Writing with the Grain

Every day I see articles like The Worst Ways to Begin Your Novel: Advice from Literary Agents on Facebook or in email. Mostly, they’re useful. More so with this article–it drives home the point. There are many ways to fail, and here’s a list of the popular ways. Don’t do this!

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Writers and Critique Groups

For a writer, a critique group can be invaluable. Fundamental, it’s designed for other writers to react and provide feedback to a work. Some groups have strict rules where the author must sit quietly until the critique ends before asking questions. The weekly group I’m in is less formal, allowing and encouraging a back and forth between author and reader.

Three parts are necessary for critique group: The author (critiquee), the readers (critiquers), and the work. The author produces the work and the readers read it and comment.

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Latest Writing Activities

Lately, I’ve been doing several different writing activities. I’m planning to attend the annual Pennwriter’s conference in Pittsburgh in the middle of May. There’s the logistics of travel, hotel reservations, and picking the talks. With this conference, though, opportunities abound, such as pitching a novel to agents. I’m reading (more like studying) Shifting Mars’ Sands, and preparing an elevator pitch as well as being able to discuss it in detail when I hook an agent. (Yeah, I used “when,” not “if.”)

Also, I’ve been critiquing pieces for my Saturday writers’ group. The pieces range from obvious first drafts to fairly polished drafts. I see a variety of issues. Some are overwritten, providing description of the ordinary, yet ignoring details to further understanding. Others exhibit structural issues from a vague protagonist story goal to extraneous scenes detailing secondary character background that dubiously relates to the story. Still others, plod along, seemingly not advancing the plot or advancing it at a snail’s pace.

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My Problem with Poetry

Two consecutive days of posts? Is there a problem? No. Christmastime is many things: busy, stressful, joyful, and at times, troubling. I suspect that I won’t make another post until after Christmas. So, I thought I’d get this post up… * * * The Saturday writing group is getting more poetry submissions. This poses a … Read more

The Ultimate Writer’s Critique

All writers face criticism eventually. Some of it is written, some oral. Some of it is presented positively, some harshly. But, I doubt anyone has seen a critique presently like this: What really happened isn’t that bad. My wife laid the story next to the stove. She started making supper and came to see me … Read more

Character Infodumps

Recently, in a weekly critique group that I belong to, I’ve seen several submissions where in the first few chapters, the author stops the story cold to provide description of a person, surroundings, or both. In one case, in the first chapter, the story stopped to get complete (multi-paragraph) backstories on six characters. Literally, we’re … Read more

Completed! – Shifting Mars’ Sands Critique with Writers’ Group

Yesterday, I completed a chapter-by-chapter critique of my novel. The picture below shows the Loudoun County Writers’ Group’s critiques of Shifting Mars’ Sands as well as my edits in preparation for each meeting. You may notice the yellow sheets of paper, which are hand rewrites of scenes that were too off base to edit in … Read more

Time Crunch

The time crunch is upon me. On 1/19, I lost my laptop; one of its two fans refuses to spin, and the other spins on high. The laptop generates a huge amount of heat. In short, it’s unusable. So, by the end of next week, I have to complete the following: ·         Set up a … Read more

Plugging a Story Hole

I’ve been busy for the past month (give or take) on three chapters in Shifting Mars’ Sands.  These chapters are tightly coupled; if you think of them as a balloon and you squeeze in one spot, a bulge will appear in another. The issue is that I moved a major argument between two protagonists (Frank … Read more