pyroguysr's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mary-Claude SLAYS ME! As most of you know, I�m a bit of a writer. I�m starting to shop around a novel, I run a writers group and have had a few things published here and there. One of the unfortunate parts of being a writer is when friends come up to you with manuscripts and say, �could you read this and tell me if it�s any good?� That kind of request puts a huge strain on a friendship because, in the 200 or so manuscripts I�ve �read� for friends, most of them have been horrible, third-person narratives that would make a good outline for a story, but the person giving it to you assures you �it�s a finished piece.� No dialogue, no character development, no conflict and resolution. So what do you do? Generally, I read it, try hard not to cringe at the worst of them, try to be encouraging, telling them that it has �potential� or that, "with a little polish and editing, they may actually have a good story." Given that; quite awhile back, a friend of Dragonmakr�s and mine gave Kat a manuscript and asked her to give it to me to read. (Most of you from MDRF either know her as Mary-Claude (or, perhaps, Marie-Claude? I've never seen her write her name), the lady that makes the flower wreaths for our dragons or the lady with the two adorable, darling blonde daughters that take over the booth each time they arrive along with, as of last year, the baby boy that was draped over Dragonmakr�s arms for several weekends) Now, Mary-Claude and her family have probably purchased more dragons from us than we normally keep in the shop on any given day of faire. Couple that with the fact that Mary-Claude insisted that Kat and I be "her" choice for Godparents of their son, Ryan and, well, it creates a bit of an obligation. I took the manuscript with some trepidation. It is hand-written in a small, tight, neat script in one of those two-dollar notebooks. I put it into my computer bag and held off reading it until early Saturday evening at Trinoc*coN, when I�d grown bored and was searching for something � anything � to read. Since MDRF was on the horizon, I figured I better �get it out of the way.� At the risk of sounding clich� and jaded, I can only say this: It was one of the best goddamned sword & sorcery fantasies I�ve read in a long, long time! I mean, it was so good that I called her up after the first five chapters and told her so! I gushed� and I do NOT gush about writing - especially S&S stories - unless it�s good! It�s delightful and easy to read, the characters are both well-rounded and amusing at the proper times! The plot moves along wonderfully and the dialogue isn�t forced! When I finished what she�d written and had to call her again last night. I woke her up with the words, �Hon, you need to finish this and get it out to a publisher!!!� She still doesn�t quite believe that I think it�s good enough to compete with J.K. Rowling (which, since I have yet to read a Harry Potter book, I couldn�t say) but what she is writing is definitely better than anything that hack, Terry Brooks has ever published! I say, Go, Mary-Claude, Go! (I hope I�m spelling your name correctly) 4:11 a.m. - 2006-07-31 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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