First things first -- I LOVE my critique partners. They are awesomeness incarnate. They trudge through my WIPs with smiley faces, great suggestions, and most of all with a red pen!
SO if you're struggling to understand someone's red ink or comments, here's how I learned to appreciate critiques.
1. Realize you are receiving someone else's opinion.
A great quote to go along with that -- "No two persons ever read the same book." ~ Edmond Wilson. This might seem difficult, but really, it isn't. Take everything with a grain of salt or sugar! You are not required to follow everyone's advice. The story you're writing is, above all else, yours! That said, if three CPs say the same thing, it might need changing. :)
2. If you don't understand a comment, ask!
Don't be shy to chat with your CPs. They want to explain their suggestions, I promise. If something is making you scratch your head, send an email or call them up. Or if you're in a group with time limitations, ask if you can talk to them after all the critiques are finished.
3. Take a deep breath and realize you don't know everything.
This goes for everyone! Even if you've written three thousand books, you can still learn something new. Humility wins out over pride every time. Take a break from your WIP, whether it be a nap or a good night's sleep (or a month or two!) and look at it with fresh eyes. Then you might see what others are saying.
4. Be willing to revise. Or not...
I think all writers understand that we can revise and rewrite a story to death. And sometimes over-revising kills voice and originality.
5. Say, "Thank you!"
With or without the exclamation point. :) Saying thanks is not only good for you, but lets your CPs know that you truly appreciate the time they spent reading and critiquing your words.
6. Pay it forward.
Do your best when critiquing the words of others. And remember to sandwich! Compliment-> sage advice-> smiley face.
As always, thanks for reading! We love hearing from you! Share your wonderful ideas on critique partners or horror stories. :)
Happy Monday, guys and gals! I'm going to chat with you about something that you very well may already be familiar with, but I wanted to throw it out there for those of you who may be new to the writing community or maybe just new to podcasts in general.
If you write genre fiction, especially sci fi and/or fantasy, then you probably already listen to the Writing Excuses podcast. Buuuuuut on the off chance that you haven't had the pleasure, you should seriously think about checking it out.
It's a once a week, 15 min long (give or take) podcast about writing, and it's run by some really cool folks, namely Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler. Maybe you've heard of them?? The podcast is fun, informative, full of fabulous guest authors, and it's short, so you're not wading through 45 mins of off topic banter before getting to the good stuff.
Season 10 began in January and, taken from the shows transcript: "Each month will focus on a specific bit of the writing process, and each podcast will drill down on one of those bits."
I've enjoyed following along so far this year! And even though it's nearly April, the back episodes, plus all 9 previous seasons are available for your listening pleasure via the archives on their website.
Right now, they're digging into story structure, which is a topic I'm always fascinated by. I really enjoyed today's episode, and I thought maybe you would too.
As storytellers we want to ground our readers in the setting of our story. Setting is a necessary tool to help our readers relate with our characters. It can also increase suspense of conflict.
1. Always give a location.
Is your story in a room? Which one? A bedroom and a living room are vastly different. Make sure to mention the city, state, or general area. In fantasy, describe the landscape or lack thereof to familiarize the reader.
2. Seasons and weather can increase your reader's association with the story.
Weather allows the reader to experience the sensations your character is feelings in whatever setting you have placed them. We can all relate to rain and cold or a sunny day and heat. A little extra description of the temperature or season can go a long way. Season can also show your story's time length.
3. Time is important!
All people associate time with their own lives. We all feel different at different times of the day. Time can show your character is a morning person or a night owl. Hunger at breakfast, lunch, and dinner are also ways to bring an extra layer of believability to your character.
The ticking time bomb approach can also build conflict and suspense in a story. For instance if a bomb is going off in 24 hours, you've got a new challenge for every hour.
So check out your manuscript and make sure you have offered a location, time, and described the weather surrounding your character's story. We all experience these aspects of life at all times and it is important for your reader to associate these within your story world.
How have you used setting to increase the reliability in your story? Any struggles in building a realistic fantasy world? We love to hear from you!
So. A couple weeks ago, I was chatting with
someone on Twitter about how easy it is to get swept away in the comparison
game. You see amazing things happening to other writers—heck, to your friends—and
sometimes, all you can think is, “Why not me? I'M DOING MY BEST, HERE."
Look, I get it. I know what it’s like when your story more closely
resembles a 1,000-piece puzzle that just spilled onto the floor (and a piece
has disappeared under the couch, and your dog has eaten a piece, and your kid
swiped a couple…), and then you read someone’s post on how they wrote a book in
two weeks. I know what it’s like to feel completely lost and wonder whether
or not you should keep writing or hop on the next bus to join the circus, and
then you wake up to someone’s 6-figure book deal announcement.
But here’s the thing: Comparing yourself to others
can be a dangerous game. It hinders your work.
It stunts your growth. Because in
this crazy writerly world, there are so many different paths to get where you
need to go. The path set out for you may not even be on another person’s map. That person who wrote a book in two weeks? Sometimes a story simply pours out of you. Or maybe that person is a pro at fast-drafting and this is their method. And the one who got big bucks for their book? There's no telling how long, or how hard they worked on that book. While it may look like these things happen overnight, they don't. I know it's difficult to see that when you're trudging through the mud of a difficult story (believe me, I KNOW), but they just don't.
It’s been said time and time again, but I’ll say
once more, with feeling: Eyes on your own paper. If that means taking a Twitter
break, do it. If that means cancelling your Publisher’s Marketplace account, do
it. My motto lately has been “head down and WORK,” and let me tell you, it’s
been a sanity-saver. I love when great things happen for even greater people. And when I take regular breaks and focus on my own work, I find that I'm able to be even happier for them. Sure, jealousy may flare once in a while - we're only human. But it's possible to turn that into motivation to work harder on my own stories.
There's no way to win the comparison game. When you compare yourself to others, you take away
from the amazingness that you have to
offer. No one can write the book you’re writing. So don’t shortchange yourself,
‘kay?
Why is overediting not recognized by MSWord? Does that mean it's
like drinking water, eating vegetables, and walking--it's pretty dang
impossible to do too much of these things?
My second manuscript got some early attention from some very
kind persons in the agenting and publishing world. They only saw ten pages mind
you. But something about my words sparked their interest. The novel wasn't
completed yet, so I was encouraged to take my time and send it to them when it
was ready.
Well, once I typed The End, I sent the novel off to my Beta
Readers and went over it line, by line, by line... I made sure it was grammatically and
mechanically shiny. I took all the feedback I received and implemented it.
Without question. I even cleaned those first ten pages because, hey, even
though they were liked, surely they weren't pretty enough.
I never heard from the publisher, but the amazing agent (who
had it in her heart to look at the full on two different occasions from me) nicely
told me that somewhere in all those edits, I quit trusting my character's
voice. I had to separate myself from the book for several months. Then, I took
out the ten pages I initially wrote and compared them to those edited pages. They
were as if they were written by another person. I'd turned my snarky teen and
her slightly uptight boyfriend into a butterfly and a marshmallow.
As I pound away at my work in progress, I try to implement
the things I've learned through trial and error on my other manuscripts. Now that I'm older and, hopefully, slightly
wiser, I will edit, edit, edit... but I'll also remember why I wrote something a certain way to begin
with.
There are times, I believe, that we all think, "Why am I doing this?"
Besides the fact that I love to write stories, writing isn't always fun storytelling and creating. It's rewriting, revising, and killing your darlings. It's going back after rewriting the entire novel four times and rewriting it again because it's not good enough yet.
Recently, I received some rejections on my first YA fantasy. I was bummed so I shelved it until I can get a fresh perspective. I switched gears and have honed my focus on last year's NaNo novel. BUT. Doubtful feelings still creep up when I read a spectacular book. I think, "I can never write a book this good." And I'm probably right.
I couldn't have written that beautiful book because someone else already did.
My writing won't be the same as anyone else's. It will be mine.
This weekend I went to one of my family's favorite parks and saw something new. Something that encouraged me to stick with what I love. To never give up. To keep pressing the boundaries of words and stories.
A wonderful, creative Canadian sculptor, Eric Lapointe is featured right here in Texas! These are a couple of the sculptures featured on the park trails near my house. Super cool, right?
It's a...
Sphinx!
My son getting a glimpse of...
Neuschwanstein Castle!
This was such a lovely treat for me and my kids. When I got home, I googled Eric and truly enjoyed his artistic profession quote:
"Through my work, I rebel against the evidence that clouds our ability to question our habits. I try to give things perspective, to take my subjects out of their ordinary aspect in order to reveal their hidden reality."
So be encouraged writer of tales and artist of words! Look beyond your current perspective like so many other writers have in our past and press on! You got this. Please share your thoughts with us! Have you sunk low after a rejection? How did you cope? What has encouraged you to keep on writing?
Every choice your
character makes leads to whatever is going to happen next. As an author—the evil
mustache-twirling mastermind behind the story – figuring out what that thing is
will undoubtedly fall somewhere between semi-perplexing and bang head against
the wall until your eyes cross. And it will happen over and over and over
again, because what are stories if not a constant string of What Comes Nexts?
So how do we wade through the murky territory of story decisions without
turning into Artax in the Swamp of Sadness—overwhelmed and despairing that we’ll
never come up with a kick ass plot?
I won’t tell you that I
know the 7 words that will make a woman love you* how to eradicate
Swamp of Sadness Syndrome, but I can share a few tips that may help you out if
your story gets stuck.
1)Goals
& Motivation.
In the
current scene, what does your character want and why do they want it? This is the
first thing I look at when my characters start bumbling around and the plot
feels like it’s going nowhere. A good amount of the time, I’ve lost sight of
what the characters want and why any of it matters. Making sure this is clear
on the page and focusing your scene around it will go a long, long way toward
getting things back on track.
2)Conflict.
If you have
lost sight of your characters goals and motivations, chances are there’s not a
lot of conflict going on either. Things can’t really oppose your characters in a meaningful way if they aren’t actively
working toward something. Once you’ve reacquainted yourself (and the story) to
# 1, it’s a lot easier to find inherent conflicts to torture your characters
with.
3)Stakes.
Your characters
can have a goal and firm motivations for achieving it. Things can stand in
their way — even big scary things with lots of sharp teeth – but if your
characters have nothing to lose if they fail, any conflict you establish will
feel contrived. The reader won’t care whether the characters achieve the scene
goal. So, if you don’t a ton of work setting
up Goals, Motivation, and Conflict but you feel like your scene is still falling
flat, it might be time to reexamine what your characters have at stake if they
fail and make sure that it’s coming across on the page.
4)Putting
it all together.
In my
opinion, this can be the hardest part because on the scene level, there might be
several options goals, motivations, conflicts, and stakes. If I’m going to get
really, truly stuck, there is where and when it happens.
So how
do you decide THE BEST course of action? If you’re anything like me, it’s right
about now that you:
* stare
at the screen
* write
a few words
* stare anxiously
at what you wrote
* pound
the delete key
* gorge
self on *insert favorite snack and/or wine here*
* wash,
rinse, repeat, and/or decide that you totally suck at life and go watch TV
instead
* sink
into the Swamp of Sadness
Here’s
what I’ve figured out, though. Your stuckness (yeah, I know stuckness isn’t a real word) isn’t for
lack of NOT know what comes next. Which, is actually a pretty awesome problem to
have, because nine times out of ten there are bunches of possibilities floating
around in your head. I call this brain freeze. It’s a state of being overwhelmed
by too many potential story paths, and the only solution is to sit down and sort
it all out.
This is
when I bust out the pen and paper and move away from the computer. Ladies and
Gentlemen, it’s time for the What If list.
I don’t
why, but I have to write “What if…” before every idea I have, like a promise to
myself that whatever I come up with is only a suggestion that I’m in no way obligated
to run with. Now I’m ready to put it all down, bullet point style. What if
character makes X decision? Then I note the possible outcomes. Or what about if
she makes X decision instead? Then I note those outcomes. I do this for all the
possible choices I can think up.
Next, I
pick the most intriguing options and bullet point their consequences,
conflicts, and what my character stands to gain or lose from making that
choice. Eventually, I find myself with one or two options that really take off.
Connections between what I’ve already written and what I’ve outlined for future
chapters are made.
If, by
the end of this process, there’s still more than one really good choice, I
evaluate each based on steps 1, 2, & 3 in relation to the current scene and
also the story as a whole. Which path aligns itself more closely to the direction
I want the plot to take? 99.9% of the
time, I’ve not only worked out what I need to happen next, but I can’t wait to
start writing it!
*Bonus
points if you get the reference and say so in the comments. J
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