First Novel Back from the Editor

Well, my first novel is back from the editor. This was a successful NaNoWriMo ’06 effort and ‘finished’ by June of ’07. It was tweaked off and on for the next oh, four or five years and shelved when no agents were interested. Either the idea was *ahem* crap or the proposal was.

I finally decided to take the plunge and self-publish, probably as ebook only. The decision was triggered when a tweeter I follow mentioned his editor had some open slots. We talked, and he agreed to take on the manuscript.

Three days ago I received the file back. The editor thought … more

Bechdel Test – fail

Over the weekend, I saw a reference to the Bechdel Test (one of many links: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test), which, for anyone unfamiliar, is a test of gender bias. Passing the test is supposed to indicated three-dimensional female characters.

The explanation goes like this, your movie (or novel) must have two named, female characters that have a conversation about something other than a man. It can be any subject, even something that is cliched, like shoes or shopping. If not, then you fail the test.

It was originally conceived for movies, but I decided to apply it to my first novel to see … more