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The idea of "deliberate practice" has been around for years, but it's become something of a buzzword lately. You've heard the drill: you need to put in 10,000 hours of work, or about 10 years of focussed practice, to achieve expertise in anything -- from writing poetry to throwing darts. Which is why your writing mentors are forever telling you to write, write, write. Because the more you write, the sooner you'll become a master of your craft, write? I mean, right?
Well, not exactly. I've just finished an astonishing, hopeful book called The Genius in All of Us, by David Shenk. Shenk argues that we all have far more capacity than we give ourselves credit for; that through focussed application we can all become very, very good at what we dream of doing -- not only that, but we can, like the London cabbies he writes about -- actually grow our brains. The whole idea of "talent" is a red herring. People are not born with talent -- not Mozart and not Ted Williams. They became legends because they practiced really, really, really hard. But here's the real kicker:
Shenk says these arrows should actually be pointing in the same direction
It's not enough to play a lot of soccer or chess (it's not enough to write for three hours every day including Sunday). It's not enough to go to a good critique group and attend tons of conferences. It's not enough to simply want it very badly.
"Deliberate practice requires a mindset of never, ever being satisfied with your current ability. It requires constant self-critique, a pathological restlessness, a passion to aim consistently just beyond one's capability so that daily disappointment and failure is actually desired, and a never-ending resolve to dust oneself off and try again and again and again."
In other words, Shenk says that to attain expertise, you have to push yourself to failure, deliberately. Just like weight-lifters do in the gym. That's how you grow your writing muscles.
How many of us really do this, I wonder? I'm thinking about a series of exercises we might do as writers that would aim us toward small daily failures in a deliberate way. Do you all have any tricks you use to push yourselves beyond your comfort zone? And how does that work out for you? I'd love to hear about it.
8 Comments on "Deliberate Practice" is More Than Just Practice, last added: 2/7/2012
This is an interesting concept. I'm thinking of tenure cases in a university environment, where they want to know not only which journals you submitted papers to and were accepted, but which ones you didn't get into -- presumably higher-tier ones to show you are pushing yourself.
I do think you need to constantly evaluate your writing process, your output, your support system and see where you are getting complacent. Constant vigilance!
Not sure if I'm replying to Bluestocking or to Gail by clicking here, but I intend to reply to Gail.
So ... I think it's probably easier to apply this advice to writing than to other pursuits, because when confronted with one's own writing -- especially after having completed it only recently -- it's impossible not to see the seams. You know what you intended, you know how you fell short, you know how many deletions and rewrites went into each ridiculous little sentence that only carries a tenth the weight it was meant to anyway. I know of only two writers who don't hate their own work, and they're both idiots.
The constitutional self-loathing of the writing biz is indeed good for craft, because you're constantly fixing yesteryear's deficiencies and discovering new and more complex ways to suck. The trick is to not forget old lessons when mastering new ones. I don't know if that happens. It hasn't for me yet, but I'm young. And I look at the way some older writers become technically advanced in certain ways while losing touch with the fundaments of the craft, and wonder if they're just bumping up against the limits of the human RAM.
Wow, all this time I thought I was just neurotic. Turns out I'm actually growing as a writer. :P
Okay, that was cheeky, but I have often wondered why I'm never satisfied with anything I write. I've probably put in about ten years of serious writing now, and while I think I've mastered a few things and don't really consider myself a bad writer, I just can't ever get to a point where I feel really good about my writing. But maybe this is a good thing. *shrugs*
I definitely believe that those who excel at something practiced out the wazoo. But I personally believe that some people are born with more aptitude in certain areas than others.
In fact, did you know that they've done studies on some world-class atheletes and discovered that many have genetic mutations that allowed them to excel in their given sport? Lance Armstrong's lungs, for example, have a significantly higher capacity to take in oxygen than most people. Michael Phelps feet bend at the ankle a significant degree further than most people's. Anyway, not to discourage or anything, I just think it'a a fascinating topic! :)
I agree with Janet. Definitely practice is necessary, no matter who you are, but some people have a genetic edge. Perseverance is also key though. You can be talented, but if you don't submit your work, or you give up after the first rejection, you won't get published.
Pushing myself in terms of volume seems to help--like, the more I write per day (not just over the years, although it has been about ten of them for me), the better my writing gets. I think being open to instruction helps, though, because there's always more to learn.
I both love and hate this post, lol. I think we're told a lot growing up to focus on our strengths and not our weaknesses. While this is great advice for the self-esteem, it doesn't help much when you're trying to improve. Thinking back on 2011, I learned three really important writing lessons that I believe pushed me forward in my writing. Two of them came out of deliberate study. I knew I was weak in the area of structure, so I read books on the subject and broke down my own novel to see where it was lacking and where it needed fixing. I also realized that I didn't quite understand tension and how it worked in a novel. So I studied books that had lots of tension to see how the authors utilized it, then applied those techniques to my writing. For me, the areas that I've grown the most significantly are the areas where I identified a weakness and deliberately sought to learn about it and overcome it. So I'd say Shenk is right on.
You all are inspirational! @Brandon: I bet the expert swimmer or the professional flautist can be just as hard on themselves as us writers. @Susanna and @Janet: Shenk speaks to these issues of genetics, but he thinks the jury is still out. His discussion of Kenyan runners is particularly interesting. And, as I mentioned, the London cabbies whose brains actually GREW to accommodate their new spacial skills. That just blew me away. His argument is a lot more complicated than I've made it sound here, but basically it comes down to a complex interaction between genes and environment. I highly recommend this book.
Last person to identify this movie still is a rotten egg.
The annual Florida SCBWI conference in Miami has to be one of the best kid lit conferences in the country: witness the many writers who whizzed down last weekend from Canada and New York to attend. I spent an intense day Friday in a novel workshop with agent Marietta Zacker and Y/A author Dorian Cirrone; we covered a lot of ground -- from writing tag lines to penning the novel's climactic scene, so I'll share just a piece of what we talked about when it comes to ratcheting up tension in your novel and keeping it high.
This is one of Dorian Cirrone's tips; she had ten in all. Keep an eye out for Dorian as she makes the round of national conferences. She's a pleasure to spend a day with. Her book Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill Youis available from Harper Teen.
1. Ramp up your dialogue.
There are lots of ways to infuse dialogue scenes with tension to get hearts pounding. But there are softer kinds of tension, too -- your reader might feel, well, uneasy. Or uncomfortable. Dorian suggests confrontation, evasion, repetition, interruption, changing direction, indirect answers, answering a question with a question, and exchange of power. This last is a really cool device. It happens when Speaker A starts on top in a dialogue exchange, and ends on the bottom, with Speaker B's heel firmly on throat. Here's an example Lori Devoti uses in her ebook, Dialogue: More Than Just Talk
“James, can you tell me theeight stages of the moon and which one we will see tonight?" James leaned back in hischair and tapped his pencil against his desktop. “James? The stages?”
3 Comments on Turning Up the Tension, last added: 1/23/2012
Glad it was a good conference. I've been to the SCBWI Los Angeles conference and thought it was fantastic too.
I also took Donald Maass's class on creating micro-tension and it was fascinating to see him take a volunteer's page of sort of bland writing and really amp it up by raising questions within the passage or by inserting conflict where there hadn't been any before. Great lesson.
Your blog is so fun!!!! I found you over at Tiptoe Kisses and had to stop in!
LOVE THE TIP! I really love hearing what people take away from conferences. They end up feeling so inspired. When I go to an author signing I leave inspired, I can't imagine how I'd feel leaving one of the many wonderful seminars people attend!
Paradoxy has been dark for many weeks over the holidays -- but not necessarily because of the holidays. My news is: I've accepted a full-time editorial job in the education industry. And what does this mean for my fiction-writing schedule -- or my blogging schedule -- you might ask?
Got to get up early in the mornin'
It's an interesting conundrum: how to make a living while investing in your fiction writing career. I personally know one young adult author who, after signing a three-book contract with an excellent Y/A publisher, is back to looking for full-time work. The common advice: Don't quit your day job...just yet applies even to writers with a signed contract in hand. According to lit agent Jessica Faust, fewer than ten percent of fiction writers make a living solely by writing books.
I was lucky: After I left my job in journalism, I had enough contract and teaching piecework to get by while I wrote one novel and drafted the second (which took roughly just a bit over a year). That open year feels like the running start you take before making a huge leap. I've got traction. I fully intend to keep writing fiction even while I'm working full time -- but I also accept that the pages may come a lot slower.
Here's the good news: *Holding a day job might give you cool ideas to use in your fiction. Interpersonal relations, real world conflict, the kinds of issues that might not cross your solitary writing desk otherwise. *Holding a day job takes the pressure off. You might not feel quite so desperate, or send out that query before your novel is ready. *Money. It doesn't buy happiness. But it can sure purchase a piece of it.
How do you do it?
So how, my bloggy buddies, do you deal with bringing home the bacon while you're penning your Great American Novel? Are you starving in a garret, or getting up at 4:30 to toss off a few pages before you hit the commute? Or, like Wallace Stevens or William Carlos Williams, do you just compose poems in your head on the train home in the evening? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
PS: Henceforth, I'll be back to blogging here twice a week.
18 Comments on Working to Write, last added: 1/23/2012
I have the fortune to work full-time from home (making my own schedule, so to speak). But I also have two kiddos. I usually write when they're in school for an hour or so. Time varies depending upon what's going on. It is a very sloooowwww process for me, though. Congrats on the job!
I used to take an hour long bus ride to work and found I could write in a notebook pretty easily. It was two hours a day of built in writing time. Made the ride go faster too. Nowadays I don't work outside the home, so I'm able to sneak in writing just about anytime. Still a challenge (for me) to get a novel written in a year, though.
I've definitely heard that--very few authors make enough $$ to support themselves. Best to you as you take on new challenges; keep writing! :) Happy 2012.
I always like reading your blog, Gail, we seem to be fairly in sync with our experiences but you're a few leaps ahead of me. Glad to read about your new employment, I hope that it's interesting and compelling work for you. To put it as diplomatically as possible... I'm fortunate enough to still be employed but I don't always fully appreciate it. Working definitely detracts from my energy to write and even though I've mapped out quite a bit of where I want my current project to go, I'm still struggling with focus and energy after long days of work. January is slated to be another 'big push' month for me, where I launch myself into the abyss and attempt to fill it with words!
Gail, congrats on your new job! I know you'll find a way to keep writing because your writing is that good. John Grisham penned his first novel on the train after long hours working as an attorney. I think things worked out okay for him. Good luck!
Congrats on your new job! It's hard, and you're right, pages come slower, but they can still come. I'm mostly an early morning person, but I also try to take advantage of the hour after the kids go to bed.
Congratulations on the new job, Gail! I think some of the best stuff comes early in the morning, when there's no time to procrastinate (and you still have energy to do it). Good for you for determining to still write while working full time!
Congratulations, Gail! As a stay at home mom, I find it's very important to 1)be diligent about scheduling writing time into the day, and 2)be realistic. Know that you won't get to write as much as you did before, but that you still can reach your goals if you keep moving forward.
Congratulations on your job. I hope you can find time to do it all. While working full time as a lawyer with small kids I find my best writing time is after the kids are in bed from about ten til 1:30 a.m. I got used to much less sleep
I think another thing having a day job does is that it forces us to do more with our writing time. When the whole day is open, it's easy to procrastinate or take too much time consider changes or wording. When that amount of writing time is cut, suddenly it becomes imperative we accomplish as much as we can in that smaller time. Congrats on the job! I know you'll do well :)
Congratulations on the new job, your statistic is sobering, I think it underlines that most of us write because we must rather than for any (imagined) financial rewards.
It is definitely hard to balance life between work, children, spouse, household, church, volunteering, and ... writing. But, at least we're not bored!! :)
Miss your blogging, but I'm glad to hear you are in a good place right now, with a job that's at least writing-related to reinforce your skills even if it's nonfiction. Best of luck and hope you pop back to the blog now and again ;)
Congratulations on your new job. And congratulations that you got so much done when you were between jobs! I volunteer teach an after-school art club, and I review books for Sacramento Book Review. But I actually think these activities make me more productive as a writer -- and both keep me in touch with my target reading audience.
Thank you all! I'll have some great news to share next week. In the meantime I'll be tripping around to your blogs, and tomorrow I'll post some tips from my Florida SCBWI conference novel intensive.
One of the most exciting writing events of the year took place yesterday, but that doesn't mean it's over for you.
Miss Snark's First Victim blog runs a yearly Bakers' Dozen Agent Auction, and it's one of the best ways I know to get a read on publishing industry trends, particularly in Young Adult fiction.
60 aspiring authors (middle grade, young adult, and adult) submit log lines and their novels' first 250 words. Sixteen well known literary agents "bid" on the submissions, offering to read 5, 25, 50, 100, 150 pages, or the full manuscript. The agent who bids highest "wins" a first look at the ms. And the author, of course, "wins" a read by an agent.
This year's auction was fascinating, on a lot of levels. You need to hike over there and have a look at the comments on submissions, written by both readers and agents, and in some cases by editors. Here are some global judgements, based on this small sample: 1. Young Adult Fantasy, Dystopian, and Paranormal is saturated. You have to be really, really smoking in these genres to break out of the pack. Trolls, plagues, wizards, succubae, witches, dragons, the Grim Reaper, priestesses, kelpies, flesh-traders --you think you've got a great idea? Trust me, somebody else has had it. And their manuscript is complete.
2. Young Adult Steampunk/Sci-Fi is trending There were a lot of interesting submissions in these genres (maybe it's me: I like). But if you're planning time travel, or even further, a time-traveling telepath, be careful. These ideas are hot right now, and you could get burned.
3. Agents tend to agree on what they like. As much as we hear the old saw about how you have to find just the "right" agent who will "fall in love" with your manuscript: Well here's the sad news. If you're querying and not getting requests, there's a reason. The glamorous submissions in this batch (#59, #56,#45, #38, #2 among others) attracted active (vicious, hysterical, energetic) bidding: It was like trying to get a date at a party once Angelina Jolie and Kate Winslett show up. Quieter but very well written submissions got less attention (my favorite of these dark horses, #22, got just one bid, from agent Sarah LaPolla).
(The exception to this "agents agree" rule is the bookalicious Sarah Davies of Greenhouse. This lady really charts her own course. As far as I could tell, she only placed one bid, on #38.)
6 Comments on 5 Reasons to Drop In on the Agent Auction, last added: 12/10/2011
Thanks for the reminder! I had forgotten about the agent auction. It was amazing to read last year, and I'll have to head on over and see if my top picks compare with theirs! My problem - if a book sounds good and well written, I don't necessarily care if I've read something similar - I'l dive right in :)
I fell 1800 words short of my 50,000-word goal for my first ever NaNoWriMo. Which is totally okay--no, really! I got so much out of doing this I don't know how to express my gratitude to the organizers. Here are four things I loved about my foray into this terrific exercise. And then three things I didn't.
Loved:
1. I realized I really can write 2,000 (good) words per day. Before NaNo, I considered a 1200-word day really spectacular. And I didn't do it that often. Certainly not every freaking day. This month I learned that I can whip out 2,000 at a sitting, feel good about what I've written, and still want to go for a jog afterwards. I plan to keep doing it.
Hello there, little newborn novel.
2. NaNo allowed me to push everything but writing firmly out of my life. I cancelled doctor's appointments. I all but stopped blogging. I spent minimal time on Facebook. It returned me to what's important: the work-in-progress. Hard to say enough good about that.
3. There's an end point, and a goal. It's only thirty days. I can do anything for thirty days. And the discipline inspired discipline in other areas. When I went running, I broke my run into "500 word" increments. And kept going until I hit 2,000.
4. It forced me to plan. There was no way I was going to try to write a novel-in-a-month by Seat-Of-Pants. The prospect of NaNo pushed me to put together a really good outline and synopsis before I started. I will never again not plan fully before starting a novel.
Didn't Love, so much
1. I missed being able to muse. To dream. To research. There just wasn't time for it.
2. I missed being able to tinker with the nuts and bolts. I missed the fun of the craft. To perfect a sentence. To convey an emotion in just the right words. To ace the arc of a scene.
3. I worried about dead ends. As in life, the course you take will determine the outcome. I felt choices closing off before I'd had a chance to fully evaluate them. Yeah, you can always go back and revise (and I certainly will). But I do feel like certain choices y
20 Comments on NaNoWriMo: Post-partum thoughts, last added: 12/4/2011
Good on ya, Gail! I tried NaNo a few years ago and just passed the 20k mark before the holidays and my seat-of-pants writing got in the way. I'd love to do it again some time but maybe in the NaNo summer camp when there are less family obligations. I'm interested in your planning process because that's always been a sticking point for me. How did you do it, did you follow someone else's instruction or did you sort of let the story be the guide and only plan a day or two ahead?
Hi Nathan: I had a two-pronged approach. I went to a plotting workshop in October and plotted the whole novel, which meant writing a synopsis and a detailed outline. So I had that to start with. Only my subplot was a little vague. Then, each day before I sat down to write (or the afternoon before), I outlined the scenes I wanted to write for the day. Mostly this worked. Some days went much longer than others. My word count varied between 1680 and 4,000. The days I did 4,000 (like yesterday), I stopped feeling good about what I was writing around halfway through. I do know I burn out at 2500 words or so. Definitely do it in summer! It was actually Thanksgiving weekend that blew my goal.
NaNoWriMo was a great experience, although I guess I'm a rebel because my goal wasn't 50,000 words. I just wanted to finish a first draft. I hate drafting, but I love editing. I have a tendency to rewrite the first half over and over and take forever to get to the end. NaNo made me push through. To my surprise, I finished a first draft on Nov. 15. It was too short at 29,000 words, so I spent the rest of the month going back through and expanding/adding scenes. I ended up at 39,000 words, and for me that's success. Now I can go back and edit to my heart's content!
I agree with you Michelle, I far prefer rewriting to first-drafting. For me, that's absolutely when the fun starts. Congrats on getting your draft done!
I won NaNo on my first try. I eked out 52,000 words while working overtime and juggling responsibilities. I was possessed. This year I had three weeks of vacation in November and never started. The problem? I approached that first experience without an outline and wrote myself into literary road blocks. I learned a lot, but I'm with you, I like to enjoy the craft and edit as I write. Yes, I have a certificate, but you made NaNo work, and that's the goal.
Yup, Joanna, I would definitely do it again. I'd try to organize my work year so I was ready to do a first draft every November. As far as that's possible...
My first NaNo experience was last year and that taught me to outline. I love it. And congrats for completing NaNo! Yes, I think you are a winner. What's a mere 1200 words between friends?
Congrats on getting that close! I'm impressed. Some days I can write 2,000 words. Others, I can't write anything. I have not participated in NaNo before because I've always been right in the middle of a project. But next year, I'm going to make it a goal of mine.
I love your title for this post. That's hilarious and a very good description. Some of the things that you missed are things you'll get back when you edit. That's what I had to keep reminding myself when I'd hit a spot I'd normally had stopped to do research for or knew it needed more thoughtful emotional description or dialogue. I left myself a comment to come back to. I didn't even have some names decided in the ms. I have a set of twin who are P1 and P2.
When I wrote my first book I didn't want to outline because I didn't want to write it twice! How funny now that I'm on edit #14 (it's been my learning project). I realize the real writing happens in the edits. NaNo was just for getting the rough draft (sketch before the painting, if you will) done.
Congrats on finishing! What an awesome accomplishment for one month! I wish there was a way to focus that much time on writing all the time without having to abandon blogging etc. - not enough hours in the day :)
Wow, you weren't far off from 50K! Close enough, I say. Good for you. :) Yeah, I would worry about dead ends too, in the push to get a certain word count. BUT--words are changeable, and you can always tidy them up!!
I'm impressed and envious of your achievement, truly. I can understand all the pros and cons of nano. I haven't had a go yet, but intend to do my own nano month in the new year hopefully.
Sounds like you had a great NaNo experience. Congrats! I liked your breakdown here of both the good and bad. I don't think it would work for me, but I love hearing from so many that have really benefited from it.
I'm already compiling a great reading list to chill out and refresh the soul after NaNoWriMo is over. Here's what I have planned for the month of December. Anybody read these?
3) The Tiger's Wife. Another NBA nominee. Adult (?) fiction by a twentysomething Yugoslavian prodigy.
4) Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I admit to having already started this one, and I'm dying laughing. Queer teens, depression, and how not to get your heart broken.
On my bedside table, waiting:
5) Wildwood. By Decembrists singer-songwriter Colin Meloy. I've read the first few pages of this already. Narrator's baby brother is abducted by "a murder of crows" on the first page. Did you know a flock of crows is called a "murder?" Seriously. This is just my cup of tea.
Also on my bedside table, waiting: 6) A pile of New Yorkers a mile high.
Recommendations, friends? What are you planning to read, come December, 2011, to round off your year? Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And, for added inspiration, Decembrists' follies:
8 Comments on Great Reads to Unwind, post NaNo, last added: 11/26/2011
Happy reading. Quite a diverse list. I'm trying to tie up a few projects before the end of the year but will probably take a few weeks at the end of December to read read read. I have tbr pile that I need to get through plus there's lots of books on my xmas list so we'll see.
Chime was one of my favorite reads this year. And I love a good survival story, so I'll be checking out Salvage the Bones. As for me, I'm looking forward to reading The Maze Runner, the Matched sequel, and the second book in The Chemical Gardens trilogy, if any copies ever become available in my library system.
Have a great Thanksgiving! Becca @ The Bookshelf Muse
Dear Gail, I have an award waiting for you on my blog. Pick it up, visit it, or ignore the little bugger. Just wanted to say how lovely your site is. Cheers -Kelly
I haven't read any of those. I hope you enjoy them! For December I plan on finishing up several books that I've started: The Silent Boy by Lois Lowry, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Hope Will Find You, and I hope to get my hands on Shattered as well.
If you've been following this blog you've probably realized that I have slowed waaaay down on my posts, and I have NaNoWriMo to blame for it. I whizzed along for the first ten days thinking I could toss off this little 50,000-word exercise without breaking a sweat. When I hit mid-point in the novel those 1667 words per day began to come a lot harder.
Third Act Doldrums So I called up a lady who knows a thing or two about plotting. Jamie Morris runs the Woodstream Writers Group in north Florida. I put the question to her: In a four-act structure, what the hell is supposed to happen in Act 3? Your character has bottomed out. She has to make it from that deep hole to the climax. Additionally, we're supposed to be right in the middle of "fun and games" as Blake Snyder puts it in his excellent book on plotting screenplays, Save the Cat. Where's my fun? Where's my games?
Here's what Jamie had to say:
Morris: Plotting with a magnifying glass.
"In the four-act structure you get to hold up a magnifying glass to Act 3 and really see what's going on. In a way, it's like you're dividing the traditional Act 3 in half, so you can really examine it. But essentially with four-act or three-act we're talking about the same thing. So I am holding up my magnifying glass, and I'm seeing that there's a place where the character has struggled to use their skills to resolve their problem, and that's not working for them.
"The character has a choice here. She can either change for the better, find a way to work in this new world, or she can continue to resist change. But the point is, there are still struggles, there is still learning in Act 3. So to answer your question about maintaining tension, one answer is: I get to see the character engaged in that struggle with change. Just because she has a clue doesn't mean she knows how to use that clue, right? Even as she's struggling, she's getting traction, she's gaining on her problem.
"And then at the end of Act 3, your character reaches a turning point. It might be something exterior in the action of the plot that forces a reversal (*Gail's note: this is what Joyce has called the "curve ball"). What might differentiate the "low point" at the end of Act 2 is that the change there is internal--some people call this the "All is Lost" moment. And perhaps the change at the end of Act 3 is external ('The Dark Night of the Soul').
"The important thing is that this turning point at the end of
9 Comments on Plotting the Second Half, Pt. 3, last added: 11/19/2011
I struggle with keeping the middle and late middles relevant to the story as well. Usually though the end is in sight, so there is some motivation for me as the writer to get to the end. But reversals and curveballs are tricky to incorporate well, so it's understandable to want to take your time at this key moment in your wip. Best of luck!
Yes, I've always called this the black moment or the point of no return. The character has hit bottom and either stays there (which they can't) or changes and starts kicking butt -- at least in my stories. :P
Gail, I am reading the Plot Whisperer at the moment and trying to apply it to picture books. It is so interesting reading your Nano posts and then seeing if I can apply that in any way to a PB, with only say around 125 words per Act :)
This is great!!! I am really thankful for your advice, and the fun video. Thanks to your post, I realize I am actually near the right place in my story. My MC just had a revelation that will push him towards making the right choice . . . but it's going to be a long uphill battle from here for him as a character. Thanks for the extra oomph!!! I love how Rocky's fans follow him on his run and up the steps.
Yesterday we talked a little about issues with plotting your novel's second half. I'm using a four-act structure rather than a three-act, and I'm a little concerned with how I'm going to keep the tension in my WIP from flat-lining after the midway point. So I got in touch with two of my fiction mentors, Jamie Morris and Joyce Sweeney, who invented the Plot Clock I'm using. Today I'll give you Joyce's take on this brain-teaser (look for Jamie's words of wisdom tomorrow).
Sweeney, being all smart and stuff
Joyce says that the low point in the story comes at the end of Act 2 in both the four- and three-act models. After your character hits that low point, "it doesn't mean all the tension is over, you keep raising the stakes all the time," she says. "What happens is, the hero is pretty lame in Acts 1 and 2, but after that low point pushes all their buttons, they start trying harder. The reader wants to see some chance they can succeed. They want to see the growth in Act 3, but you also are raising the stakes, escalating the dangers and making the antagonist much more powerful than we guessed. At end of Act 3, you throw a curve that changes and raises the stakes tremendously, heading into the climax."
And then she offered this (hypothetical!) example:
4 Comments on Plotting the Second Half, Pt 2: The Mavens Weigh In, last added: 11/11/2011
I've burnt up the first half of my WIP at a rate I'd never imagined possible during NaNoWriMo. But just as I'm about to reach what I've plotted as the low point (the worst that could happen) I feel myself getting nervous about what's to come.
In the plotting workshop I took in September, we talked about how the halfway point of a novel can be the place where your main character hits bottom. Hits it so hard you can hear the thud a hundred miles. Just after that point, your MC realizes she has to change. Something she's doing isn't working. She figures that out. Once she does, she's on an upswing, piling up small victories and realizing new strengths, until the novel's climax (the battle of the book.)
That's all well and good, but what I'm wondering is: how do you keep tension in your novel when your character is racking up the smaller victories, and those leading to larger ones, and it looks like all is well and good? It's easy to tighten the screws and keep a reader on seat's edge while you're plummeting toward the abyss. I'm not sure it's so simple when the sky is clearing. I'm afraid to be boring in my second half. Like my MC, I'm going to have to change up what I'm doing, and I'm not sure how that's going to work.
In Dan Harmon's plot embryo model, your MC gets what she wants and pays a heavy price for it in the story's second half. What strategies do you have for keeping tension high after you pass your story's midpoint? Do you find you have to juggle the way you think about plot? I have a hunch the answer to this question, at least for me, might lie in the subplot. Tell me your thoughts.
8 Comments on Plotting the Second Half, last added: 11/10/2011
The first time around I didn't actually plot I just kept going hoping it would all work out. This time I'm trying to think in advanced and I working a lot slower and I get stuck just thinking sometimes.
Hi Gail, The really dark moment actually works better at the end of Act II. Then it's the building toward the climax in Act III. I think it would very hard to sustain tension if you hit the low moment at the midpoint.
Usually at the midpoint, yes, something big happens, either good or bad, and it should be something that changes the course of the story. And it can be a low point, but there should still be another big one! :)
Yeah. Fortunately we don't have to fix all the problems at this point. We just have to get the basics down. I've already left myself notes that I knew need help.
I've got a whole big chunk in the middle of the story I'm currently editing where nothing seems to be going wrong. It's boring! I think I might need a sub-plot too :-)
I'm struggling with this myself, but I think for me, one possible answer is misdirection. In the first half, I've laid the foundation in some of my relationships with misunderstandings and misperceptions. Now, in the second half, the confusing bits are being seen in a new light and (hopefully) will re-interest the reader by changing things up. For instance, in the first half, the reader is led to believe that a certain person doesn't like the mc, but that turns out not to be the case. It was all in the mc's misperceptions.
I have no idea if this will work, lol. It's my first foray into writing misdirection across an entire novel. I'll let you know how it goes.
I think during the first draft, it's crucial to JUST KEEP WRITING. During revisions and edits you can increase the tension and adjust the elements to make it the best it can be.
Using method pictured above, my novel's word count is 7,986,000. Is that too long?
Naturally since I'm doing NaNoWriMo, word counts are on my mind. I'm using my Scrivener program, which has a nifty little feature: At the bottom of the screem there's a scrolling word count, so I can watch it tick along while I'm typing. I can sort of experience my word count in real time. It's just so Meta-NaNo.
Here we are at Day Three, and I've managed to write 1672, 1791, and 1831 words per day, all by 10 a.m. I'm praying I won't jinx my mad productivity, but if I manage to pound out 50,000 words this month, I'm going to owe a few people. Like one of my teachers, Joyce Sweeney, who ran a plotting workshop in September, in time to ensure I had a solid outline and synopsis come November 1. Whoo, what a difference a plan makes! With synopsis in hand, I feel like I could whip out a 976-page masterpiece. Let me pull out my battered copy of Anna Karenina and swear on it: I shall never pants again, so help me Gaddis.
(And spending 30 minutes in the afternoon making notes toward tomorrow's writing hasn't hurt so far, either).
But I had another pressing question about word-counts, re: Querying. I just read an old post by Jessica Alvarez over at the Bookends blog; she says to estimate your word count based on 250 words per page (multiplied by) number of pages; not on your Microsoft word count.
Here's what she says:
And by the way, when I think word count I think 250 words per double-spaced page with one-inch margins. That’s the way most publishers look at word count. Using Microsoft Word’s count could mess you up since three words of dialogue technically takes up a full line, and word count is about production costs.
Anybody heard this before? Does she mean, multiply your number of pages by 250 to get the word count you put in a query letter? Because if I change my font to Courier New and do this, it makes my word count a full 20,000 higher! Waaaaay toooooo loooooong! Arghhhh. Stumped. Please let me know how you calculate your own word counts. Alvarez's post was from 2007, so I'm not sure if it's still relevant.
12 Comments on Speaking of Word Count: A Query Connundrum, last added: 11/7/2011
I think it's great you are doing Nano -- I'm not this year, but I have some writing goals I'm aiming for this Nov. Best of luck!
As to the word count issue, I have heard what Jessica is talking about, but I think the Microsoft word count feature is so prevalent that I think you are ok using that.
I use the Word count, but that's an interesting issue. My hunch is most people query based on the actual. I wonder if that's why I'm sometimes surprised by the publisher's word count when a book feels longer or shorter, though.
That's an interesting question. I think I'd go with Microsoft's Word Count because if you actually sit down and count the words on a few pages manually, they NEVER come out to 250. I know that was the old way of estimating, but it can't be accurate....
Go, Gail, go! I don't personally know anyone who does anything to their wc; they just use the Microsoft calculator. I've got to believe that this is the norm and editors and agents know it.
Congrats on doing so well so far in NaNo!! Those are some beautiful word counts.
Happy NaNo Day Five! Hopefully the initial excitement is still going strong, but if not I've come with a toolbox of inspiration. Ready?
First, quote of the day: Don't give up what you want most for what you want right now.
Second, NaNo Tip of the Day: Don't forget to reward yourself. It is often easier to notice our lagging word count numbers than to notice how far we've already come.
Thanks Sommer! I'm not flagging yet, and I guess the Halloween candy I've been scarfing would count as a reward. I do wish I could think of a reward I love as much as chocolate, though. Like, I wish I could "reward" myself with a three mile run every day instead.
Miss Joanna Marple, whose blog I've become addicted to, has memed me, because blogger Sher Hart memed her, and before that Liz memed Sher, and, well you get the picture. When tagged, the recipient freezes and ponders the questions below, which sent me, at least, bouncing around in space-time like a ping-pong ball in an anti-gravity chute.
I told Joanna I'd been thinking about question #2 anyway. A middle-grade fairy tale by Anne Ursu, Breadcrumbs, spurred my reflections, because in it, a little girl has lost her best friend. Or, fairer to say, he has drifted away. As we do, from each other, eventually and inevitably. But learning that lesson for the first time can be particularly painful.
Breadcrumbs is a breathtaking book about how heartbreaking it can be to grow up, among other things, and I'll be reviewing it soon. Anyway, here are the memes Joanna passed on to me: If you could go back in time and relive one moment, what would it be? My godmother owned a 44-acre island in the bahamas. Dozens of kids came and played there the summer I turned 13. We slept in cots lined up on an outdoor porch overlooking the ocean. There were a gazillion stars. Sweet breezes that smelled of salt and flowers. And the promise of turtle curry and bahama bread for breakfast in the morning. Pick any moment from any night from that summer.
If you could go back in time and change one thing, what would it be? The fall I went into sixth grade, my best friend got sick with mono. She was out of school for a long time -- it seemed like two or three months. And because she had mono I couldn't visit her much, at least that's how I remember it. But while she was out of school...I sloughed off my childhood. I became a teenager. I made friends with the girls who were rolling up their skirts and smoking cigarettes and going steady with boys they didn't much like. And when my friend came back to school, well, everything was different. She was white and soft and insubstantial. My new friends were loud, vivid, real. I remember walking down the hall with her shortly after her first day back, holding hands, and knowing that I'd never hold hands with her again (the girls in my new group emphatically did NOT hold hands.) It was the end of our friendship. If I could change one thing: I would hold on to that precious friendship, that pale, rather damp hand, a little bit longer. And not be in such a hurry to let go.
What movie/TV character do you most resemble in personality? The Dude.
If you could push one person off a cliff and get away with it, who would you choose? Kim Jong Il.
Name one habit you want to change in yourself. Failing to return phone calls.
Why do you blog? The World-Wide-Mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Name at least three bloggers to send this to: Oh, this is really hard because there are so many I appreciate, but:
*L.G. Smith at Bards and Prophets for her wicked humor and great photos *Tricia Clausen at Vociferous, because among other reasons, she'
10 Comments on Girls Holding Hands, last added: 11/3/2011
Today's Guest Post by Susan Kaye Quinn Launches her new novel, Open Minds.
How do you know when your story is ready to query (assuming you’re going to make a pass at the get-an-agent-traditional-publishing gauntlet)?
This was always my question, when I first started writing. In my previous life as an engineer and scientist, there were measureable goals, actionable items. Projects came with deadlines, tests, and presentations. You knew what you were supposed to do (for the most part), how to do it (sometimes), and when you were expected to have something to show for your efforts (always).
This is how it works in the normal muggle world. But in the world of fiction…not so much.
In creative works, you are in charge of deciding what to write, and how many times, and what revisions must be made. And when to stop. That last one was the most difficult of all for me, because how was I to know I had reached THE END of the endless revisions?
I had to laugh when I read your summary of what is expected from a regular job. It's so true and so very different from writing. Great list on when it's time to query. :)
Good news for picture book writers! As we all know, NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. But Tara Lazar also launches a sister project for picture book authors: PiBoIdMo. The challenge? Come up with 30 picture book ideas in 30 days throughout the month of November, beginning tomorrow.
Tara Lazar: Writing PB's just got funner
Spiffy prizes You have until November 3rd to go the website and sign up to vie for fabulous schwag: "Signed books, picture book critiques, art by pb illustrators, book jewelry, hand-made journals, vintage children's books, and feedback from one of three literary agents."
Our own Florida kidlit SCBWI maven Mindy Alyse Weiss is kicking off the challenge with a guest post detailing why she loves PiBoIdMo, including links to 400+ things kids like (which might be a handy source for middle-grade writers too).
Struggling? Help from PB author Rob Sanders Coincidentally, Florida picture book author Rob Sanders has a whole week of inspiration planned to help you soar over any road- or writers-blocks; check out his blog this week for some serious and humorous advice on how to keep going when the going gets tough.
Anybody planning to take the plunge? Run across any unusual ideas for picture books lately? One of my favorites this year was The Boss Baby. I guess I'm sort of partial to the dark side of toddler lit. Like That's Not Your Mommy Anymore: A Zombie Tale. And then, of course, there's always the soon-to-be classic: Go the F** to Sleep.
I admired Karen Sandler's sci-fi novel Tankborn more than loved it. Tankborn is one of a debut line of novels published by Tu Books, a new publisher specializing in fantasy, sci-fi, and mystery books for kids, devoted to showcasing characters and authors of color. (I'll also be reviewing Tu's Galaxy Games in coming weeks).
And Tankborn foregrounds race matters: The futuristic society on the Earth colony planet Loka is as rigidly stratified as colonial India. The heroine, Kayla, and her best friend Mishalla, come from a lower caste called GENs, genetically engineered, literally untouchable slaves. The upper classes puppeteer the GENs as they please, assigning them to jobs, uploading and downloading data into their annexed brains. Upper class Highborns have light brown skin and black hair; the Lowborns and GENs are a rainbow ranging from very dark to red-haired and green eyed, or, in Kayla's case, piebald.
Sandler: dipping her hoof into Y/A
High Moral Stakes Both heroines get their class-consciousness raised, of course, and so does Kayla's Highborn boyfriend. The book is a well plotted page-turner, and Sandler builds an alienating, dystopian world (an ex-software engineer, Sandler is a prolific adult author; this is her first Y/A). Tankborn deals with vital societal issues: our definition of "human;" the treatment of non-humans; how status symbols and physiology influence our perceptions of others. It points to the potential pitfalls of technology and genetic engineering. And it asks us to consider, by extension, how socially mobile we Americans and Europeans truly are.
A Language Barrier All excellent questions for young adults to be pondering. Hence, my admiration. Sadly, though, the heroines left me unmoved. I run across this issue fairly often in sci-fi: characters who don't seem real enough to identify with. In Tankborn the problem stems at least partly from language -- the formal (and foreign) diction and vocabulary of this futuristic world has a distancing effect, and in the end, it created an emotional chasm I couldn't cross. Tankborn has been compared to M.T. Anderson's brilliant Y/A novel
10 Comments on Book Review: Tankborn, last added: 10/30/2011
I know what you mean about sci-fi characters not always feeling real. And I can see how a sci-fi writer might spend more time focusing on descriptions and world building than the people occupying that world. Thanks for the balanced review.
Interesting review! I loved FEED and know exactly what you mean about it. I am curious about this one now, I might just have to check it out for myself.
While you were telling about the plot I thought, ooh - that sounds good! But good characters are what novels are really all about. If you can't care about the characters, well... like Sarah said, maybe a library read. I haven't read FEED yet, though, so maybe I'd better add that to my TBR list!
Thanks for the review! The plot does sound fascinating. However...if a reader can't relate to the characters it would make for a distant read, yes. Something to ponder about my OWN (light) sci-fi novel I'm trying to get published. I hope the character is relatable--working on it!
I really enjoyed the authenticity of your review. I too am often not drawn in to care enough about the protagonists in sci fi (though the one I have just read is an exception). I guess I should try FEED, now!
Until today, I'd never read a novel in verse -- at least not a kid's novel in verse. Yeah, I read Paradise Lost in college, and The Odyssey in high school. That counts, right? And even though I earned my M.A. in poetry writing, it never occurred to me to try to write fiction in verse.
But I started reading Inside Out and Back Again this morning, a middle grade verse novel by Thanhha Lai that's a finalist for this year's National Book Award. And as my blogging buddies know, Lai's subject fits perfectly into my research for novel number two (draft tbc during November Nano). Because Inside Out and Back Again is the story of a Vietnamese girl who immigrates to Alabama after the war.
So, the first question we might ask is, why write any novel in verse? A reviewer for School Library Journal rightly points out that a novel dealing with the immigrant experience might be uniquely suited for verse--because the narrator is somewhat estranged from both her native language and the new one she's supposed to be learning. The effect is "simultaneously intimate and isolating." I like that idea.
But I'm a snob.
I suppose my hesitation about novels in verse is because, well, I'm kind of a snob? I don't believe "verse" is just lines of narrative broken up into short lengths, like you might crack spaghetti to fit it into a smaller pot. Any line of "verse" should have what my old poetry teacher, the late Donald Justice, called a "minute torsion," a turn or a twist or a flutter--of something ineffable, surprising, magical. A tension. A line of poetry should never fall flat. Anybody who thinks writing a verse novel is easier, because there are so many fewer words, has never struggled for weeks or months over a three-stanza poem. I have. It's been a long time, but I sure do remember how painful that can be.
Anyway, I'm down with Inside Out and Back Again. Lai's stanzas are economical; they read like haiku:
I vow to rise first every morning to stare at the dew on the green fruit shaped like a lightbulb.
I will be the first to witness its ripening.
Look how spare, how pared down Lai's language is. As with all good poetry -- it's as if there's a spirit of something larger, richer, more meaningful, floating over each of these simple lines.
Have you ever thought about writing fiction in verse? Why or why not? Do you read verse novels? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
12 Comments on The Novel In Verse: Would You?, last added: 10/28/2011
I haven't yet tried poetic prose, but I am very open. I love reading novels in verse. Two more I highly recommend to you are PERFECT (or indeed any) by Ellen Hopkins and SOLD by Patty McCormick.
I'm with you about the folks who thing it's easy to write in verse without the requisite training in poetry and the years necessary to master that aspect of writing craft. It is very different than narrative and uniquely suited to some subject matters. It's not something I can do, but I can appreciate it when it's done well.
I don't think I've ever read a novel in verse. No reason, except that I haven't come across one. I wouldn't even attempt to try writing one of my own, I don't have the talent :-)
There's no possible way I could do it, lol. I'm no poet. But I have read a couple of novels in verse and they're amazing. REACHING FOR THE SUN was really good. I have total respect for the authors who can do this.
I just finished Lai's novel, and I'm a convert. What a gorgeous, gorgeous book. I'll add Reaching for the Sun to my list, Becca. (Now I'm even thinking about trying my hand at a verse novel myself eventually).
I think it would be REALLY hard to write a novel in verse. That said, I think I could benefit form it and learn a lot. I tend to be overly wordy. Maybe if I tried writing a novel in verse I'd stick to the bare bones. Then, if I wanted, I could turn it into prose afterwards :)
I read a novel in verse once and it was a complete nightmare. I just couldn't get into it. I felt bad though because the writer was pretty good. I don't remember the name of the writer though.
How much research are you doing for your current WIP? What form does it take? A quick Wikipedia search, or are you painstakingly requesting books through inter-library loan? What's the relationship between research and inspiration? Or does your "research" mostly come from your own brain?
I love internet research because it gets so random. I'll Google "Vietnamese folk tales" and end up on a site where a vet is talking about how he saw his Marine commander get jumped and mauled by a tiger (true story!). Or I'll stumble across something really haunting, like this video describing the "Wandering Soul" psychological warfare Americans used in Vietnam (also called "Number 10) -- ghostly howls and dialogue from beyond the grave broadcast at top volume over North Vietnamese territory. (I read elsewhere that Wandering Soul inevitably drew gunfire.) This is so spooky I've probably guaranteed myself nightmares.
And yeah, I'll probably use it in the novel, or at least the heart-in-throat fear these sounds (and the whole idea of psychological warfare) call up. I wouldn't call it "inspiration" exactly. But when it gets to be too much, I'll probably bury myself in some heartwarming Vietnamese fairy tale I've checked out of the library.
11 Comments on Name Your Research, last added: 10/26/2011
Research is so much fun! Yesterday, I actually purchased a background check on someone so I could accurately have a character purchase one. I usually don't spend the money on research, but it was cheap and helpful!
I agree with LG above. I love doing research, but all too often I allow myself to get sucked down the rabbit hole of curiosity and before I know it, 2 hours are gone!
Currently, I'm researching what type of basic courses you'd need to take to live on a space ship. Basic Navigation? Star charting? Basic Medical Training? In Case of Emergency? I have to find courses for my characters who are civilians, not the actual pilots or payload specialists. Before long, I'm looking at telescope pictures!
Wow, TL, where would you go to research such a thing? I can't imagine, but that sounds like a blast. And yeah, I am way guilty of going off on long tangents. I spent about an hour today watching re-runs of the old Kung Fu TV series. Heh.
I did quite a bit of research for the current WIP. In fact, people came to my door and I invited them in to find out more. Love it when things happen that way!
I love research, but did not need to do much for the book I just finished. It is a legal thriller and I am a lawyer. If I do NaNo with the idea I have, I will need to do quite a bit of medical research.
I could not find your blog on your profile page. Glad I found you and thank you for visiting my blog
Hey Gail...I am currently researching a middle grade paranormal. Kid with crazy ghost hunter parents (or at least they appear crazy)...so have been wandering the internet watching ghost vids, checking out ghost shows--keeping my eyes peeled for anything that with give this book a unique twist. Love, love the research and you never know when what you gather could end up in a non-fiction book for kids (something I have looking at doing too). Happy researching!
I've been thinking about hideous lady villains in kid-lit lately--maybe because I haven't seen a whole lot of them in recent fiction. So I've been compiling a list of dastardly dames. And wondering if what makes female villains tick is categorically different from their male counterparts. Yeah, there's the usual greed, snobbishness, gratuitous cruelty, and button eyes. But there're also a lot of really cool outfits. My short list is below. Got any additions? Any thoughts about why a fair antagonist makes a particularly deadly foe?
1. Mrs. Coulter: His Dark Materials Philip Pullman did an awfully good job with the gorgeous ice queen whose mission is to separate helpless children from their beloved daemons, at great physical suffering. All for their own good, of course.
2. Letitia Slighcarp: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase I'm pretty sure that the ghastly governess Slighcarp became a model for my dreaded imaginings whenever my parents left us to go on vacation. I was convinced any babysitter planned to sell all my cool toys and pack me off to an orphanage. (Miss Minchin, bane of the boarding school in The Little Princess, is a sister under the skin.)
3. The Wicked Witch of the West The North Witch's evil sister is nothing Dorothy can't handle, it turns out (in, oh, about hour three), but any woman made entirely of green slime deserves a shout out.
4. Aunts Sponge and Spiker, James and the Giant Peach Why can't these ladies leave poor James be? Don't they know a boy can't survive on fish heads alone?
12 Comments on Evil Woman! The B-Ladies of Kid-Lit, last added: 10/23/2011
There's always the classic stepmother of Cinderella, and Cruella DeVille. On the flip side of that, though, is Morticia Addams. A woman who should, by all means, be a villain, but is instead that lovable, creepy mother we all secretly wish we had.
Ohh... just seeing Mrs. Coulter makes me shiver. That character was brilliantly written. I also loved to hate Dolores Umbridge from the 5th Harry Potter book. Not nearly enough evil female characters!
How about Dolores Umbridge as the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts in Harry Potter? She is truly evil because she uses her evilness in a very subtle way. And beneath her false smile, lie a person who will stop at nothing in order to implement order. Imelda Staunton plays wonderfully in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Oh these are just great suggestions. I'd completely forgotten about Dolores Umbridge--her name alone is just too wonderful. I don't know Lady Constance, but I'll have to check her out. And I'll keep my eyes open for more recent representatives.
I'm the lucky recipient of a very nice Liebster blog award courtesy of the redoubtable Elizabeth Varden, and I thank the lady very kindly. My mission is to pass this award on to five more blogs, and two of the passes are going to bloggers who are hosting aspects of Miss Snark's First Victim Baker's Dozen Auction.
So I want to say a word about this exciting annual event, running currently (if you've missed it, MSFV also runs multiple "secret agent" contests during the year, so don't despair). I'm not entering myself, because I already have my ms. queried out to my favorite agents. But I did go through a round of logline critiques during the process to sharpen my logline writing skills.
So what is MSFV's Baker's Dozen? In a nutshell, a crazyfest of logline critiques leading up to a logline + 250 word submission to be judged and bid on by a dozen of the most illustrious literary agents in the business. Even if you don't submit an entry, it's a crash course in writing a zingy concept sentence. Reading other people's loglines is just as illuminating. You see what people are working on, and judge for yourself which entries rise to the top of the scrum.
Later on, you find out if your assessments are shared by agents. You get a good look at your competition (if you're an unpublished writer) and what genres are hot (or maybe a trifle crowded). If there's a better worm's-eye view of the industry, I don't know where to find it, except maybe at a packed pitch session at some national conference.
Is it a good idea to enter? A well-respected literary mentor I know says, "no." Her opinion is that agents get to know writers cycling through these contests, and that the entries start to look stale. In her words, "You should guard your ms. like your virginity. Don't put it out in the blogosphere for people to paw over."
I don't have an opinion, but I wonder, dear readers, do you? Online agented contests, and forums for critiquing pages and queries, yay or nay? Have you entered any? What did you think?
And now, I hereby pass the Liebster blog award to:
I struggled with whether to do contests or not, especially ones that ask for something like your first 250 words. However, I ultimately decided it could give me exposure to agents I can't query either because they're closed to queries or I queried someone else at the agency before I figured out there might be issues with my query letter. I did one last month, and the feedback I got, particularly from the agent, was extremely helpful. So, while I can see the drawbacks, it's been a positive experience.
Thanks for the award, Gail. I really appreciate it.
I've done MSFV in the past but won't be doing the Baker's dozen either. I'll be querying for reals in a few weeks. I
think you can get some good value out of it, especially if you are looking for instant feedback. But not all feedback is the same, and you don't always have sense of who is behind the critiques at MSFV.
Plus there's so much chance involve: Chance your entry is picked, chance the agent is looking for your genre (not always clear in the announcements), chance the agent picks yours. It's a literary lottery. I'm glad it's an option, even if I never play.
I'm on the fence too. I would almost feel bad getting a contract on a contest alone. I want agents to like me for my writing and not just becasue I won a silly contest!
Michelle, that's a really good point. I noticed some of the agents in this year's auction are closed to queries. So unless you happen to run into them at a conference, your dream agent may be beyond reach. @bluestocking: good luck with those queries!
Thank you so much! And I have not done the MSFV, but I've enjoyed other contests and found I got valuable feedback from them. I do, however, see your mentor's point, and it's given me some food for thought.
I am honored with this silly contest and maybe just a little teary. I love competition, it's what makes us better and perhaps creates major strains of dysentery, but the judge is still out on that.
May I say I'm humbled and I will do my best as soon as I truly understand the rules.
Hey authors: Jeff Bezos has a fistful of book-dollars.
If you missed this morning's New York Times article, click here to read about how Amazon is set to shake up the publishing industry. Remember, oh, a decade or so ago, how music execs were throwing hissyfits over downloadable songs? Predicting the end of the world as we knew it? Something similar is happening in publishing: Amazon is now signing fiction and nonfiction authors directly -- bypassing agents and publishing houses. And thereby putting itself in direct competition with the the same booksellers it's promoting. Authors who've been dissed by New York publishing houses are now invited to show the established industry their hiney.
The Times article left some unanswered questions. How much editorial love are authors getting from Amazon? The "editorial once over" one author mentions doesn't sound like more than a copyedit. It'll be interesting to see what the quality of these unagented, minimally edited (?), books turns out to be. And secondly, if authors are signing with Amazon directly, sans agent, who's watching their backs? Amazon's policies appear both more transparent (authors get access to stats about how and where their books are selling) and more secretive (authors may be cut out of the loop with publicity and marketing planning). One presumes authors will have to negotiate the legal and financial thickets of their careers on their own.
At any rate, it looks like a stranger has just ridden into town. Sheriff better get his posse organized. Thoughts?
12 Comments on "Everyone's Afraid of Amazon", last added: 10/19/2011
Wow, everyone seems to be glued to this new development. I will certainly be interested to see what happens in the future. BTW, I passed on an award to you today. Mosie on by and pick it up.
My impression wasn't that people couldn't sign through an agent, but that the one author chose to do it herself. My gut response is that the first few people are the guinea pigs here. Contract issues and unfairness of that nature tend to come out in the open eventually. If Amazon does take advantage of people, authors will either rebel and encourage change or choose to go a different route. Same thing with the quality of the books. We'll soon know how well written and edited their acquisitions are.
I'm very excited by this. Can't wait to see how it all pans out.
I read that article yesterday. Very interesting and thought=provoking. It raises a number of questions, as you mentioned, and goes to show that the publishing industry is in even more of a state of flux than just the e-book and app revolution were causing. I don't think the New York publishing houses are going to like it, and I think it's going to cause more upheaval - but it's going to be very interesting to see how things turn out.
I read a tweet yesterday from agent Ginger Clark asking other lit agents if they'd had an invitation to lunch from the top Amazon publishing brass (implying that she did have such an invite). Which may mean Amazon is going to try to work with agents on some level. I'd think that would be in their best interests.
That is spooky. Do you think it'll hurt the small epubbers more than the big houses. Right now, people who are independent can still get their book sold through Amazon. By wiping out the middle man, Amazon can only reap more profit and gain more control. I don't think an author looking to go to the big pubber will want to sign with Amazon anymore than an independent though. Do you?
@WRW Like most things, it probably depends on distribution and money. If Amazon can put your book in the hands of more readers, and pay comparable royalties, I don't see any reason authors wouldn't choose to publish that way. I doubt if it will affect the self-published authors that much; sounds like this is a different ballgame. But I dunno.
Lit agent Janet Reid, pictured above, circa Dec. 2
National Novel Writing Month is seventeen days away. As I'm sure you know, the project aims to get tens of thousands of people around the world writing 1,666 words a day (every day, which means laptops perched on Thanksgiving tables) to complete a 50,000-word manuscript inside a single month. I've never tried it, but I'm planning to this time--in fact I'm cheating a little: I've already got 20,000 words written, and a solid outline, so I'm not starting from scratch.
I've heard tell that literary agents dread December because they're deluged with queries for crappy, unrevised novels hot off of NaNo. So here's a tip: get your queries (for your painstakingly revised, brilliantly plotted, achingly beautiful manuscripts) out before the holidays.
And let's all keep in mind Hemingway's famous quote: "The first draft of anything is shit."
Have you done NaNo? Planning to this year? What's your take on the project? Useful? Or misguided? How do you get ready? Any blog-buddies care to join me to share the arc of triumph or the agony of defeat?
15 Comments on Getting Ready for NaNoWriMo?, last added: 10/16/2011
NANOWRIMO was just what I needed a couple years ago to get my next book written. By some miracle, I finished my first draft of Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen in 29 days (and blogged about the experience). After lots of revision, I sold the book to Delacorte Press. And it's coming out this March.
I think NANOWRIMO is a great way to focus on the writing and letting other things (like TV) fall away.
Good luck to all the NANOWRIMO writers this year. You can do it!!!
I haven't done it before, but I plan to this year. I have a totally new idea I'm very excited about. Getting a first draft down is the hardest part for me, so I like being accountable somewhere. Maybe we'll have new manuscripts to swap by the end of the year!
Gail, I am not yet ready for this, but it sounds utterly amazing and terrifying. I think a good outline is key! I hope you will be blogging about it in between those 1,666 words!!
I'm doing it this year for the first time. I'm equally excited and nervous. I know I can write 50k in a month because I've done it before--but never when I had intended to do it.
I've been planning, planning, and I'm really ready to start. I'm actually losing a little interest in my story because of the delay in starting--but I'm sure I will get excited again as soon as I write that first sentence!
I have done Nano, but never "won" -- cranked out 20 to 25k though so not a bad showing.
I think your approach is sound -- having already started your project and understanding where it's going. Starting from scratch for me was always tough because I burned time figuring out my plot before moving on -- I didn't want to keep writing without a plan.
Yay, Donna, you are an inspiration to us all! And yes Michelle, I hope we'll be trading ms's again by next year. I also hope I'll have a moment left over to blog about the experience...we'll see.
I participated in 2009, skipped last year, but am mapping out my new idea for this year. I only want to start the development ahead of time. Writing for me will begin on day 1 and surely keep me busy on Thanksgiving. Good luck!
I love this idea but would like to strangle the person who planned it in November. Between Thanksgiving and my son's birthday, November is one of the few months when my focus severely lags. I just can't pull it off. What I'm considering, though, is doing my own NaNo in another, less stressful month. Like March. That, I could probably do.
Good luck! Unlike all those editors and agents, I can't wait to read your next novel, in all its unfinished glory!
Hemingway has some brilliant quotes, doesn't he? :) I never have joined in on the NaNo delight, but maybe this year I'll give it a try. Wishing each one of you success on your WIP!
I did NaNoWriMo last year and loved the insanity. I started with a loose outline but not a single word written. I worked like a fiend, ignoring everything except bathing and sometimes that didn't happen until afternoon. Ewww, right? BUT, I wrote 58,000 words and was a winner! I stuck that load of horse malarky on a back burner for six months and started editing, and OMG if it's not salvageable. BLAZE isn't getting any attention right now, because I'm trying to get ready for Big Sur, but you should totally do it. You'll love it!
@Becca, I know, it's hard to imagine a worse month to do this, with approaching holidays, etc. There's at least a week around Thanksgiving where I seriously can't imagine turning out 1666 a day. Guess I'll have to do twice as much the week before. : )
I haven't done NaNoWriMo yet, and won't this year because I've in the middle of finishing up something. But I'm really tempted to next year (when I should be finished with current WIP and looking for a new project.)
It's so important for writers to seek out and learn from other art forms: architecture, painting, music. In a recent TED talk, designer Richard Seymour explores the feeling of aesthetic beauty; he begins with a story about a watchmaker. A customer has brought in a watch to be cleaned, and when the watchmaker opens it, he discovers words etched into one of the watch's interior wheels. "Why on earth would the designer have bothered to put these words in a place nobody would ever see?" the customer asks.
"God sees it," replies the watchmaker.
Whatever your definition of God, this is a charged understanding. Do you struggle with your own responsibility to the notion of beauty? Or is the idea of "making beauty" a burden? How does it feel to compromise on your standards? Are there aspects of your work that nobody but God will ever see? The idea reminds me quite a bit of Markus Zusak saying he would have written The Book Thief even if he knew in advance it would never be published.
Seymour identifies three aspects of aesthetic beauty that humans inevitably respond to: Poignancy, Pathos, and Triumph. Clearly these aspects should be kept in balance--too much pathos results in sentimentality; too much triumph is simply unbelievable; and any reader will eventually tire of wall-to-wall poignancy (exactly where humor can cut through the fluff, like adding acid and salt to an over-sweetened dish.)
If you haven't, check out Google's ArtProject here for further inspiration (James Elkins argues that too much reading stunts our visual sense, which we badly need as writers). Below is Seymour's 20-minute talk. He loses me when he waxes poetic on the motorcycle design (clearly not my thing), but the first half of the talk is riveting.
I forget where I read it, but this reminds me of something like artist dates, where writers seek out other disciplines -- going to the theatre, seeing a musical performance, attending an art show -- to activate the other creative senses and jumpstart our ability to capture imagery. It's so important to be well rounded as a writer -- not just well read, not just being open to new experiences but seeking them out as well. Great post!
Creativity is a wonderful thing! I've never thought much about how beauty FEELS, though. Interesting! But I have to agree--I'd create even if no one sees my work.
Still, I have a desire to share my work with others, and maybe someday that will happen...even now, I'm happy that at least a FEW people have read my novels--critique partners, family, my agent. It's nice to share creativity. :)
@Sarah, the painting is by Henri Rousseau. One time I copied this entire painting, brushstroke for brushstroke (at least, that was my intention, I'm not an artist). My copy hung in my apartment for a long time until I finally gave it away.
I have a free copy to give away of a gorgeous, just released, hardback Young Adult fantasy novel, one that's getting high-octane reviews. The jacket copy was some of the most compelling I've ever read, and the jacket art is beautiful. Listed below, I've picked out phrases from the book blurb. First person to name the novel, plus the title of the movie still above (can't make it too easy, right?) shall receive the book via Priority Mail! Hint: The film, like the novel, features winged strangers. Ready? Go:
blood and starlight
handprints
human teeth
Prague
art student
blue hair
winged strangers
Doesn't that line-up just make you hunger to read it? Somebody evidently knows how to market precisely to....me. Good luck!
11 Comments on FREE Copy of Just-Released Y/A Novel!, last added: 10/13/2011
I know the answers but I haven't put them here because I'm from England and you might not want to mail it there. I emailed you though, just so I could show off :-)
Ah Sarah, you are a girl after my own heart. UK postage would be a bit of a stretch for me; I probably ought to have said, "within the U.S." But I loved hearing from you!
Ding ding ding! We have a winner: the incredibly clever Laura Barnes, whose insightful blog (http://laurabwriter.blogspot.com/) is one of my favorite sources of info on all things bloggy and writerly. Laura, email me your address and this BEEUteous copy of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor, is all yours. Congratulations.
Congrats, Laura! I didn't get the post announcement in my inbox in time to even make a guess, but I wouldn't have known the answer anyway :) Now I'm interested to read it though!
I'm reading an astonishing YA novel, The Book Thief. Heard of it, by chance? I'm probably the last aspiring kid writer on the planet to read it, but I am flabbergasted by Zusak's use of language, his wit, his inventiveness, and his take-no-prisoners approach to historical fiction. Zusak must break every rule, contort every piece of advice, I've ever read or heard about writing for children, and it's brilliant. Just as inspiring is Zusak's contention in the video below that even if he knew, in advance, that not a single person would ever read his book, that it would never be published, that it would sink into obscurity, he still would have written it. In exactly that way.
With all the hugger-muggering about perfecting queries, and writing synopses (which I'm in the process of doing today), and following agents on Twitter, and stalking editors on Facebook, I have to say I find listening to Zusak talk about his passion for writing "somebody's favorite book" incredibly satisfying. I don't think I could get more spiritual uplift from meeting the Dalai Lama himself. New friends and readers and fellow bloggers, Paradoxy is going dark until next Monday; I'm off to New York (without my computer) to see some art and eat my way across Manhattan and Brooklyn. Thanks for all the lurve, and I'll be visiting your sites when I get home next week. In the meantime, may Zusak's "ray of light" shine down upon you all.
11 Comments on If a Book Falls in the Forest...Lessons from The Book Thief., last added: 10/7/2011
My wife (who is a sixth grade teacher) LOVED this book. She strongly recommends it to her students. And it's on my list of books to read :) I'm glad you're liking it!
Kimberly Zook over at Book Nook is doing a Hook Hop. Say that ten times fast and you've got yourself a Dr. Seuss sequel. It's a great idea, and here's how it works if you'd like to join in. Post a hook from any one of your works-in-progress on your blog (all genres accepted).
But what's a hook? Your hook, dear Horton, is your opening lines, between one and five sentences. Then what do I do? Fill in your name and blog address in the linky below. Then what do I do? Hop over to at least three other hook hoppers and comment on their hooks. (you can find many hook hoppers at Zook's Book Nook, too.) And then? Sit back and wait for the hoots and hollers on your hook to come showering down--much in the same way you once waited for the bazillions of dollars you expected to earn off a chain letter. Only this really works! It does! Really!
Here is my hook, from a middle-grade novel:
My Daddy named me Lyndon Baines Hawkins on account of howboth me and the president messed up his life. That old cowboy president sentDaddy away across the ocean to a country he never wanted any part of, and whenhe got back here to Tennessee it turned out he was dragging me along too, likea sackfull of scrip, that’s how Daddy puts it when he’s feeling dark—though forreal I wasn’t even as big as a two-pound crookneck squash inside Mama’s bellyin those days.
12 Comments on Horton Hears a Hook Hop!, last added: 10/4/2011
I really liked this opening. I'm also presuming this is historical fiction, which I also write in. It's nice to meet someone else who writes in this genre.
Love the voice and your first sentence! Your second sentence was a little long for me, and a little hard to follow. Was the MC not born yet when his dad dragged him around after returning to Tennessee? At first it sounds like the MC is remembering this, but it threw me when you imply he wasn't born yet. Maybe you could rephrase that sentence and start out with the how Daddy puts it part?
Great voice. Just end the 2nd sentence after along. "Like a sackful of squash" in quotes should start the next. I'm hooked. Hope there's a good dollop of magical realism in it. Now somebody will have to remind me I signed up for this because I've resisted the urge to join anything else during the campaign.I mean, here I am just getting around to my mg/ya group. I was hoping to read your challenge 2 entry. I'm number 52. There's a chocolate contest tab for followers on my blog.
Hey thanks everybody! Advice about that second sentence has been incorporated. I'm psyched about this new book and can't wait to read your hooks. Wonderful to meet you new fellow campaigners, too. I'll be visiting your blogs, but I'm on vacay until Monday, so won't see you until next week. Happy writing.
I'm going to piggyback off of L.G. Smith's post over at Bards and Prophets today--in brief, because Friday is a sunup to sundown WIP-day for me. Smith sums up the difficulty question with a quote from Ellen Gilchrist, who points out, more eloquently than I can here, that we writers had better not give up our day jobs. And further, prepare to be disappointed.
My old teacher, poet Dave Smith, (no relation to L.G.) sat me down and gave me similar advice many, many years ago, when I was planning to study for an MA in poetry writing (can you imagine any graduate degree less practical?) He said that even if I did eventually land a university job (after publishing two or three books, minimum), it was a long way off, and a crap shoot. And did I really want to do this?
And this? Easy peasy.
Smith wasn't trying to let me down gently. I was his pet, and I knew it. He was being realistic. I didn't heed his warnings then and I'm not heeding Gilchrist now, either. I mean, I hear what they're saying. But honestly? I don't think writing is that hard.
Writing is fun. Being a writer makes me zip around some days with a feeling in the pit of my stomach that very much resembles falling madly in love. Writing never bores me. It expands me. It helps me understand people. And nature. And the universe. It makes me fear death a little bit less.
Somehow, I don't think writing is nearly as much of a bummer as, say, being a checker at Walmart. Or spending all day typing other people's letters or doing their laundry. I bet it's a lot less numbing than being a court reporter, and a lot less backbreaking than a career in farming. It's not as debilitating as running a small business or clawing your way up some soul-destroying corporate ladder.
Maybe it's just me? I like being a writer. If we're warning people off careers, let's start with this one: "You sure you want to do this? Because being a call-center operator is reallyhard."
8 Comments on Writing is Hard. Isn't it??, last added: 10/2/2011
I'm with you. Yes, there are ups and downs, but I've never regretted quitting my day job. Working on a novel (or two) is better than writing news releases any day. I love being a writer!
I saw your title and thought, wow, we were on the same wavelength today. :)
For me, writing for publication is hard. It's full of disappointment and heartache. And trying to close that gap between what I write and what I want to write is sometimes very frustrating. But you're right, the actual act of writing is great. I love it. It's why I do it almost every day.
I know, L.G., I'm a bit in denial. I'm pretending that publication is that last thing on my mind. Obviously, it isn't. But these are just the kind of blinders I need to keep working happily. @Michelle, heya! Are you on to a new project?
I'm a little weird, I guess. For me, drafting is the hardest part, so writing actually really is super hard. (love to revise, though). But I can see the point about steering people away from full-time writing, at least at first. There are so many writers out there who'd like to do it full time in some capacity, and there are only so many jobs. And some of those areas are so incredibly hard to break into, like writing novels. And poetry--I can't even imagine. So I understand that advice. It's just a matter of knowing what you want to do, being realistic, and having the self-discipline to make it happen.
Ha! And yes, there are a whole lot of jobs that are more soul-destroying than writing. In fact, that's it's major redeeming quality. But I do think that it's hard work, just like a good marriage, where you move past just the heady in-love feeling into building a family/novel together.
Yeah, Becca, I hear you. I thought the first draft of my first novel was a nightmare, because I hadn't outlined anything first. The second one, I'm burning up my word count because I had a good outline. I think I have to face the fact that I am NOT a seat of the pantser. I do love having something to work with, whether it's an outline or a first draft.
@Susan, my 11-year relationship has also been more fun than work--more work at the beginning, more fun later. I wonder if novel writing is like that too--once you've got good solid building blocks, you can quit worrying that your book will fall apart and start enjoying the process? (Here I pause to knock wood).
This is an interesting concept. I'm thinking of tenure cases in a university environment, where they want to know not only which journals you submitted papers to and were accepted, but which ones you didn't get into -- presumably higher-tier ones to show you are pushing yourself.
I do think you need to constantly evaluate your writing process, your output, your support system and see where you are getting complacent. Constant vigilance!
Not sure if I'm replying to Bluestocking or to Gail by clicking here, but I intend to reply to Gail.
So ... I think it's probably easier to apply this advice to writing than to other pursuits, because when confronted with one's own writing -- especially after having completed it only recently -- it's impossible not to see the seams. You know what you intended, you know how you fell short, you know how many deletions and rewrites went into each ridiculous little sentence that only carries a tenth the weight it was meant to anyway. I know of only two writers who don't hate their own work, and they're both idiots.
The constitutional self-loathing of the writing biz is indeed good for craft, because you're constantly fixing yesteryear's deficiencies and discovering new and more complex ways to suck. The trick is to not forget old lessons when mastering new ones. I don't know if that happens. It hasn't for me yet, but I'm young. And I look at the way some older writers become technically advanced in certain ways while losing touch with the fundaments of the craft, and wonder if they're just bumping up against the limits of the human RAM.
Wow, all this time I thought I was just neurotic. Turns out I'm actually growing as a writer. :P
Okay, that was cheeky, but I have often wondered why I'm never satisfied with anything I write. I've probably put in about ten years of serious writing now, and while I think I've mastered a few things and don't really consider myself a bad writer, I just can't ever get to a point where I feel really good about my writing. But maybe this is a good thing. *shrugs*
I should probably read this book.
I definitely believe that those who excel at something practiced out the wazoo. But I personally believe that some people are born with more aptitude in certain areas than others.
In fact, did you know that they've done studies on some world-class atheletes and discovered that many have genetic mutations that allowed them to excel in their given sport? Lance Armstrong's lungs, for example, have a significantly higher capacity to take in oxygen than most people. Michael Phelps feet bend at the ankle a significant degree further than most people's. Anyway, not to discourage or anything, I just think it'a a fascinating topic! :)
I agree with Janet. Definitely practice is necessary, no matter who you are, but some people have a genetic edge. Perseverance is also key though. You can be talented, but if you don't submit your work, or you give up after the first rejection, you won't get published.
Pushing myself in terms of volume seems to help--like, the more I write per day (not just over the years, although it has been about ten of them for me), the better my writing gets. I think being open to instruction helps, though, because there's always more to learn.
I both love and hate this post, lol. I think we're told a lot growing up to focus on our strengths and not our weaknesses. While this is great advice for the self-esteem, it doesn't help much when you're trying to improve. Thinking back on 2011, I learned three really important writing lessons that I believe pushed me forward in my writing. Two of them came out of deliberate study. I knew I was weak in the area of structure, so I read books on the subject and broke down my own novel to see where it was lacking and where it needed fixing. I also realized that I didn't quite understand tension and how it worked in a novel. So I studied books that had lots of tension to see how the authors utilized it, then applied those techniques to my writing. For me, the areas that I've grown the most significantly are the areas where I identified a weakness and deliberately sought to learn about it and overcome it. So I'd say Shenk is right on.
Becca @ The Bookshelf Muse
You all are inspirational! @Brandon: I bet the expert swimmer or the professional flautist can be just as hard on themselves as us writers. @Susanna and @Janet: Shenk speaks to these issues of genetics, but he thinks the jury is still out. His discussion of Kenyan runners is particularly interesting. And, as I mentioned, the London cabbies whose brains actually GREW to accommodate their new spacial skills. That just blew me away. His argument is a lot more complicated than I've made it sound here, but basically it comes down to a complex interaction between genes and environment. I highly recommend this book.