Category Archives: Craft & Skills

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve found that one of the biggest drawbacks to being a professional writer is that all of the time I spend at the keyboard, or staring at the wall, or walking around in a seeming daze as I work out just how high up a tree I’m going to chase my character and how sharp the rocks that I throw at him are going to be-well, let’s just say that it really cuts into my reading time. (How’s that for a first sentence?) And that puts me on the horns of a dilemma, so to speak: because I really really really want to write, and I also really really really want to read.

I’ve always been a reader, for as far back as I can remember. Partly genetics-Mom was a pretty avid reader-and partly environment: for a lot of reasons, I typically didn’t have many friends growing up, so I turned to books to fill the void.

I’ve said before that I came to a desire to write relatively late. I was not someone who knew he was going to be a writer at age 8, or 12, or 18, or even 28. But my reading prepared me for it nonetheless. I estimate I’d read 2000-plus novels by age 21, and kept on at an increasing pace. Somewhere along the way I soaked up a lot about writing, so that when I did finally begin writing, I had observed many examples of the craft, good and bad; all of which stood me in good stead.

When I finally did begin writing, I also began to read writers writing about writing. It wasn’t too long before I ran into a comment that worried me: an author stated that when he was writing a novel, he didn’t dare read anyone else’s fiction, because he didn’t want to run the risk of his work being affected by another author’s work and style.

I was new enough in the craft, and the author who made the comment was someone I liked well enough, that I accepted it as almost gospel. I immediately tried to change my habits so that I only read non-fiction while I was writing. And it didn’t work. I don’t mind non-fiction-I occasionally go on non-fiction binges, in fact. But I can’t live in non-fiction. I can’t lose myself in a story in non-fiction. So I kept sneaking away to some of my favorite authors and reading favorite chapters over again, feeling guilty, and all the while worried that I was somehow ruining my writing by doing so. (Truth is, I wasn’t good enough to sell yet so it didn’t matter, but my mind didn’t know that.)

Then some time later, I read an interview with another author I liked who was asked if he read other fiction while he was writing novels. His response was words to the effect of, “Sure! Doesn’t everyone?”

Great relief! My guilt evaporated, and I started enjoying fiction again while I was writing. And the take-away I got from that experience was that there is no One True Way when it comes to writing methods and styles and practices. Whatever works for me is what will work for me, and it may or may not work for you. What matters is that we find what works for each one of us, and that we write. To quote Kipling:

There are nine and sixty ways
Of constructing tribal lays,
And every single one of them is right!

So I still read lots of fiction. Not as much as I used to, though, because the writing really does take away a lot of the time I used to devote to reading. And sometimes when I’m reading I do still feel a little guilty, but it’s usually because I know I should be pounding the keys to finish my current project.

I’ve concluded that the reading provides the loam from which my stories sprout. Or maybe a better metaphor is the reading is what the muse uses to charge up the batteries of my writing engine. If I don’t read, I don’t write.

Pardon me; I just bought the latest novel by Elizabeth Moon. I need to go charge up my batteries some more.

Sunday Reads: 1 April 2012

April 1, 2012

KylieQ

Craft & Skills Kylie Quillinan Rewriting Sunday Reads The Writing Life Writing Tools 2 Comments

Wow, another week has gone by already and we’re now 25% of the way through the year (you really wanted to know that, didn’t you?). So once again, here are some of our favourite recent reads.

Looking forward to a writerly get-together? Kait Nolan discusses the etiquette of talking to writers.

Over at Romance University, Laura Griffin discusses chapter hooks.

Nathan Bransford talks about the war on ebook pricing.

And while we’re talking ebooks, David Gaughran goes through the basics of self publishing.

Wondering how the length of your current WIP matches up against expectations? Aaron Stanton discusses average book length for various genres.

At Writer Unboxed, Anna Elliott talks about the necessity of trusting your own instincts.

For a laugh: Word count envy

For fun: How fast do you read?

For inspiration: how will we obtain additional resources once we exhaust the earth’s supplies?

And just because it’s cool: over at The Accidental Author, our very own Joshua Essoe talks about working as an editor.

What I Did (and Didn’t) Learn from Writing Fan Fiction (Part Two)

March 28, 2012

mary

Craft & Skills Mary Pletsch The Writing Life 2 Comments

My fandom years writing fanfiction helped me a great deal. By providing me with an audience of fellow fans, and the inspiration to write regularly on a subject about which I was passionate, I grew from a juvenile writer into a teller of stories. However, when I changed my focus from fan fiction to original novels-something I could publish-I realized there were certain aspects where my fan fiction experience had not helped me.

Worldbuilding from scratch. In fan fiction, you’ve got a setting already laid out for you. This is more than just physical locations; it’s the “rules” of what is possible in that world. How does magic work? What technology is, and isn’t, available? What is the major conflict? What are the central themes? Building an internally consistent set of rules isn’t easy, and it’s vitally important: a poorly designed set will leave readers wondering why something previously impossible is suddenly possible, or why the hero struggles under restraints that don’t bother the villain, or why the hero is at odds with the villain to begin with.

Character introduction. In fan fiction, a writer can assume his readers are going to know who Naruto is, or who Spock is, or who Bella is, and all the important details about the character’s appearance and personality. In an original work, writers need to remember that if they don’t convey it, their readers won’t learn it-and better yet if they can convey it without the old “my character looks in the mirror and describes what she sees” trick.

Cast dynamics. In fan fiction, even if you make up your own characters, you’ve also got a main cast of canon characters to work with. There’s a difference between adding a new character into an established cast, and building, from scratch, a group of characters with believable group dynamics. In short, every group has a “character” of its own. A group comprised of five dynamic leaders-or five timid wallflowers-isn’t going to last, or convince your readers of its believability, unless at least some members of the group begin evolving and changing to fill different roles.

Professional discipline. If you get bored with a fan fiction story, you can go do something else. Or turn your originally-intended romance into splatterpunk horror. You’re not getting paid; you can do as you please. It’s entertainment. This isn’t the case when you’re under contract to produce something on a certain subject in a certain time frame.

When to walk away (Internet fame vs long term career); or, If you don’t want to be an amateur forever. About three years ago I was getting a lot of positive feedback from my fan fiction. Writing quick short stories, posting them on the internet, and enjoying the response was a thrill; putting another 5000 words on a novel was a long slog in comparison. In the end, though, a complete novel-something publishable-will be a bigger accomplishment, and with this goal in mind, fan fiction is now an occasional treat for me, not the focus of my writing.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with amateur writing-writing for pleasure. It’s a state of mind where people can explore and experience, hone their craft, and learn to love the act of creation. Nor do I think there’s anything wrong with the choice made by several fan fiction writers of my acquaintance who, although they have story telling skills equivalent to professional authors, choose that they would rather pursue something else to earn a living, and reserve writing for a hobby-something they do for entertainment.

Creating original work for publication is a different experience from the fan experience. It requires privacy-putting samples of your original work up on the Internet may disqualify your work as being “previously published,” or open you up to having your work plagiarized. It requires you to create something that will excite and interest you, through the long hours of crafting something that’s not already a pop culture phenomenon. It requires a dedication to persevere and a consideration for the desires of your readers and potential publishers. It requires the groundwork to build a coherent world for your characters to inhabit. These factors have nothing to do with the quality of the work itself, and everything to do with the creation of a professional writing lifestyle, as opposed to an amateur’s hobby.