Review: My Clauses Series

So this month I crafted banged out a series about the origins of Santa and the Missus. To be fair I've decided to review my own work. I think you'll find it to be a very impartial view.

The start of the series had a very sarcastic tone, that was at once humorous and fantastical. From there I went into a second part that switched into more of an article retrospect. The second part was different, focusing more on a laid back humor, as opposed to the ironic bite of the the first. Still I felt it worked well, and the two went together well. In the third part I became a little concerned with the length of it, feeling that I wanted it to be more encapsulated, and therefore easily digested. This had the problem of fitting what were otherwise brilliant ideas into too small of a package. The result is a cramped hurried pace, that does not feel quite natural.

With the fourth installment, I tried to be a little more lenient with it. Let it run on a bit. The problem that I was finding though, was that already I had boxed myself into a narrative that didn't really allow for dialog. Considering that dialog has always been my strength, I found myself written into a situation I hadn't been in since I first started writing in my teens. The end result is that while there are a lot of thoughts, and even some decent passages, the words without break become cumbersome.

With the fifth and sixth installments, it only got worse. The idea of expressing sentiments between characters without letting them say it themselves, began to tear worse and worse at the structure. And then I was faced with another problem. I had started late in the season with out any real plan and as a result I took what should have been at least three entries (really four) and crammed them into two. It's rushed, it's sloppy; awkward, and hard to read.

All together I would have to say that it is far from my best writing. Yet to my credit, though I don't want to come off bragging, I had several very original ideas that if properly used would make for a very fun take on Santa Claus. Sadly the quality of the first 3 installments versus that of the last 3 differs so dramatically as to be considered a failure by all accounts.

I rate my Clauses series, a tragic 4 out of 10

Now, should I take these entries, reformat and rewrite them for next Christmas, I could see (not to sound boastful) it easily getting an 8 out 10. The question is if I will want to revisit it. I very much hate editing my own stuff, so it's definitely a question mark. At the very least I can take a breather and get away from it for a safe while before I decide.