Writers in the Storm

By Laura Drake

"The secret of good writing," says William Zinsser,
"is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components."

This is one of the first lessons I tried to tackle as a writer. And I needed to. I’ve been known to get a bit carried away with the words, if you know what I mean (my fellow WITS bloggers are snickering – do you hear them?)

For those of you just starting to rein in your rampant prose, the following articles may help:  Here and Here.

I think one of the coolest things about writing is that learning it is like trying to get to the center of a rose that’s opening.  Every time you master one layer, there’s another, more delicate and subtle than the last.

It wasn’t until I tackled a problem with my latest novel that I discovered this next layer. I had a wonderful idea for a story – no, really, it was brilliant! Except for the fact that it sold as a romance, and the hero and heroine didn’t meet right away. So if this was going to work, I needed to crank those first chapters down to their pure essence.

I learned several nuances about writing tight from this exercise:

• I don’t need all the scenes I wrote. When I went back and analyzed my beginning, my first scene was a couple of pages of description of the world I’d dropped the reader into. I took my Exacto blade and cut it down to one short page of the most important stuff; the sweat from the hot day, the dust from the cattle’s hooves – stuff like that. I learned that a short cameo that leaves questions in the reader’s mind can be a good thing.
• I’m in love with my words. I get so carried away by my descriptions that I can go too far. They may be pretty, but the reader doesn’t care. They want to see what comes next, and I was slowing the action. Say it once – the best possible way, and then move on.
• Sometimes what you leave out is more powerful than you can write.

My heroine gets unjustly fired from her job in the second chapter. I had her confronting the person who caused it. It was pithy. It was clever dialog. It felt good to vindicate my character! Then I cut it. As good as it felt to write the scene, it just wasn’t critical to the plot. One of my critters pointed out that by not writing that scene, it made the reader root for the character more. The character was now the underdog, mistreated, but undaunted. I didn’t know that!

Sit down and have a face-to-face with reality; no dodging, no excuses. I looked at my chapters not by how well it was written, but instead, was the scene, paragraph, line essential? Because I didn’t have room for anything that wasn’t. And I was surprised at how much wasn’t!

I had an epiphany! (Don't worry, I went home and changed clothes afterward.) The difference is, instead of writing as I wanted and then cutting the fat, I wrote down the bones, and added muscle. I guess both ways work, but I know I'll only write bones and add from now on. I found it very powerful.

So, did I get it tight enough so the H/H meet fast enough? No. They meet on page 40!  I’m going to save it to sell as a Women’s Fiction instead of a Romance. But I’m so glad I tried, because I learned so much from the exercise.

And man, those 40 pages are tight, gripping, and kick some serious a$$!

Writers In The Storm is especially pleased to welcome our guest blogger, Kristina McMorris. She comes to us from the Pacific Northwest where refuses to carry an umbrella.

Recipient of nearly twenty national literary awards, she’s hosted weekly TV shows since the age of nine, including an Emmy® Award-winning program.

Her debut novel, the highly acclaimed, Letters from Home (Kensington books, Avon/HarperCollins UK), was inspired by her grandparents’ wartime courtship. It was declared a must-read by Woman’s Day Magazine and was a Reader’s Digest Select Editions feature as well as a Doubleday Literary Guild selection. Her second novel, Bridge of Scarlet Leaves (March 2012) has already received glowing reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.

By Kristina McMorris

Unfortunately, for authors—as much as we deeply wish our own books were magically immune to such pride-shredding atrocities—there's no escaping bad reviews. It's just part of the gig.

Of course, this doesn't change the fact that it isn't always easy to gracefully handle a stranger's public declaration that our "baby," whom we've lovingly nurtured through teething and first steps and colicky nights, is flat-out ugly. Worse yet, that our sweet child is so ghastly a creation it should be scorned and forever ostracized.

I admit, I'm confused by this concept. Not that bad reviews exist; the literary world would be a boring one if every reader shared the same opinion. (Case in point, there are enough fans of the movie "Saw" to warrant millions of production dollars and a series of SEVEN films.) Rather, what I'm referring to are the vicious, you deserve to die for writing such a steaming pile of doggy-doo kind. Fortunately, I haven't been the victim of such a review to date, but I'm not naive enough to believe one isn't headed my way in the future.

I can't help but wonder what prompts such anger, and not merely toward the work, but the author as well—particularly when the topic isn't a controversial one. Indeed the internet, in both good and bad aspects, has provided a microphone to the masses, encouraging "anonymous" commenters to often express words they'd likely never say in person. With the promotional trend of free ebooks today, the chances of readers sampling a book that defies their tastes have never been greater.

And yet, the overwhelming advice distributed among writers remains: Do. Not. Respond.

Gripe to your family and friends, even create a voodoo doll akin to a sock monkey if you must. Then, after you've had a chance to cool off, visit a site like Goodreads or Amazon, look up your three all-time favorite novels, and read at least two one-star reviews of each. The nastier, the better—because hey, how could any person in their right mind despise such a work of brilliance?!

To further heal your wounds, reread wise words of advice like…

"If you get a bad review, it's because someone outside your target audience has found your book and gave it a shot. It's no reflection on them as a reader, and no reflection on you as a writer. If, as an author, you don't understand this, your writing will suffer, because you'll be writing not to get bad reviews instead of writing to reward your target audience."   - John Locke

Then there's my personal favorite…

"I get out my work and have a show for myself before I have it publicly. I make up my own mind about it—how good or bad or indifferent it is. After that the critics can write what they please. I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free."   - Georgia O'Keefe

And finally, once you've done all of the above, it's time to brush away those self-doubts, sit your tush back down at that computer, and, for the readers who eagerly await your next book, forge ahead and write.

Have any readers here at WITS had bad reviews? How did you handle them?

Kristina's Links:

KristinaMcMorris.com 
Facebook
Twitter
GoodReads
Behind-the-book video (2.5 min)  

By Lyn Horner

St. Patrick’s Day is observed on March 17, the date of the saint’s death. In Ireland, it is a day of obligation for Catholics as well as a secular holiday. In other countries, it’s a day to celebrate Ireland and Irish ancestry.

The first St.Patrick’s Day parade took place on March 17, 1762, in New York City. Irish soldiers serving in the British army marched through the city streets to the sound of music from their native land. In following years, descendants of the emerald isle formed Irish aid societies such as the Hibernian Society and the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick, and held yearly parades. Eventually the various groups came together to sponsor the official New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

 The custom soon spread to other cities, including Chicago. Fifty years ago, in March 1962, Chicagoans began another tradition. They dyed the Chicago River green in honor of their annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration. The river has undergone the dye job every year since without fail. The first time, they dumped in 100 pounds of green food coloring. The color lingered for a week. Today, to guard against pollution, much less dye is added, just enough to keep the river green for eight hours.

Nowadays, everyone claims a “little bit of the Irish” on this festive occasion. So here’s to you, my fine lads and colleens!

So tell me, how do you celebrate St. Patricks Day?

Visit Lyn at Texas Druids.       

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