Today I'll be judging those contest entries that I should have finished last week before I left town. *sigh* They are tougher than I expected, more of the first time writer feel to them instead of the "I'm this close to publishing" vibe.
And you see what I'm doing?
I'm stalling! I'm writing a blog post instead of buckling down to judge!
I've read/judged/commented/scored two out of three entries and I'm working on the third one (trust me, I'm GLAD I only have three!). I need to finish it so I can let them ferment overnight. Tomorrow I'll give them one last glance and send them on their way. None of them will be finalists in this contest. They just aren't ready for prime time.
Funny thing is that I thought I would have a higher quality of entries since this is a LARGE, WELL-KNOWN AND PRESTIGIOUS CONTEST. But nope, the contest is open to everyone, which means you get every type of entry possible.
Which also means I need to form my comments in as honest, but not hurtful, manner as possible. I've already learned that no matter how kindly you offer your opinion, feelings will get hurt. It's part of the game, part of developing a thick skin, part of your growth as a writer.
Not everyone will love your work. Period. Get used to it.
BUT as a writer, it's your job to present your work in the possible manner, which means you must learn the craft of writing: grammar, punctuation, pacing, characterization, emotion, dialogue, plot, etc. Some parts of the craft might be easy for you, but that doesn't mean you can ignore the rest of the factors that make a good story.
Okay, I think I'm ready to tackle the last few pages . . .
. . . after I brew a cup of coffee . . . and it has been ten minutes since I looked at Facebook . . . and I forgot to post my walkies on twitter . . . and I do need to run to Sam's Club . . .
Later, Peeps!
Showing posts with label novel writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label novel writing. Show all posts
4/5/12
4/21/11
My First AH-HA Moment, what's yours?
My previous couple of posts made me think back to my writerly beginnings and my very first AH-HA! moment.
Now, writers tend to have multiple and numerous AH-HA moments, or we should; otherwise, we would be living in a vacuum and fail to learn new things. As a writer, we must be asking the question 'why'. If we fail to question and seek an answer then we are as as bad as a stagnant pond on a hot summer's day--smelly with loads of fish poo.
Writers should be always learning, honing their craft, and pushing their boundaries. By doing so, we learn and have AH-HA moments.
I will always remember my first AH-HA moment.
I don't remember the year, but I do remember everything else. I was working on my second manuscript, THE DRAGON WARRIOR, an ill-fated Viking romance with a fairy dusting of paranormal witchery. I had been a member of RWI for probably two years and I desperately wanted to belong to a critique group.
One day I was asked to join a group. HALLELUJAH!! I was excited beyond words. The group was small, comprising Marilyn Pappano, Susan Shay and Linda Trout. We met every other week (I think. Sorry, I've slept since then) and thus began the most brutal writing time of my life.
I still get nosebleeds from thinking about that darn learning curve! But I learned a lot from that experience.
After awhile, I had to quit the group. I simply couldn't keep up the pace of submitting new work, since I worked part-time and had a youngster. I got to the point that I was writing crap--crap that shouldn't be seen by the human eye--just so I'd have something for them to crit.
--plus I discovered, quite recently actually, that I'm a feast-or-famine type of writer. When I'm writing, I'm WRITING. The rest of the time, I'm goofing off, working out story problems or editing and formatting.
Again with my digressing! Back to my AH-HA moment. My memory might be wrong--it's a sieve, remember?--but this what I recall.
We were sitting at Olive Garden, occupying a table they so desperately wanted to turn, and I had a scene that was critiqued. Actually, if I remember correctly it was a fairly clean scene that time.
SCENE: My heroine had been rescued from being burned (or simply left to rot) at the stake by a Viking. She passes out and awakens on his longboat. I describe stuff, and had decent cause and effect going on, but I knew something was wrong with the scene, but I didn't know WHAT.
Our lovely Marilyn piped up and said, "I know what it is."
"What?" The rest of us chimed in.
"The emotion is missing."
*ding, ding, ding, ding*
Wow. What an epiphany. True, when you write romance the story should be all about emotion, but I didn't get it until this point. And emotion isn't just for romance, it's for every story you write.
Emotion aids characterization by defining who that character is by the way they act, react, overreact, or under react in a situation or with another character, etc.
Emotion deepens the character's point-of-view (POV) The deeper the writer can get into the head of the character the more accurate the character is written, thus the greater the conflict.
Emotional conflict is one way for a character to grow through the story--it's imperative for a romance.
Character growth is the deep down reason a reader is drawn to a story. Oh, the external plot might be what hooks the reader, but in the end, all the reader invests his/her emotions to the character driving the story.
Who wants to read about a stagnant character? Or even one who is without flaws, is richer than Midas, or smarter than Stephen Hawking. All I can say is BORING.
Remember: writers must constantly be learning and your characters should show emotional growth, too.
Later, Peeps.
Now, writers tend to have multiple and numerous AH-HA moments, or we should; otherwise, we would be living in a vacuum and fail to learn new things. As a writer, we must be asking the question 'why'. If we fail to question and seek an answer then we are as as bad as a stagnant pond on a hot summer's day--smelly with loads of fish poo.
Writers should be always learning, honing their craft, and pushing their boundaries. By doing so, we learn and have AH-HA moments.
I will always remember my first AH-HA moment.
I don't remember the year, but I do remember everything else. I was working on my second manuscript, THE DRAGON WARRIOR, an ill-fated Viking romance with a fairy dusting of paranormal witchery. I had been a member of RWI for probably two years and I desperately wanted to belong to a critique group.
One day I was asked to join a group. HALLELUJAH!! I was excited beyond words. The group was small, comprising Marilyn Pappano, Susan Shay and Linda Trout. We met every other week (I think. Sorry, I've slept since then) and thus began the most brutal writing time of my life.
I still get nosebleeds from thinking about that darn learning curve! But I learned a lot from that experience.
After awhile, I had to quit the group. I simply couldn't keep up the pace of submitting new work, since I worked part-time and had a youngster. I got to the point that I was writing crap--crap that shouldn't be seen by the human eye--just so I'd have something for them to crit.
--plus I discovered, quite recently actually, that I'm a feast-or-famine type of writer. When I'm writing, I'm WRITING. The rest of the time, I'm goofing off, working out story problems or editing and formatting.
Again with my digressing! Back to my AH-HA moment. My memory might be wrong--it's a sieve, remember?--but this what I recall.
We were sitting at Olive Garden, occupying a table they so desperately wanted to turn, and I had a scene that was critiqued. Actually, if I remember correctly it was a fairly clean scene that time.
SCENE: My heroine had been rescued from being burned (or simply left to rot) at the stake by a Viking. She passes out and awakens on his longboat. I describe stuff, and had decent cause and effect going on, but I knew something was wrong with the scene, but I didn't know WHAT.
Our lovely Marilyn piped up and said, "I know what it is."
"What?" The rest of us chimed in.
"The emotion is missing."
*ding, ding, ding, ding*
Wow. What an epiphany. True, when you write romance the story should be all about emotion, but I didn't get it until this point. And emotion isn't just for romance, it's for every story you write.
Emotion aids characterization by defining who that character is by the way they act, react, overreact, or under react in a situation or with another character, etc.
Emotion deepens the character's point-of-view (POV) The deeper the writer can get into the head of the character the more accurate the character is written, thus the greater the conflict.
Emotional conflict is one way for a character to grow through the story--it's imperative for a romance.
Character growth is the deep down reason a reader is drawn to a story. Oh, the external plot might be what hooks the reader, but in the end, all the reader invests his/her emotions to the character driving the story.
Who wants to read about a stagnant character? Or even one who is without flaws, is richer than Midas, or smarter than Stephen Hawking. All I can say is BORING.
Remember: writers must constantly be learning and your characters should show emotional growth, too.
Later, Peeps.
3/28/11
Story telling vs. Telling
Anyone can write a novel if you sit down and do it, BUT telling a story is a whole nuther beast!
One interesting tidbit that came about from the story in the paper was a phone call. I have to admit that I'm not hard to track down, considering there are only about 5 Gollas in NE OK, so it didn't take a lot of looking to find me--Dude, I'm even in the phone book!
Anyhoo, I got a phone call on Wednesday and after a bit of phone tag I talked to the person--I'll simply refer to this person as DW--Delusional, self-pubbed, first-time Writer. On an aside, I know this person will NEVER read this blog because DW doesn't think DW needs to learn anything about writing! DW was a cop and then a lawyer, plus DW reads and listens to TONS of books and can write better than any of the dreck out there!
Sound familiar? Yeah, DW is typical of about 99% of beginning writers, with the exception of the cop/lawyer scenario. And yes, I was one of them, too.
DW wrote a story (in 7 or 9 months) and self pubbed it. DW wanted to know the super-secret password that got me into the paper--I wouldn't tell him! Just kidding! Any writer out there KNOWS there is no easy way. My newspaper debut was simply a combination of timing, luck and networking. AND it wasn't about me so much as it was about the changing climate in publishing. PERIOD. (Since I wrote this, Connie Brockway-NY Times best selling romance writer-turned down a contract and is going rogue. Her words not mine. And Barry Eisler turned down $500K for a 2-book contract)
Did it sell more books? NO. But it got my name out there.
Anyhoo, DW wanted to know how to go about marketing DW's story. After a 40 minute talk, we parted ways with DW's, "You have my number, call me." WTF?? DUDE--WHY WOULD I CALL YOU?? Talking to DW was like talking to a brick wall (cop/lawyer combo, remember?). In DW's words, DW's masterpiece was wonderful. DW's family and friends loved it (uh-oh). DW didn't need no stinking writer's group (I suggested Tulsa Night Writers) or critique group or to read books on craft (DW--if you lowered yourself to read my blog, call me--I have a list of books you need to invest in reading!)
But being a curious person--uh, every writer worth their salt is curious--I pulled up DW's story on Kindle. What I have to say will probably come over as harsh, but I'm not DW's friend or family. I'm a writer who has been in the trenches for years, been there done that.
--and DW is in serious need of an intervention and reality check.
I had talked about the trifecta of self-publishing before (Please, DW click the link and read the blog) and I will re-iterated it here:
If you've never heard this saying, it's time to take note because I think there's something to it.
You have to write a million words of crap before you start writing gold.
I think I'm over my million words mark, and much of my first drafts are crap, but it's crap that improves its smell with serious editing.
Later, Peeps!
One interesting tidbit that came about from the story in the paper was a phone call. I have to admit that I'm not hard to track down, considering there are only about 5 Gollas in NE OK, so it didn't take a lot of looking to find me--Dude, I'm even in the phone book!
Anyhoo, I got a phone call on Wednesday and after a bit of phone tag I talked to the person--I'll simply refer to this person as DW--Delusional, self-pubbed, first-time Writer. On an aside, I know this person will NEVER read this blog because DW doesn't think DW needs to learn anything about writing! DW was a cop and then a lawyer, plus DW reads and listens to TONS of books and can write better than any of the dreck out there!
Sound familiar? Yeah, DW is typical of about 99% of beginning writers, with the exception of the cop/lawyer scenario. And yes, I was one of them, too.
DW wrote a story (in 7 or 9 months) and self pubbed it. DW wanted to know the super-secret password that got me into the paper--I wouldn't tell him! Just kidding! Any writer out there KNOWS there is no easy way. My newspaper debut was simply a combination of timing, luck and networking. AND it wasn't about me so much as it was about the changing climate in publishing. PERIOD. (Since I wrote this, Connie Brockway-NY Times best selling romance writer-turned down a contract and is going rogue. Her words not mine. And Barry Eisler turned down $500K for a 2-book contract)
Did it sell more books? NO. But it got my name out there.
Anyhoo, DW wanted to know how to go about marketing DW's story. After a 40 minute talk, we parted ways with DW's, "You have my number, call me." WTF?? DUDE--WHY WOULD I CALL YOU?? Talking to DW was like talking to a brick wall (cop/lawyer combo, remember?). In DW's words, DW's masterpiece was wonderful. DW's family and friends loved it (uh-oh). DW didn't need no stinking writer's group (I suggested Tulsa Night Writers) or critique group or to read books on craft (DW--if you lowered yourself to read my blog, call me--I have a list of books you need to invest in reading!)
But being a curious person--uh, every writer worth their salt is curious--I pulled up DW's story on Kindle. What I have to say will probably come over as harsh, but I'm not DW's friend or family. I'm a writer who has been in the trenches for years, been there done that.
--and DW is in serious need of an intervention and reality check.
I had talked about the trifecta of self-publishing before (Please, DW click the link and read the blog) and I will re-iterated it here:
- Cover and title, including design
- Blurb
- First couple of pages
- Cover/title: The one thing DW did right was use a pseudonym! The cover and title were good, but it was hard to tell if the story was a cozy mystery, a suspense or a thriller. Each sub-genre of mystery-type books have a particular 'feel' to them. This cover and title was a combination of all three, which makes for a wishy-washy presentation. The cover and title are your first chance to 'show' the reader what the book is about--THIS IS ALL ABOUT MARKETING YOUR STORY.
- Blurb: Oi! DW's blurb was composed of three disjointed paragraphs. It didn't flow. It didn't make sense and it didn't keep me interested in the story. It was just 'stuff' thrown out there. Now, this isn't to say it couldn't be fixed, it can, but DW will have to open DW's mind to change and that the blurb isn't pretty. As a reader, I DIDN'T CARE ENOUGH TO READ ON. This is the kiss of death. The reader has to care about what happens to your main character, otherwise there isn't a story.-- Blurbs are hard. Blurbs take a unique skill to write and not everyone can write them well. Think query letter. I spent numerous drafts composing the blurb for GNOME, I ran it by numerous writer friends, and I rewrote it 10-15 times. I still hated my last sentence. A writer friend has a genius concluding sentence that he said I could use. So I did. A writer can't throw a decent blurb together in 15 minutes and expect to do it right. Well, a writer can, but it ends up being a disjointed, uninteresting mess.
- Pages: First pages must be downloaded free for the potential reader. I had to download a sample onto my Kindle--And I stopped reading after I read the first sentence. Back-story, info dump says it all. Very, very typical of a first time writer. And then add the bullet point sentence structure courtesy of the cop/lawyer background and DW can wave good-bye to potential readers. Back story info dump is all the crap a writer needs to know about the main character that the reader doesn't care about. BSID defines the character, but the reader doesn't give a rat's patootie about how the character evolved. --Start the story WITH the story! What happened to start the ball rolling in THIS story? This is imperative in all books, but especially with mysteries.
If you've never heard this saying, it's time to take note because I think there's something to it.
You have to write a million words of crap before you start writing gold.
I think I'm over my million words mark, and much of my first drafts are crap, but it's crap that improves its smell with serious editing.
Later, Peeps!
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