[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 26 August 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Don't send multiple submissions to five of the top agents in the business. If they're considering looking at your manuscript, but they know four other agents have it, the tendency is not to look at it. Say in your submission letter that you're submitting it exclusively." Robert Gottlieb
I think it's fascinating to consider the buildup of the industry. Once upon a time, people submitted manuscripts direct to publishers. The "over-the-transom" submissions went into a slush pile. But, over time, publishers got buried in slush. So they started to rely on the agent process -- agent brought the submissions to the publishers, and did the slush reading. But now the agent system seems to have gotten buried, and developed its own set of weird protocols and rituals and rites of passage.

Add in economic havoc, changing technology, and all that... and you have a publication system that doesn't seem to work very well.

How do we get from the authors through the publication system to the readers? Right now, very, very slowly. One step forward, two back, and try again. And again. And again.

Anyway, Gottlieb suggests that you not play games with your submissions to the agents.

And keep trying.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
original posting 25 August 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"If you really aren't ready for publication, paying someone to rush things along isn't going to earn you the reputation and success you desire. So put away your checkbook and credit cards and dig out your manuscript. Concentrate your energies into making your writing the best it can be. If your work deserves an audience, it will find one without the process draining your bank account." Nancy Breen
Ouch. Beware of vanity presses, book doctors, and other scams. http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/ is one resource that I've heard good things about. But the point is, if you are looking for publication, you shouldn't have to pay for it. Certainly, it will cost you -- time, mailing costs, time, copying costs, time -- but you shouldn't be paying for publication.

One of the fuzzy questions here is conferences, workshops, classes, books and whatnot. Most of them cost. But...

Oh! What about contests that charge an entry fee? $5 each, and we're giving away a $20 prize for the winner? Wait a minute...

Keep your hand on your wallet, and don't uncover your checkbook and credit cards.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original Posting 22 August 2009

Writer's Digest, August 2006, pages 74 and 75, have an article by I. J. Schecter with the title, "kids teach the darndest things." Basically, this is 10 lessons about writing that Schecter learned from his three-year-old son Julian. I'll summarize, but the stories about watching Julian do things are fun -- you ought to read the article.
  1. Build towers one block at a time. Writing projects are big and daunting. Break them into little steps, then work on that one small block. Set the big picture aside for the moment.
  2. Use your imagination. "When writing a new piece, I rarely know what's going to work ahead of time -- so I have to be willing to experiment. For a toddler, pushing the envelope is second nature. When I asked Julian to brush his teeth and he says, 'It's not a toothbrush, it's a dragon,' I'm not surprised; I'm reminded of the importance of looking at things in fresh ways."
  3. Be open to new directions. Sometimes pushing ahead just makes things worse. Do you insist on brushing with a dragon, or go in search of prey and play? Accept the new possibilities, and enjoy the fun.
  4. Ask "why." Great stories mean you to know your characters. Toddlers do exhaustive inquiry -- why is it this way? Why isn't it this other thing? Questions and questions and questions. That's what you need to ask, too.
  5. Keep it simple. Overexplaining to children often results in them looking at you and telling you the simple truth. Keep it simple, direct, and don't bother repeating umpteen times, because that's just boring.
  6. Earn the cookie. We encourage children with little rewards and cheers. Do it for yourself, too. When you hit your goals, reward yourself. Cheer for yourself.
  7. Get to the point. Listening to other people tell stories, you may have noticed that they start over here, tell you about what they had for breakfast, drag in something else, and so forth and so on... until you've forgotten what you asked in the first place. What was the point? Do the newspaper thing -- get the point in early, then tell all the other stuff.
  8. Learn from others. Children pay a lot of attention to each other, observing and trying to imitate. Writers need to read and learn from other writers, too.
  9. Plunge in. That quality of absorption, of being focused on and diving in... give yourself permission to let go and do it. Dive in and wrestle with that new idea for a while to find out what you can do with it.
  10. Allow do-overs. When a tower of blocks isn't quite right, Julian feels no compunction about knocking it all down and starting over again. Tackle your writing the same way. Aim for perfection, and don't be afraid of making sweeping changes.
There's an implicit lesson here too. There are ideas and guidance about writing everywhere -- it's just a piece of life. So don't get too tied up in trying to get lessons from the aged masters of the art -- Julian has things to teach you too.

Just for fun, over the next week or so, put together your own list of 10 lessons about writing, along with the little stories or explanations of where you found it and what it means to you. Something for your journal perhaps? Or you could post it here on writers.

(to be honest, I'm not sure which I. J. Schecter this is. Does it matter, really, as long as the lessons are instructive? Ad hominem -- that's usually considered a fallacy because people tend to devalue information based on what else the person may have done in their life -- a criminal, a gambler, or whatever -- but it's also a mistake to accept information without criticism based on the person being something special -- rich, powerful, etc. -- isn't it? Does good advice lose its luster when it come from a rusty source? )
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original Posting 20 August 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Writers love words -- it's one of the greatest of our occupational hazards. Consequently, when a first draft comes rushing out of us, it invariably contains too many of them. It's your job to go through the manuscript and identify the bones that require scoping. To do this, monitor your own response to the rhythms of your sentences and paragraphs. You'll know when the sentence is too long if, by the end of it, you feel as you would listening to someone share an anecdote that drags on too long." I.J. Schechter
It's kind of fun to see how these various people think about writing and revision. Schechter seems to see the first draft as an outpouring, flooding the page with words. Then revision is paring it down, getting rid of the extra junk around the edges so that you can see what the core is. And the suggestion about paying attention to your own response to your own rhythms. Do you read your work out loud? Can you hear the words?

I do wonder if there is a difference between the reader who listens to the words, the reader who sees the scenes, and perhaps the reader who is there? I mean, if we're paying too much attention to the words, to the singing beauty of the writing, are we missing the story? Or...

Anyway -- beware of the flood of words, drenching your story in muddy swirls. Clean it up!
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original Posting 12 August 2009

riters' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:

"Be the writer who stays in the chair. When you struggle to find the answers to the tricky questions posed by your story, when you push through the feeling that the piece is no longer as inspired or wonderful as it seemed at first blush, you push your project to its next level. And you push yourself forward as a writer." Jack Heffron

Interesting advice. Especially given the tendency to try to provide "idiot proof" guidance for almost everything, it's refreshing to be reminded that everything isn't always exciting or simple. Sometimes you have to struggle to figure things out. Sometimes you have to keep going even when the project doesn't feel cool or fun -- that commitment to keep going is part of the process.

I wonder if this isn't part of what divides the hobbyists from the professionals? I mean, hobbyists tend to want to do the fun stuff, but don't really have a reason to do the boring stuff. Professionals take a slightly longer view and do the whole job, including the tedious and boring parts.

Struggle, push, keep going -- it sounds like the advice we give our protagonists when they face that dark alley on the way to the goal, doesn't it? Still, it's the way we get things done. Step-by-step, stumbling, struggling, working our way through things.

It sort of makes the achievement worthwhile, doesn't it? If it was easy, would it be worth it?
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
original posting 30 July 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Neophyte writers often weaken their writing -- and pick up rejection slips -- by breaking rules in ways they feel are clever but in reality are just inappropriate. Step one: learn the rules. Step two: break them." Stephen Blake Mettee
Shouldn't there be a step between those two? Something like practice, practice, practice? I think about Ray Bradbury talking about copying for some incredibly long period of time, and all the other greats who usually indicate that they steeped themselves in learning the rules and practicing them for a long time before their "instant" success. The novelists who talk about their five or ten novels that they wrote before their first sale -- which is touted as being a breakthrough first novel.

It's not really that the rules are all that great, or that you should treat them as some kind of handcuffs or punishment. It's just that these are things that people have found work, and doing your writing inside the guidelines makes it easier for you as a writer and for your readers. So why do it the hard way?

Somewhere I've seen a comment about swimming in a river with the current -- you can swim against the current, and get nowhere. You can swim across the current, and you get somewhere, but you're also fighting the current to reach the point that you intend to reach. Or you can swim with the current, and you go faster than you thought you could. Sometimes I think the rules are like a current of the river.

Just remember Maugham's advice. "There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." Or is that fortunately?
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original Posting 25 July 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Assess your starting points for the book and for each scene. Begin your manuscript in media res, 'in the middle of things.' Commence just before or just as the protagonist's life destabilizes." Laurie Rosin
Or as Howard Tayler likes to put it over here on Writing Excuses (15 minute podcasts about writing at http://www.writingexcuses.com/ ) -- In Late, Out Early. Start as late as possible, and end as soon as possible. Incidentally, I think that's in medias res, although that's rather pedantic. The point being that "As the car barreled into the side of his shop..." is rather more interesting than "Henry was born to stolidly middle-class parents in the small town of OshKosh, Ohio..."

So pay attention to the starting points you pick, overall, and for each scene. Where does the ordinary humdrum start to fall apart? What is the inciting incident that kicks off the avalanche of actions, reactions, and emotional turmoil that you are going to detail? Find the butterfly wing flapping, and start with that...

While we're at it, this is a great point for revision and reading groups. Often we as writers, especially in the first flush of writing, have some preliminary stuff that we need to get out before we actually hit the real starting point. Looking through slush piles, I'm amazed at how often writers fill in background... before starting! Get the machete out and cut that filler. If you need it, put some back as flashbacks or around the edges, but... start at the right place.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 23 July 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Today's time-starved, MTV-ized USA Today readers don't have the patience for the kind of polite strolling about the subject that Victorian authors indulged in. They want their stories straight up, fast and furious, with no throat-clearing. That means if you're writing a book about a homicide, get the bullet out of the gun on the first page. If you're promising to improve readers' sex lives, get between the sheets in the opening sentence." David A. Fryxell
What's funny about this is that we also seem to have more bricks being produced -- thick tomes of several hundred pages. And series that run on and on and on. So we've got this demand for fast intense action, potboilers and thrillers that never slow down, and the epic novels that never seem to stop. It's an odd juxtaposition. And I'm not sure that it's real, either. Certainly browsers often pick up a book and look at the very beginning to decide whether or not to buy it, but once they buy it, they want enough story -- a thin book isn't going to make them happy. So make sure that the book starts fast, but also that there is enough there to make the readers happy?
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 22 July 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Purge all vague adjectives -- amazing, interesting, compelling, appealing -- and replace them with words that paint pictures. Readers like visual stimulation. Don't say a shirt is 'amazing.' Say it's 'iridescent chartreuse with an orange quilted collar and 16 whalebone buttons.'" Becky Ohlsen
I was about to say that's interesting advice :-) but it's a good tip for revision. Fire up the search (ctrl-f) and look for "ing" words. Then check and see whether they are vague adjectives. If they are, think about what you're really trying to say or show the reader. Replace interesting with it makes me want to run a search on my writing and rewrite those soft adjectives with vivid, concrete action and dialogue. Not quite chartreuse, but perhaps purple prose?

Words that paint pictures. Visual stimulation. Show the reader what you're talking about, what you are thinking about.

So watch out for adverbs (those ly words!) and pare back those adjectives (the ing's that lurk). Pick strong nouns and verbs. Bring your writing to life with vivid, concrete, visual details.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 20 July 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Find your theme -- illness, abuse, bigotry, poverty, love, separation, justice -- and weave it like a master craftsman. It can meander through your book like a winding, beckoning path or be as painful as an open, gushing wound, but don't lose it in the trappings of the tale." Nancy Hendrickson
Theme? Ah, now that's an interesting suggestion. After you get done with the craft -- who are the characters, what's the plot, where are we going, what happens along the way, how do we raise the stakes, get everyone involved, and hit that climax -- there's still this notion of theme. What's the story about? Not to lean too heavily on the moral of the story, because that's often overdone, but what's the golden thread that ties it all together? Romance stories usually are about love and human relationships. Most of the samurai dramas are about justice at some level. Maybe that's how they tie into westerns -- which also often are about justice.

Something to think about. What is the theme of your story? How does it get expressed? How do you manage to show it to the readers without being overbearing about "THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS..."? Do you start with your theme, and wrap the story around it, or do you let the story show you the theme as it develops? When you are revising, do you do a pass through the story with theme in mind? What do you adjust in that pass?
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 16 July 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Dive deeper into your manuscript. Break it down into components and analyze where it goes off track. Maybe the lead-in is too long, the buildup is unevenly paced or the payoff isn't satisfying. Dissect the story and examine how you can make each section as powerful as it can be." I. J. Schecter
Revision by chopping and weighing? Sure, why not? After all, if we have five pages of lead-in, two pages of buildup, and a single flaming page of climax... perhaps it is a bit lacking in balance? Or consider the act one, two, three structure? How are you handling the incitement to action, the kick that gets the hero off their duff? And then walk across the room and out! What gets them going, what forces them through the first door of no return, what makes them decide to take on the bad guys? Complications and trials, the middle of the sandwich -- as the old ad has it, "Where's the beef?" Make it a dagwood! And then... what forces them into the second doorway of no return, the final commitment to stand and do or die, to fight the unbeatable...well, you know how that goes, right?

Look at the different parts. How does the story balance in terms of action and reflection? Or was that action and dialogue? Plot vs. character? You got some setting in there for ballast?

Rotate the tires, check the pressure, a little lube, dipstick for the oil...

You get the picture. Run your own checkup and make sure that your little darling is ready for a spin.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting Fri, 20 Aug 1993 18:00:04 JST

From "On Writing Science Fiction" by George H. Scithers, Darrell Schweitzer, and John M. Ford, Owlswick Press, 1981. p.7
"What are your chances of actually being published?..."
"If you write prose that is at all competent, if your ideas show any novelty, your characters any believability, your backgrounds any color, then your chances are very good indeed, because you will be better than 90 to 99 percent of the people who think they are writers. Any writer of good science fiction will have no difficulty selling virtually all the material he can create."
Who are these people, daring to contradict the folk wisdom that selling fiction is hard, and the chances slim?

The subtitle of the book is "The Editors Strike Back." These are working editors, who I suspect know what they are seeing... Further, while they refer specifically to SF, I suspect the same is true in every writing arena (except, possibly, poetry...).

So - write, finish, and submit. Those editors are waiting for competent work, let alone the sparkling wonders we have around here...

(sorry, gotta get back to work on my next potboiler...:-)
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 8 July 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Smart first-time authors focus on their writing. They'll celebrate their first sale, then ask, 'What should I do next?'" Donald Maass
Interesting point. Especially given the current sales and length of time for making sales, it's important not to get invested in the individual sale, especially that first one. Set up your process for writing, your regular approach to getting the words out. When a sale comes, that's great. But the key is to keep writing.

It's a bit like pottery or almost anything else. Having one selected and honored -- sold -- is great, but you want to have a selection on the shelves. That's what makes the customer browse the shelves, and gives you something to show the customer who says that's almost right, do you have it in a little different shade?

Celebrate your sales. And then ask yourself, "What should I do next?"
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 7 July 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Explore your subject with language that's simple rather than ornate, graceful rather than labored. Read your pages aloud -- to the cat, if no other audience is available. You'll hear if the words are right, if the phrasing and sentences catch the right rhythms. Avoid cliches: no shattered dreams, minutes that seemed like an eternity or worlds turned upside down." Meg Files
Keep it simple. Certainly, just between friends, hauling out the thesaurus and the dictionary for the fun of it, we can dig through the richness and glory of English -- but readers like their meals simple, mostly. No rich fancy cooking, just a plot, some characters, a bit of setting, with words that vanish. When the language grows ornate, it's like there's a flaw in the window between the reader and the story -- and suddenly the reader is paying attention to the window, and loses track of the story.

So read it aloud. If you stumble, your reader is sure to have trouble. Keep it simple, keep it plain, and make it your words.

Watch out for those wonderful cliches. When you find one, just try putting it in your own terms. Like looking for a needle in a haystack -- when was the last time you saw a haystack? How about looking for a friend in the Memorial Day sales crowds? Or maybe a T-shirt in your size at Wal-Marts? Or... you know what that phrase means. Just put it in your own words, your own experience.

This is really what all the talk about grammar and spelling and word selection is all about. Making it easy for the reader to see your story. You don't want them to say, "I couldn't read the story for the words."
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 3 July 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Whenever I'm blocked, I lower my standards. Wait, let me correct that: I abandon my standards completely. I urge myself to write badly and once I do that my fingers begin to fly and the inner critic is powerless. I used to keep a motto taped to my typewriter: leave the judging 'til later." Christopher Scanlon
Postpone the judging -- we shall judge no writing before it's time? Give yourself an opportunity to be wrong, because you can fix that, but you can't be right unless you're writing? So just dump it. I was reading somewhere recently where a writer blogged about his first draft being a vomit version. Rather disgusting, but memorable. Just get it out there. Then you can fix it.

I'm not sure that we want to urge ourselves to write badly, but we definitely need to put off the inner critic. Tape his mouth shut, blindfold him, and put him in the other room. Now, write it. Let the words flow, the images out, don't worry about little shifts in point of view and what not, just get it down.

Grammar, criticism, spelling, punctuation, revision -- that's for later. You have to start somewhere, and getting the words down is where the writing hits the page. So do it!
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original Posting 2 July 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:

"Whenever you read newspapers or magazines, read like a writer. While digesting the gist of the story, look for possible new takes, personality profiles to adopt for your characters, various sources to add to your research files, startling statistics -- whatever catches your interest. Keep a pair of scissors nearby as you read. If you come across an article that intrigues you but you're not sure what to do with it, clip it and add it to an idea folder." Michelle Medlock Adams

Reading, watching TV, the movies, sitting in the coffee shop -- it's all grist for the mill (don't you just love a good cliche?). Keep your eyes open, pay attention to what excites you, what interests you, what makes you think and feel. Grab hold of the events, the characters, the background, the details -- all the little bits and pieces that you can use in your own work.

Sometimes I think of it as the idea net -- there is this flood of stuff going past us all the time, in newspapers, mailing lists, magazines, books, and we fling our nets into the flood, pulling back a haul of ideas. If you have seen the fishing boats, the first thing they have to do is sort through, tossing the ones that haven't quite grown enough yet, dropping the ones that aren't the right kind, sifting and choosing the catch. It's hard work, but it's where the whole business starts.

Organize it the way that makes sense to you. An idea folder, a journal, or scribbles on napkins (although I will suggest that a small notebook makes those notes a little easier to read). Think of it as compost for your creative process... hum, that may not be the best image. Fodder for you to chew on? I don't know, today seems to be a farm metaphor day. Okay, whatever, collect those pieces!
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original Posting 29 June 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"A lot of writer's block is just laziness -- an excuse for not applying yourself. You've just got to make the effort consistently. Consider your novel or book to be a marathon. You're not going to do really well unless you train consistently." Joe Kita
That image of writing as a marathon effort -- keep at it! -- seems like a really good one. What other notions? Oh, the training -- do those situps, every day! And maybe some of those water wearing away rock ones? A drop, a drop, and before you know it, there's a river running right down the canyon. Or perhaps the farming ones -- you plow, plant, weed, keep going, keep going -- and harvest. Not an immediate gratification kind of thing. That's one of the hard things, I think -- there is so much to learn, to try, for so long, balanced with inspiration, excitement, craft, revision -- and eventually, down the line, there is a story.

So, do your daily dozens, keep working, keep grinding away...and run the race that you have set for yourself! And cheer for yourself, even if the tickertape and film crews have already gone away.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original Posting 20 June 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"When I'm having trouble, I read other people's work I admire. That gets me inspired. You can also visualize yourself as a movie director moving your characters around. That's nice and empowering. Or you could go the other way and imagine yourself as an assembly-line worker. Not empowering at all -- but good for reminding yourself that writing isn't always art. Sometimes you have to bang it out." A.J. Jacobs
Take a page from someone that you admire -- or perhaps take a look at that book that you can't believe got published? Anyway, get a shot of inspiration from some of the other writing around. Or back off and reconsider your writing as movie direction, or as the factory grinding out widgets? What about the monkeys madly typing?

Something to tuck in your journal perhaps -- different ways to inspire yourself, to help fan that flickering flame that keeps you writing. Take a moment and think about what gets you excited about writing. Put it down in your list. Now think about something else that helps you keep writing. Put that down. Try to come up with five different inspirations, butt-kickers, or whatever that helps you with your writing.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original Posting 17 June 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"If I want to see a story in print, I simply have to become that story's biggest enemy, so why not dig in and begin slashing?" Mark Wisniewski
Now that's a different approach to revision. Goes along with kill your darlings, etc. I guess. To make your story the best, tackle it as if you were the enemy. Don't sit there and say I know my story is wonderful because it's mine -- ask yourself what's wrong with this story? Point out the missing logic, and then fix it. Put your finger on the scene that doesn't do anything except look pretty -- and cut it. Grab hold of that scene that didn't get written and force it in there. Be the maniacal monster who is going to make this story cry, and then win.

Mitsuko has been watching American Idol. There's a guy on the end who usually says things like, "That was self-indulgent, boring, and useless." You can almost see the contestants brace for his critiques. But every now and then, when one of the contestants really does well, he smiles and says, "That was great!" And you know, I think most of the contestants would rather get one of his rare compliments than any of the "I like you" or "You've got a great personality" or whatever that the other judges are handing out.

That's what your story needs. Not you complimenting it for having good intentions and a nice smile. You tearing it to pieces and making it the best possible story you can! Go ahead -- be your story's worst nightmare.
[identity profile] mbarker.livejournal.com
Original posting 16 June 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:
"Experiment with voice. Step out of your objective authorial mode and address the readers. Take a different angle on the subject. Look for a metaphor or theme that might tie your story together and make it more than the sum of its parts." David A. Fryxell
Play with your writing. Experiment. Try different things, add, subtract... write a scene all in dialogue. Write another in second person (ouch, you dirty rat, you!). Push, twist, make the most of your ability to try things -- and then to pick out what's useful and drop the rest. What if... applies to the writing as well as the content.

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