A B N A Vets Forum I need your opinions, please

Having recieved neither a rejection nor an acceptance letter, and not finding myself in the appropriate category, I am attempting to move on.

I have an important decision to make. My submitted novel is the first of a tightly linked trilogy. I'm working on the second part. However, the story was originally concieved of as a practice story, a way of learning about structure without worrying about marketability or originality. Because of that, I am considering starting a new project rather than continuing to work on something that had an entirely artificial origin.

What I'd like to do is post the first 5000 words-- what the Amazon reviewers had to read and about what any agent would read-- and get your opinions on whether I should keep going, or start a project based on one of a few ideas that are dearer to my heart. (This novel is dear to me by now, but its origins were mechanical rather than inspired.)

Post it here, Chrys -- I'll be glad to look at it and critique it really honestly, with what you say about it in mind.

All right, I've posted it in the Writing section of the group?

Have you heard of/read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon?  That was a practice novel, too.

I'll look at it as soon as I've recovered from all this stress!

I've heard nothing from ABNA either.

Post your work, I'll be happy to read and comment. If we can't help each other, there must be something wrong with us.

It's available under the Writing tab of the group-- listed as First 5000 Words.

I hadn't heard of Outlander before now, no! Glancing over Amazon, it looks like that worked out pretty well? Where's the story of it being a practice novel?

For those who have read it-- do you think a scene prior to the starting scene, in which 3 of the primary characters are alerted to the murder would make things easier to follow? I've had some complaints of confusion....

good idea, in some way  the murder needs to be just a little more established as a fact, as it stands, I don't know Tiana well enough to totally believe (and sympathize fully with) her take especially when others are conveying it was something other than murder. 

EDIT:  hmm  my answer there is in reply to a targeted question, as I reread this post it sounds like this was an obvious issue - it wasn't, it was just a faint thing, and as I said in an email, your style motors the reader along. 

No probs. I'll look at it shortly. Funny...I started my submission as an experiment in revamping - I wanted to take your typical space opera and make it something more. Structure was a huge part of that for me, so I'm interested to see what you did.

Thanks, folks who have looked at it and folks who have said they would take a look at it.