Writers in the Storm

Densie Webb

I recently read a blog post titled something to the effect “You Don’t Need Support to Write.” I couldn’t disagree more. Writing in a vacuum, without someone to give you honest feedback, occasionally shake their pompoms in your face or send you emails with lots of exclamation points congratulating you on your latest achievements, is somehow less satisfying. It’s certainly less motivating. For me, anyway. However, the support may not come from the sources you expect.

Book dedications and acknowledgements often laud husbands or wives for their undying support and belief in the author’s talent and future as a writer. Other times it’s dedicated to parents or children who inspired the author to write.

My debut novel was released last month, and my support system included none of those. My parents are gone, so that’s out. I have a husband and I have kids, but here’s the deal: I write and edit for a living, but my husband doesn’t understand my need to write outside of my day job, with no guarantee of money landing in the bank. I feared he would burst my enthusiasm-filled writing balloon, so I decided early on to leave him out of the loop. My novel is out and he doesn’t have a clue.

Okay I see eyebrows raising, mouths agape.

You’re not alone. I was at the Writers Unboxed Unconference in Salem, MA in November and someone asked me what my husband thought of my impending book release. Was he excited for me? Proud? When I told her he didn’t know, she looked at me as if I had told her he beat me daily. She was feeling sorry for me, but she looked so aghast I think I felt worse for her.

I was recently at an author’s reading in Austin, Texas. Her husband attended and clapped the loudest. He even let out a “whoop” at one point. I’d be lying if I said my heart didn’t ache with envy just a wee bit. But I know I made the right decision to keep my “other life,” my writing life, to myself.

I tried for over a year to get my 19-year old daughter to read one of my many drafts, but she always found an excuse. At first I was disappointed and hurt, but I came to the conclusion that she was afraid she wouldn’t like it. She’s a terrible liar and she didn’t want to hurt my feelings if it was a thumbs down. My book with its romantic story line wouldn't remotely interest my son. I didn’t even ask.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not a pity party. I found an awesome support system in my local critique groups, close friends and online writers’ tribes like WriterUnboxed, Women’s Fiction Writers Association and SheWrites. They all offered advice and counsel and/or read countless drafts that helped me become a published author.

No, I’m not complaining. At all. This is me urging you to find your own support system, even if it’s not the one you wanted or expected. Here’s my take on where you can turn to for support, colored by my own experience.

Family

If you’re comfortable bringing your family into the fold, just know that any feedback or encouragement you receive may be colored by their love for you and concern for your feelings. Take whatever they say with the proverbial grain of salt. On the other hand, if you think they’ll offer up only nagging questions “When are you going to finish that book?” or discouragement “You’re not getting paid?” keep your writing endeavors to yourself as long as possible. Trust me on this one.

Friends

Your BFF may be more honest, especially if he or she is a writer or editor. But don’t let negative comments get in the way of friendships. It’s not worth it. Harsh feedback from your family may rankle you, but they’re still your family. Friendships can end over negative feedback of your (or their) writing. Before asking for feedback, be honest with yourself—are you expecting an honest critique or simply praise and kudos from a good friend?

Online Critiquers

All I can say about this option is “caveat emptor.” There are several online critiquing websites you can try. Some are writing organizations that offer critique matching in a 1 to 1 exchange. Others use a "credit system" that require you to critique others’ work before you earn the right to submit your own.

Here are some resources that worked well for me - I hope you'll add your own finds down in the comments. If you need even more resources, here's a great post by Cathy Yardley at The Write Life.

Critique Matching

• Women's Fiction Writers Association: their critique group program
• Writer Unboxed: there is critique matching via their private Facebook group
• SheWrites: http://www.shewrites.com/page/getting-started-2

Critiques with Credits

• Critique Circle: www.critiquecircle.com
• Faith Writers: http://www.faithwriters.com/critique-circle.php
• Critique.org: http://www.critique.org/

I’ve been burned twice. Once I spent hours editing, making comments on a full manuscript, expecting the same in return, but received almost nothing back. Another exchange ended with a note from the author that she couldn’t wait for me to get back to her. She had self-published, but didn’t tell me until after I had sent back the critiqued 300+page document. Advice: Try to know a bit about who’s on the other end and if they’re only interested in receiving feedback, not giving it.

Local Critique Groups

If you live in mid-size to large city, this is likely an option. You can typically attend a meeting or two to decide if the group is right for you and if you’re getting the kind of feedback and support you need. Meetup.com is a good source for local groups of all kinds. You can find groups for mystery writers, sci-fi writers, women writers, screenwriters and pretty much everything in between. Attending is often free or with a minimal fee.

If you can’t find what you want, you can organize your own group. Just know that it will be open to everyone and that it’s often a revolving door of attendees.

The Bottom Line

Don’t let disinterest, a lack of understanding or enthusiasm from those you care about bring you down or influence your desire/need to write. Be cautious and informed before entering into a give-and-take critiquing relationship, so that you don’t end up being the only one who’s giving.

I found and developed my own support system through trial and error—dear friends willing to give me honest feedback, my critique groups, and my online tribes who were genuinely thrilled for me when my book was published. Depend on each other - it's writing friends who help you get through. And here’s a heads up, guys: I’ll be leaning on you again for novel #2.

Some other posts at WITS that might help:

• 10 Power Tips for Building a Great Critique Group
• Critique Groups: How To Find Your Dream Team
• Critique Groups: Prepare for Change
• How To Build Your Writing Team

Do you belong to a critique group? How did you find them? What organization or group has helped you the most in your writing journey?

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About Densie

Densie Webb has spent a long career as a freelance nonfiction writer and editor, specializing in health and nutrition, and has published several books and tons of articles on the topic over the years. She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association and SheWrites. Soul Mate Publishing released her debut novel titled, “You’ll Be Thinking of Me,” as an ebook in January. The audiobook and paperback will be released later this year.

Densie grew up in Louisiana, spent 13 years in New York, and settled in Austin, TX, where it’s summer nine months out of the year.  She is an avid walker (not of the dead variety, though she loves anything to do with zombies, vampires or post-apocalyptic worlds), drinks too much coffee and has a small “devil dog” that keeps her on her toes.

Hands photo credit: we are the world via photopin (license)

Susan Spann

As a publishing lawyer, I often get asked about copyright in scenes and settings, and how the law of infringement applies when stories are set in similar locations.

Like many other copyright questions, the answer depends on a number of factors. However, unlike many legal questions, the guidelines are straightforward and fairly easy to analyze.

The key to understanding how copyright (and infringement) relates to settings is remembering that copyright law protects an author’s unique expression, but does not protect either facts or the “building blocks” of expression.

A setting which is unique, or created entirely by the author, receives far more protection than one which is based on historical events or real places…but that’s not the end of the story. There’s a spectrum of creativity, and a setting (like a character or other elements of an author’s work) receives increasing protection as the author and the description moves along it.

Let’s take a closer look.

Copyright Law Does Not Protect Historical (or other) Facts.

If you write a historical novel based on the explosion of the Hindenburg, you can’t prevent other authors from using that topic. You cannot prevent them from using the Hindenburg as a setting, and you can’t claim infringement if the real historical figures who appear in your novel also appear in another author’s work.

Copyright Does Give (Limited) Protection to Unique Expressions of Historical Events.

You can protect the unique, creative way in which you describe and express the historical events, but the closer your expression comes to duplicating historical facts, the thinner the protection you receive. If your novel includes the actual newspaper headlines that appeared on the day the Hindenburg exploded, you can’t stop another author from using them also. However, if you create a fictitious newspaper for your novel, and write a fictitious headline, you can prevent other authors from using that portion of your work.

Fictitious Locations Based on Genuine Ones Receive More Copyright Protection Than Real-World Locations.

The layout, construction, and other facts relating to real world locations qualify as “facts” for which copyright protection is unavailable. If you set your novel in and around the Empire State Building, and use accurate descriptions of the location, you can’t prevent other authors from using that location (and describing it) also. You can prevent outright copying…unless the part of your work that’s copied is merely a fact (for example, the number of windows in the Empire State Building which face south, or the number that catch the sun at 4pm on a January afternoon).

However, the level of protection increases if you use a fictitious building based on—but different from—a real one. A good example of this is Nakatomi Plaza, the building which serves as the setting for the movie Die Hard. Nakatomi Plaza isn’t a real place, but the building the director used to represent it is real—it’s called Fox Plaza, and it’s located in Century City, California. By fictionalizing the building, the scriptwriters allowed themselves not only more leniency in “constructing” sets, but also ensured that no one could legally “lift” those descriptions and sets for use in another work.

Completely Fictitious Locations Receive the Highest Level of Copyright Protection.

J.K. Rowling’s wizard academy, Hogwarts, is located “in a castle” somewhere in England. Readers will notice that Rowling didn’t name the castle or its exact location, enabling her to construct a completely fictitious setting which would receive the highest possible level of copyright protection. It doesn’t matter whether or not she used a real-world castle to inspire Hogwarts, or even if she used some parts of that castle as the basis for Hogwarts’ rooms. By making Hogwarts a completely fictitious place, she ensured that it belonged to Harry Potter’s world—her world—alone. If you copy anything from Hogwarts (aside from the “basic building blocks” – for example, and no pun intended, the fact that the castle is made of stone), you’re probably infringing her copyright.

What is a “Basic Building Block” of Expression?

The answer is as simple as sandwich cookies and Oreos. The idea that a baker could take two cookies and put a filling between them, thereby creating some kind of “cookie sandwich,” is a basic building block of expression—a generic concept. Anyone can make a sandwich cookie, using any kind of cookie and any filling the creator desires. However, if you use a particular recipe of chocolate cookie, with designs on one side, and you fill it with a specific mixture of white, sugary filling, and if you have the courage to stamp the word “Oreo” on the side…you’ve copied enough of something that belongs to someone else that you’re probably going to get sued. In the baking world, the lawsuit would be for trademark infringement. If you duplicate an author’s wordsmithed Oreo, the result is copyright infringement.

The basic building blocks of expression are generic concepts, settings, and character archetypes: the whodunit mystery, the subway, and the cop.

The farther an author strays from those basic, generic archetypes, the higher the level of copyright protection his or her creation will receive.

Any author can write about “a cop” or use a policeman as a character. An ex-cop who has become a butcher receives a little more protection. But give that ex-cop butcher a love of tapioca pudding and a phobia of vacuums and you’re getting into the territory nobody else can copy without consequences.

The takeaway lesson? It’s fine to use fact-based settings (and most of us need to, when our works are based in the “ordinary world”) – but know that other authors can use those settings too, as long as they don’t copy your work. However, the more creative you can be, the more protection your work receives…so write the best, and most creative story you can, and when you do use facts, be sure to express them in your own unique voice and manner.

Do you have copyright questions for Susan? Have you used historical settings in your books? Share them all with us down in the comments!

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About Susan

Susan Spann writes the Shinobi Mysteries, featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori and his Portuguese Jesuit sidekick, Father Mateo. Her debut novel, CLAWS OF THE CAT (Minotaur Books, 2013), was a Library Journal Mystery Debut of the Month and a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award for Best First Novel. The second Shinobi Mystery, BLADE OF THE SAMURAI, released on July 15, 2014, and her third novel, FLASK OF THE DRUNKEN MASTER, releases in July 2015.

Susan is also a transactional attorney whose practice focuses on publishing law and business. When not writing or practicing law, she raises seahorses and rare corals in her marine aquarium. You can find her online at her website, http://www.SusanSpann.com, and on Twitter (@SusanSpann).

Hi everyone, I’m Orly and I’m a challenge addict.

It started innocently enough. You know, a writing challenge here to get motivated, another challenge there to get a draft done. Pretty soon it became multiple challenges a month. What can I say, there’s just something about being in a group of writers suffering with supporting each other.

And there are so many challenges out there to enable motivate the writer in need.

Since I’m recovering from a month with two challenges, dog-paddling through the beginning of another challenge, and looking ahead to the next challenge, I thought I’d share a few thoughts to help my writing friends:

1.  Identify.

Not all challenges are created equal and not all challenges are right for you. NaNoWriMo, for example, is a great motivator for those who can crank out word count, but if you’re a slower writer or an agonizing writer, that kind of challenge may be more disheartening than motivating. ROW80 ("the writing challenge that knows you have a life") requires measurable goals but you must post a blog with your progress every week.

A Facebook writer’s group I’m in had a fun challenge in January pitting writers against rewriters. Everyone picked a side based on where they were in their project, then announced their personal goal. It was energizing watching everyone post their accomplishments.

There are challenges of all shapes and sizes. Look around, ask around, and pick one that suits your needs. Signing up for NaNo when you’re revising probably isn’t the best plan – trust me on this! Been there, tried that.

If you don’t find one that suits you, create one with your own writing group. Challenges don’t have to be huge or complicated.

2.  Plan.

Once you identify the challenge, it’s time to figure out what you’ll need to accomplish it. Each November I sign up for PiBoIdMo, that’s Picture Book Idea Month. “Planning” for that includes buying an adorable notebook to capture my 30 days of picture book ideas and then optimistically writing out 1 through 30 on the top right corner of the pages.

If you’ll be participating in a challenge with word count, planning may include advance research or ensuring you have dedicated time each day to write. This wouldn’t be the time to schedule a bathroom remodel where you’ll be constantly interrupted by workers and construction noise (yes, been there, done that – noticing a trend here?).

Make sure you have whatever research or craft books you need for writing handy. Draft an outline or post your plot points where they’ll be easy to see. Print out any inspirational quotes that will kick your creative brain cell butts into gear.

3.  Jump in.

Now you’re ready. The calendar clicks over and it’s time to jump in. Bring on the challenge, baby! One additional thing you need, though … a good attitude.

You only have 14 new picture book ideas instead of 30? That’s 14 more than you started the month with. And out of those 14, there are probably at least one or two that can be flushed out into a great manuscript. You publicly announced that you’d write 25k this month and only wrote 17k? You’ve added 17k to your manuscript and established forward momentum.

Challenges are for celebrating accomplishments. Every word, every idea, every page revised is an accomplishment because you're that much closer to a completed project. Not to mention the camaraderie and bonds you’ve made with fellow challenge participants.

Okay, I lied. Following those steps won’t help you conquer the challenge addiction. But they will help you have fun and succeed. And isn’t that the point of joining challenges in the first place?

Are there challenges you absolutely love and want to share with WITS readers? Do you have other success tips to share?

Because we’re suckers for a good challenge, the WITS team decided to share our addiction with our beloved readers. On April 20, we’re holding our own little challenge - Write Up A Storm. From noon to midnight Eastern time, we’ll be Writing Up A Storm on the WITS Facebook page. That’s write … wait, right, ahh they both work. Pop in for an hour writing sprint or hang out for a couple of hours or the entire 12 hours. After all, misery creativity loves company.

Will we see you at the WITS Write Up A Storm challenge?

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About Orly

After years of pushing the creativity boundary in corporate communications, Orly decided it was time for a new challenge. Three women’s fiction manuscripts later (plus a handful of picture books), it’s safe to say she’s found her creative outlet. When she’s not talking to her imaginary friends, she’s reading or at least trying to ignore everyone around her long enough to finish “just one more paragraph.” Orly is the founding president of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association.

You can find her on Twitter at @OrlyKonigLopez or on her website, www.orlykoniglopez.com.