Quotes on Writing

Jim's Fiction

2011-10-27T19:54:00.000-04:00

Check out my new site.

http://jpharrington.blogspot.com/

Taking a Break--Unless...

2010-06-02T07:00:00.023-04:00

I began this blog the last week of October 2008. I have to admit I’d forgotten how long it’d been. For the first year plus, I posted five times a week. I lowered the frequency to three times a week in 2010. Recently, I came to two conclusions:

Occasionally, I used quotes that repeated a topic; but I was able to provide a different slant on how the idea presented related to my own writing. In recent posts, my comments have been repetitive of earlier posts, only the words used were different.
I’ve received little feedback from my readers. Now that repetition has sneaked into my posts, I don’t know if what I’m writing is helpful, or interesting, or simply more Internet BS.

Many of my readers have stayed with me from the beginning, and I appreciate that. But, honestly, without feedback, I feel totally isolated. So, I’m going on hiatus with this blog. I don’t know for how long. It may be a few months. It may be forever. I will be posting over at Flash Fiction Chronicles once or twice a month and occasionally on the Apollo’s Lyre blog. My Six Questions For. . . blog will continue for as long as editors agree to participate.

So, unless I get swamped with requests to continue, that’s it for QoW for now. I wish you all good writing and continued success.

Writer vs Reader and the Importance of Sharing

2010-05-28T07:00:00.003-04:00

[This post appeared at Flash Fiction Chronicles earlier this week.]

Marshall Cook, in an online fiction class sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, suggested creating a feeling of “Not-Knowing” to draw the reader into a story. On his FlashFiction.net blog, Randall Brown, in response to comments by Steve Almond, said “If a character knows something, the reader should know it.” Are these statements contradictory? Not really. Mr. Cook doesn’t advise not telling readers everything they need to know, nor does Mr. Brown say the reader needs to know everything up front.

Authors grab the reader’s attention by creating questions in the reader’s mind, questions that matter, questions that force the reader to continue with the story in order to find the answers. The inexperienced writer often poses the question and leaves it to the reader to figure out what happens. Many times this approach leaves the reader confused and unsatisfied. Even experienced writers leave out some important piece of information, at times. That’s not to say every story must end with a definite resolution; but that initial moment of Not-Knowing, the question posed that leads the reader to the story’s conflict, the reason why telling the story is important in the first place, should be made clear at some point.

Ethel Rohan’s story, “Reduced,” provides a good example of what I’m trying to say. In it, Ethel shows the reader a husband and wife in conflict. As the story progresses, the tension increases until the real problem is revealed. It’s at this point that Ethel shares with the reader that one piece of information that both characters know that explains the conflict created for the reader by that Not-Knowing. You can read Ethel’s story here.

In my brief experience as an editor, I find writers are good at creating the sense of Not-Knowing (although some take way too long to do so). It’s the sharing of information known by the characters that explains the “why” of a story where many authors fail.

Harold Brewster, Literary Critic: a story

2010-05-27T07:00:00.002-04:00

It took me a few tries to find a home for this story.

http://www.powderburnflash.com/?q=node/440

Plot Evolves from Desire

2010-05-26T07:00:00.003-04:00

“All plot comes from the character’s trying to get something, to achieve something, wanting, desiring, longing.” -- Robert Olen Butler in From Where You Dream.

And it’s important to let the reader in on what that is early on, IMHO.

I used to think this needed to happen very early in the story--the first paragraph for a short story, the first or second page for a novel. I’ve mellowed on that a bit. I read a flash story last week that waited until the third paragraph to show the reader what the character desired. In this case, it felt right. Still, all of my stories show the reader what the character’s after by the end of the first paragraph. I don’t want to give the reader the opportunity to decide to move on to someone else’s tale.

Don't Turn Your Characters into Puppets

2010-05-24T07:00:00.007-04:00

“Finally, don’t manipulate your characters simply to advance the plot. Without an honest accounting of their fears and desires, you don’t have a plot. You have a puppet show.” -- Steve Almond in This Won’t Take But a Minute, Honey.

Well said, Mr. Almond. I have nothing to add.

Read and Vote

2010-05-22T10:38:00.000-04:00

My story, "Childhood Memories," is up at Bartleby Snopes until the end of May. Each month the site publishes eight stories and asks readers to vote for their favorite. Thanks in advance for your support (no matter whose story you select). Here's the link.

Something Different for Friday

2010-05-21T07:00:00.011-04:00

I decided to do something different today. I belong to an online critique group (The Flash Factory) that has a challenge each Sunday to write a story of either exactly 50 or 55 words using a set of 5 words provided by the moderator. The group also posts daily word jumbles (the same ones that appear in many U. S. newspapers on a daily basis). The object here is to unscramble the words and write a story (no word limit). Below are last Sunday’s words and my story.

***
tightrope, anagram, boardwalk, ephemeral, parasol

Charles held his head as he staggered along the boardwalk. Anagrams ricocheted off each other in his sated head, their ephemeral solutions dissolving quicker than he could write them down. He felt like a one-legged tightrope walker without a parasol. And one thought continued to haunt him. Whose idea was it to post daily jumbles? (55 words, hyphenated words count as one)

***

Now it’s your turn. Write a story using the same 5 words and post it as a comment. Since I'm feeling generous today, the word count doesn't have to be exactly 50 or 55, and you can go all the way up to 60 words! :) For many (most?) of you, this will be the first time you’ve tried something like this. But don’t worry. There are no right or wrong stories, and nobody fails this pop quiz. Good luck, and have fun!

Write What You Have To Write

2010-05-19T07:00:00.001-04:00

“You’ve got to write the book you have to write, not a book you think will sell even if you don’t care about the idea and story. “ -- Bob Mayer in The One Sentence Idea.

A couple of my flash stories have been sitting around for a few months, and I’ll probably never finish them. Why? I wrote the stories based on writing prompts. In one case, the idea sounded good at the time; but the theme isn’t something I’m passionate about. I can’t get into the story and character enough to make it work. A second story is one I’m not sure I can write. I don’t have any experience in the problem the character is facing. I suppose I could find someone who does and talk to that person about her experience. I could, but I won’t. There are other stories I’m more interested in--and capable of--completing.

Are you stuck on your current WIP? Maybe the problem is the story line has led you to an idea you aren’t interested in. As I’ve found, forcing the story along doesn’t work. It may be that it’s time to back up and have the character go in a different direction at some point in the story. Perhaps this would work with my second story above, if I can figure out a different path. Hmm.

Writing is Exciting

2010-05-17T07:00:00.016-04:00

“Candy is dandy and liquor is quicker, but writing is exciting” -- Nick Mamatas in “In Praise of the Short Story” [The Writer, June 2010]

I love this, and it’s so true. That moment when a tiny idea finally materializes into a completed story provides quite a high. It takes many revisions to get to the point where I’m satisfied with the results; but when it happens, there’s no better feeling.

A close second is the day I receive the elusive acceptance e-mail. Wait. Shouldn't the latter be ranked higher? Sometimes. More often, my proudest moment is when I pull my fingers from the keyboard and say to myself, "The end."

The hard part of writing is remaining inspired while struggling through failed stories and multiple rejections, and second-guessing my decision to attempt writing fiction in the first place. Perhaps these are the times when candy and liquor are appropriate. :)

My Post at Flash Fiction Chronicles

2010-05-14T07:00:00.002-04:00

I have a post up at Flash Fiction Chronicles explaining how I used Hansel and Gretl to come up with an idea for my own story.

Also, if you haven't read them, you might want to check out the responses to my Six Questions For... from Scott, Michelle, and Davin of The Literary Lab blog about their experiences as writing contest judges.

Keeping the Reader in Mind

2010-05-12T07:00:00.056-04:00

“Even if you're an experienced writer, remember that your reader may not be. Keep your story moving forward and keep the time frames simple.” -- Allie Dresser at Six Questions For...

So how do writers discern the experience level of their readers? By reading, of course. Editors select stories based on what they feel their readers will enjoy (and the kind of story the editors like also). So, read stories and articles in the magazines you want to be published in. Read books from publishers you’d like to submit a manuscript to. Editors and publishers know the market they plan to address and have a feel for the likes and dislikes of the readers in that market. And it’s more than the kind of story that’s important to know. The style is also important. I'm wasting my time if I submit the wrong kind and style of story to a book publisher or magazine editor. Yes, I agree. Sometimes it's difficult to know exactly what that is, but that's no excuse for not researching a market

It should be obvious that it’s important for the writer to know a market before submitting something. It should be; but it’s not, going by the number of editors and publishers who have commented on my Six Questions For... blog about the necessity to read the writers' guidelines before sending them something.

Let's Play Stump the Reader

2010-05-10T07:00:00.007-04:00

“Or maybe she became so familiar with the elements of her plot that she neglected the obvious: the reader is not.” -- Steve Almond in This Won’t Take But a Minute, Honey.

I read a number of unpublished stories lately that didn’t provide sufficient information for me to get involved enough with the characters or the plot to care about what happened (assuming something did). I was left wondering what the heck was going on. The author presented a riddle without enough clues for me to figure the story out.

Sometimes this may occur because we authors are so involved with the characters and plot that everything is perfectly clear in our minds, and we forget the reader doesn't know what we know. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the author who knows little more about a character than the reader does.

Mr. Almond, in a separate article, advised authors to not withhold information known by their characters. This makes sense. Writing is not a game of stump the reader. It’s a sharing of the experiences, feelings, and opinions of our characters. This can't happen if we don't participate openly with our partner in the story--the reader.

Writer, Heed Thyself

2010-05-07T07:00:00.013-04:00

“If you do not know why your characters act the way they do, you do not know your characters and, sadly, neither will your readers.” --Jessica Page Morrell in Between the Lines.

I read a few stories over the past couple of weeks (both submissions and in workshops) where I felt the author didn’t know why a character acted in a certain way. In a couple of cases, I challenged the authors by saying I didn’t believe the reason given at the end of the story as to why a character did or didn’t do something. It was too easy, too unemotional; and I was left wondering if the authors had spent enough time with their characters to understand what made them tick. This happened in one of my recent stories also--and an editor challenged me on my ending. I gave it some more thought, tried to get deeper inside my character’s head, finally changed the ending, resubmitted the story (as requested), and Bingo! It will appear this month at Bartleby Snopes. I’ll let you know when it’s online.

So, my new goal for the rest of this year--and beyond--is to spend more time learning about my characters, listening to them, and letting them lead me through the story. Actually, I think I’ve said this before, but this time I plan to heed my own advice!

Author as Sculptor

2010-05-05T07:00:00.002-04:00

“. . .it's when an author is a master sculptor of these ideas, rather than a cut-n-paster, that a story becomes a more worthwhile read than the next one.” Colin Meldrum on the Six Questions For blog.

I’ve never thought of writing in this way, but it makes perfect sense. A writer is like a sculptor, taking a shapeless block of an idea and turning it into something a reader finds beautiful. I don’t mean beautiful as in romantic, or pleasing even. I’m talking about writing that draws the reader in and takes her for a ride that ends too soon. It’s writing that uses language in a fresh way, avoids cliches, and creates a new sense within the reader. I’ve spent a lot of time lately with my fiction, examining the verbs and nouns used. There probably have been times when I’ve overdone the writing (the last story I submitted ended with “His heart winced”), but it’s been an interesting exercise in exploring the language I’ve used--at times poorly--all my life.

Blocked!!

2010-05-03T07:00:00.002-04:00

“The only way I have found to elude this inner editor bastard is to forget all my ideas and just begin writing. Just begin anywhere.” Frank Giampietro in “Begin Anywhere: Some Ideas of Process.” [SER, April 2010]

Hah. I’ve started this post four times and deleted the first three. I think I’m suffering from burnout. Everything I write is drivel and not worth sharing--so I won’t. See you on Wednesday.

Website: Coyote Con

2010-04-30T07:00:00.003-04:00

Website: Coyote Con

For those of you interested in speculative fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, and horror), here's a free online conference that begins on Saturday and runs every weekend for the month of May. Below is a brief description.

Those of us who read and write speculative fiction have a passion for seeing beyond the every day or around the corner. We dream of alien worlds, peoples, sciences, magic, and miracles. We imagine ghosts, monsters, and consummate lovers. We’re geeks, outsiders—strangers in a strange land. We have fun playing with possibilities. We are the home of mythic fiction in all its forms.

Coyote Con is a 31 day digital author conference. Our topics are geared toward the author, but if you have an interest—whether you write or not—you are welcome to attend. There is no cost to attend, but registration is required as space is limited.

----

In an earlier post, I shared my process for revising a story, and mentioned I submitted it to DiddleDog. I received a rejection this morning. So what did I do? Reworked the last paragraph and sent it off the Every Day Fiction. :)

It's The Not-Knowing That Keeps The Reader Going

2010-04-28T07:00:00.007-04:00

“Good beginnings raise questions and make the reader care. It’s the not-knowing and the caring that keep her turning the pages.” -- Marshall Cook in Advanced Fiction (a writing course)

Yes, a story needs to capture the reader’s attention from the first sentence/paragraph/page/chapter (depending on the length of the work). More importantly, the story needs to start at the beginning. “Huh?” you say. I read three short stories this week that didn’t start at the true beginning.

In one case, the author attempted to paint a unique picture of a character that didn’t work for me. I stated in my critique my issue was most likely “a guy thing.” The second paragraph continued setting the scene and ended with the mention of the name of someone the main character was waiting for, leaving me wondering who he was and why he was important to the story. This mention introduced the conflict and provided the "not-knowing" that kept me reading. By the way, omitting the first paragraph didn't leave a hole in the story.

A second piece opened with two women having a conversation in a kitchen. The only important information provided, as far as I was concerned, was that the main character was recently divorced. The conversation itself was unremarkable. The real story began in the next scene with one of the woman sitting alone in a French bistro--and no mention of divorce. Holding back that one piece of information, the “not-knowing” why she was alone, made me keep reading.

Steve Almond said in an article (of course, I can't find it at the moment) that if a character knows something, the reader should know it, too. He didn’t say the reader had to know everything from the start. Often, holding back a piece of information creates the “not-knowing” that keeps the reader interested. However, it’s not fair to the reader to withhold the information permanently. By the end of the story, the author needs to give it up. At least, that’s the way I see it.

Writing with a Spirit

2010-04-26T07:00:00.004-04:00

“We often hear even modern writers speak of their work as somehow outside their control, informed by a spirit that, when they read their writing later, they cannot identify as having come from themselves.” -- John Gardner in The Art of Fiction.

I haven’t experienced this yet, and sometimes I wish I could attribute what ends up on the page to someone else. :) Even those stories whose words flow through my fingers and onto the screen with little effort, end up requiring a lot of hard work and conscious effort.

April issue of Apollo's Lyre

2010-04-25T19:29:00.000-04:00

After resolving some technical problems, the April issue is online. I hope you take a moment to glance through what it has to offer.

http://apollos-lyre.tripod.com/index.html

Revise, Revise, and Revise Some More

2010-04-23T07:00:00.006-04:00

“Most rewriting consists of reshaping and tightening and refining the raw material you wrote on your first try.” William Zinsser

I set three goals for myself in Wednesday’s post--to revise a story on my to-do pile, to search for publications that might be interested in it, and to send it out. I accomplished two of the three. I did the rewrite and decided on a market (actually two), but I let the piece sit overnight before submitting it.

The story originated with a writing prompt from two weeks ago. I didn’t keep track of how long I spent deciding on the story idea from the prompt and writing the first draft. Normally, this process takes about an hour to an hour and a half and includes some revision. I spent about an hour on Tuesday working on the next rewrite and finished the final revision the following day. This time I kept track of the time.

I worked for thirty-five minutes ON THE FIRST PARAGRAPH. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t check the word count when I started. The final version had eight-six words. I worked a combined twenty-two minutes on paragraphs five and six (out of seven). In all, I spent another hour and a half on this revision. The total word count went from 446 to 408. Doing the math, I spent four hours writing a 400 word story. That’s about right for a work of this length.

In the final revision, I worked on word choices and sentence flow. Two sentences felt wrong. Based on critiques received on other stories, I knew if a sentence or phrase didn’t flow right for me, it didn’t for the reader either. In the case of one sentence, I found the solution to my problem was to shorten it by deleting some descriptive material. The reader could decide what the character looked like based on the minimal information I provided.

Word choice was where I spent most of my time. For example, the text I started with on Wednesday contained six instances of “was.” The final version had two. I also chose stronger choices for “look,” “watch,” and “see.” “That” is a word I often delete, but, in the case of this story, I kept four instances. The sentences didn’t read right without them.

Now comes the wait and hope period. I submitted the story to DiddleDog, a journal I haven’t submitted to previously. I’d love for my work to appear in this magazine, but I’ve been at this long enough to understand that that might not happen. I’ll be okay with whatever decision the editor makes, and I’ll let y’all know how I make out.

Location, Location, Location

2010-04-21T07:00:00.003-04:00

“So what I did was I went to a sports bar near where I lived, usually at 9 p. m. or so, and I brought my laptop. I told myself, ‘Dave, you have 2,000 words to write tonight, and until that happens, you’re not allowed to talk to any attractive women.’” -- Dave Dickerson in “Writing in Bars” [SER, April 2010]

Every writer needs goals. :)

Something else the author mentions is to change where you write if you’re stuck. I tend to block out what else is going on when I write--except when my wife is at her desk chomping on a caramel candy. I don’t know why that bothers me--so a sports bar might work; and I’m sure any number of story ideas would come to mind while watching and listening to those around me when not writing.

I tried writing in other places in my home (the family room with the TV off, the front porch, kitchen table, and patio), but that didn’t work. Something always happened, and I ended up back in my office.

I’m in my office now, sitting hunched over my MacBook, waiting for a grand idea to come to me. So far, that idea has avoided the room. Oh well, I have a few stories I need to finish and send out. They aren’t going to get published sitting in my needs-work tray. So my goal for this afternoon (Tuesday, actually) is to polish at least one story, research markets, and send it off to find a new home. Wish me luck.

Focus on Your Protagonist

2010-04-19T07:00:00.008-04:00

“Focus your story not on what happens but on the character to whom it happens.” -- Chris Roerden in “Publishing Industry Veteran Shares Tips for Authors” [Writers’ Journal, March/April 2010]

I submitted a story to two magazines two weeks ago. Both editors rejected it. One provided some helpful insights as to why. I resubmitted the story to him this week, and he accepted it. What made the difference? In the first version, I flinched when it came time to end the story. What I wrote was vague and unrealistic. I had dodged the real issue. The second ending came to me after I put myself in my protagonist’s place and said directly what I only hinted at in the first version. In other words, I wrote the ending while focused on “the character to whom it happens.” It’s hard to get into our characters heads at times, but it can make a big difference to the reader when we do.

Two more stories...

2010-04-17T12:41:00.000-04:00

up this weekend.

The Treadmill at Clever Magazine and The Accident at Everyday Weirdness.

My Best Friend Forever

2010-04-16T19:52:00.000-04:00

This story is in the current issue of Wild Violet. Here's the opening paragraph.

I stared out the window and watched the freshly-manured field pass by. Erica sat next to me, sleeping, her head on my shoulder, her mouth open. I caressed her arm and thought back to what Mrs. English, our history teacher, had said on the first day of school. She asked us where we wanted to be in five years. If she’d asked me when I was twelve, I wouldn’t have said, “On a bus, with my best friend, running away to New Mexico.”

Read the complete story.

Replace Those Dull Verbs

2010-04-16T07:00:00.012-04:00

“Analyze the verbs in your first pages and see if you can replace passive verbs or dull verbs like see, look, get, put, and walk with more sensory verbs that jab at the reader.” --Jessica Page Morrell in Between the Lines.

I read a number of stories this week (both in critique groups and submissions) that suffered from poor word choice. In one, the word “was” appeared fourteen times in about a dozen paragraphs. “She” and “he” were other culprits. The story I finalized on Wednesday fell into this group at one time. The difference between my story and the others was that I made a conscious effort to fix my prose before sending it out.

I rejected a submission today because of poor grammar. I planned on accepting it; but as the errors piled up, my enjoyment of the story decreased. As David Shapiro put it in his Six Questions For. . . post, “If the writer doesn’t care [enough about grammar errors to clean them up], why should I?”

Am I getting off point with all this grammar stuff? Not really. Word choice and grammar are two things that separate the good writers from the mediocre ones. Writing is hard work. Rewriting is harder. It’s often easy to see which writers are serious about their craft and which ones aren’t.

A New Writer's Mistake--Not Reading

2010-04-14T07:00:00.004-04:00

“The most damaging mistake I see new writers making is not reading widely and broadly--both within their own genres and others.” -- Liz Scheier in “Earth to writer--listen up.” [The Writer, May 2010]

I’ve expanded my reading in the past few months. I went to the library and borrowed books written by authors I wasn’t familiar with. My daughter gave me a Barnes & Noble gift card for Christmas, and I spent part of it on books by more authors I’d never read. I’m glad I did.

It’s easy to get “in a rut” reading authors we know we like. But I’ve learned a lot from my recent readings. In some cases, the authors showed me new ways to present a character, or to describe action. Other times, I learned a lot about how NOT to do this. I’ve found voices I liked very much and a few I didn’t. I learned about pacing, and word choice, and story development. I read a number of books that I couldn’t put down. I purchased a book by a well known author I’d never read and didn’t finish it.

A number of my flash stories fit into the horror genre, yet I’ve never read a horror book. I guess that should be on my next to-read list, once I finish the ones I have. I started a Stephen King book (I don’t remember which one) and read about fifty pages before putting it away. That doesn’t mean SK isn’t a good writer. He’s just not one I enjoy.

Stimulate Your Readers With Thoughtful Prose

2010-04-12T07:00:00.003-04:00

“. . .give the reader the wealth of detail that makes a novel such a sumptuous treat, but always treat every single paragraph, every line of dialogue, as though it has to be accountable for itself, as though it has to be read aloud and examined as an entity onto itself.” -- Valerie O’Riordan in The Long and Short of It.

I’ve read this advice a number of times in reference to short stories. For works of 5000 words or less, this should be a given for an author. As an editor, I can state with authority it isn’t, unfortunately. The prose suffers from a lack of effort and often falls flat.

For a novel, this seems a daunting task, but one that will make a difference to the reader. I marvel at some of the writing I encounter in the novels I read. Other times, I shake my head in disappointment. Sloppy writing tells me the author is more interested in finishing the project (perhaps due to an impending deadline) than offering the reader stimulating prose.

Website: AutoCrit

2010-04-09T07:00:00.010-04:00

Website: AutoCrit

I saw this site mentioned on The Muffin (the blog section of the WOW:Women on Writing website). It’s an interesting tool that analyzes the words in a story. The free version is limited to 800 words and offers reports on Overused Words, Repeated Phrases, and Sentence Length Variation. I pasted in one of my flash stories and did quite well. The software found one repetition that it suggested I change. On the paid side (there are membership tiers), added reports include Dialogue Tags, Names and Pronouns, Cliche Finder, and more.

Pick a few words from one of your stories and take AutoCrit for a test drive. You might be surprised by what you learn about your writing. Oh, and post a comment here to let us know how you made out (The bashful among us can send me your results in a private e-mail (jpharrin (at) gmail (dot) com, and I'll post them anonymously).

Leave Out The Obvious

2010-04-07T07:00:00.009-04:00

“Generally, try not to explain the obvious (the ocean is vast), the trite (Bali looked like paradise), or the normal (the sand was beige). Instead, concentrate on unusual and fresh descriptions.” --Jessica Page Morrell in Between the Lines.

I read a book of short stories by Alice Munro a couple of months ago. I may have mentioned this before. One thing I noticed was how she gave her characters some “normal” traits and a zinger or two. For example: Loretta might be a slender, girl-next-door blond who possesses a vocabulary that can make a football team blush.

It’s these zingers that make our characters come alive. I forgot about this in the current story I’m working on, until a critique stated the main character was too good. The reader gets to see most of the good and none of the bad. I remember including a few negative things in the first draft. I must have removed them to stay within the word limit included with the prompt that supplied the idea for this story. In the next rewrite, I need to show the reader my character’s other side. The question is how far should I go?

Another comment in the same critique suggested there may be too many characters for the story. The word limit no longer applies, but I still may delete the younger brother and a minor character who doesn't add anything important. While there’s tension in the sibling's relationship, there’s more contrast to the MC’s relationships with his mother (who he looks forward to seeing) and his father (who’s disappointed in the son for moving away instead of taking over the family business). Right now, I don’t know what I’m going to do. As is my practice, I’ll let the story sit for a week or so before returning to it.

Allow Your Characters Time To React

2010-04-05T07:00:00.002-04:00

“The most common rookie storytelling error, I think, is to not let your character react.” -- Kathryn Craft at The Blood Red Pencil.

I find this in my own writing, especially in dialog. The conversation moves from one character to the next, giving neither the chance to react to what’s been said. Even a simple “Alice paused and gazed out the window” can say a lot about Alice, depending on the situation.

A Deadly Silence

2010-04-04T16:38:00.000-04:00

I submitted this story to Thrillers, Killers 'N' Chillers on Saturday. The editor posted it on Sunday! My fastest ever acceptances.

My Story up at Dew on the Kudzu

2010-04-02T21:50:00.000-04:00

Did you ever have to write one of those what-I-did-during-summer-vacation essays? So did this guy.

SER Regimen

2010-04-02T07:00:00.004-04:00

“Literature is accepted as an art because it depicts life as it actually is. Its aim is the truth, unconditional and honest.” -- Anton Chekhov in Anton Chekhov on Writing.

I’m going to writer about something other than today’s quote. I began the SER Regimen yesterday. It’s a program out of Florida State University that provides a daily writing prompt for 30 days, along with reading-writing assignments, a podcast of the day, and more. Click the link to learn more about the program. The amazing part is that it only costs $15.00! I plan to post daily progress reports on my Facebook page if you’d like to follow my progress.

Those Pesky Adjectives and Adverbs Again

2010-03-31T07:00:00.004-04:00

“Be sparing with modifiers, saving them for extraordinary elements of creating a mood.” --Jessica Page Morrell in Between the Lines.

I taught a workshop on flash fiction earlier this month. In one session I discussed the importance of word choice, with a special section on adjectives and adverbs. In my fiction, I don’t use adverbs, but the reader will find a smattering of adjectives. Many writing teachers instruct their students to avoid using adverbs and adjectives--period. My suggestion to the workshop students was to have a darn good reason for using either, along with words like just, once, that, and other empty words.

Getting Emotional With Our Characters

2010-03-29T07:00:00.011-04:00

“But it's a lot to ask of me to allow writing to make me feel, to make me become ‘emotionally involved.’” -- Randall Brown at FlashFiction.Net.

In a post last week (The Scary Part of Writing), I asked how many readers you've made cry. After reading Randall's post, I realized I asked the wrong question. I should have asked what have you written recently that made you cry?

It's not easy for many of us--I include myself in this group--to get emotionally involved in the characters we write about. Yes, we know who they are, what they like to eat, where they like to go to relax, and why they live where they do. But do we feel their emotions? Do we feel what they feel, or do we only write about it from a safe distance?

As I mentioned in my earlier post, a point supported by Randall's, it's scary (and hard if we're not emotional in our daily lives) to let ourselves get so deeply involved in our characters; but some stories require this. In order to tell the real story, the writer has to feel the anger, or love, or remorse, or whatever the emotion is being portrayed as fully as the character does.

I have a story (not the one mentioned in the prior post) that isn't working. The problem is the ending. I've written three and received negative comments about all of them. I'm obviously not emotionally involved enough with the main character to know what the ending should be. Maybe I never will be.

Website: Poets & Writers Database of Small Presses

2010-03-26T07:00:00.007-04:00

Poets & Writers Database of Small Presses

For those of you working on short story/poetry collections or novels, here's a small group of publishers who might be interested in reading your manuscripts. The database is by no means comprehensive, but may offer a reasonable starting place in your search for a publisher. My assumption is if the folks at Poets & Writers included them in the database, they must be legitimate. In fact, I'm going to focus on a few of them on my Six Questions For. . . blog in July.

The Scary Part of Writing

2010-03-24T07:00:00.028-04:00

“If he [the serious writer] respects the reader, if he honestly considers what he himself would like to read, the writer will choose the most immediately and powerfully interesting characters and events he can think of.” -- John Gardner in The Art of Fiction.

I find where beginning writers err, myself included, is in failing to develop these characters to their fullest. Why? It’s hard--and scary. I critiqued a story recently that had the potential for a powerful message, but the writer backed away. It made me think of a person skydiving for the first time. He’s all bravado building up to the actual jump, but when his turn comes, he steps to the door and chickens out. That’s what happened in the story. The writer brought the reader to the brink of a real “aha” moment for the main character, only to dull the impact with a blah sentence that let the air out of the tension balloon. I felt as if the writer had reached a point that he didn’t want to deal with, perhaps because the situation demanded an emotional response the author wasn’t ready to let out.

I submitted a story last week. (I haven’t heard back from the editor. It’s too soon.) It was based on my mother and a hard story to write. She’s 89 and failing mentally. That’s what the story was about, an old woman looking for memories and a son shielding her from the most painful one. I backed away from it a few times. Wrote an ending that was safe, but not honest.

After letting it sit for a week, I decided if I was going to write the story, it had to be true. I finished the story and took it to my wife to read. She was busy, so I lay it on the table next to her and went back to my office. Later, I retrieved the story. Without my asking, she said, “You made me cry.” I knew I’d written the real story.

How many people have you made cry--or laugh, or moan? Isn’t that why we write? To touch people? To make them think? To challenge what they think they know? And if we’re not doing that, why write at all?

Building Suspense

2010-03-22T07:00:00.014-04:00

“Your job as a writer is to seduce the reader via the opening scenes, then, once she’s involved in the protagonist’s life, to disturb her and force her to speculate about upcoming events and results.” --Jessica Page Morrell in {Between the Lines}.

Ms. Morrell compares the process of creating suspense in a story to doing a striptease. Okay, I realize most of you have never been a stripper. Oh, wait. I mean you’ve never seen a stripper, but you do have excellent imaginations. Anyway, the stripper comes on the stage dressed in some costume--so I’m told. She (or he) doesn’t immediately take everything off. Instead, she teases the patrons by first strutting around a bit, bending this way and that to provide glimpses of her body, and then begins the process of slowly undressing. At some point, she may unzip her top, only to zip it back up. This is how suspense works. The writer takes the reader in one direction and then swerves in an unexpected direction, or slows the pace, to delay the final outcome. And that’s how it should work.

I critiqued a story recently where the author gave away too much, too soon. IMHO. Even though I assumed the story could go the way it did, I didn’t want to know I was right in the second paragraph (this was a short-short). I felt cheated in a way, because the truth was revealed too quickly. That was a good lesson for me. I need to slow the pace at times with internal thoughts or description in order to build the tension for the reader and delay the outcome.

Some of my recent publications

2010-03-19T07:00:00.001-04:00

Together at Last -- Thrillers, Killers 'N' Chillers
My Best Friend Forever -- Wild Violet
She Wants Him Dead -- Word Catalyst
Goldilocks is Busy in the Getaway Car -- The Legendary
The Return Trip -- Weirdyear (scroll down to 2/17)
What's Good for the Goose -- 50 to 1

Why waste my time on flash fiction?

2010-03-17T07:00:00.004-04:00

Here's the beginning of my answer as posted Monday on the Apollo's Lyre blog.

Good question. I can think of two reasons.

The first should be obvious. Writing flash fiction helps authors sharpen their writing by forcing them to choose precise words, to eliminate empty words, and to focus on the theme of the story to make certain every scene, every paragraph, every sentence, and every word is important to the end result. Otherwise, the authors may be unable to write stories within the demands of the word count limits of flash fiction.

For those of you who haven't read it, here's the rest.

FYI: As of last week, I am the sole fiction editor for Apollo's Lyre.

Doing the Unpredictable

2010-03-15T07:00:00.003-04:00

“Rub the thing that seems predictable.” -- Robert Olen Butler in From Where You Dream.

Huh? That was my first thought when I read this, too. It’s really quite simple. A story starts at point A and takes the reader on a ride toward point B. Along the way, just as the reader is certain about what comes next, the writer “rubs” a character or plot line and has something unexpected happen. If you’ve ever listened to a Beethoven symphony, you understand how this works. The music builds to what sounds like the end, only to continue to a build and ebb, and build and ebb, and build and ebb, until finally reaching the last note.

Make Your Characters Real

2010-03-12T07:00:00.025-05:00

“When an epiphany solves a mystery or problem, especially the central problem of the story, it is especially important that the road to enlightenment is fraught with suffering.” --Jessica Page Morrell in {Between the Lines}.

Beginning writers, me included, are too nice to their characters. If a problem is solved too easily, readers won’t care. They want to see a character struggle to achieve a goal, just like they do.

At one time, I belonged to an online writing group and critiqued a few novels, most of them by beginning writers. I remember one in particular. It was a western in which a small group traveled across the country in hopes of finding something better. I read/critiqued five or six chapters and stopped. Why? It was boring! Nothing bad happened to the characters, and everybody got along. When was the last time you had that happen? Oh, one person was taken by the Indians for raping a woman. Okay, I thought, here’s a spot for some tension; but there wasn’t any. The settlers let it happen without a fight. In another scene, three men rode off to investigate a plateau area. Aha! Will there be trouble over the horizon? Will their lives be at stake? Well, they rode to a rise, looked around, and returned to the wagon train without incident. {yawn} This wasn’t a story. It was a travelog--and not a very good one.

I provided some polite comments in an effort to get the author to spice up the action. The tact didn’t work. Finally, I told him the story was boring, because his characters were. They weren’t real people with disagreements and fights and sins. I hadn’t been writing long at the time, but even I knew the book would never be published.

Characters need to struggle, have warts, and be worse off than most for readers to care. Period. So go out there and beat up on your characters, refuse to let them fall in love, and do to them whatever it is you never want to happen to yourself.

Those Pesky Adjectives and Adverbs

2010-03-10T07:00:00.003-05:00

“Do not over-write. Oftentimes novice writers (and I have been guilty of this) tend to use way too many exclamation points, far too many adjectives and adverbs, and they want to show off their vocabulary. Less is more. Stick to the meat of the story. Understatement is powerful.” -- Marvin D. Wilson in Meet the Editor.

Guilty! Well, not so much anymore. I reread the three short-shorts (all under 500 words) I submitted last week. I found: no adverbs in any of them, zero adjectives in one, a smattering of adjectives in the longest one, and two adjectives in the third. I’m not one of those authors who proposes all adjectives and adverbs be abolished—at least not adjectives. However, when one appears in my writing, it’s because I’ve given its use enough thought that I know why it’s there. I do shy away from adverbs. Many times they’re unnecessary. For example:

“Go away!” Ted shouted loudly.

How else can one shout but loudly? In fact, given Ted’s comment, is shouted needed? The exclamation point shows the reader he shouted.

Mary sauntered leisurely along the beach.

Leisurely is redundant here, because sauntered means to walk in a leisure manner.

I’m sure you’ve all heard this before. Many authors haven’t. I have a submission in front of me that contains seven adjectives in the first two paragraphs (about fifty words total). The story’s good, but the writing could be tighter. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to accept it.

In my writing, I use adjectives and adverbs only if they add to characterization or make something clearer for the reader. I prefer to show the reader a character acts shyly, or runs wildly, or. . .. You get the idea.

Make Them Feel Like They're Not Reading

2010-03-08T07:00:00.011-05:00

“It's your job to propel the reader through your story without having them feel they are wading through your writing. In fact, your ultimate aim is somehow make the reader feel they're not actually reading at all.” -- Rob Parnell in Writing--QED [posted at Mike’s Writing Workshop & Newsletter].

Make the reader feel like they’re not reading. That statement grabbed my attention. After giving it some thought, I realize that’s what happens when I’m captivated by a story I’m reading. I don’t think of it as a group of words formed into a plot, with character development and all the other stuff that makes up a story. I simply let the prose take my on a ride. I wonder if the folks who read my stories get into that mind set. I like to think they do.

On a different topic, I mentioned on Friday about not finishing the stories I’ve started. Well, I completed three last week and submitted them for publication--all to paying markets. Now it’s time to play “wait and see.” Sometimes that’s the hard part--waiting to find out if the editorial staff likes what I send. Many guidelines state the best way to know what the editors like is to read the stories they’ve published. I read the stories and often still don’t have a clue. :) I am expecting one story to be rejected. The voice may not be right for the magazine I subbed it to. I sent it anyway. Hey, they may screw up and accept it. ;)

Time To Get To Work

2010-03-05T07:00:00.001-05:00

“If you don’t learn to finish, you never learn to revise, and if you don’t revise, you’re not writing.” -- John Dufresne in The Southeast Review [an interview by Tom DeMarchi].

Lately, I’ve had just the opposite problem. I have a number of completed drafts sitting in my “needs work” box. For some reason, I don’t feel like finishing them. I take one out, read through the critiques, make notes, and...set it aside. I have a number of things I’m involved with at the moment, and some days I’m simply too tired to think about working on my own stories. Or is this simply a convenient excuse for not working on a story I’m not passionate about to begin with? I don’t know. In some cases, it’s more that I don’t know what to do with the piece. I like the idea behind the story. I like the characters. But there’s something missing. Something I can’t put my finger on. Ha! Another excuse to do nothing. I need to stop writing new stuff, stop finding excuses for not working on my existing pieces, force myself to revise what I have, and get them out. They won’t get published sitting on my desk.

Saying More with Less

2010-03-03T07:00:00.006-05:00

“The best writers say the most with the fewest words; the worst say the least with the most words.” -- Tarl Roger Kudrick at the Six Questions For... blog.

I refer to the latter as "word diarrhea" in a flash fiction class I’m teaching. The words go on and on and on and..., and nothing happens. I have the opposite problem at times. I don’t provide enough information about a character or a scene for the reader to feel satisfied. It is a delicate balance we writers attempt when we type a bunch of words, hoping a story results.

Novel Writing Process

2010-03-01T07:00:00.014-05:00

“The process of writing the novel is, in many aspects, the process of finding the characters. I just keep writing and rewriting and rewriting until the actions of the characters feel true to me and the language satisfies me.” -- Gabriel Packard in “Excavating for The Idea,” The Writer, March 2010.

This process is the same for writing short stories. At least, it is for me. Even with those characters I feel I know well at the start of a project, I always learn something new about them (or from them) as the story unfolds. I like those little surprises when a character all of a sudden does something unexpected.

NOTE: If you write flash fiction, or have an interest in the format, be sure to check out today's post by Ramon Collins, Fiction Editor for Linnet's Wings at Six Questions For. . ..

New Story: "She Wants Him Dead"

2010-02-27T15:58:00.001-05:00

This story went live today (Saturday) at Word Catalyst. Here's the opening.

I died in a car crash four hours ago. Fortunately, it was my children's day with their father. The other driver was drunk, and he's in a coma. Serves him right. Moron.

And the link.

Web site: first10pages

2010-02-26T07:00:00.014-05:00

Web site: first10pages

Bryan Burch, co-editor of The Whistling Fire and MFA student, provided responses (to be posted in May) for my Six Questions For. . . blog and introduced me to his blog. Bryan analyzes the openings of selected novels in an attempt to determine what it is about these books that makes him want to keep reading. The categories he uses for each book include: First Sentence, Prevailing Narrative Voice, What the reader learns in the first paragraphs, What the reader learns in the first ten pages, Language, Character, Setting, Plot & Expectations beyond the tenth page, and Random Comments. Rhett Butler’s People by Donald McGaig, Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and The Bad Seed by William March are a few of the novels analyzed on this site.

Here’s what Bryan says about the narrative voice of The Bad Seed.

Prevailing Narrative Voice: Past tense. Third person selective singular. From the opening line the reader is introduced to the internal thinking of Mrs. Christina Penmark. The narrator observes and reports on all the characters, but only enters Mrs. Penmark’s thought process.

Beware the Twangs! in Your Prose

2010-02-24T07:00:00.008-05:00

“So to edit your work, you go back and thrum [like you would a stringed instrument] to it. And you go thrum, thrum, thrum, twang! And when you go twang! as a reader, mark that passage.” -- Robert Olen Butler in From Where Dreams Come.

I’ve never given it much thought, but this is exactly the way I edit my stories. It’s easiest to hear the twangs when reading a work out loud. Once I get to a certain point, I read my stories aloud after every edit. It’s the only way I can hear the bumps along the way. I did this with my novelette also, reading chapter by chapter. Every Do list for writers includes the advice to read your prose out loud. It works for me.

Am I a Bad Writer?

2010-02-22T07:00:00.017-05:00

“Only bad writers think that their work is really good.” -- Anne Enright in Ten Rules for Writing Fiction.

I’ve encountered a few of these people. I’m sure you have, too. I wonder where I fit into this comment.

A few of my stories that I felt were really good were accepted by the first editor I sent them to. A few works I thought were really good were rejected a number of times before finding a home (and often after another revision, or two). A few works I thought were okay were published with relative ease. A few works I didn’t believe would be accepted anywhere were. A few pieces residing on my computer will never be seen by anyone other than me. :)

So am I a good or a bad writer--according to today’s quote? I think I'm a good writer, because I never send a piece out until I’ve revised and edited it as much as I can. It still may not be a really good story, but it's the best I have to offer; and I know mine is not the final opinion on anything I write--including this post.

The Muse Online Writers Conference

2010-02-19T07:00:00.027-05:00

“Our Online Writers Conference is aimed to offer you, the writer, whatever resource we can to give you the opportunity to enhance and improve your craft, to offer the opportunity to make contacts to reach that next level all writers seek - publication!” -- from The Muse Online Writers Conference website.

Dates: October 11-17, 2010

This is the last time I’ll mention this conference—maybe. :) This is an amazing event for a number of reasons. It’s online and available to anyone from anywhere. The presenters are all experienced writers, publishers, and agents. And it’s FREE.

There are three “sections” to the conference:

Workshops -- These are open 24x7 and offer excellent advice and instruction on writing. Here’s a sample list.

    •    An Introduction to Social Media: Exploring Your Online Marketing Options
    •    Characters You Love to Hate: Creating Villainous Villains for Kids and Teens
    •    English Refresher 101
    •    Fine Tuning Your Senses
    •    Freelance Writing: It’s a Business, Stupid
    •    Scare the Crap out of Them
    •    Flash Fiction: What is it? How do I write it? Why should I bother? (taught by yours truly :))

Chat Workshops -- These real-time Q&As offer further educational sessions and the opportunity to ask various agents and publishers questions about the publishing process. Examples are:

    •    Essential Marketing Materials for Book Promotion
    •    Meet Rachelle Gardner -- Literary Agent
    •    Meet Rida Allen - Publisher Draumr Publishing
    •    Plot Your Novel in 15 Minutes or Less!

Pitch Sessions -- Pitch your book (or short story) to an agent or publisher. Each session lasts seven minutes and is one-on-one. Participants must submit a 150-200 word pitch prior to the start of the conference and a list of the publishers/agents they wish to pitch to. The list of available publishers/agents appears on the website with links to their guidelines. It is the responsibility of the authors to select an appropriate company for each pitch session (don’t ask to pitch a romance book to a publisher of young adult fiction -- It happens!) Sample questions from previous years' sessions are provided in advance to assist the author in preparing for their pitch. A partial list of current participants includes:

    •    4RV Publishing
    •    Donald Mass Literary Agency
    •    Eternal Press
    •    Inkspotter Press
    •    MacGregor Literary Agency
    •    White Rose Publishing

New workshops and pitch sessions are being added on a regular basis.

The registration deadline is August 15, 2010. (There is a late fee for anyone registering after this date.) If you would like to be a presenter, the deadline is March 31, 2010. By registering, you will receive updates as they become available.

New Books Available

2010-02-17T07:00:00.004-05:00

I'm breaking from the norm with today's post. There are three books I want to bring to your attention.

100 Stories for Haiti - I'm proud to have a story in this compilation. This project is the brainchild of Greg McQueen, and others. All proceeds will go to the Red Cross for use in Haiti. You can read bios of the authors here and pre-order a copy here.

Genre Wars - Davin, Scott, and Michelle, over at The Literary Lab, recently hosted a short story contest. The best thirty stories have been published in an anthology available through Lulu. All proceeds go to support the efforts of WriteGirl, a nonprofit that works with high school girls in Los Angeles.

Finally, Tara Masih's new collection of short stories, Where the Dog Star Never Glows, is available at Amazon.com. (I posted Tara's wonderful guest post recently.) The collection has received rave reviews already. You can read a few of them here.

Fugedaboudit

2010-02-15T07:00:00.006-05:00

“Forget symbolism, forget literary theory, put aside your desire to be anthologized. Tell the most authentic story your can, with as much attention and sensitivity to life as you can muster.” -- Randall Silvis “Write to Connect With Readers.” [The Writer, January 2010]

It’s all about the story.

Beginning writers, and those somewhat beyond the beginning stage, struggle to find their writing voice. Sometimes the struggle is such that the writer stops writing. In other cases, writers attempt to copy voices from novels and short stories they like. My guess is this doesn’t work out very well. Understanding how a writer writes and being inside the writers head when he does are two separate things.

I don’t remember struggling with voice. I probably did. It’s always been about the story with me. If a piece failed, it wasn’t because of the voice. No, it was because I wasn’t invested enough in what happened to the character to be able to write the tale.

I like today’s quote. Why? Because it tells it like it is. Forget about similes and metaphors. Forget about writing “fancy” prose. Forget about getting published and being famous. Just write the story. If the writing is good and true to the characters, the rest will take care of itself.

Setting May Be The Key to Unblocking a Scene

2010-02-12T07:00:00.008-05:00

“...setting influences both character and plot.”—John Gardner in The Art of Fiction.

Don’t think this is true? Take a scene in your novel, preferably one you’re struggling with, and change the setting. If it’s currently in a kitchen, move it to a park. If it’s in a restaurant, move it to a bowling alley. Your character wouldn't be caught dead in a bowling alley, you say? Put her there anyway. It should be fun.

I’ve tried this. In one story, I changed the setting and ended up moving a minor actor in the story to the main character—and it worked! A story that was going nowhere became alive. It was quite a revelation. Now if I have a story that I'm stuck on, instead of beating myself up over why it isn’t working as I envision it, I make changes to the setting or characters and see what happens. It doesn’t help every time, but I’ve had enough success that it’s always worth a try.

String-of-10-TWO

2010-02-10T07:00:00.004-05:00

“Write what you care about, what interests and intrigues you.” – Hallie Ephron in Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel.

I’ve used this quote before. I repeated it because of something that happened this week. I decided to write a story for the Flash Fiction Chronicles String-of-10-TWO contest. Participants are provided a list of ten words, of which they must use four, and a quotation. The story doesn’t have to have anything to do with the quote, but can. Participants have seven days to submit up to three stories of no more than 250 words each.

I need to add a little backstory here. I belong to an online flash fiction group that provides multiple writing prompts each week. On Sundays, the moderator supplies a list of five words to be used to write a story of either exactly fifty or exactly fifty-five words. You read those numbers correctly. I participate most weeks and have had a number of published stories from this exercise. Here’s a recent one.

So the String-of-Ten contest should be a piece of cake. Right? Ha!

The contest began this past Sunday. I printed out the list of words, the quote, and the rules. I wrote the words and quote on a 3x5 card and carried it around with me. Nothing. The words didn't invoke a single story idea. I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. It wasn’t like this was a new experience. I did it every week! Finally, it dawned on me. The problem was I had a choice. It was easy for me to write a story from a known list of words. It was when I had to decide which ones to use that I stumbled. Interesting.

On Monday, I sat down determined to write a story. I went through the words one more time, chose two that interested me, and began writing. About 270 words later I had a story—sort of—that used five of the prompt words. I edited the text to under 250 words and set it aside. I came back an hour later and reread the tale. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t contest-worthy yet either. Giving it more thought, I decided there was a story to write on the subject, but probably not one I could tell within the required word limit.

So I decided to write a second story and, after 100 words, or so; I determined my idea wasn’t story material. What was the matter? The subject was something that didn’t excite me. It wasn’t something I cared about. It wasn’t a story I could write. Period.

The bottom line is 1) I may have the beginning of a good story, but not one I’m likely to submit to the contest; and 2) I can’t write a story I don’t care about. And I’m okay with both. This isn’t the first story that didn’t pan out, and I came out of the process with something tangible. The prompt did its job. It got me writing.

On Being a Professional

2010-02-08T07:00:00.026-05:00

"Story has no hook / Fell asleep on second page / Please excuse the drool."—Wendy S. Delmater on the Six Questions For... blog.

Something interesting has happened on the Six Questions For. . . blog. I received a couple of personal e-mails from editors thanking me for the posts. In one case, the editor mentioned a particular comment about rejecting a story because the writing was so obtuse the story only made sense to the author (that’s not a direct quote). I expected the site to benefit authors. I didn’t think about how it might also help other editors. In this case, the editor said there were times, after reading a story, when she wondered if SHE was the problem—if she was missing something that made the story complete. Knowing that other editors faced the same dilemma made her feel better about herself.

I’m noticing a number of similarities in the responses from the editors to my SQF interviews. Not reading the guidelines has shown up in more than half the posts so far. Weak character development is another common theme.

What's the point of all this? It's something I've said before. Writers need to read more. Read stories published in the magazines you want to submit to. Read books by publishers you want to pitch your work to. Read the guidelines for a site. Know what an editor is likely to accept before submitting. I know this works. After reading one of the posts on Six Questions For. . ., I wrote a story, submitted it, and the editor accepted it two days later!

Just Write!

2010-02-05T07:00:00.009-05:00

“If you really want to accomplish something huge in a day, you can't start by worrying and planning and mapping. You'll only feel productive and proud of yourself if you actually get a ton of words on the page. So to make sure the day isn't wasted, just begin by beginning.” -- Cynthia in How to Write a Story in a Day.

We’ve all been there. We finally sit down to begin writing and—blank, zip, zilch—brain lock. I’ve had days that I brought an idea for a story with me to my office, only to realize after a few hundred words that my idea wasn’t a story at all. How frustrating.

I’m reading From Where You Dream by Robert Olen Butler. It’s a series of lectures he presented for one of his classes at Florida State transcribed and put into book form. He guestimates he wrote around a million words before he produced anything worth publishing. I doubt I’m anywhere near a million, but I’ve written my share of drivel. I don’t find this disappointing, though. Disappointing would be if I didn’t write.

I have a pile of potential stories waiting for me. Most are in their second or third drafts. One of them I’m anxious to get back to. I need to give the ending more thought before I do, though. Others I’m not. But that’s okay, too. I’m currently: developing a class on flash fiction for the 2010 Muse Online Writers Conference, researching publishers and sending out questionnaires for my Six Questions For. . . blog, and taking a fiction class. I’m writing a short story for the latter, and I’m currently three-fourths of the way through the third revision. So it doesn’t bother me that I’m not working on those other stories. I’ll get to them. The important thing is I’m writing.

Guest Post by Tara L. Masih

2010-02-03T07:00:00.016-05:00

Tara is the editor of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide Flash Fiction. Her short story collection, Where the Dog Star Never Glows, is scheduled for publication in February by Press 53. Thanks, Tara for sharing your thoughts with us.

“It is my rather subversive opinion that a writer’s feelings of anonymity-obscurity are the second most valuable property on loan to him during his waking years.” J. D. Salinger, 1961

When I looked for quotes by Salinger on writing to head this blog entry, I found little in the way of actual quotes from him. The quotes are mainly pulled from his own works. Why did that surprise me?

I can’t help but wonder what Salinger thought of this new technology, of writers taking the Web by promotional storm and getting their thoughts out to hundreds, even millions of fans. Thoughts that may have nothing to do with writing, everything to do with the hopes of gaining more readers and, less selfishly, of connecting. For those of us who don’t have the instinctual talent that he had, coming out of obscurity is not just requested, but demanded by publishers. Many agents and editors will not take on a writer, in fact, if they aren’t willing to meet the public and circulate, both physically and virtually.

In the words of another classic, this is a Catch-22: small press authors are more able to market their books, allowing for literature that may have quickly disappeared to actually flourish for a while. I have the naïve hope that this will slowly bring quality literature to the younger crowd who may buy a book or download an e-version if they’ve connected with a writer on Goodreads or Facebook.

However, this all takes up valuable time. And that is the flip side of promotion and marketing—it robs the author during her or his “waking years” of that time and solitude that’s necessary to create.

There are rumors Salinger continued to write in his Cornish, NH, home, and perhaps we will now find out if there is anything to be published posthumously. But my guess is he’s left strict orders to keep it under wraps.

Salinger didn’t commit suicide or drive himself to an early death like Monroe or Presley, which allowed them to remain perpetual icons. But he committed a form of media suicide, in essence, by cutting himself off from journalists and biographers and interviewers.

I hope his privacy will continue to be respected. In our tell-all society, I’d hate to see his works or letters or journals published now (though I admit I would buy them). Let him remain in his chosen state, and may we always wonder what he believed to be the writer’s first most valuable property. Let the mystery linger on. . . .

Know Thy Market

2010-02-01T07:00:00.016-05:00

“To increase your odds of getting published, remember that a good writer—like a good criminal—needs to be prepared. You must know the market, the genre, an the ins and outs of what makes a mystery short story work.” -- Brendan DuBois in “Clue in to the mystery-story markets.” [The Writer, February 2010]

You all know about my Six Questions For... blog. Right? Of course, you do. Anyway, it surprises me (it probably shouldn't) how many editors complain that writers don't read the guidelines. How stupid. Getting published is difficult enough without showing an editor how much of an amateur you are. This complaint isn't limited to magazines, either. Book publishers and agents have the same problem. The moderator of the Muse Online Writers Conference arranges book pitch sessions for the attendees. She requests basic information about the books and which publishers the author wants to pitch to. Invariably, authors ask to pitch romance books to publishers of children's fiction and vice versa. Come on folks. Stop being so lazy.

Another thing an author needs to do is read previously published material before they submit their work. Go to a book store or library and find books by a publisher of interest. Read stories in print or online magazines. I receive submissions that aren't appropriate for Apollo's Lyre. Reading a few stories should show the author we don't publish erotic stories, or stories that demean women--even if the author attempts to do so in a humorous way.

Writers need to do some homework before submitting their short stories, books, etc. If they don't, they look like amateurs; and their chances of getting published are slim.

The Rewards of Persistence

2010-01-29T07:00:00.005-05:00

“Sometimes it may take many years to get published, but writing is a field that rewards survivors. And if you have talent and continue to learn, and you’re persistent, you’ll earn a measure of success.” -- Ron Hansen in “To Entertain and Educate.” [The Writer, February 2010]

Those of you struggling to publish (finish?) that first novel take heart. This reminds me of another phrase: "slow and steady wins the race." Of course, it's easy to preach this; but difficult to keep it in the forefront of our thoughts. I don't write novels, but there have been some short stories that took forever to finish--or at least it felt that way at the time. I have a couple that still aren't done, and I wonder if I'll ever finish them. Wait! Poor attitude. Of course, I'll finish them. In fact, it's time to grab one from the pile and get to work. Hasta luego, amigos.

Characters and Icebergs

2010-01-28T09:27:00.001-05:00

Characters are icebergs: we readers only see the tips, but you, the author, have to know the whole iceberg. Would you take this character home to meet your mother? What would happen if you did? -- Tarl Roger Kudrick on Six Questions For. . .

I read this statement a few weeks ago when Tarl sent me his responses. It's been stuck in my mind since then. I wonder sometimes how well I know my characters. How about you? Do you know everything there is to know about your characters?

Details, Details. Too Many Details

2010-01-27T07:00:00.007-05:00

“Even a novel that the reader enjoys for its descriptive detail will become tedious if the writer describes everything.”—Bruce Holland Rogers in Ellipsis: What to Leave Out.

Have you ever read a book that you became tired of? I have. I don’t remember which ones they were, but I recall stopping in the middle of a couple of books and putting them away. Recently, two others only held my attention for about fifty pages. Perhaps if I went back and analyzed the stories I’d find writing thick with detail—detail that I didn’t need to know or could figure out on my own.

In my own writing, I pay attention to the details I include. Sometimes I’m unsure of whether the reader needs to know certain things. This is where my writing groups come in. I submit my stories with the parts I’m uncertain about in tact and see how the members react. Some pick up on the details in question and suggest I delete them: and occasionally, no one mentions them. There have been times when I deleted details that no one complained about simply because I remained uncomfortable with them.

One of Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing is “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip." I can’t say I’ve figured out how to do this yet, but I feel I’m getting closer.

Include Actions with Dialog

2010-01-25T07:00:00.014-05:00

“It is important to remember that conversations are more than just words. Both verbal and physical interactions take place between tow or more characters.” Greg Riley in “Get Into Your Character’s Head.” [Writers’ Journal, Jan/Feb 2010]

I reviewed some of my published stories, especially the early ones, before writing this post. I wondered if I interspersed physical interactions with my dialog. I’m happy to report I did. Instead of using said, I included character actions or internal thoughts with the dialog.

Most of the articles about dialog state dialog attributions should be limited to said. I understand this, because some authors get carried away with alternatives; and they get in the way of the story. Adding adverbs doesn’t improve this. When I rewrite a story, if a “said” sticks out to me; I replace it with an action. I "show" the reader through the character's actions that the words were "said sadly." Try this with our writing and see what happens.

Plot is . . .

2010-01-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

“Fiction is the art form of human yearning, no matter how long or short the work of fiction. [text omitted] “Plot, in fact, is yearning challenged and thwarted.” -- Robert Olen Butler in “A Short Short Theory” [Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction, 2009]

Plot is yearning challenged and thwarted. How simple is that? This is something I need to work on in my stories. I get the yearning part in, but I don't always challenge and thwart enough. I make it too easy for my protagonist to resolve the issue presented in the story. Is this being lazy? Or perhaps I don't spend enough time with my stories. Of course, my last few pieces have been under 500 words. It's difficult to challenge and thwart that many times in such a short tale. :)

Tara L. Masih at Six Questions For Blog

2010-01-21T07:00:00.002-05:00

Tara's responses for my Six Questions For . . . blog are up today. If you're writing a book, this is a must read. Here's a sample.

SQF: You edit and proofread manuscripts for a number of publishers. What are the most common mistakes you encounter?

TM: . . . I think the number one problem I see in most manuscripts of all genres is a weak chapter opener. This is often where I have to do the heaviest edits. It seems it’s hard to get into a chapter for most writers, but once they get going, the writing flows better. So I would counsel writers, especially those who are unpublished, to go back and rework their chapter openers to make them as strong as the rest of the chapters. And if you are taking workshops to hone that first chapter or two for submission to agencies, be sure to follow up with workshops to hone the rest of the chapters. Too many first novels have great beginnings that have been workshopped to death, and weaker chapters that follow because they only got a cursory glance.

Read the complete interview here.

Getting Emotional

2010-01-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

“If the decision at the climax doesn’t involve any emotional stakes for the character, it diffuses the tension of the scene and makes for a rather anticlimactic climax.” -- Camy Tang in Troubleshooting a Weak Climax in a Novel.

This is true for any length fiction. If there’s nothing at stake for the protagonist, there’s little for me—as a reader—to care about.

I read a very well written short story this week that held my attention until the end when the main character died. The author did a good job of building the tension and raising the stakes. I rooted for the character to overcome his problem, was invested in him winning the battle, and felt let down when he didn’t. I wondered if the author simply ran out of ideas and took the easy way out. Whatever it was, I felt cheated out of a good story.

I suppose there are stories where the main character dies at the end (I can’t think of one at the moment) and that ending is satisfying, but it takes a special writer to pull it off in a way that the reader realizes the ending is the only possible one given what has happened to that point in the story. So it’s more than the emotional stakes for the protagonist that are important to me as a writer. I have to consider the emotional involvement of the reader also and write a story that satisfies everyone’s needs.

Know Your Characters

2010-01-19T07:00:00.002-05:00

“Once we truly know our characters, we’ll discover our story.” -- John Dufresne, as reported by Chuck Leddy in his review of "Is Life Like This?: A Guide to Writing our First Novel in Six Months." [The Writer, February 2010]

I’ve struggled with a few stories. They just wouldn’t come together. Then I sat down and thought about my character, or had a conversation with her, or tried to put myself in her position, or had another character tell me about her. It wasn’t until I felt I understood how the character would react that the story finally worked. On the other hand, I have a story in my to-be-worked-on pile that I may never finish. I’m having difficulty imagining how this mother would react to the situation I’ve put her in.

Getting Out of the Way

2010-01-18T07:00:00.002-05:00

“You gotta float with the boat.” -- Me :)

My wife was reading some posts on my Six Questions For . . . blog the other day and commented that she was confused by something. I’d changed the questions, and she wondered why. That’s when I made this comment. Later, I realized it was appropriate advice for writers, too.

Sometimes I get stuck on a story simply because I become stubborn about an event, a phrase, or a resolution that other writers don’t think works. I fall in love with whatever it is and won’t let go. Most often, I finally relent and try something else—and of course, the story is better for it.

So if you’re stuck and can’t move forward in what you’re working on, feel free to “float with the boat,” and get out of the way of the story, or scene, or whatever. You’ll be glad you do.

Web site: Guide to Literary Agents

2010-01-15T07:00:00.002-05:00

Guide to Literary Agents: Where to Find the Right Agents to Represent Your Work
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/

This volume from Writer’s Digest Books does exactly what it says. It helps writers locate agents. You may find a copy at your local library if you’re not ready to buy it yet.

But the best part of this site is the blog. Here you will find a series of interviews with agents from various agencies providing background on the agent and the kind of works they are looking for. Click the Editor's Blog icon in the upper left.

Easy Reading

2010-01-14T07:00:00.005-05:00

“Easy reading,” said Nathaniel Hawthorne, “is damned hard writing.”

Boy, ain’t that the truth. It’s too bad when an author gets in the way of a good story. You know what I mean. I get it with some of the submissions I receive. The story gets bogged down because the author tries too hard. The wording gets dense, or the message gets garbled because the author adds too many elements. Instead of telling a story, the author tries to show off his writing abilities. Unfortunately, this usually backfires. The next time you find a piece that’s easy to read, look closely at the parts you like best to see if you can figure out why. I bet you'll find simple, clear writing.

Take Your MC for a Walk

2010-01-13T07:00:00.003-05:00

“Take a walk in your neighborhood (or a local, unfamiliar one), but view everything as you would for a foreign-travel journal, recording your impressions.” Arthur Plotnik in “Take a productive break from writing.” [The Writer, February 2010]

Another option would be to take a walk as the protagonist in your current WIP. I’ve never tried this, but it sounds like an interesting idea. I imagine at first I would see things through my own eyes, but, hopefully, the character’s viewpoint would take over at some point. I could also look at the same place (perhaps on different days) from the eyes of: an eight year old boy, a seventy-three year old woman, a Christian, an atheist, a dog, etc. You get the idea. Take a walk. Stretch your imagination. And don’t forget to take along something to capture your thoughts.

A Good Rejection

2010-01-12T07:00:00.003-05:00

“Easy reading,” said Nathaniel Hawthorne, “is damned hard writing.”

Today’s post doesn’t have anything to do with the quote. I received an interesting rejection last week. Interesting rejection? Isn’t that an oxymoron? I digress. :)

The editor rejected the story because of the language. Yes, it uses the f-bomb and a few other words that some would find objectionable. Reading between the lines, the editor liked the story and was almost apologetic about rejecting it—and asked me to submit something else—but thought there might be some issues with Internet filters and such. I gather many of her visitors read the short-shorts at work.

What I found interesting in the editor’s comments was that she didn’t ask me to submit a PG version. Perhaps, like me, she realized the language was appropriate for the character.

I wondered when I submitted the story if the R-rated language might be a problem. I wrote a PG version before I submitted it, but the words sounded strange coming out of my character. He was the kind of guy whose vocabulary would be full of four-letter words.

I’ve submitted the piece elsewhere, to a journal whose stories use similar language. I haven’t heard back from them yet.

Agents and the Novice Writer

2010-01-11T07:00:00.017-05:00

“Just as in every other profession, you need to show your potential employers (agents and publishers) that you know what you're doing and that you're good at it—BEFORE they'll take a chance on you.” -- Rob Pernell in To Have and Agent or Not to Have an Agent—That is the Question.

In this article, Mr. Pernell states that having an agent rarely helps a novice writer, and many publishers won’t deal with unagented authors. Why? Because they don’t know if the author is serious about being an writer. It takes time and money to finalize and promote a book—things agents and publishers won’t waste on untested talent. So does the novice author give up? No, says Mr. Parnell.

To show you’re serious about writing, there are other things you can do. Write short stories and get them published. Enter contests. Again, the best option may be in the areas of short stories and memoirs. Novel competitions are a possibility, but they’re going to be full of entries from MFA graduates who have received “power” critiques from professors and peers of their work. Submit an excerpt from your novel for publication, again a highly competitive option. Research and write non-fiction articles about writing techniques. Start a blog, one that is professional and attracts lots of followers. Once published in these areas, you can provide a resume that says to an agent/publisher that you are a serious writer who is in it for the long run.

So don’t pooh pooh other forms of writing because “I want to be a novelist.” Everything you write will lead you to your eventual goal—a book with your name on the cover flying off the shelves at Barnes & Noble.

Web site: Writers' Groups Near You

2010-01-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

Writers' Groups Near You

Looking for an in-person writing group? Big Hat Press provides quite a list organized by state. It's not comprehensive, but I found a few local sites that led to other sites, that led to other sites . . .

The Next Great Novel

2010-01-07T07:00:00.003-05:00

“Everyone would like to be the next overnight discovery with a first novel, but success is far more likely to come over a long period of time from a determined, plodding author who hung in there long enough to find his or her true genre . . .” Linda Lehmann Masek in “Pathway to Agents and Eventual Publication.” [Writers’ Journal, Jan/Feb 2010]

How many times have you read a post in an online forum from a novice writer claiming to have written a first novel that is a blockbuster? Too many, right? How many revisions do you think the author’s completed? That many? :)

Like many authors, I have a novel tucked away in a desk drawer (actually, two!) that was an early attempt at writing fiction. I doubt I’ll ever work on it again. I know more about writing now and realize how flawed the plot is. It may be salvageable, but I don’t have the passion for the story any longer. The second one was a more recent effort that I might give another try. The main character and his sidekick are useable characters, but they need new backgrounds. They’re both police detectives at the moment, and for the story to work, I’d need to do a lot of research on police procedures. It would be less work to make them outsiders who somehow get tangled up in the crime—not that I know just how at this point. But that’s the fun of writing for me. I love to explore with my characters how a story unfolds. As you can guess, I don’t outline a complete plot prior to beginning a project. Sometimes I have an idea of how I want a story to end, but I don’t have a clue how I’m going to get there. I always wonder if this is a good way to proceed.

I completed a novelette that I gave to family and friends as a Christmas present. The idea for it came from a short-short story that I failed to get published. It ended up as chapter four. I didn’t know which chapter it would be when I started. I simply wrote my way logically to that point in time. It turned out to be the easy part of the project. Perhaps that was because I had a known goal to reach. I guess I just made a good argument for outlining and knowing an end point.

The First Chapter

2010-01-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

“The first chapter must open with a bang, hit the ground running, take no prisoners, grab 'em by the throat, leave 'em begging for mercy yet praying for more.” -- Elizabeth Guy in Five Ways to Create an Irresistible First Chapter.

It's the beginning of a new year, so I suppose it’s appropriate to find multiple posts from other writers about beginnings. In this article, Ms. Guy’s list includes drop in a conversation, defy your fictional world, reveal a unique motivation, block a bodily function, and set a time limit as important elements in building a first chapter that will captivate readers. Click on the article link above to read more about what the author has to say on each topic.

On Beginnings

2010-01-05T07:00:00.002-05:00

“Without a powerful beginning, readers don’t have the patience to continue several pages or chapters to find what the book is about.” -- Lea Schizas in What’s Your Hook.

I received a set of responses this morning for my Six Questions For . . . project. One sentence stuck out for me. The editor commented that the first sentence in a story is the most important sentence the author will write. That’s so true. I agonize over my first sentences during rewrites. I know if I don’t capture readers at the beginning there’s little chance they’ll read all the way to the end. But the author’s work doesn’t stop there. I read many stories that I don’t finish. Why? They get bogged down in details that seem unimportant, and I lose interest. Writing a kick-ass beginning is only the first skirmish in the battle between author and reader.

The Unreliable Narrator

2010-01-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

“The common idea is that there is a contrast between reliable narration (third-person omniscience) and unreliable narration (the unreliable first-person, who knows less about himself than the reader eventually does).” -- James Wood in How Fiction Works.

This is the first time someone explains the concept of the unreliable narrator in terms I understand. I interpret this as characters whose actions are contrary to their words. If I go back and reread some of my stories, I may find characters that meet this requirement. Can I claim to have created an unreliable narrator if I didn’t know I was doing it at the time?

Then I wonder if I tried to create such a character if I’d be successful. For the narrator to be real, his actions and words have to come out of who he is, not the author’s idea of who the character should be. Does that make sense? Mr. Wood mentions Humbert Humbert (Lolita) as an example of an unreliable first person narrator. I wonder if Nabakov began writing the character this way, or if Humbert’s unreliableness developed as the character evolved -- either on paper or in the author’s head before he began writing the story.

One Last Time for 2009

2009-12-31T14:10:00.003-05:00

"It's Like Driving a Car" is the last story up at Dew on the Kudzu for 2009. Shouldn't I win a prize? :)

http://todaysdeepsouth.blogspot.com/2009/12/its-like-driving-car.html

Happy New Year everyone.

New Story: "He Had It Coming"

2009-12-31T07:00:00.002-05:00

This story went online yesterday (12/30) at Powder Burn Flash.

http://www.powderburnflash.com/?q=node/381

January @ Six Questions For . . .

2009-12-30T07:00:00.002-05:00

Below is the schedule of postings for January 2010 on Six Questions For . . . There are some helpful insights provided this month. I’m certain you’ll enjoy the responses.

1/4 -- Six Questions for Jason Jordan, Editor-in-Chief, decomP
1/7 -- Six Questions for Jennifer Dawson, Editor-in-Chief, Flash Me Magazine
1/11 -- Six Questions for Laurie Sanders, Acquisitions Editor, Black Velvet Seductions
1/14 -- Six Questions for Dianne Kochenburg, Editor, Clever Magazine
1/18 -- Six Questions for Robin Stratton, Editor-in-Chief, Boston Literary Magazine
1/21 -- Six Questions for Tara L. Masih, author, instructor, and editor of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction
1/25 -- Six Questions for Brad Nelson, Editor, Eclectic Flash
1/28 -- Six Questions for Tarl Roger Kudrick, Publisher and Co-editor, On The Premises

http://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/

Em dash vs Ellipsis

2009-12-29T07:00:00.004-05:00

“Interruption can add needed conflict to a scene; many authors have an intuitive sense of this. Your character is in a cozy restaurant booth with her beloved, wrapped up in the moment, leaning forward to hear words he can only manage to whisper. Tension is building toward that question that will change her life forever—” -- Kathryn Craft in "Dialogue Interruptus."

I receive many submissions where the author misuses the em dash (—) and/or ellipsis (. . .). In her post at the Blood Red Pencil, Ms. Craft explains when each should be used and provides good advice on how and when to interrupt dialog to increase tension. Instead of rewriting her thoughts, I’ll send you over there to read them for yourself.

Click here.

Make Characters Distinctive

2009-12-28T07:00:00.009-05:00

“. . .while most transient characters deserve no more than a quick mention, we may want to endow some of them with a distinctive trait or two to create and enduring visual impact.” Thomas C. Renzi in “What a ‘Character’.” [The Writer, January 2010]

Since I write short-short stories, I don’t include many minor characters. When I do, I give some thought as to why they’re in the story and whether I can make them real using just a few words. Sometimes I decide they’re not needed. Once a minor character became the main character by the time I was done revising the story.

I received a submission this week that I’m going to reject because there are too many characters for a story of 900 words. I found it difficult to keep them straight. I’ll have to read it again to see if part of the problem is that many of them have no distinctive characteristics to make them stand out in my mind.

Developing Characters

2009-12-23T07:00:00.009-05:00

“If you try to design a character to be successful, you will fail. The harder you try, the worse it gets.” -- Lee Child in “Lee Child Crafts a Rootless Hero Who Resonates.”(Interview) [The Writer, January 2010]

I’ve found this to be true, especially when writing a character for the first time. I have a recurring, redneck character named Morgan, who went through a few transformations before I finally found him. The more characteristics I gave him, the more cliched he became; and some of the things about his character didn’t ring true. So I got rid of them. He’s a lot simpler now. Complexity doesn’t fit Morgan’s personality, but he’s not one-dimensional either.

Some writers suggest you think about a character -- live with him or her for a while -- before you start writing. I have a few sample character charts meant for this purpose. I don’t use them unless I find I’m stuck on a character. Maybe if I took the time to fill them out, I wouldn’t get stuck. :) I used the charts for a longer story I wrote to help me keep track of the physical descriptions of the characters and their relationships. I found it helpful. I can’t imagine writing a novel without having a chart to refer to. I would certainly forget some aspect of a character I wrote about on page 20 by the time I reached page 200. I have trouble remembering from one short story to the next exactly what a recurring character did or what he looked like. Now that I’ve written that, I guess I should go back and create a chart for my buddy Morgan. :)

How do you keep track of your characters?

I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a writerly New Year.

Fear and Rejection Revisited

2009-12-21T07:00:00.027-05:00

“The best that any of us can hope to do with our writing is to present to the reader a piece of the world, and to do so with honesty and clarity and gratitude.” -- Randall Silvis “Write to Connect With Readers.” [The Writer, January 2010]

I want to revisit Friday’s post about failure; mostly because the more I thought about what I wrote, the more I realized it wasn't one of my better ones.

I began my working career teaching in an elementary school. The students were active -- yes, some a bit too active -- and eager to learn and please. Later I moved to a middle/high school. The middle school students were, well, middle schoolers. The eagerness remained with some. Others were lost already. By high school, the willingness to try new things was not appreciated by many of the students, at least that was my experience. One of the worst things I did one year was to offer my high schoolers an option. One looked at me and said, “You’re supposed to tell us what to do.” Sad. I taught a college course, as an adjunct professor, and a few adult education courses. The students might as well have been trees. They were alive and breathing and willing to bend with the prevailing breeze; but unless I asked questions, or made them participate in class activities, the only voice heard was mine. Why? There were afraid to say something wrong. When someone did participate, I did my best to provide a positive spin to their comments; even if they were, ummm, wrong. For most, the easiest way to avoid negative feedback -- and possible humiliation -- was to remain silent.

This is where the fear comes in for writers. We hesitate submitting stories for critique for fear that the wonderful tale we worked on for weeks or months won’t be received well. We hesitate submitting a story for publication because we fear rejection. The level of fear is proportionate to our length of time as writers and our success level to date. Like the elementary school students, the novice writer has little fear about putting a story out for others to read. As the critiques come back with perceived negative comments, or as the rejections pile up after a story or novel is submitted, our willingness to submit, or even write, wanes.

Writing is hard work. Having our efforts rejected is even harder. Maybe we need to have the mentality of the long-distance runner. Most of the ones I know don’t have a goal to win the race. Instead, they set a time for themselves to meet or beat. They don’t always succeed, but they keep trying. That’s the attitude writers need. Set a goal and work toward it. If we don’t succeed the first time, set a new goal and try again -- and again, and again, and again. Develop a positive attitude toward rejection and shrug off fear and apprehension when they edge their way into our consciousnesses. Don't hesitate to begin a new story, or to write just for the fun of it. For if we don't push ourselves to continue, we may turn into trees.

Coming up on Six Questions For . . .

2009-12-20T15:06:00.001-05:00

Monday, 12/21 -- Six Questions for Idgie, Editor/Owner, Dew on the Kudzu

Monday, 12/28 -- Six Questions for Stephanie Lenz, Founding Editor, Toasted Cheese

http://sixquestionsfor.blogspot.com/

Apollo's Lyre December Issue

2009-12-20T15:02:00.000-05:00

The December issue of Apollo's Lyre is now online. In it you will find stories by Kyle Hemmings, James C. Clar, Robert Scotellaro, Ginny Wagner, Jay DiNitto, and others. The poetry in this issue comes from Dr. Piatt and Rave Drake, and Earl Staggs continues his Write Tight column with "Is There Blood on It?" New to this issue is the first in a series of articles by Charles Mossop on world building. The issue is available for reading here.

Writer's Block, Bah Humbug!

2009-12-18T13:48:00.001-05:00

“Start the restoration period by recognizing that being unable to write is primarily a state of mind. Fear is the basis for this state of mind, fear that the writer cannot write anything worth publishing.” -- Peggy Simson Curry in “How to Get out of a Creative Rut.” [reprinted in The Writer, January 2010]

There were a number of blog posts and forum discussions about writer’s block this week. Maybe it’s the weather. The area where I live went four days with no sun and cool temperatures. Maybe it’s pre-holiday blues. Regardless of the cause, Ms. Curry is right. A writer’s state of mind has a lot to do with being unable to write. One of my favorite quotes (I used it earlier in the year) is “If you think you can’t, you’re right,” attributed to both Henry Ford and Mary Kay Ash (of the cosmetics firm). It's difficult to remain positive when the words aren't flowing onto the screen, but we must. I find taking a walk helps, or better, having a piece of cake or a bowl of ice cream -- anything to take my mind of writing for a brief period.

Fear of failure is also something to consider. As a writer, I need more than positive thinking to break a block. I need to be willing to fail, to write utter crap and feel good about it. I once spent twenty minutes writing about why I couldn't write. I didn’t pay any attention to what I wrote. The result was gibberish that was of no use to anyone, including me. However, it did get me writing again.

I blame this fear of failure on our education system. Failing is something that we’re taught is not acceptable. How often does someone get a pat on the back for missing the game winning basket? At least the person was brave enough to try. Shouldn't that count? Getting a D, or worse an F, on an assignment is something to be ashamed of. Why? I taught for a few years and wondered when a student received a low grade how much of it was my fault. Had I not been clear in my lectures? Yes, there are times a student simply doesn’t put in the effort, but is that always the case?

I’m rambling here. Sorry. My point is as writers we must think good thoughts, push the fear of failure to the side as much as we can, and put words to paper with the knowledge that eventually we will write something of interest to others, Or better yet, pen a piece that wins first prize in that contest we’ve entered every year forever.

It’s That Time Of Year

2009-12-16T07:00:00.004-05:00

No, not when you realize you’re behind in your holiday shopping. Nor when you slap the heal of your palm to your forehead because you forgot to make your daughter’s costume for the school play, and you leave an ugly red spot that reminds you of the time you had three too many beers and walked into the closed door at that party your mother told you you couldn’t attend. Nope. It’s time to start thinking about your writing goals for the coming year.

You do set goals, right?

According to everything I’ve read, for goals to be effective they must meet three criteria. They must be measurable, meaningful, and attainable.

A good goal for me is “to write two short stories each month.” It’s easily measured. It has meaning and is attainable. A bad goal is “to become a better writer.” How does one measure that? A better way to reach this goal is to set a series of goals that, if completed, will make one a better writer; such as “reading three articles or one book on writing each month,” or “completing two writing courses during the year,” or “write four days a week for a minimum of thirty minutes each day.” These goals are measurable, meaningful, attainable, and should make one a better writer, if accomplished.

One of my goals for last year was to write and submit to my critique group one to two flash stories per month. This is a goal that fits the criteria. Checking the chart I use to track my work with the group, I submitted at least one story every month, except March. I don’t count this as a failure, however, since I submitted three stories in January, four in February, and three in April.

Another goal was to critique one to two stories submitted to the group each week (four critiques are required each month to remain in the group). I accomplished this goal. On the other hand, I was remiss in my goal to read two to three published stories each week. I’m not going to list the rest of my goals for the year. I will say I had seven; and I met them all, but the one noted. {Pat myself on back}

An additional criteria might be that the goal must be realistic. “Write every day” is an example. What if I find that impossible to do? Does such a goal help me, or does it hinder my progress as a writer if I spend more time obsessing over not writing than I do with my butt in the chair pounding out a series of words. Setting a word goal for each session might be a good idea for some. Others may be more comfortable with a time limit. Goals need to motivate writers and help keep them on track. If a writer finds he is unable to meet a goal, maybe it’s a poor goal for the circumstance. The writer may be better off reevaluating the goal and changing it to something that is attainable. Otherwise, he may find himself giving up on writing altogether.

So, as 2009 comes to an end, think about what your writing goals should be for next year. You don’t need to overdo it. Mine fit on a 3x5 index card. Just remember that for you to meet your goals they must be measurable, meaningful, attainable -- and realistic.

Here are three articles on setting writing goals that you might find helpful.

Setting Effective Writing Goals by Moira Allen
How to Get There from Here: The Magic of Goals by Holly Lisle
Setting Your Writing Goals by Sharon Hurley Hall

This Week on the Six Questions For . . . Blog

2009-12-14T06:00:00.003-05:00

Monday -- Six Questions For Kimberly Brown, Flash Editor, Apollo's Lyre.

Thursday -- Six Questions For Diane Smith, Editor, Grey Sparrow Journal.

Connect to the blog here.

If you stop by, consider leaving a comment for the editor. I'm sure it will be appreciated, and the name recognition won't hurt if you submit to the publication in the future.

Website: AuthorsAccess.com

2009-12-11T15:01:00.000-05:00

Website: AuthorsAccess.com

Authors Access is an Internet radio show providing author interviews and advice for writers. Topics of upcoming broadcasts include: Podcasting for authors; Twitter, Tweeting, and Re-tweeting: Twitter Book Marketing; Six Rules that Will Kick-Start Your Book Website in Full Gear; Success as a Full-time Freelancer, and more. Podcasts are archived and can be listened to at any time. Archived podcasts include: Legal Issues of Self-Publishing, Elements of Great Storytelling, Kickstart Your Memoir!, Action Steps to a Successful Proposal, Don’t Murder Your Mystery, and Romancing the Book -- Writing and Marketing the Romance Genre.

How Important Is a Word Count Goal?

2009-12-09T05:00:00.020-05:00

“Watching a good plot unfold is like watching a long line of dominos cascading down, each piece falling inevitably into the next and forming an unexpected pattern.” -- Lois Gilbert in How to Design an Irresistible Plot.

Today is a first (okay, maybe a second). I’m not going to comment on the posted quote. Why? Because I don’t want to. :)

Actually, I read something yesterday that stuck with me, but I can’t remember where I read it. The writer discussed her experience with NaNoWriMo. She wondered if she’d “won," because she wrote the required number of words, but across three novels. In the end, she did get to the 50K in one work and counted it as a win.

This made me think about writing to a word count. Yes, if you want to publish a book, you need to get the first draft done before anything can happen. In this regard, forcing oneself to write 600, or 1000, or 1500 words every day gets the writer to the desired goal as quickly as possible. But which is more important, writing 1000 lousy words or 100 good ones? I don’t know the answer. Here’s another question. Does it put too much pressure on a writer, especially one who doesn’t write for a living, to think he has to write X number of words every day? Can’t he feel just as good about crafting those 100 great words?

How do you count a rewrite? I spent nearly two hours rewriting a 500-word story this afternoon. I don’t know how many new words I wrote. I doubt it was very many, but the story is much better than it was when I started. I count that as a full day of writing, even though the word count wasn’t much.

How do you schedule your writing? Do you write every day? Do you write to a specific word count? Or do you attempt to write for a certain length of time? Do you get upset with yourself if you don't write every day, or meet a word or time goal? And if you get upset, how does that affect your writing and what does it say about your goals?

This Week on the Six Questions For . . . Blog

2009-12-07T04:30:00.002-05:00

Monday -- Six Questions for Don Webb, Managing Editor, Bewildering Stories

Thursday -- Six Questions for Barry Basden, Editor, Camroc Press Review.

Don and his staff, and Barry offer excellent tips, no matter the kind of writing you do.

Read the posts here.

Verbs are Where the Action Is

2009-12-04T04:00:00.007-05:00

“Remember that adverbs are a sign that you’ve used the wrong verb.” -- Alexander Chee in Annie Dillard and the Writing Life, quoting Annie Dillard.

I love this statement. I read stories frequently from authors in lust with adverbs. They like the way they sound, they tell me. These folks don’t realize how dense adverbs make prose and how much they slow the reader down. My thesaurus is falling apart because I spend a lot of time with it finding the correct verb to express the action happening in just one sentence. Earlier in the article, the author provides this quote.

"All of the action on the page, everything that happens, happens in the verbs."

He also mentions an exercise where, after finishing a draft of a story, the author circles all the verbs, then counts them. The object is to increase the number of verbs in the next rewrite. I’ve never tried this. I’ll have to sometime.

One of my favorite exercises is to underline all the verbs to point out errors in tense and the use of passive verbs. I may also underline adverbs and forms of “to be” to see if I’ve overused either. I don’t include adverbs if I can help it in my writing -- there are times when they make sense, I think -- so I don’t find many. Variations on “to be” is another thing. I overuse “was” in first drafts. It’s an easy word to use -- and type. It’s a word that doesn’t require any brain power to use. The brain power occurs when attempting to replace it with a better verb.

I’ve never checked, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find I've never written a story without using some form of “to be.” Perhaps that should one of my writing goals for 2010.

If you read nothing else this week, read this article -- and share it with your writing friends.

Web site: Rights: What They Mean and Why They're Important

2009-12-02T08:57:00.000-05:00

Web site: Rights: What They Mean and Why They're Important

Do you understand what the terms first rights, one-time rights, or exclusive vs non-exclusive rights mean? Me either. This question was posed in one of my writing groups. I thought I'd share with you what I found.

Six Questions For. . . is LIVE!

2009-12-01T07:00:00.005-05:00

Six Questions for Nathaniel Tower, Founder and Editor, Bartleby Snopes in now up at the Six Questions For blog.

First Impressions Matter

2009-11-30T07:00:00.018-05:00

“It is often said that we never get a second chance to make a first impression. This holds true in our writing. We may be witty, charming, and absolutely delightful company, but our readers don’t know that. They judge us by what we share with them—our written words. Have they been professionally polished to perfection?” --Linda Lane in What Makes a Book Marketable? #2.

As an editor, I’ve rejected stories because they contained too many grammatical errors or unresolved plot issues. The sloppy writing and poor editing turned me off to what might have been an interesting story. For me, poor grammar is a sign of an amateur writer. As for aspects of plotting, Chekov once said, “If a gun is loaded in Act One, it must be fired by Act Three.” An author can’t simply introduce Aunt Tilly at the beginning of chapter two and then ignore her for the rest of the scene. There must be a reason for her to in the book. If there isn’t, leave her out.

Even well-known writers fall into the trap of poor editing. I remember reading a book in a highly-regarded series of detective novels where the main character parks her car outside the murder’s home and leaves the keys in the ignition in case the guy comes home and she needs to get away fast. A few pages later, she’s trapped in the cellar and uses her car keys to loosen the hasps on the locked door leading to the backyard. Oops. I guess the author forgot to mention the MC carries two sets of keys. I haven’t read any more of the novels in the series.

In another novel -- again, part of a series -- the antagonist shoots a revolver just to experience what happens when the gun goes off. Later in the book, he points the gun at someone and hesitates as he wonders to himself what will happen when he pulls the trigger. Huh? Was it his twin who shot the gun earlier?

Careful editing is a must. Writers shouldn’t rely simply on their own editing skills -- or worse, relatives or close friends. They’re too close to their stories to find some mistakes. A scene that makes sense to the author may be a mystery to the reader because the author forgets to share something he knows that is pertinent with the reader. The same goes for grammatical errors. Often, the writer is simply too close to the prose to recognize these mistakes.

Here's another example of the importance of writing groups. I belong to three and find each one helpful in polishing my stories.

Using Sentence Length to Your Advantage

2009-11-27T07:00:00.017-05:00

“Another way to speed your pace is to use shorter sentences. When your characters approach danger or are fleeing from it, use short sentences to speed the pace and mimic the quickened heartbeat.” -- Elizabeth Lyon in “Apply a book doctor’s eye to your own fiction.” [The Writer, December 2009]

Sentence length is something I’ve learned to pay attention to when revising a story. I also analyze sections of stories and novels that I enjoy to see how the author uses sentence length to achieve the resultant effect. Some stories I’ve read use nothing but short sentences. This doesn’t give the reader time to take a breath. Writing only in long sentences can have the same effect on the reader. In the case of short sentences, the reader feels compelled to keep reading as the suspense builds. When reading one long sentence after another, the reader is provided few opportunities to take a break. I’ve read a couple of flash stories that were written as one long sentence. I found it difficult to stay interested through the entire piece. Finding the right balance between long and short sentences is an important part of the writing process. I find the best way to determine what works for a particular story is to read it out loud a few times.