In celebration of the holidays, here's a list of my twelve favorite books on writing.
But wait, if you read this RIGHT NOW, I'll include a thirteenth book at no extra cost!! (Just pay separate reading time and brain processing.) The list is in no specific order and reflects my favorites as of today. At this very instant.
1. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft, by Janet Burroway. Probably the most widely used textbook for creative writing courses, it is wonderfully detailed and a great foundation for any writer and an ongoing reference for those writing their tenth novel. It's expensive but you can find used versions of earlier editions for a fraction of the cost and they're just as helpful as the latest edition.
2. The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile, by Noah Lukeman. Lukeman is a brash young New York literary agent and his book tells it like it is: agents (and editors of journals) develop an early warning system that allows them to not waste time on submissions they recognize as failures in the first five pages. He shares all, so read it and do your tough revisions and get good critiquing on you mss before you submit.
3. Outlining Your Novel: Map Your Way to Success, by K. M. Weiland. Yep, that old conundrum, to plan your novel or go seat of the pants. Can you guess which one Weiland recommends? The more I write, the more I recognize the value of conscientious planning for longer works.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Monday, December 16, 2013
Eye Dialect and Cliches and Rejections, Oh My!
Wanna betcha eye dialect is purty much gonna be a dead giveaway of amateur or lazy writin' these days?
Sure, I can hear all the protesting that "we all talk that way," and all those favorite bestsellers where rich and famous authors use apostrophes and "gonna" and "gotta" from time to time and still make millions. How can THEY get away with it? And shouldn't we emulate success?
Well, it's like that old TV add for some financial firm--those writers did it the old fashioned way: they've earned the right to be a bit lazy. Yes, LAZY.
Most of those bestsellers are so fabulously plotted they carry the reader along, flipping pages as fast as they can, paying as little attention as possible to such mundane details. And that bestselling author has another deadline looming for their next six or seven figure advance, so they can't take the time to dig deeper and avoid a little cliche now and then, right? Boy, don't we all wish we were there!
But, for those of us nudging our way toward publishing a novel, or even a story or two, the bottom line is that eye dialect is one of those "three strikes and you're out" elements that agents and editors talk about when they read the first few pages--if that much--of your submission. So why is that, and how can we avoid falling into the trap of all too easy eye dialect? And how, then, can we really characterize our creations with their speech patterns if we can't use it?
Sure, I can hear all the protesting that "we all talk that way," and all those favorite bestsellers where rich and famous authors use apostrophes and "gonna" and "gotta" from time to time and still make millions. How can THEY get away with it? And shouldn't we emulate success?
Well, it's like that old TV add for some financial firm--those writers did it the old fashioned way: they've earned the right to be a bit lazy. Yes, LAZY.
Most of those bestsellers are so fabulously plotted they carry the reader along, flipping pages as fast as they can, paying as little attention as possible to such mundane details. And that bestselling author has another deadline looming for their next six or seven figure advance, so they can't take the time to dig deeper and avoid a little cliche now and then, right? Boy, don't we all wish we were there!
But, for those of us nudging our way toward publishing a novel, or even a story or two, the bottom line is that eye dialect is one of those "three strikes and you're out" elements that agents and editors talk about when they read the first few pages--if that much--of your submission. So why is that, and how can we avoid falling into the trap of all too easy eye dialect? And how, then, can we really characterize our creations with their speech patterns if we can't use it?
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Flying Islands of the Night
From the latest
eBlast from Barb Shoup at the Indiana Writers Center:
"Flying
Island," the Writers Center's literary magazine was founded in the 1980's
by director Jim Powell, and provided a publishing opportunity for Indiana
writers well into the 1990's. It was always fun to see who in our writing
community would be represented in the magazine. If I'm remembering correctly,
there were some pretty groovy launch parties at the Alley Cat in Broad Ripple,
which was the scene for many readings in those days.
It morphed into
"Maize" for a while. Then David Hassler revived it a while back and
did several broadsheet editions. It was great to see the magazine back in print
and to read the works of IWC members and friends, but...print is expensive. We
just couldn't keep it going.
Enter online
magazines, factor in David Hassler's determination to make "Flying
Island" work one way or another, thank those who contributed to our
power2give project, "Where's the Next Kurt Vonnegut" and, shazaam,
it's back.
We're excited to
announce the launch of the online version of "Flying Island," which
is now accepting submissions on a rolling basis from residents of Indiana and
those with significant ties to Indiana. Editors David Hassler (fiction),
Julianna Thibodeaux (nonfiction) and JL Kato (poetry) are waiting to hear from
you!
Fiction: up to 2,000 words
Nonfiction: up to
1,000 words
Poetry: up to
three poems, no more than 30 lines each.
Check it out—and please submit your words—at:
The
link is also on the left under “Check out These Great Links.”
By the way, "Flying Islands of the Night" is the title of an obscure poem/play by the Hoosier Poet, James Whitcomb Riley, of course.
By the way, "Flying Islands of the Night" is the title of an obscure poem/play by the Hoosier Poet, James Whitcomb Riley, of course.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Speaking of Balance
“Writing is not a
matter of time, but a matter or of space. If you don't keep space in your head
for writing, you won't write even if you have the time.”
― Katerina Stoykova Klemer
“What is joy without sorrow? What is success without failure? What is a win without a loss? What is health without illness? You have to experience each if you are to appreciate the other. There is always going to be suffering. It’s how you look at your suffering, how you deal with it, that will define you.”
― Mark Twain
― Katerina Stoykova Klemer
“What is joy without sorrow? What is success without failure? What is a win without a loss? What is health without illness? You have to experience each if you are to appreciate the other. There is always going to be suffering. It’s how you look at your suffering, how you deal with it, that will define you.”
― Mark Twain
Suffering. Time and space. Concerns about making sure one's writing is good enough or unique enough or special enough. The fear of having others read our work and make an insightful comment that stings, leading us to perhaps even abandon a promising and beloved project. And even to hold a wad of spite for the evil workshop terrorist who saw through our work and pricked us right where it hurt the most since it was deadly accurate. Critiques as a form of abuse. Friends who hate us because we write.
Holy shit!
Many writerly discussions thoroughly explore a blivet* of these lovely downers and, yes, they are indeed out there. But, as Mark Twain so aptly put it, "There is always going to be suffering."
So, how do we deal
with suffering, and where's the balance in all that horror?
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