CBC: The Sessions (a.k.a. The Review Book)

Session 11: 'My Sharona' your ass! by Doctreez

Session 11

'My Sharona' your ass! by Doctreez

Let me tell you right now: This is not a sweet romance and I, Sharona Wesley, am not your heroine.

Before she died, my mom told me we are all made of moments, some more defining than others. The moment you try your first cigarette. The moment you fall for the wrong guy. The moment you stand naked in your window, watching as your fiancee cheats on you.

But despite all that, one of the most defining moments of my life had me shattering a vodka bottle in the head of a stranger in my dad's pub, then connecting my right fist with his nose to defend a girl I had never seen in my entire life. And THAT little moment, in which I watched as the small little glass diamonds floated around the guy's head - that was the exact moment my friendship with Joulinne, Chess, Douglas and Stark really began.

Of course, after that I blacked out with a way-too-strong punch in the stomach, but that was nothing compared to the shit storm approaching: a bunch of moments that would create not only the most successful Brit singer of the century, but - well. Let's just say you'll surely recognize some names later on. But brace yourself love, this will be a long story!

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Discussion Questions

Thanks a lot for reading the first chapters :)

1. I love humor. I feel humor is part of life just as much as sadness, fear, remorse, everything else - and it's just as important, being it on a movie, a book or face-to-face. I'm well aware that I started my story with a thick coat of "lightness" and some funny moments... And although I love humor, I fear that readers may have considered this as a cue to believe all the rest of the book would be filled the same way - I don't want it to happen, I want people to laugh, but always 'smelling a rat'. Did you have this impression? Do you think I should try to make the "serious bits" clearer?

2. My characters were born as caricatures, but they grew a lot both on "paper" and on me, all of them. I tried to give them both things to be proud and to be ashamed of... But I'm no pro and I know them good enough to see things readers may not. How do you feel about them, are they Human, 'real' enough? Do you have a favorite(s)? And if yes - who?

3. In my opinion, every single scene and detail in a book must have an use, a reason to exist, even if the reader doesn't remember it at first... With this in mind, I always try to spread "hints" throughout the chapters and some little bits of information. For many reasons, yes - one of them is to try to increase the chance of hooking the reader, to make him\her curious enough to keep reading. In your opinion, is that working? Did you feel curious about something specific or just confused/frustrated? Can you remember an example? (if not it's ok ^^ I'd just like to know if there's something 'remarkable', if that's a good word :P)

4. The first couple chapters have as main goal to show some of Sharona's sides. My main objective is to make the reader's perception about her to change slowly, making them like her even if just a little bit - but hopefully being able to relate to her in some way, even she being a bit wacky sometimes. Did you? Would you tell me what you think about her as the narrator?

5) Please provide any editorial feedback you might have, i.e. How can I make it better?