End of Year Review - 2011

I’ve offered a lot of insight this year, trying to offer a guide to those wanting to wade into the waters of writing for publication. I never claimed to give the true path, simply added lights to assist your journey. With this post, I’d like to highlight the big concepts. It will allow those who come in late to review what I’ve offered. If you wanted to find a specific topic, it will link from here.

  
Start at the beginning – If you want to be an author, you need to write.
http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/2011/01/pick-up-pen-and-write.html  
  
Not every writer works the same way.
http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-type-of-writer-are-you.html
  
Dealing with ideas – getting them, how to work multiple ideas at once
http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/2011/03/gathering-of-ideas.html
http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/2011/08/tree-full-of-ideas.html
http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/2011/07/advantage-nightstand.html
 
Reader’s reactions to your work – Names, plot concepts
http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/2011/05/never-know-what-name-will-do.html
http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/2011/04/readers-know-whats-out-there.html
 
Working through how to critique writing
http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/search/label/critique
  
Expanding the horizons of the social writer
http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/2011/06/trapped-in-cave.html
http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/2011/07/writing-group-conundrum.html
  
Revisions and watching for problems
http://swordsvspens.blogspot.com/search/label/revision
 
I hope over the past year that I’ve offered advice that has helped fellow writers on their journey. If you’d like me to cover a specific topic over the coming months, please leave a comment and I’ll see if I can offer my insight.
 
Thank you for reading.
I hope you’ve had a Good Holiday Season and will continue to read in 2012.

I Though the Sky Was Blue

As writers, we are designing new worlds, new plots, all for our reader to consume as they invest their time in our book. This is great! We show off our creativity, our knowledge of life. However, this also comes with an added requirement.

What’s with the surprised blinking?

Our requirement is the need to remain consistent with our creation throughout the story.

For instance, if you created a new colony world where the sky is purple all day, that sky must remain purple for the entire story. If it’s purple in chapter one and two, then suddenly becomes blue in chapter four, the reader will expect a plot point that changed the color. If the sky fluctuates color, it also needs to be mentioned early so the reader doesn’t get confused each time the characters look up.

External details are obvious choices to use when talking about consistency.

Another comes about when dealing with dialogue. Suppose that your character has a southern drawl. If you’re attempting to write it out (*shudder* NOT recommended by this writer, in case you’re curious), you’ll want to make each of his ‘y’all’s or other mannerisms of speech the same throughout the book. Fricking is always fricking when dealing with consistency. Don’t change it from Fricking to Fraking to Farking to … well you get my point.

Continuing to focus on characters for a moment, let’s also look at character details. If the child is six in the first chapter, unless a year passes per chapter or you’re in a flashback, the child should be six in the second chapter. Eye color, hair color, skin color, these all need to remain the same through out the story, unless the plot specifically changes them. Also something that falls in this category: Names. A character could be George in chapter one and become Greg in chapter two. Or worse, three paragraphs down Chapter 1!

A great example of this is Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. He’s Gandalf the Gray throughout the Fellowship of the Ring. As part of the plot, he suffers then becomes Gandalf the White. It took the plot to change. For my newer readers that haven’t read it or seen the movies, I won’t ruin the plot by stating what happens.

If you’re running through an edit on your piece, this is something that you’re looking for when trying to find errors. It’s very good odds that the longer the piece, the more likely a glitch slipped into your writing. Talk to your critique partners, your helpful readers, and see what they spot. Their eyes might catch something that you don’t.

If you’re critiquing another’s work, this is one of those things to watch for to help the other writer out. Even if they ran a fine-tooth comb over the manuscript before letting your red pen loose, it still may have one or two that they missed.

I can see the question coming, so let me save a little typing. How can you remain consistent when writing? A few methods exist. I’ll offer the ones I’ve heard from other writers, as well as my own.

A few writers I talk to keep what they call a “Notes” file on each piece of writing that they create. This file contains tidbits about names, characteristics of each character, each town, etc. This way, as they type along, if they run into a question, they flip to the other file, find their answer, then return to typing. This is especially helpful for the writer that does no preplanning of their writing. In some cases, this isn’t a computer file but a physical file in a cabinet, or a notebook. It is whatever works best for that writer.

Other writers create documents for their writing. Depending on the extent of their planning, this could be a simple list of plot points, character and location descriptions, and anything else that they feel that they’d need to remember. I know some writers that create ten page dossiers on each character, three pages of form information regarding each location, and timelines about their history and plot. Sometimes, their planning has more writing than the actual written piece. If it allows them to remain consistent, I think it’s great!

Just remember, a blue sky remains blue until the plot changes the atmosphere.

Getting to Know the Blogger

Q. Why the Pen versus the Sword?

I’m willing to admit, I’m not much of a violent person. I believe that compromise wins arguments, not brute strength. As such, I find that the saying “The pen is mightier than the sword” fits my way of thinking. I chose to title my blog as such, because I wanted to point out that writing with others is stronger than competing against them.

Q. Your posts seem to lack punch. Why don’t you come out and state “this is the way?”

I believe that everyone learns differently and, as such, requires different ways to be creative. I’m not you, the reader. I don’t know what works best for your creative presence. All I know is my own personal writing experiences. Thus, I offer what thoughts I can, in an effort to help those interested in writing. Since I only know myself, all I can offer in opinions.

Q. I’ve never heard of you. What have you had published? Why should I listen to you?

I’m not a big name writer like Stephen King or Mercedes Lackey. I can admit that. So far, I’ve had one story published in a local community college literary magazine. However, I’ve been writing for more than seventeen years. I’ve been in the trenches, as it were, for most of those years, attempting to join the ranks of the published author. I’m offering thoughts as garnered from other writers, in addition to my own experiences. From my standpoint, I say to use what works, ignore the rest. I’m a single voice in a sea of voices.

Q. Coffee, Tea, or Mountain Dew™ ?

At one time, I’d answer any caffeinated soda worked. However, due to recent health scares, I’ve gotten away from soda entirely. Now, I take water or tea, though usually water. I don’t miss the caffeine.

Q. Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, or Archer?

I’d claim a tie between Picard and Sisko, because they had difference commands with their own unique issues. Blasphemous as this sounds, I never cared for the Original Series. Camp and cheese only go so far for me, and that went well past it for my tastes. Janeway did a good job, even if no one wanted to give her a chance. I didn’t care for her style, myself, but I didn’t mind the female as a captain. As for The “reboot” show, um, there’s a good reason they cancelled it.

If you’d like to know more about me, please leave a comment!



Today's post was inspired by the topic “Perform a Self Interview” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/

How Could You Shred My Baby? – Critiquing Writing – Part 6

Up to this point, I’ve offered insight on giving feedback to other writers about their writing. As you’ve worked to enlighten others, that same enlightenment reached within your mind to tweak your own writing. Now, others have gotten their hands on your writing. They want to return the favor.

Don’t do anything hasty.
Put down the scissors and back away from the table. We promise, we won’t harm the document.

Accepting a critique is about as difficult as giving one, if not more so. It’s not something that comes naturally to people. You’ve created something and opened it to the public for comment. Naturally, the creator feels protective of their creation. The overprotective parent complex, one might almost assume. This isn’t that far off. I offer three thoughts to consider as you receive comments on your writing.

Thought one: The person offering the critique is trying to help improve your writing. Listen to what they have to say.

This is a Big Important Thought here. You’ve placed the writing on the table for help. Don’t immediately start arming your defenses when the person comes back to offer their help. It will ruin the experience for all those concerned.

Your intent here should be to let the reviewer speak their piece. Make notes, either on a copy of the manuscript or a blank piece of paper. If they’re good, you’ll find both praise and encouragement woven through comments about uneven storylines, plot holes, and flat characters. Some of their comments might pull your ponytail or twist your gut. That happens. Hold your tongue until they finish explaining their reason. You might find that they offer a valid point after all.

It's not good to go into a critique expecting to defend your choices. It brings the ugly out of a writer. Listen to the opinions. Take the comments in context with the story you’ve had reviewed. Consider what the person offers. Remember that all they offer is opinions and you’re not obligated to use any of them.

Thought Two: The target of their comments is the writing, not the writer

With a good partner analyzing your writing, their entire desire points to improving the writing before them. As an extreme example, they may have a personal vendetta against the writer, but a good reviewer ignores personal feelings and focuses just on the written word. A person who writes a critique but can’t separate the writing from the writer actually is not a good person to write the critique. If you know a person has difficulty with such separation, simply don’t ask for their help.

Family and friends might find it difficult to point out problems, because they don’t want to hurt your feelings. They won’t be much help either.

When receiving a critique, know that some people search for mistakes. It makes them feel better. They want to swing hammers at the support beams. These beams are the story’s beams, not yours. That type of critique wants to make sure your story survives the harshest of editors. When they’re finished, it should. However, that also assumes you take at least a part of their advice.

Thought Three: Ask for clarifications if you don’t understand what they mean, but don’t argue with their comments.

For some reviewer’s comments, it might not offer enough help for you to consider the error that they felt that they found. Never be afraid to ask for clarification of a comment. Sometimes, the reviewer may not have the ability to elaborate. It’s the impression within their minds that just doesn’t fit. Perhaps what you thought a key turn of phrase doesn’t work with their experiences, but they can’t figure out a way to phrase it. Keep note of it, as it might be an area that you changed and the sentence doesn’t fit the new section but is a perfectly good sentence. I’ll touch on this more in a moment.

Under the same concept, don’t immediately jump at their comments and try to defend against what they tell you. What they give you comes from their experience and their way of looking at the story. Their experiences will color the story differently to your colors. If you found a subject matter expert, or SME, they could point to a piece of story that just ain’t right. (Yes, that I did on purpose.) Don’t argue what your research told you against what the expert tells you. The expert tends to win those arguments, because they have better research for their field.

I have had times when the comment about the change is vague. “This feels wrong,” they said. It didn’t help my edit. When I received it, I asked the person to clarify what they meant. It turned out my unusual phrasing didn’t work within the context of the story to their mind. With that clarification, I found it easier to rework the piece for better wording. I got the additional information without challenging the reviewer and we both got a better experience from it.

With this being American Football season, I’ll close with a football analogy. A critique is a hand-off of the ball to you, the runner/writer. Your objective is to weave between the defense/obstacles and get to the final goal – being published

Novel Writing Tips for November

Okay, so for those worrying through NaNoWriMo, you’re through four days. This means you should have around 6700 words, with the hope of 8400 by day’s end.

What’s that? You’ve not gotten that far?

Let me offer some suggestions to jump-start your creative process.

First and probably the most important for doing the mad-dash novel writing that NaNoWriMo requires, remember that you don’t have to write in chronological order. Heck, your scenes don’t even have to be written in a logical order. This also means that if you know the ending, but not the beginning, you can just write what you already know, then go back and fill in the blanks. Just write the scene and rearrange later.

Next, consider additions. Early on, you have an advantage. The cast is still evolving. You’ve not established a lot of plot to harbor your difficulties. So why not add in a character? Need comic relief, add a wise cracking sidekick. Looking for the romantic angle, add a lover for one of the primary characters. Adding a character doesn’t make sense?

Um, you’re just trying to get writing, making sense comes later.

Oh, advantage of adding a nonsense character now – you can kill him off later when the book starts to flag again! Yup, the death of a character jump starts things as much as the addition of one does. In fact, at one point, you may need to contemplate killing off a primary character to either 1) make the plot work or 2) move along creatively. A death scene creates different reactions from different people, so just writing about reactions can easily get you three thousand words.

Speaking of reactions, tell the reader what your point of view character is looking at when they enter a room, forest, or car. Descriptive paragraphs fill pages with words. Think Robert Jordan or David Drake. They can make for many pages worth of words. And those words can be pared down once the story is completed.

I’ve heard some people expound on the joys of pages worth of dialogue. This really depends on how many soliloquies that you have your characters speaking. My dialogue tends to be quick shots of conversation, sometimes to fill in details, sometimes for character action interaction. They don’t expand my word count as much as a paragraph of description that lasts two pages.

Honestly, these techniques work outside of November as well. Just get the story written then revise once it’s completed. After all, Revision is Writing.

The Art of the Deadline

Huh, look at that. It’s November again.

What’s the big deal about November? National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, is the big deal. I offer a chocolate, coffee, and Red Bull™ to all those attempting the mad writing dash this month. I’ve attempted it in the past, but am taking the year off to just cheer on those that I know taking part in the monumental task.

Ah, I see we have some disbelievers in the reading audience.

I was told, early in my writing career, that a “true” writer doesn’t do NaNoWriMo. I believed those that told me such things because I was SO new to the game and they were “experienced” writers. I hadn’t discovered then what I know now.

There are benefits to NaNoWriMo, some of which I will express here. Feel free to offer rebuttals to my opinions in the comments.

One big thing that the event teaches is Writerly Habits. Before 2005, when I attempted it for the first time, I wrote when I felt like it. Sometimes, I’d go months between writing sessions. “The Muse hadn’t moved me recently,” I’d say with some aplomb.

It was an easy excuse to use, when I was younger and naïve.

NaNoWriMo taught me to put my butt in the chair and write, whether the muse spoke to me or not. If I wanted to write, I had to make the effort. It wouldn’t make the effort for me. As the years pressed on, I learned that an every day approach wasn’t required, as long as I made the final numbers.

It also teaches that Revision is Writing. The objective of NaNoWriMo is to create a first draft, not a masterpiece ready for publication.

Tips to reach the end usually include:
Kill off a character.
Write a sex scene.
Skip to the next most interesting scene.
Add a character.

A lot of those sound familiar, don’t they?

You’re not supposed to revise as you write during November. However, if it requires adding a paragraph with a character in a completed section, go back and do it! If you add a silly scene with five pages of description, it can be edited for better flow later. All words are sacred during the event.

Consider, also, that NaNoWriMo offers a solid, fixed deadline. Complete manuscript A by November 30. No leeway, no wiggle room to weasel an extra day from your agent. It offers a great training ground for people who want to write, because it gives you a short period of time and a set number of words to complete.

As a plus for many writers attempting the challenge, they can experiment with something outside of their comfort zone. Normally, I write science fiction, fantasy, or general fiction. In 2005, I tried mystery. I attempted a book with a large cast and an epic disaster for 2009. I’m not proud of the fact that 2007 was my “adult fantasy” year. For 2006 and 2008, I stuck to genres I knew, but I played with other aspects of the challenge. Could I reach 60,000 words in 30 days? I know one professional writer who says, thanks to NaNoWriMo, she won’t ever write westerns. It’s about the experiment, not the final product.

Another advantage of the event is the development of community. I knew that writing was a solitary adventure. That gave me mixed emotions. Then I tried NaNoWriMo and found this huge community of writers, more than 100,000 strong, who were attempting this feat together. People gathered to discuss their plot, their successes and failures, and their distractions. Friendships developed. Suddenly, I wasn’t alone in my writing. I had people I could turn to and ask for help with my plot or character problem. Writing groups have grown from this event. I’ve heard of two marriages from people who met through NaNoWriMo.

Of the 100,000 plus that attempt it every year, not everyone reaches said deadline. Some just give up, which one can’t do with a contract. Some struggle all month, but they can’t get out of their plot’s way. And some sign up, but never get started. Those who are in it for the love of the written word and the community that NaNoWriMo creates thrive.

I’d encourage every writer to attempt National Novel Writing Month once. Win, lose or draw, I suggest making the attempt. Don’t talk bad of the event that you’ve never tried. It may not offer the type of writing environment that you’ll thrive in, but that’s okay. It’s a learning environment for everyone.

Finding the Breaks in the Levee

I’ve covered a lot of different topics so far this year. Recently, I’ve concentrated on other’s writings. Through it all, of course I expected you to continue working on your own scribbles.

You’ve not forgotten your own writing, have you?

For this post, let’s grab one of your completed pieces. We’d prefer one that’s been percolating and away from your writing consciousness for a bit. I’ll explain why in a minute.

Now that you have all this writing, I’m going to take you through a very basic outline of revising your work. This won’t be the best way to work for some people, obviously, and I don’t claim this as the “only way to work.” With each unique journey, you can’t hope to get it right for everyone who writes. Take what I offer, use what works and trash the rest. I’ll understand.

To run through this task, I tend to have a pencil or pen and spare paper. Some people suggest that you use a specific color pencil or pen, like red. As long as it contrasts with your print out, meaning you can see your changes, any color will do. For me, the color has to do with my mood or the holiday. I edit in green on St Patrick’s Day.

My story print is a draft on standard copy paper, so I can mark it to my heart’s content.

Plus, it’s mine.

Now, why did I ask for an older piece? Here’s why. When writing, psychology has shown that a person immerses one’s self in the piece. That means that a newly completed piece will still rest fresh in your mind and you’ll have more difficulty poking it for problems. With a completed piece that hasn’t been looked at in a while, it’s easier to look at the words objectively.

I know – that will never happen. But one can always hope.

Another way to put this: It’s time to release the inner editor on your writing.

If you’ve read through my critique series, you’ll notice a similar set of steps. I’ve tried to create similar steps for easy learning and streamlined thought processes. It helps that revising and critiquing cover similar ground, as well.

Step 1: Read the story. If you’re home alone or have a quiet space, read it out loud. Just because you wrote the story, it does not mean you can skip this step.

Step 2: Use the pencil to note places of difficulty. I bracket questionable sentences. A karat ( ^ ) is added where I want to add a sentence or other note. This can be done while reading or once you’ve completed the reading. I find during more useful, because the inconsistency is fresh.

Step 3: Taking your spare paper, write out a revised version of your bracketed sentence that flows better for you. If you added a karat, write the sentence or sentences that would clarify the scene. Because you may have multiple instances of changes, it helps to number the changes and place the number with the corresponding karat.

Step 4: Enter your changes into the computer.

Step 5: Reprint.

Step 6: Repeat.

Nothing says these steps can’t happen on the computer screen. The difference is simply placing the changes directly into the document without writing them out. Again, this is personal journey dependent. Some people can revise on a computer screen and some can’t. I’m one who can’t.

Another important thing to realize – not everyone writes straight through to completion. Some people revise the previous day’s work before continuing with new writing. Nothing wrong with that technique, provided you finish writing the piece! Don’t get so hung up on revising the second paragraph of chapter one that you never write the third paragraph.

I’ve offered thoughts on how to do it, but not what to look for when revising. We again refer back to the critique series.

Glaring show stoppers, obvious plot holes, character inconsistencies, dialogue issues, information dumps. Anything that slows the pace of the story or otherwise impinges on the story’s readability, you’ve got to catch with revision. Oh, and things you look for here but don’t in a critique: GRAMMAR ERRORS!

Get back here. They aren’t that scary.

Obviously, your brain won’t catch every mistake on the first pass. That’s why I included that final step – Repeat. Brandon Sanderson has mentioned on his weekly podcast that he sometimes does as many as seven revisions before he’s happy with a book. Tracy Hickman mentioned that he revises at least five times. Stephen King does at least two passes as well.

This covers my brief overview of revision. Obviously, more details exist than I could cover in this short piece. Look for future posts where I expand on those details.

I’d love to hear from others on their techniques, maybe so I can fine tune mine.


Today's post was inspired by the topic “Revisions” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/

The murderer is … the Bentley? – Critiquing Writing – Part 5

Now we’ve written the critique, we need to know how to present it to our fellow writers. If you’re working through email, it’s rather easy. Paste the text of your critique into the body of the email, perhaps attaching a file with the notes/changes directly in the document. You’ll receive a return email with questions for clarification, possibly, but not always.

It’s when you have to sit and face the other writer where things are a little different.

So far, I’ve come across a few scenarios which I’m going to mention up front, to give you an idea of what you’ll possibly face. Younger and/or inexperienced writers will be almost bouncing out of their seat in anticipation of your glowing review of their masterpiece.

Let them down easy.

They will want to defend their choices, their voice. Encourage them to reexamine the issues you spot. They may fight every comment or suggestion. Don’t feel offended. You’re offering an opinion, so they aren’t required to do anything you point out for their benefit. As long as you did your best to offer them constructive help, you’ve done your job.

On the other end of the spectrum, you have the experienced writer. If a writer has received many critiques, or gone through the process a lot, they won’t seem to react to your comments. A pad of paper may sit near them, where they scribble notes about the spots you thought needed work. You’ll hear some comments, but nothing overtly like an argument. Otherwise, you receive thanks and that’s about it. These writers aren’t ignoring your advice. Assimilation of the concepts that you offered might require some thought. Perhaps you’ll receive a call or email at a later date asking about a particular comment you made on the story, seeking clarification. You might not. Everyone will react differently.

Now, let’s talk about the actual presentation.

I’ve found that most articles on writing critiques state that you want to offer a positive, then your negatives, then end with a positive. Psychology says that the last thing a person hears matters. Not always true. A bad comment will lodge in someone’s craw no matter where it’s heard.

My suggestion is to couch everything as an encouragement. Consider the attitude of the writer as well. If a writer looks tense, try to offer your comments in softer phrasings, so that they fall into cotton rather than brambles. Consider what help the writer wanted with the story. It’s a good place to start. If they gave no real instruction, start at the top of your notes, with the impressions, and work your way through your notes. As you cover important points, pause to see if you’ve explained it well or if the other writer is confused. A deeper review might be required for the other writer’s benefit.

If you don’t know the technical term for a problem, it doesn’t usually matter, except to the rule gurus. Explain what felt off and why. Sometimes just saying the phrase didn’t work for you during the reading is insight enough for the writer to look at it.

It’s a rare case, but you may have a piece that is so hard to read that you can’t. Literally, the writing just prevents your progression through the text. Don’t feel bad. It does happen. Take a breath. Organize your thoughts. Look at the writer you’ve agreed to help. Then POLITELY say that the piece needs work and why. Try to site examples to help them understand the problem.

Normally, I won’t give absolutes. Today, I’m going to repeat one I made earlier, because I feel it’s a Big Important Thought:

NEVER EVER state that a piece of writing is crap, garbage, or any other euphemism you can think of for horrible.

Imagine the fragile nature of almost any writer. Even with thick skin, when someone completely trashes a piece of writing, while still in the working state, it crushes the writer. Other writers are not our competition, or our enemies. They are our union brothers and sisters. They are compatriots in the march through the gates of publishing. It’s better for us to work with them to better everyone, than to crush someone away from the game.

As another thought, Karma has a way of coming back and crushing your spirit the same way, whether you believe in Karma or not.

Revealing the Agenda of a Scammer

Okay, so based on my title, I’m going to say this goes farther than my normal “your writing journey” type posts. After reading through some of the things that have appeared out on the web in recent days, however, I needed to post some form of commentary on the immature, low-handed douche-baggery that some idiots are peddling.

Please don’t let my fire for the topic scare you away. I’m going to attempt to keep my fingers civil.

First, for my readers that haven’t heard yet:
http://accrispin.blogspot.com/2011/10/agenda-of-write-agenda.html

This link takes you to a blog post from Writer Beware, an author advocacy group and the visible branch of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. This small group of writers volunteer their valuable writing time to research scams and other issues that effect the honest, hard-working writer.

I’m posting this link because a new “advocacy group” has surfaced calling themselves “The Write Agenda.” They claim to do the same work as Writer Beware. Looking at their website (which Writer Beware provided links to, so I won’t), they are a group of whiny people, a group with an agenda. Yes, their agenda is to attack Writer Beware, Preditors and Editors (another independent author protection website) and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. It even narrows the attack to Victoria Strauss and Ann Crispin.

I wondered if these people ever left middle school as I read their pages.

They have created a “banned book” list of those who speak out against their organization. This list contains a who’s who of the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre.

They also want to hold a “book burning!”  Suddenly, I find myself staring at a modern day Hitler. Book Burning!

To quote the movie “The Patriot:”
To Arms! To Arms!

Such immature and idiotic rhetoric as they spout on their page can be ignored. When you go to destroying things as the Nazi’s, you’re threatening to remove freedom. THAT I can not abide.

Throughout the writer blogosphere, you’ll find commentary on this from the likes of James MacDonald, John Scalzi, Rita Webb, and Jim C Hines to name a few.

While not a member yet, I do hope to become a member in good standing with the SFWA. I support the work they do to help newer authors, such as myself. I’ve met Ann Crispin and know that she is an honest and caring person, one who gives selflessly to the writing community. If you read this and hope to publish, I’ll say that Writer Beware and Preditors and Editors are two of the best sites to check for avoiding scams.

And if any of the TWA decides to come after me, I’ll offer another quote, this one from the movie “The Replacements:”

Come on, Bring it! Ya big fatty!

Break the Marketing Pocket Until You’re Selling – Genres

Science Fiction
Literary Fiction
Epic Fantasy
Romance
Horror

Each of these has a specific connotation when attached to a book. When you tell others that you’re a writer, their first question is almost always “What do you write?” Our answer usually fills in with a label similar to those above. However, modern writing has started to defy the old classification model.

In the old days, classification came as an easy task. Computers and electronic gadgetry went into science fiction. Vampires, werewolves, hobgoblins, and their ilk were horror. Extra special powers, be they magic or given by the sun, were fantasy.

Now, it doesn’t come that easy to classify. A vampire story could be romance, fantasy, or horror. Electronic gadgetry could be literary fiction or science fiction.

Confused yet? I am!

Let me add a little more confusion to this mix. In the olden days, fiction was broken into two sections in a store: Literature and Romance. Imagine Terry Pratchett, John Grisham, and Tom Clancy next to a Harlequin Novel. I’m guessing, since my research is still spotty on this, that in order to better market books to a particular reader, they started breaking those large sections down. As we’ve grown more sophisticated, so has our “marketing” niche.

For some, this is important. As an example, they might say: I only read/write about Vampires. Don’t give me any other fantasy blather. In fact, make them into their own category.

For others, this narrows the choices too much. They just want a fantastic story.

With the new internet options of tagging, you can mark something as broad or as narrow as you wish, depending on if you can find such a narrow term to cover it.

Does knowing this idea help you get started with your idea? Sure. You’ll know early on if your writing is based on a space ship, some far away land, or somewhere in downtown Raleigh. That helps when pitching it in the end. When initially writing, it only helps to establish the initial concept. After that, let the imagination enjoy itself.

My best suggestion: Ignore the marketing until you get to the point that the agent or editor needs to sell the book. Write what is in your heart. If someone asks what you write, make the answer simple: Fiction or Non-fiction. If they want it narrowed, talk to them about your concept.

Once you’re selling, have each step of the pyramid in mind for your buyer, from broad overarching category, to the narrowest of concepts.

Until you are selling, forget the genre.

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Genre-bending (crossing genre lines)” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://suesantore.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/

How to Review a Poem - Critiquing writing - Part 4

A good poetry review or critique can take about three steps, to allow a person to garner the most from what they are reading.

1) Clear your mind and read the poem through one time. Make notes on your initial impressions. If the meter or rhyme scheme slowed you down, make sure that is part of your notes. Does a particular image jump out of the words at you? Are you sensing romance, hatred, or another strong emotion from the writing? All of these things will be noted when you write your review. Keep a "This is great!" section, so that you can offer positive as well as constructive feedback.

2) Read the poem through a second time, paying close attention to the details the poet put into the poem. What images does the poem convey? Are they trying to give one scene or multiple scenes from the poem? Are they being metaphorical, satirical, or literal? Is there a background to the poem, which is necessary to put the writing in context for the reader? Concentrate here on the actual verbiage of the poem, what the poem is saying. If you had not tracked the meter and rhyme before, pay closer attention to it here.

3) Read the poem a third time, this time watching for mechanical, grammatical, and other base items. How consistent is the poet's punctuation? Do they constantly switch between tenses? Is something misspelled? Was that done on purpose? This is your last chance to look at the meter and rhyme scheme. You may want to make additional notes on it, if either is a serious enough flaw to damage the poem. As you work though this portion, noting things to praise the poet for not making a mistake with is always helpful.

Now that you've read the poem and made your notes, it's time to write the review. Remember that poets are human and they like to have their egos stroked now and then. Open with something from that "This is great!" section, or a positive impression that the poem gave you. Don't use all your compliments at this one juncture, though. Next, detail your suggestions for the problems you spotted within the poem. That is important to repeat. Detail your suggestions. The poet has the option to ignore your review so making your suggestions sound like demands or requirements will guarantee they won't be taken. If you are going to suggest items outside of the basic grammar rules, offering a reason why or helpful rewrite for a single line would also be beneficial. Do not rewrite the poem for the poet. Finally, take the last positives that you have saved up and close your review with encouragement and a few more strokes to the writer's ego.

As a final reminder, remember, the type of reviews you leave behind, dictate the types of reviews that appear for your own writing.

A Tree Full of Ideas

To this point, I’ve been offering insights like you already have an idea to write. Silly me, I forgot that this isn’t always the case. Though I will also note that you aren’t alone if you can’t sit down and just start writing -- that blank page intimidates people.

Some writers need to unwind their mind so that they can write. J K Rowling always talked about playing Mine Sweeper on her blog when writing the Harry Potter series. Personally, I play a few games of solitaire, either Spider or FreeCell, to release the burden on my mind.

But that’s just wasting time! Actually, it’s not. Most gurus of Eastern Philosophy would call it “freeing your mind of the mundane world.” Psychologists might call it “disassociation.” Creative types like us, we just call it “unwinding.” Whatever it’s called, the primary act is to open the pathways to allow ideas to flow. If the mind is stuck in the worldly problems of finances, home repair, work stress, and general life issues, it won’t want to allow that elf to frolic with the centaur through the trees.

As Morpheus told Neo in The Matrix – “Free your Mind.”

Go ahead. I’ll wait.

It’s still not working?
Okay, let’s try something else. Think about your favorite movie, television show, book, song, or webpage.

Whoops! Stay with me, I’m not done yet.

The trunk of your Idea Tree is the item you’re thinking about. Forget the plot of the item you’re thinking about and start writing down concepts that they throw out within the script or text. Just remember, as you do this, you’re not looking for plot points. What you’re looking for is the broad concepts. These create the larger limbs of the Idea Tree. Think of these as the limbs that you could use to climb the tree.

Once you have a list of broad concepts, start thinking about each of the concepts and breaking them down. These are the branches that fill the tree and make it large and fluffy. You may have to create a few branches from one subject to find a concept that works. Whittle the concepts down to find a unique idea that works for you.

The final fruit from this will be a concept from which you can write a story.

Let me offer an example to show where I got one of my many ideas.
The movie was I, Robot starring Will Smith.

Broad concepts:
Robots, police, motorcycles, cars, war, civil disobedience, war, medical advances, death

All of these are very broad categories. I needed something more narrowed so I started with the first one on the list.

Robots – artificial intelligence, androids, useful tools, human like, functional, mobile

As I did this, I realized that the narrowing might become something like a vine as it pulled in parts of other concepts already listed.

Robots – Useful Tools – in construction, in war, in medicine
Robots – Useful Tools, Artificial Intelligence – In War – revolts, revolutions, battle lines super soldiers

My final concept came out of this line:
Robots – Useful Tools, Artificial Intelligence – In War – Revolts

It became a series of questions: WHAT IF humans no longer fought wars, but they sent robots to do the fighting? And WHAT IF they lost control of their war robots as they developed an artificial intelligence?

This concept does draw some from its source. I won’t deny the inspiration of the story. It’s hard to avoid leaning on Asimov in science fiction when dealing with Robots. That said, I still must create a unique story. From my perspective, it looks like I might have.

Now I used a piece of popular media as a convenient starting point for these trees because they have base concepts that are easy to find and break open like eggs. After a while, you’ll find that broad concepts that want you’re writing to bring into focus. They don’t require a media focus for the trunk, they become the trunk.

For me, because I do these regularly, it takes five to ten minutes to develop a story concept. When you first start, it will take longer. It may absorb your writing session -- or the next two. That’s okay. You’ll have the ideas bouncing around your melon, forming plot, setting, and character, until you sit down again for another writing session.

Then you’ll be good to go.

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Today's post was inspired by the topic “Where did you get your latest idea?” as part of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/. This ongoing tour allows you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://www.sjreisner.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/

The Extended Critique – Critiquing Writing – Part 3

Your critique skills are growing stronger, grasshopper. Now that we’ve developed the speedy critique, it’s time for the critique that takes time. Someone gives you a manuscript and asks for your opinion, with more than a day to tear the document apart.

Quit rubbing your hands together. This isn’t time for you to play Evil Editor.

As with the quick critique, I’m recommending the spare paper to make notes on as you go. If you work better with the manuscript on the screen, open a second file to make your notes. The quick critique could probably fit all its notes on one page. The longer critique could easily span multiple pages, depending on what you find. You might be putting more explanation on the page than you did before, as well. So be prepared for the extent of the work.

Also for this type of critique, if you have any form of writing library, I’d gather it together so you can reference their concepts. I’ll explain why as we go through the steps.

Okay, we’ve gathered our supplies, so let’s get to work.

Step One: Read the story. If you’re comfortable with it, read it aloud.  Make notes on the spare paper about your initial impressions. Because you will be doing so much more with this critique, feel free to leave this section sparse.

Step Two: Second reading. This reading goes looking for the glaring show stoppers. A show stopper of this nature jumps off the page and grabs you. It won’t let you go. It could show up as grammar and sentence structure, poorly created or one dimensional characters, or any of a large number of things.  I can’t say more other than you’ll know what I mean when you spot it.

The problem may be so bad that it hurts even your inner editor. (It’s amusing watching that little creep curl into a ball, I know.) Make notes on each find, including a mark of some form within the manuscript, if the author permits it. Personally, I’d use a pencil to mark a physical document, in case a question early in the document gets answered later, so you can erase. If you’re working on screen, make sure you highlight in a different color, to make your notes stand out from their base text.

Now that we have hacked the surface issues, let’s see what’s below the surface.

Step Three: Third reading. Seek plot holes, character glitches, story problems.

Your eyes may start to cross from looking at the same story by now, but the extra readings become necessary. You needed to break through your reader’s eye to the editor’s eye, and as a writer, it sometimes takes an extra pass or two for that to happen. If you are writing a few of these in a day, once the first is complete, the subsequent might take less passes.

Plot holes come in two forms, really. Some appear in the show stoppers section. If they do, don’t mention them twice. It won’t help your fellow writer.  Others will be smaller, less obvious. Maybe early in the story, the main character picks up a 9-millimeter semi auto pistol, but in scene three, it’s a Colt 45 revolver. (I exaggerate, but it’s possible.) In both cases, the character still had a gun. Readers will pick on a small detail like this and poke holes in the story because of it. They will count shots taken, compared the count to the gun and its capacity. It affects the rest of their view of the story. So catching these before they get to print is important.

A character glitch might come from something about the character’s motivation. Perhaps the character willingly bashed the heads of puppies for three pages with spiteful glee. However, the henchman offering a puppy for such treatment doesn’t get a splash of puppy brains. The main character ignores the puppy. Did the writer explain the reason for the change of heart? If not, you’ve found a glitch. 

A change in the character’s name also counts as a glitch. If the author refers to a character as Joe for five pages, then you find him called George, note it. The writer may have changed names mid creation, but they never went back to make the change in the rest of the document.

While I don’t condone it, grammar errors are found during this pass.  Extra or missing punctuation, missing objects of verbs, passive sentence structures all get mentions here. Some of these may occur higher on the list of your critique checklist. A run-on sentence, to me, is a show stopper. To others, it could fall down to the third reading. Mostly, grammar is not part of the critique process unless you’re a final reader before the publisher or agent gets their hands on it.  Depending on what version of the draft the writer handed to you, some of these grammar issues may change with the next edit pass.

I’m going to repeat a Big Important Thought here. Once a problem is noted, try not to repeat your find multiple times. The harp is a beautiful instrument, but not when reviewing the writing of another.

Step Four: If you want to make one more reading, it’s done here. Most people I’ve spoken with tend to catch so much with the first three readings, they don’t need the fourth reading to know what they still have awaiting a comment.

This last read is a fine tuning read, beyond all the rest.  Check for sentences that just don’t feel right. Again, I can’t tell you exactly how to spot these sentences, you will just know.  Perhaps it’s a piece of dialogue that catches you just the wrong way. A turn of phrase that dates the manuscript might be worth a note as well. If you read it aloud earlier, find those bumpy spots in the reading. Read them aloud again, making notes on where you hit the pothole.

With your notes in hand, it’s time to return to the writer who asked for help. In a future post, I’ll cover the process of presenting a critique.  Just remember that an extended critique will take more time to review than a quick review. This isn’t a problem, but be sure to allow for the additional time. Remember to encourage.

With these two posts, I’ve offered thoughts on examining a short story or article. I’ve placed the points of order in how I go through the writing. As a matter of course, feel free to rearrange as is comfortable for your work process.

The Quick Critique – Critiquing Writing – Part 2

Okay, so you’re looking at this piece of writing in front of you. Someone requested a quick once over of the piece. The writer wanted your impressions. Perhaps they’ve asked for a specific something from you. This may be true more with genre writers, but anyone can ask for a focused critique. No problem.

 

Personally, I recommend having a piece of paper and pen or pencil with you when working any critique. It allows you to make notes on your impressions without marking up the manuscript with unnecessary marks. With computers, it’s easier for a writer to give you a throw away copy of the story. However, the scrap paper offers more space for notes, so it’s worth having handy.

 

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses will assist you in this process. If your writing has issues with shifting point of view, touch on the subject if it jumps out at you, but don’t concentrate on the subject. With all that said, here’s what you do.

 

First step: Read the story. Duh. The first pass won’t be a deep reading. You just want to get a feel for the voice, the style.

 

On the scrap paper, write down impressions of the story as you read. Include both good and bad impressions. I’ve had a sheet that started with “Great Opening!” followed by a series of notes on shifting point of view, only to praise two more unique phrasings I’d not seen before. If something in the story freezes you midsentence, that deserves a notation as well.  Draw a line on the page to separate the initial impressions from the next step.

 

Step two: Go through the story a second time. This pass requires a bit deeper reading. You’re reading this time for show stoppers. Find that sentence that took looking at five times before you figured out what the writer wanted to say. If the writer gave you a throw away copy, note the issues on the manuscript. I’ll use a pencil and draw a bracket around the offending sentence. If jargon or other story specific piece grabs you and won’t let go, question that as well. Make notes about each piece you’ve found on your paper.

 

With critiques like this, two passes may take all the time you have available. With the second pass complete, now you want to present your findings to the writer. Go through your notes with the writer, giving a small explanation on what you’ve found. I’ll cover this a little more in another post.

 

Before that post, however, let me give a Big Important Thought on the subject of critique writing.  Normally, I won’t give absolutes here. I don’t feel it’s my place. Today, I’ll make an exception.

 

NEVER EVER state that a piece of writing is crap, garbage, or any other euphemism you can think of for horrible.

 

Pay attention to what you find in others’ writings. It may be you’ve seen it before – in your own.

Advantage - Nightstand

Sometimes, a freaky dream will catch us by surprise. These dreams might offer sparks toward a present work in progress, or they might offer an idea for a new work. Either way, we want to save what our unconscious threw out for processing.

I don’t know about others, but my writing space is the opposite side of the house from my bed. For me, it’s not always possible to get from the bedroom to the writing space to preserve the unconscious commentary that a dream offered. So how do I catch these snippets that I’m offered? I keep a legal pad and several pens handy.

I’d advocate keeping a notebook or journal on your nightstand along with a pen or pencil. This way, when that startling revelation of the next scene appears, you can reach out and scribble it down without losing it.
What’s that? Your nightstand is already overloaded? Worse, you don’t have a nightstand? No worries, having it beside your bed won’t harm things either.

Well, it won’t unless you have a pet who decides to do something untoward with items left on the floor.

Let’s talk about that overloaded nightstand, see if we can find space for this journal. I’m not suggesting that the journal needs to be a notebook holding the standard size, loose-leaf paper. After all, how could we fit that with the combination lamp, iPod™ docking station, clock, cell phone charging unit that we already have? If we don’t have an e-book reader, it also has to compete with the stacks of literature and non-fiction we’re trying to consume during our down hours. (The osmosis thing isn’t working for me.) Then there’s the pen. It has to be the right pen. You’ll need it to have the comfortable grip. It must be equipped with the smooth tip that allows it to flow along the page.

We’re over-thinking this.

All you need is a small spiral bound notebook or bound journal. Unless you don’t feel you can write on something small, it doesn’t need to be more than a quarter the size of a regular piece of paper. (In the US, that means 4.5 inches by 5.5 inches.) If you’re trying to keep from losing ideas during the day, this might even be the same notebook you carry everywhere. You’re pen can slip into the spiral binding. Voila! Everything consolidated in a small package. Set it on its edge rather than lay it flat and it can slip into a narrow gap between other items.

The secondary option comes from everyone having a smart phone. You’ll have some type of composition or notes application that can also function for your needs. Some writers might even do both, have a paper copy and an electronic copy. For those of us who don’t have great hand writing, the electronic copy might even make the early morning scribbles easier to read.

To let you see into my concept, I’ll offer what I have. I have a standard size legal pad. Gathered in a cup with it are pens of five different colors. The multiple colors allows me to split up what the dreams are about for filing purposes. This legal pad usually sits on top of the novels and writing books I’m working on reading. Right now, that’s Dead by Day by Charlaine Harris and Creating Unforgettable Characters by Linda Seger.


Today's post was inspired by the topic “What Books Are on Your Nightstand?”, the opening question in the inaugural cycle of the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour, http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/, an ongoing tour where you, the reader, travel around the world from author's blog to author's blog. We have all sorts of writers at all stages in their writing career, so there's something for everyone to enjoy.

Don’t miss tomorrow’s posting over at: http://www.sjreisner.com/

If you want to get to know nearly twenty other writers and find out what's on their nightstand, check out the Merry-Go-Round Blog Tour: http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/

Helping Fellow Writers – Critiquing Writing – Part 1

Now that we’ve gotten out of the cave and found a group of like-minded writers, we find a new wrinkle to smooth in our quest as a social writer. Someone handed us a copy of THEIR writing and wants us to offer our opinion.

Feeling better? Smelling salts does that to the head when you faint.

I realize that the feet don’t feel fully stable on the ground of your own writing. To now take someone else’s writing and poke its weak points doesn’t feel right. However, I have a secret for you. Finding a fault in another’s writing will help you detect faults in your own writing. You’ll be better able to identify issues. Over the next few posts, I’ll take you through critiquing another’s writing. With this post, I’ll introduce you to my thought process concerning critiques.

There must first be one ground rule placed on any critique that you do. The writing is your target, not the writer. Even the most hated of enemy asking for a critique needs to have some hope of an honest critique. So when you read anything, forget WHO gave it to you and just worry about the writing on the page before you. With that ground rule in place, let’s move on.

I have found that two situations exist where you may find yourself asked to review another’s work and give your opinion. The first situation happens at almost any time. You’ll be talking with another writer about your latest project. Your conversation partner whips out their manuscript, or portion thereof, and asks for an opinion on the spot. This may also happen at a writer’s group, at the beginning of the meeting when everyone arrives. In this situation, you won’t have time to delve deep into the story minutiae. A few quick reads of the piece and they want your answer.

The second situation contains a bit more planning concerning your time and opinion. Perhaps through email or snail mail, a fellow writer may send you a manuscript with a request to dig into it. With the writing group, you get a writing piece from a group member prior to the next meeting. Sometimes it’s a day or two, sometimes you get a week or more.  Either way, the piece is in your hand for an extended period. Now is the time to pull out resources about plot, characters, and genre to challenge the manuscript at hand.

In both cases, you want to do your best to offer the other writer insight into what they gave you, without changing the story to your style. That’s a Big Important Thought, so I’m going to repeat it.

Offer help and insight without changing the story to your style.

It’s a temptation to look at a sentence and say “That’s not how I’d word that.” However, that’s not your job as a person critiquing the manuscript. Your job is to find the rough spots, the glaring errors, the show stoppers that causes a reader or editor to slide to a stop and refuse to proceed.

Don’t be afraid to look at a piece and not find anything wrong. Honestly, a writer may hand you a story that reads like a great piece, with nothing so glaring that a spell checker wouldn’t locate it easily. It’s rare but it does happen. In that instance, tell the person! Don’t TRY to find something wrong, because then it becomes rewriting to your style.

Over the next few posts, I’ll cover the actual technique of a valuable critique. I’ll even offer a few thoughts on critiquing poetry, since poets will ask for help as much as story writers.

Just remember, your support means a stronger story for both yourself and your critique friend.

The Writing Group Conundrum

So far, you’ve been writing in your cave for a while and decided the time has come to venture out to find others of like thoughts and processes. Books and articles exist on the subject, explaining about finding the right match, the perfect group. They also mention that it takes time to meet and understand the people. I won’t argue against the people who did their research.

What I want to do is add to the concepts that they put forth.

Many of the articles that I’ve read, in addition to the books on the subject of writing groups, suggest that someone needs to pay attention to a factor, or maybe two, when selecting a group. I’d say that each group can be placed into a three-dimensional graph. One axis will hold a continuum of people from social gatherings to professionally structured groups. A second axis will hold a continuum ranging from general writing to genre specific writings. The final axis holds a continuum running from basic writing/chit chat groups to pure publication preparation.

Another way to look at this is to think of the red-green-blue sliders available on many televisions. Where the slider sits on each bar affects the image that you see. In the same way, the group falls onto the three sliders and affects how they operate. This breakdown can make a large difference to someone trying to find a place where the person might feel comfortable. A social fantasy writer who just wants to gather with other writers won’t feel comfortable with a group that is dedicated to a professional structure, with determined publication preparation of their romance novels. Any more than a person looking for a professional, literary fiction, publication prep group would be happy with a humor-based group writing for the fun and social atmosphere.

Remember the earlier post where I told you that I didn’t care what genre you wrote? It’s different here, because it makes a difference for your writing group.

As you seek the group that is the best fit, start with deciding what you seek in the group. Are you interested in preparing your work for publication? Are you interested in learning new things about the writing business? What structure are you seeking when you join a group?

Many of the previous points I bring out because I have experienced a little of each of these groups. During November, there is a month long event known as National Novel Writing Month. Those who experience it shorten it to NaNoWriMo. (It’s still a mouthful, I know.) This entire concept is to write, to get that first draft on paper. They hold writing groups throughout the month, but each group has its own dynamic. Some groups will gather and share space, but all they do is write. Some groups will gather, discuss plot points, and try to marshal people along the pipeline. One or two rare groups will gather, settle down with drinks (normally non-alcoholic) and just relax their strained fingers. Whether any of these groups prove useful depends on the attendee. This mad dash writing shows a microcosm of the writing world. The desire to write, the gathering of like minds, and the hope to have a finished novel at the end of 30 days all show a compressed timeline to what some writers take years to accomplish. Personally, I enjoyed my five years I did it, though I stressed all of November. Other writers I’ve spoken with find the entire endeavor useless. It’s all about perspective.

All of this leads to narrowing down your choices. A fourth slider also exists for someone to consider, but it holds a lower ranking for me than the others. This one deals with choosing the amount of time the group spends on line (be it web based or email based) to how much time you spend meeting in person. Some people prefer face-to-face meetings. Others live with their computer and online works fine for them.

Just remember that as writers, the more we experience, the richer our writing can be.

Slightly Off Topic: Merry Go Round Blog Tour!!!

Hey all! Just wanted to point to the new forever running blog tour I've joined.

The Merry Go Round Blog Tour is a concept of a group of 25+ authors hoping to offer insight, humor, and otherwise new reading experiences for readers from around the world. Rather than each of us posting to another's blog, we estalished a central hub for people to visit all the blogs we have linked in.

http://merrygoroundtour.blogspot.com/

The official tour starts today, July 1, 2011. My official posting date is the 23rd of each month. If my regular monthly post conflicts, I'll shift my monthly post accordingly. We have many fascinating writers in the list, from all genres and walks of life. Feel free to take a stroll and enjoy all that they have to offer.

Trapped in a Cave

In my previous posts, I’ve concentrated on the personal side of the writing journey, dealing with the writer versus the paper or blank computer screen. Much of the journey will definitely travel a path with these factors at the front of your goals and ambitions. For some, this could come as a wonderful, escapist trap.
If this is the lone reason you write, my next few posts won’t make much difference for you. However, if you aspire to more than just a scribbler, if you’d like to be published, you’ll need to break away from the writing space.

Let me come at this from a different angle.

Your day should consist of more than get up, eat, go to writing space, breaks for sustenance and disposal, then return to bed. The writing will suffer with a lack of stimulation. Not to mention, with the lack of personal contact, you’ll start going a little insane.

I see the tic starting in those eyes already.

How can you not remain trapped in your own mind?

A lot of writing deals with the "What If" type thought process. It becomes increasingly difficult to create those scenarios if you have no basis for them. Step away from the writing space, stretch your mind and body, and experience LIFE! Walk though the park, drive to the local mall and people watch, find a local museum. Heck, even hang out at the library. I’m not suggesting that you need to spend oh my god amounts of money. But you do need to see the world in order to offer the insights that your writing will grow from and be made believable.

Another thing I’d encourage a writer to do is READ. I understand the fear of writing like the author that you’re reading. Imitation is okay when you first get started on a draft. The more you write, the more you develop your own style, your own "voice" as the experts call it. It’s possible to write in your own voice even as you read others.

As a different way to look at it, how can you claim to have written a literary masterpiece if you haven’t read anything to compare it to?

For those of us who hate crowds, me being one, I know this is a difficult task to accomplish. But I can also offer a different tact that will get human contact. Find a local writing group. They can be small groups that gather to share wisdom of the writing journey, as well as helping each other find errors that one might miss in their own editing passes.

There are those out there that state what I’m writing here are just clichés of the writing world and to ignore everything I’ve offered.

Even the anarchist will sound like a cliché after a while.

Consider I only offer my opinion on all these posts. My opinion comes from research and personal experience. Mine is but one person’s journey along this crazy planet. Others will experience different issues, different life-changing events. That’s not to say any offered view is wrong. It’s what makes we humans unique.

Never know what a Name will do

Over the years, I realized that you never know exactly what effect a character’s name will have on others lives. Let me offer a few examples.

I know a married couple who liked the writings of C. S. Friedman. When they got married, they changed their last name to that from one of Friedman’s books. Even after knowing them for years, I still have to remind myself not to look for his old last name but the character name.

Growing up, my real first name was rare. In three counties, I knew of two people with the name, including myself. Of those two people, we each had a unique spelling. While I enjoyed being unique, I sought out others of my name, just so I knew that my name didn’t come from the ether. During my junior year of high school, I heard of this guy starting for the Green Bay Packers American Football team. Maybe you’ve heard of him by now, Brett Favre. The National Hockey League produced two more Brett’s, Lindros and Hull. It created a blink, but a comedian and actress became popular around this time too. Brett Butler. With those four, suddenly I found an explosion of people with my name, though we never came near the numbers of John, Michael, or Matthew.

To make things even more interesting, I find two friends who added an interesting twist to this. One friend married a Brett. Another named her child Brett. (Her sister was none too happy, from what I’m told.)

How does this relate to my writing, you may ask? Here’s how:

We seek unique names for our characters. We’d like for the names to jump off the page and allow the reader to identify with the character, maybe just based on the name. However, we run into problems. Sometimes the name doesn’t align with the character. It feels wrong in the context that we’ve created. At times, our names are too close and even we as writers have difficulty distinguishing between two characters.
Each character should have a unique name, for the ease of identification. However, realize what the area might consider unique, as well. One region might have many people referred to as Mike or Bruce, but another may have only two.

If you’re using the real world as the basis of your writing, choosing unique names is easier than other worlds. We have lists of common names from the census bureau and other companies. Our local surroundings show us our region’s common names. As an example, my job that pays the bills has four men named William in two different departments, plus an upper-level manager who’s also a William.

When you branch to a fantasy world of your creation, how unique a name is really depends on your imagination. Does your world base its names on regular naming conventions like the real world? Does naming all base itself on the Egyptian Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses? Part of your world building might require considering these concepts as you create the common and not so common for the world around the character.

Something to throw out there in thought - does the character move with the local society or against it? Sometimes, a name that flows with the rest of society might be exactly what the character doesn’t need. For instance, a political standout may not want to John Smith as a name. He’d want to stand out as an Aldus or Darien.

Also of consideration, you need to take into account in which era your story is concentrated. If you’ve chosen a period of history where revivals are frequent, children might be more prone to names of the religion. Times like the late sixties and early seventies drew names like Flower, Germaine, and Joy, names that reflected the time. A little research regarding the era will reveal the proper direction to consider. A modern name like Chrysanthemum won’t work during an era known for its Helen’s and Gertrude’s.

While it might be fun, messing with a reader’s mind might not work well. Perhaps, you always have a character with the same name in each town that the protagonist visits. Life becomes easier for you! It’s a brilliant idea. Unless this is a plotted point as the character is followed, it’s not going to go over well with reader or editor.

As you work, consider the name of your character and what effect it might have on the world around it.