I suck.
I have written three novels, and every time some of my beta readers tell me that this and that character are not believable because they would never really do blah, blah, blah.
I'm a loss what to do. My beta readers tell me that my writing continues to improve. That's all very well, but I can't get over this last hurdle. It's not like I haven't tried mixing up my strategy. My first novel I made up as I went along, my second novel, I outlined to a certain degree but significantly revised to the point where the plot was completely different, and the third novel I outlined for a couple months, writing 50 pages of notes, and only then began writing. I've spent about 2.5 years on each novel.
What's weird is that most of my critique buddies consider me to be an excellent plotter.
The only thing that would give me hope is if every story has elements that don't make sense and that I shouldn't fret about this. Otherwise, I'm really not sure what to do.
For example, why didn't Frodo early on just let an eagle carry him to the mountain and then drop the ring in the lava?
BTW, I'm not a lame-ass writer. I scored an agent with my first novel, but have yet to publish.
Any advice or comforting will be greatly appreciated!
I have written three novels, and every time some of my beta readers tell me that this and that character are not believable because they would never really do blah, blah, blah.
I'm a loss what to do. My beta readers tell me that my writing continues to improve. That's all very well, but I can't get over this last hurdle. It's not like I haven't tried mixing up my strategy. My first novel I made up as I went along, my second novel, I outlined to a certain degree but significantly revised to the point where the plot was completely different, and the third novel I outlined for a couple months, writing 50 pages of notes, and only then began writing. I've spent about 2.5 years on each novel.
What's weird is that most of my critique buddies consider me to be an excellent plotter.
The only thing that would give me hope is if every story has elements that don't make sense and that I shouldn't fret about this. Otherwise, I'm really not sure what to do.
For example, why didn't Frodo early on just let an eagle carry him to the mountain and then drop the ring in the lava?
BTW, I'm not a lame-ass writer. I scored an agent with my first novel, but have yet to publish.
Any advice or comforting will be greatly appreciated!