Kristen Arnett Answers Your Awkward Questions About Bad Bookish Behavior
Howdy! We meet again!
Welcome back to the most exciting corner of the internet. That’s right, it’s once again time for Am I the Literary Asshole?, an advice column about drama that sometimes boils down to a misused comma and the consumption of several Miller High Lifes. I’m your host, Kristen Arnett, and I’ve never met a beer I didn’t like. In tribute to that—as well as the fact that nothing goes better with drama than crushing a couple of cold ones—I’ve brought us a couple of six-packs and some crunch wrap supremes. Who loves you? I do!
The questions are wilder than ever today, friends, and the beers not getting any colder. Let’s wade right into the friction and get to drinking, shall we? Toast those crunch wraps, let’s get right to it:
1) Recently I got some feedback on my writing that’s been giving me some trouble. I’m working on a novel draft (and have been toiling away inside this document for the past two-and-a-half-years) and have shown it to basically no one. It’s finally reached a critical stage where I need eyes on it, so I showed it to someone who’s given me trusted feedback in the past. After almost two months of total silence, they finally got back to me with what basically boiled down to as “it’s very cinematic.” It doesn’t feel as though they meant this in a good way, but more like they feel like I wrote it strictly so it could be turned into something meant for the screen. That’s not what I was trying to do at all. I’m overwhelmed by this and am now reconsidering everything I’ve written. I don’t want to trash my novel, but I’m upset. Please tell me is the person being an asshole or am I just overly sensitive?
