darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
Until I came along, my new critique group was just four nice ladies copy-editing each other's draft chapters.

Well, I've been languishing for years on that turd-polishing plateau, and fixing a troubled novel doesn't happen there. Sure, that's where I put in my 10,000 hours learning to wield the language, but I should have moved on ages ago. This critique group wasn't helping, and I was ready to quit.

Two weeks ago I found a path to my next level. It appeared in Shawn Coyne's The Story Grid: What Good Editors Know*.

Coyne's highly analytical method comes from 25 years as a developmental editor at big New York publishers. He's giving away his trade secrets now because even if you get a book contract at Random House, there are no developmental editors left there. It's a DIY game.

Infrared Writing Goggles )
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darkemeralds: Photo of fingers on a computer keyboard. (Writing)
I've just joined a writers' critique group. I don't think it's a great fit for me, but before I go shopping for something different, I thought I'd ask here.

Have you ever been part of a critique group? How about other writing groups (like beta partners, writers' organizations--places where you work on your writing "out loud" as it were, with other people)? What kinds of writerly interactions have helped you become a better writer? Finish something? Polish something? Has a critique group been valuable to you? In what way? Or in what way did it fail expectations?

I'd love to hear about it.

Critique groups )
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darkemeralds: Photo of fingers on a computer keyboard. (Writing)
I was battering my brains against a writing problem this afternoon when there came a knock at my door. Rescue!

It was a former coworker, just passing by, and we ended up in an absorbing two-hour conversation about life in Stumptown, and wonky city politics, and the neighborhood we have in common. It refreshed my mind wonderfully. I felt smart and connected at the end of it, instead of adrift and lame.

What if, I thought: What if, in my story that's refusing to take shape, I insert a sudden and unexpected knock on the door? What if someone the protagonist hasn't seen for ages drops by? What if that person drops by with a gun?? Oooh...

What if the protagonist opens the door and there's nobody there, but there's a letter on the mat. "I saw what you did that day..." Or a package: the bloody shirt, the stolen heirloom, a hank of hair, the exculpatory proof...

What if the protagonist is high on opium and the apparition standing at the door is a hallucination dispensing mystical advice that turns out to be deadly? Or shows him the future--accurately?

What if I'm actually writing a fantasy and there's no opium and the being isn't a hallucination at all? What if it's an angel?

What if I open my door and it's the Angel of Storytelling, here to help me bring this sucker in for a landing? That would be cool.
darkemeralds: Photo of fingers on a computer keyboard. (Writing)
Anyone want to study an amazing writing technique with me?

Every bit of writing training I've ever been exposed to has defined "good writing" as clean prose, strong characterization, dramatic conflict, lively dialogue, concise description, etc., etc., etc.

But apart from "It should have a beginning, a middle and an end," I've never had story structure broken down and explained--or even mentioned. I've never consciously observed it in my reading. I didn't really know it existed. It's been all flesh, no bones.

Larry Brooks lays out the bones, and once you see them, you can't unsee them.

Story Engineering )

A lot of writers and editors no doubt intuit their way to this structure, but I'm done groping around in the dark. This guy has handed me the keys to the room where all the light switches are, and I want to share them. I need a critique/study partner or two to work the method with and get better at applying it.

So who's interested in learning more?
darkemeralds: Baby picture of DarkEm with title 'Interstellar Losers Club' and caption 'Proud Member' (Proud Member)
[personal profile] lycomingst pinged me yesterday to inquire after my continued existence--very kind!--and caused me to face the ridiculously wide gap in my posting history around here.

I continue to exist. )

So, yes. Still existing. Chipping away at this thing called life. How's everyone doing?
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
"Writers, you need this book."

That was the tweet from my friend Sue last Monday morning. Ordinarily, "Yeah, yeah, whatever" would be my response, because I have never gotten anything of out of books for writers.

But last Monday was different. )

It's like a fucking miracle.

Writers, you need this book.
darkemeralds: Jensen Ackles in Regency Attire (Restraint John)
Yesterday evening I went to a lecture at the Oregon Astrological Association* and then, because it felt like my day was just getting started, stayed up reading and goofing around till 4:00 a.m.

Of course, today I didn't wake up till almost 1:00 in the afternoon, and only a good hard stare at my phone told me that it was Saturday.

I've written 5000 words of backstory for two secondary characters who need work in the Restraint rewrite (Uncle Martin and Mr Braithwaite--I really wanted to find out how they met). This has meant revisiting old research into the Napoleonic Wars, George IV, Brighton, and smuggling on the Channel coast.

In other words, I'm basically just goofing around and enjoying myself.

Who here uses Scrivener? Can anyone describe to me what its advantages are? Other writers wax fannish over it, but I'm frankly finding it unintuitive and more frustrating than exciting. I'm limited to the Linux version, which may be hobbled compared to the IOS and Windows versions, but before I give it up, I'd like to know what I'm failing to appreciate.

And now it's 2:00 a.m. Almost bedtime. :D

*The subject was the Tea Party and the GOP, and it was fascinating.
darkemeralds: Purple patent leather Doc Martens against a multi-colored carpet with the title True Colors (True Colors)
This is the best scene ever written for television. Was anyone else as bowled over by it as I was?

Elementary 2.09 )

There have been quite a few well-meaning Joan Watsons in my own life over the years who accepted me as I was while rooting for me to become nicer. Some of them had letters after their names and billed my insurance by the hour. And I was fully on board the "cure me of being me" train for years.

What else could I do? I'm not a brilliant detective or an attractive and financially independent white male--things that allow all versions of Sherlock Holmes to withstand the consequences of being fundamentally--what's the word? Attachment-disordered? Spock-like? A wee bit sociopathic? Introverted? Poorly-socially-networked? A natural loner? An edge-dweller?

It's a strange minority position to be in. The scene emphasizes the strong belief among more connected humans that we edge-dwellers could join the majority if we just tried a little harder.

So we try, most of us, most of the time. Often our livelihood depends on it. If I'd been born a couple of generations earlier, the need to conform to a "marriageable" standard of nice-girl behavior would have been nearly a matter of life and death.

None of this is to disregard the advantages I do have in life--I have them, I make use of them, and I'm grateful for them. (As it happens, I think my combination of coldness and competence has just plain scared employers into keeping me on and paying me a salary all these years. And now I get to retire.)

Nor am I advocating for antisocial behavior. I'm not completely separate from the continent, and yes, the bell tolls for me, too. I abide by common please-and-thank-you standards, and what I care about, I care about deeply. I experience enjoyment and pleasure in non-evil things like laughter and food. I'm capable of love, albeit to a limited extent: I let things and people go much more easily than others do. I've tried not to, but I just don't care as much as I "should."

Jason Tracey, who wrote this episode of Elementary, has perfectly captured the tension between the edge-dweller and the more connected among us, and that's no small thing. But the scene goes a bit further by explicitly stating the edge-dweller's acceptance of himself and the consequences of his nature. Sherlock knows--and does not regret--that his nature is what makes him good at the singular thing he's really good at.

That's what made it revolutionary for me.
darkemeralds: Photo of fingers on a computer keyboard. (Writing)
One day a couple of months ago a coworker of mine decided that she'd like to write a middle-grade novel (that is, a novel of interest to a "tween" readership--the coveted Harry Potter audience.) Ten vacation days later she had a first draft, and invited me to look it over.

I'm all "What? Ten days? What?" I'm lucky to write a chapter in ten days. I'm doing well to write anything at all in three years. Once I got over my speed-envy, I asked her about her moment of inspiration. She said she'd been reading a middle-grade novel to her kid and thought, "I should really write one of these." Then she read a bunch of other novels in the category, dissected them for their components (number and type of characters, types of conflict, number of scenes, acts or beats, etc.). Then she started constructing her own.

I just...gah! Does not compute. I work so differently. She has a box of Legos that she wants to put together. I start with a whole thought-ball, a story-sphere that have to find an opening in. I'm dependent on the damn thing falling on my head from the sky and have never figured out how to make more of them hit me.

How do you get your ideas? And how do you turn them into actual writing?
darkemeralds: Photo of fingers on a computer keyboard. (Writing)
For those who contributed ideas, suggestions and lots of great discussion to my editorial dilemma yesterday, I'd like you to know that it was hugely helpful to me--both as an editor and as a human being (which I love to forget I actually am).

I haven't done justice to everyone's excellent advice, but here's how I patchworked all your tips together.

Edits from a much nicer person )

Though I've already sent this to the author, your comments are still welcome for my own further self-actualization. This has been one of the most valuable conversations I've had in ages. Thank you all.
darkemeralds: Photo of fingers on a computer keyboard. (Writing)
Once up on a time, I took a Clarion workshop in which the instructor, a published author of speculative fiction, did That Thing to a friend of mine.

The friend submitted a promising story in a style beyond her skill level--a good idea naively executed. The instructor singled it out as the one submission in the class that was simply too bad to be critiqued. As far as I know, my friend never wrote anything again.

Anyone who loves stories enough to try to write one deserves better than what that lazy, thoughtless published author did to my friend all those years ago. That's why I felt compelled to spend three hours last night commenting on the novel whose author was spamming us all yesterday.

Now I need advice. When the author solicited "comments" I think she meant "praise and encouragement". When I asked her to clarify, she said she would welcome any feedback I wanted to give. I think my comments provide a concise fiction-remediation course, but she might see it differently.

Here's a representative sample of my remarks. Should I send them or not? Too harsh? Don't bother? Waste of electrons? Give it a shot? Helpful? What do my fellow writers think? How would you feel if these were comments on a story of yours? Would you get any value from them, or just feel bad? Am I wasting my time? Tilting at windmills?

Feedback is genuinely welcome.

Fiction Writing 101: What Not To Do With Your Interesting Story Idea )
darkemeralds: Photo of fingers on a computer keyboard. (Writing)
I've been asked to edit a manuscript, and after much deliberation I've decided to go ahead. The writer, who's a stranger to me, has been willing to put her (original fiction) rough draft out there with a sincere request for comment and critique, and I admire that kind of openness and courage (and enthusiasm and self-confidence). I said I'd give her a free hard edit of the first couple of pages (because I'm guessing that problems I see there represent a pattern throughout the work).

She replied very quickly. I'm not 100% sure that she actually accepted my offer of a free editorial scalpel-ing, but I'm going to go ahead.

Old Peanuts comic panel showing Lucy at her psychiatrist booth, with the overhead banner changed to say Word Help Five Cents


ETA: I understand that this budding young author has spammed pretty much all of DW--including the DW Powers That Be--with her request for reviews. I'd like to think she's sincere if a little mistaken in her approach, and I wouldn't want to see her shot down for it. We were all young writers once, and, speaking for myself, not all of us had this much chutzpah.
darkemeralds: Photo of fingers on a computer keyboard. (Writing)
It's the busiest time of year for me at work, but hey, I wrote most of Restraint during the same season, so I guess I can give this write-every-day challenge a try. Apparently, to prime the pump, it's permissible to raid old notebooks for previous writings.

So here's a section from an old J2 fic I never finished. It's set during filming of SPN Season Two. I find that the original character still interests me.

Dee Delancey )

I think I'd like to re-use Dee in a new story. (Dee is based on the late Barbara Sheidler Bartholomew, if you want a little visual.)
darkemeralds: Photo of fingers on a computer keyboard. (Writing)
My first professional (well, unpaid, but professionally-tending) editing job has been instructive. I'm learning to spot common non-fiction prose problems in a flash. I'm getting better at explaining them to a client who is not primarily a writer. I'm finding a path for myself between line-editing and ghostwriting.

The manuscript as submitted was a hodgepodge of good but loosely-related ideas, a bowl of unpolished stones that could grow up to be a necklace. Polishing them is easy: SPAG, style, sentence structure, rhetoric, rhythm, cliche patrol, bullshit detector--clarity, basically. I'm good at that.

But the stringing! The sequence, the overall structure--that's hard. The client herself doesn't know what it should be. I wasted a fair amount of time polishing beads that don't even belong on the string. (Note to self: insist on seeing an outline first.)

I've been exhorting the client to go back and outline, but it wasn't happening. So this evening we had a phone meeting. (Note to self: in this business a lot of clients are going to be phone-talkers and think-out-loud-ers. Better get used to it.) Turns out, she didn't actually know what an outline is.

It never occurred to me that a person could get through high school without knowing that. Is it just me? Is that something that only a super-logical Spock-like person would retain? I mean, not fancy I, A, 1, a, i, a) stuff, but just your basic Heading 1/Heading 2/Text type thing? Is that uncommon knowledge?

So we had a little tutorial on Microsoft Word's outlining function, and I sent her what I think are the high-level headers to get her started. She just emailed me back to ask my opinion about a webinar she took called "How To Write A Transformational Book In Three Weeks". One of her webinar notes: INVITE DIVINE GUIDANCE FOR ORGANIZATION AND TO SHOW YOU WHAT PEOPLE NEED.

Seriously, I'm losing confidence in myself as an editor. I can't compete with Divine Guidance. Not in three weeks, anyway.

Edition

7/7/13 20:01
darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
I sent my first edits back to my first editing client this afternoon.

The author is a healthcare practitioner and the piece falls generally into the category of a diet book. Editing it is very different from editing fiction written by a writer. It's also very different from editing non-fiction (for certain values of "non-fiction" that include training documents) written by me.

After spending hours slogging through the manuscript, mapping its concepts, trying to figure out exactly why it wasn't working, and not knowing the best way to proceed, I think I've developed the skeleton of an editing process:
  • Start a fresh document
  • Mine the source document a few paragraphs at a time
  • Rewrite them
  • Ruthlessly cut bits that are redundant
  • Ditto bits that just don't have a home
  • Store the cut bits in a parking lot document
  • Show expertise by doing a little fact-checking
  • Tread a fine line between adding whole missing concepts and asking the author to add them
  • Lather, rinse, repeat until I can't stand it anymore
  • Send it off with a cushiony email begging the author to understand that no original manuscripts were harmed in this process, and that everything in the edit is my opinion (leaving elegantly unstated the fact that my opinion is superior to hers when it comes to grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and clarity because that is, after all, why she hired me), and that all I really want to do is provide exactly the level of support the author feels she needs

It seems to have worked. She just replied with "This is great, you are so good at this, I like your writing style [ed note: whoops--it's supposed to be her writing style], I agree with your comments, and here are a couple of counter-suggestions."

Now, a few more rounds of this, and we should have a diet book!
darkemeralds: Baby picture of DarkEm with title 'Interstellar Losers Club' and caption 'Proud Member' (Geekery)
1. Coffitivity, the app I mentioned the other day that provides café sounds, is turning out to be something of a small miracle for me. On low volume, through earphones, it's like prosthetic concentration. I've been able to read! Really focus without skipping around, something I thought had been lost to me forever.

I sense that my mind is mildly but actively tuning out the pleasant babble and somehow kind of sequestering itself in a narrower space, where focused work can take place. Not only have I been able to get through boring work materials, but I'm seven chapters into Mike Carey's The Devil You Know--the actual written version. I'm very pleased about this.

2. Six days off work started this evening. A couple of them will be spent down at Lincoln City on the coast with my good pal [personal profile] roseambr. We always have fun at the beach.

3. An editing job has come my way. No pay--it's a swap: my time and talent in exchange for credit and referrals as I try to launch a side business. The manuscript is a health program based on some very interesting dietary restrictions. It's passionately presented by the healthcare professional who has designed it, but she's not a writer. I can see a future for myself in ghostwriting, frankly.

4. Is this pingback function on LJ new? For the first time today, I got an email notification that someone had mentioned me in a LiveJournal post. I like it! I hope DW is considering something of the same kind.

I'm testing it again right now: [livejournal.com profile] emeraldsedai
darkemeralds: Photo of espresso with caption "Straight Up" (Espresso)
This is so cool! I'm standing here at my work desk and I feel like I'm across the street at my favorite downtown coffee shop.

It's Coffitiviy, "Ambient sounds to boost your workday creativity".

I've read in a bunch of places lately (most recently this Smithsonian article) that creativity is boosted by cities, by metaphorical friction among ideas, by noise. The ambient sound of a coffee-shop, studies are suggesting, is just right.

I'd like to spend creative time at cafés--and god knows I live in a place with plenty of them--but several limitations have made this impracticable: my laptop is just a hair too big to cart around, and there's no slimmer computer in my near future. Keyboard+tablet has yet to equal actual fast typing for me.

Also, my creativity-hours and my caffeine-hours don't usually overlap. Or when they do, I'm still in my jammies with crazy-hair.

But right this minute, with Coffitivity playing in my earphones, I'm feeling oddly looped in, yet not chafed, engaged but free-floating, comfortably alone in my head but surrounded by a sense of people. It's surprisingly pleasant!

Try it and let me know what you think.
darkemeralds: Baby picture of DarkEm with title 'Interstellar Losers Club' and caption 'Proud Member' (Geekery)
  • IF you're stuck in an annoying and irrelevancy-filled two-hour meeting with Norm, and
  • IF you sit at the far end of the conference table, and
  • IF you have a smartphone, and
  • IF you have either wifi or a data plan you don't mind using, and
  • IF you're near retirement and really don't give a damn that you don't look very engaged in the subject of the meeting
THEN you can accomplish a remarkable amount of research on your novel rewrite.

Editing

5/1/13 11:20
darkemeralds: Photo of fingers on a computer keyboard. (Writing)
[personal profile] ravurian, one of those rare birds who is an accomplished writer and an incisive editor, has been helping me face the editing of Restraint for publication by breaking the massive project into a series of approachable steps.

Three tasks and some help from the cat. )

So, thanks to [personal profile] ravurian (and Graydie), I'm on my way.

(I need a project name. Hmm. "Project Publish"? "Project Cut 100,000 Words"? "Project File Off The Serial Numbers"? Suggestions?)

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darkemeralds: A round magical sigil of mysterious meaning, in bright colors with black outlines. A pen nib is suggested by the intersection of the cryptic forms. (Default)
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