Last summer I read Curtain Call as Mare was reading it for the reading challenge, and I enjoyed the experience, so I thought I'd do it again this summer with Secrets of the Heart while Cinzia's reading it for the challenge. Again, it was interesting to read one of my own stories in its entirety almost a year after finishing it.
Name of story: Secrets of the Heart
Year you wrote it: I started it in October 2008 and finished it in August 2012, but the majority of it was written last summer.
Summary:
Brian Littrell and AJ McLean were not the type of men you’d expect to associate with one another. One was a music teacher and a family man; the other made his living in bars and tattoo parlors. Their paths sometimes paralleled, but never crossed… until fate altered the course of their lives. Through tragedy, the two men would meet… to bring justice to a life cut short.
Main Character: Brian and AJ
1) Did you feel your characters were strong?
I do think they were strong. I love the characters in this story. There are really four main characters, Brian, AJ, and their respective significant others, and each of them has their own personality and perspective.
2) Was your plot consistent?
I think so... The plot of this story is pieced together like a puzzle, and I had to do a lot of careful planning to be able to put all the parts together. This is the only story, aside from collaborations, that I've outlined chapter by chapter, so even though it took me forever to write it, I was able to remember where it was going and keep the story consistent.
3) Did you have many filler chapters or sub plots?
Really, no. There are two interweaving storylines, but no subplots beyond those. The story only has 25 chapters, which is short by my standards, and I pruned it down to get to that number (I think I had originally planned it to be closer to 30), so I can honestly say that every chapter is important and serves a purpose to the storyline and character development.
4) What is something you are proud of concerning this story?
Besides the characters, I'm most proud of the way I was able to weave the two storylines together in a way that would reveal the major pieces of the puzzle one at a time in the order I wanted to. I am not a mystery writer, and I'm not someone who departs from writing in chronological order very often, so this was a big accomplishment for me!
5) Did you find any major problems or inconsistencie s?
There weren't any major problems, and I only noticed three typos, which is pretty good for me! The only inconsistency I was worried about was with my writing style. I was worried it would be disjointed because of how long it took me to write this story. Luckily, I didn't notice that too much; I thought it flowed pretty well. I do think the ending is rushed, and that's partly because I remember feeling rushed as I wrote the ending - I was trying to crank out the last few chapters before school started last August and also wrap it up in 25 chapters. Without the deadlines I set for myself, I might have taken more time with it and stretched it out a little longer, but I'm not sure.
6) Something interesting that you took away from this one?
This is the first AU I've written in a LONG time that wasn't a collaboration and wasn't centered around some "gimmick" - ER doctors, secret agents, zombie apocalypse. It's the only one I've written in which the guys are just regular people, doing mostly regular things. If they weren't named for the Backstreet Boys, I think it could easily pass as original fiction, and that is encouraging to me because I don't usually think in terms of original fiction.
7) On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate this one?
I'd give it a 9. It's not perfect, but it's well-written, with vibrant characters and a unique plot, and there was nothing in it that made me outwardly cringe - a first, for me! Even Curtain Call had a cringe moment or two. I also like that I was able to keep it concise; it's been a long time since I wrote a whole novel in 25 chapters or less.
8) Did your opinion change from you wrote it originally?
I always liked this story for its plot, characters, and the first three chapters, but it was a pain in the ass to write! Even last summer, when I finally was able to churn out chapters consistently, it took a lot of effort to make myself keep writing. I'm not really sure why, but I like it more as a reader than I did as a writer - it's really nice to be able to look back on it now that it's finished and be like, "Hey, I wrote that!" But you will never catch me going, "Aww, I miss the days of writing Secrets..." Nope. LOL
9) Would you recommend this one to anyone?
I would recommend this to anyone who likes Brian, AJ, mystery, medical drama, and is open to AU. I know a lot of people probably passed on it because of the lack of consistent updates, the AU genre, and the fact that Nick is not mentioned anywhere in the summary, but if you can get past those things, I think it's a good read.
Final thoughts and comments about it: I'm proud of myself for finishing this story and mostly happy with how it turned out. It was fun to read it in its entirety this summer and see how the whole thing turned out.
Author
Topic: Reading your own stories...challenge (Read 13565 times)