feedback of readers that enjoyed "Through my Eyes. Again." is interesting and useful, as a new author reading the criticisms of someone that did not like it is definitely harder - but rewarding none-the-less.

This respondent felt that there were too many loose ends left hanging. For example, what happened to Will's father and what about that anonymous letter. Will's father simply stops appearing and despite Will and his mother worrying that the anonymous letter's sender is about to resurface at one point, who sent it and why is not revealed.

The writing principle, known as Chekov's Gun, is that every element in a story must be necessary and elements should not make 'false promises' by never being used once they have been mentioned.

Against this stand authors like Ernest Hemingway, who value inconsequential detail, whilst acknowledging that readers may well read into them significance and symbolism unintended by the author.

Both approaches to writing are valid but, to the disappointment of this particular reader, my writing follows Hemingway and not Chekov. I found it illuminating that this reader read through to the end - held by the characters despite the growing frustration that appeared in the survey responses.

These (and other) differences in approach are part of the reason we have authors we like and dislike - and these are valid decisions we all make.

Do you subscribe to Chekov's gun or are you a follower of Hemingway?

Take care of you and yours in these strange times,
Iskander

PS: I have reasons for leaving those two loose ends (and the others) that I'm happy to discuss on Discord as inevitably such discussion will result in spoilers.

As a new author, I'm very interested in understanding what my readers thought about my book so I can work on improving my writing. To help with this I've put together a short (about 4 minute) survey that I would very much like you to complete. If the survey sparks you to want to make a more detailed response, please message me directly.

You'll find the survey link in my profile (links are not allowed in blog entries).

Robert Hart
Iskander

Most readers will, at some time, have been reduced to tears when a character that has involved them deeply is killed off by the author. My first experience of this was at age 12 in the final chapter of the Lord of the Rings, when Bilbo departs for the Grey Havens. Since then there have been many occasions where I have stopped reading as the page blurs beyond my tears. Most recently this occurred in the last book of Ryan Sylander's Hook. Pick and Lens trilogy - if you haven't read this, please treat yourself by picking up the books (they are on Bookapy). They contain great writing, particularly the final of the trilogy, Shutter Release. Ryan writes of deep emotions with subtlety and aching beauty.

As a new author, I recently found myself at the other end of the pen, so to speak. Through my Eyes. Again. grew organically from the initial scene. There was no plot line and the interactions between the characters drove the first half or more of the book as Will, Col, Frida (Col's mother) and their friend, Lili, interacted with each other and the circumstances they found themselves in. As the story grew, I found myself looking at the far horizon where various endings flickered in the distant mists. I toyed with several (including one where Col and Mutti Frida were actually 'sleepers' planted by the KGB - but I could not see that fitting their characters and it was quickly discarded). Finally, I came to the ending that occurred in chapter 20 - and found that to get there in a believable fashion, I needed to kill a character.

As an author, I invest emotionally in my characters - even the ones I don't like very much - and so killing one of them is not easy. I struggled to find a way of reaching the desired ending in some other way, but none of the ideas 'fitted'.

Unfortunately…

In other news, the first draft of chapter 4 of Through different Eyes - the sequel to TMEA - has been posted to my Patreon - there's a link to this and my Discord server in my profile.

Since the last chapter of the updated version of TMEA was posted, I have had several emails asking if Col and Will's story will continue - and, yes, it will.

The first three draft chapters of Through different Eyes are available on my Patreon (see my home page for a link) and I expect chapter 4 to join them in a couple of weeks.

Iskander