Beyond the Endless Sky

I need you! Yes you!

So, whoever you are, you're here! I'm assuming you've read your way through this odd little project, and you're wondering what I'm on about, using too many exclamation marks for a grown man.

Well, I need your help. Writers are notoriously unreliable critics of their own work. And I'm, shall we say, somewhat deficient in the humility department. Which means I'm even less likely than the average writer to take an honest look at what I wrote and see where it sucks.

At this point I'm leaning back, congratulating myself for writing what might be the world's first hard sci-fi skypunk airship western. I'm also lamenting the taste of the average reader, since they haven't put down their sappy romance and picked it up yet. Because clearly there's nothing to improve in the most brilliant journey story since the goddam Odyssey.

See that unwarranted conceit? That's why I need your help. I'm not in the habit of editing as much as I ought to, or frankly as much as these stories deserve. So I need people willing to keep me honest, who are willing to spend a few hours of their lives helping me abandon my ego and bad habits.

I'm taking on editing this as a habit-forming project, and I'd like to start big. So if I still have your attention, can we talk shop for a bit?

I'd like to start by looking at the big picture, and working my way down. Start by editing the plot, the theme, the overall conflict, how well each chapter fits into the overall arc of the story, that sort of thing. Where it was too rushed, where it dragged on, any sort of insight would be hugely helpful.

-Plot

Was there a plot? Was it engaging? Did it end in a satisfying way? How many holes did I shoot into this thing and not fill? The subplots, how were they? Did you like the theme of the plot? Is there a question I should be asking here that I didn't think of?

-Characters

What did you think of them? Could you see them in your head? Were they interesting? Did their backstories make sense? Did they grow (at least Clarissa)

-Conflict & Themes

Could you tell there was a theme? Did you like it? Was it well woven into the story? Did I bludgeon you over the head with it until you wanted to throttle me? How was the conflict? Did the story drag in places?

(As always, any help you're willing to give is a huge gift, and don't feel obliged to do anything at all if you don't want to. And I don't have an equivalent expression in this story to 'burn brightly', but I'll think of something someday soon.)

Gordon