On Thursday night, I passed in War Mage. I’m not happy with it For one, it’s too short, 34,000 words. It’s honestly not my best work. I’ve been worried about following so many rules that it seems like a hodgepodge of rules.

A beta reader read the second draft, and gave me some pointers, which I tried to put in. However, some things I meant to follow based on my reading of some writing books. I really wonder whether writing books are worth it. They create so many rules that I realize I’m not following, that I feel like I’m being forced to write in a box.

Take romance, for instance. I always throw in a twist. I’ve read more books on writing romance than actual romance books. On the books about romance, there’s a certain formula that does not include the twist. So does that mean I’m not writing a romance?

I’ve been reading some books on general writing, and these come up with the formula for sellable books. Maybe that’s my problem? I don’t write sellable books, but I write stories.

I started listening to a book called Crimes Against Magic. I liked the premise, a modern sorcerer/thief. The first thing that turned me off was the prologue. Is there a point to a prologue? I honestly do believe that a prologue is there because it’s a cool scene and the author has no place for it in the book. I liked the description, even if the scene was stupid and made no sense.

Then I started listening to the first chapter. The scene was just too easy, too contrived, too, I don’t know. There was  a lot of improper sentence structure that grated on me, but I listened through it. Finally, when the guy gets his object (within ten minutes of the story), and the final bad sentence I could stand, I deleted it.

And this was published by a big publisher?

Dear God, what the hell is wrong with people! There’s no accounting for taste or editorial ability.

Next on the list: rewrite of Grimaulkin.