Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Negative Feedback

Negative Feedback

Last night we got some much needed rain. I heard a distant clap of thunder and then one louder and much closer. This morning, I walked outside and noticed the deck was wet and the rain barrels full of water.

One of the problems I have flying RC Models is vision. Another is hearing the motor and last, making a slow approach to land. If a pilot is inside an aircraft, they are looking out the windshield and listening to the engine. Plus they have a host of gauges to help them stay informed on what is happening. As I grow older my vision dims, my hearing requires aids and my reflexes have gone south. All I have left is experience and a sixth sense of what works and what doesn’t.

An RC flyer is on the edge of the flying field and sees the airplane from afar. This is the same way a writer sees their novel. The RC pilot relies on vision to determine the plane's attitude, distance and orientation. Then the sound of the engine to determine how fast the Revolutions per Minute (RPMs) are turning and finally upon a sense of touch that gives exactly the right movement to the controls to accomplish the desired function. If the operator lacks vision, that is a problem. So is not being able to hear the engine and finally touch is of critical importance. The same is true for writing a novel.

Without vision the author doesn’t know where the story is going and depends upon a muse or whatever inclination pops first into mind. This is not a good approach in the actual writing phase. It might be OK in the developmental phase but not the writing. A writer has to understand the components to good story telling and make sure they are integrated and plugged into an outline... before they start to write the first draft.

Next the writer needs an ear for the exposition and dialogue. Is it a good blend, is it enough but not too much and does it resonate with the story? If it won’t rev when it should and sputters along, the manuscript is an accident going somewhere to happen. Finally the writer needs a light touch on the controls. Writing is as much about what you don’t say as what you do. Going heavy on the adjectives and adverbs and trying to say six different things in the same sentence is a no go.

Too bad there isn’t a “Writing Simulator” like there is a “Flight Simulator.” Then writers would get instant feedback in the form of a power stall, a nose dive or the model getting out of range and disappearing over the horizon. Then the writer would see clearly the error of their ways in the form of a handful of crash site debris, a totaled engine or a wayward model. There would be no blaming publishers and the most straightforward undisputable feedback a writer could hope for.