Write

Articles about craft.

Six Things Every Writer Needs to Succeed (Psst: MFA is not on this list.)

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This post by ML Swift originally appeared on Writer Unboxed on 1/14/15.

When Therese asked if I’d like to scratch out an article for Writer Unboxed, I literally — in the most figurative sense of the word — stood up, turned around, and knocked the gold bricks out of my chair. Did I read her note correctly? Would I like to write an essay for the website I’ve worshipped for over three years, and — e’en if for a day, ere I’m shown the door fore’er — dispense Parker-esque aphorisms to the most respected minds in the industry, while at the same time, make a complete and utter fool of myself? Would I? Would I? I pounced on the keyboard: “Does a bear sh—?” Wait. Breathe. Backspace and delete. Respond as if it were as commonplace as “You want fries with that?”

“Why, yes, Therese, that would be lovely.” There you go. Classy. Mature. Professional. Kiss, kiss; hug, hug. After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

By dinnertime, my euphoric ride on the Cumulonimbus9 had ended with a belly-flop to earth, leaving me stranded in the middle of nowhere, dusting off rainbows and gnawing my thumbnail like a piece of beef jerky. “Mike, what in the world were you thinking?” Actually, if you really want to get down and velveteen about it, I used a much more colorful, less Hogwarts-friendly expression.

You see, that very morning, Sharon Bially had written a post listing six criteria for an impressive writer’s resumé, and according to the stats, I was batting zero. Even worse, I didn’t foresee three of the six items making my five-, ten-, or twenty-year plan. Her suggestions, in order of my probable attainment (from “most likely” to “you’ve got to be kidding”) included:

 

Read the full post on Writer Unboxed.

 

Top 10 Tips On Overcoming Writer’s Block

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This post by Dylan Hearn originally appeared on Suffolk Scribblings on 1/14/15.

The existence of writer’s block is something that divides writers. Some say there is no such thing, others that they have suffered from it and often. Regardless of whether you believe or not, I don’t know of a single writer that hasn’t struggled at some point to get words on the page. I know I have. So here are my top 10 tips on overcoming this hurdle so you can get back writing again.

 

1 Sit down and be ready to write
If you are the type of writer who has to ‘wait for their muse’, then I can’t help you. You can’t write if you don’t want to write. We are often at our most creative when finding excuses not to do something. As Dorothy Parker once said, “writing is the art of applying the ass to the seat.” If you can’t do this, nothing else will help you.

 

2 Set up a routine
Before I write I make a cup of tea. This ritual allows me to switch from whatever I’ve been doing or thinking about to focussing on the task at hand. I also like to eat biscuits, though I’m not sure if that helps or is just an indulgence. As people we like routine and are conditioned to do certain things in a certain way. Most of us have a morning routine to get us ready for the day. If it is altered our whole day feels out of synch. It’s the same for writing. Get yourself into the practice of doing the same things before you write and you will find writing comes naturally.

 

3 Allow yourself to write badly

 

Read the full post on Suffolk Scribblings.

 

Chris Jane On The Power Of Gender In An Author’s Name: Right, Like a Man

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This post by Chris Jane originally appeared on Read Her Like An Open Book on 1/11/15.

I prefer the way I write when, while writing, I imagine being read as a man.

There’s an immediate freedom to not be apologetic. To do as we were taught in high school English and eliminate the self-conscious “I think…” from the writing.

I’m not sure when it happened, the shift into having to pretend.

My father, a single parent, never gave my sister or me the impression that being female was considered a weakness or would limit us in any way. Now and then we’d have to fetch him things, and we were tasked with decorating and undecorating the Christmas tree, but that was because we were his kids. It had nothing to do with being girls. That I was a “girl” was so separate from my identity that I would sometimes be confused about why I didn’t feel more like one. Females my dad’s age who had soft, styled hair and wore perfume and nail polish were curiosities. I wanted to ask them questions about womanhood. I wanted them to somehow infuse me with the kind of femininity I saw blooming in the girls my age who wore clanking bracelets and pink lipstick.

That absence of innate femininity combined with being raised by a man contributed to my being comfortable with – and preferring to be one of – the boys. I didn’t fear them and hadn’t been raised to defer to them. We were friends, and we were equals. It never occurred to me that their thoughts, perspectives, experiences, or opinions were (or should be) more valid than mine. I was pretty sure I was even as strong as they were.

 

Read the full post on Read Her Like An Open Book.

 

2014: The Year When Science Fiction And Fantasy Woke Up To Diversity

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This post by Damien Walter originally appeared on The Guardian on 1/2/15.

A year of unprecedented success for women writers was matched by a flood of new voices from the self-publishing scene

Looking back at 2014, you can sum it up in one word: diversity. The world of science fiction and fantasy saw diversity not only in the voices that found success, definitively turning the page on 2013’s chainmail binkinigate, but also in the means of production. While the metaphysical themes so vital to SF continued their conquest of the mainstream, it was the year when independent digital publishing changed the genre for good.

One book dominated the awards in 2014: Anne Leckie’s Ancillary Justice. This debut novel evokes a future world in which gender is unimportant, a transformation Leckie renders by exclusively referring to characters with the pronoun “she”. Its unconventional take on gender politics helped Ancillary Justice make a clean sweep of the Hugo, Nebula, Clarke and BSFA awards, a rare and deserved achievement.

 

Read the full post on The Guardian.

 

Why Defend Freedom Of Icky Speech?

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This post by Neil Gaiman originally appeared on his Neil Gaiman’s Journal on 12/1/08.

This is a bit long. Apologies. I’d meant to talk about other things, but I started writing a reply this morning to the letter that follows and I got a bit carried away.

– – – – –
I have questions about the Handley case. What makes lolicon something worth defending? Yaoi, as I understand it, isn’t necessarily child porn, but the lolicon stuff is all about sexualizing prepubescent girls, yes? And haven’t there been lots of credible psych studies saying that if you find a support community for a fetish, belief or behavior, you’re more likely to indulge in it? That’s why social movements are so important for oppressed or non-mainstream groups (meaning everything from the fetish community to free-market libertarianism) -and why NAMBLA is so very, very scary (they are, essentially, a support group for baby-rapists.)

The question, for me, is even if we only save ONE child from rape or attempted rape, or even just lots of uncomfortable hugs from Creepy Uncle Dave, is that not worth leaving a couple naked bodies out of a comic? It is, after all, more than possible to imply and discuss these issues (ex. if someone loses their virginity at 14, and chooses to write a comic about it) without having a big ol’ pic of 14 yr. old poon being penetrated as the graphic. I also think there’s a world of difference between the Sandman story-which depicts child rape as the horrific thing it is (and, I believe, also ends with a horrific death for the pervert, doesn’t it?) and depicting child rape as a sexy and titillating thing. I think there is also a difference between acknowledging children’s sexuality, and pornography about children that is created for adults. Where on this spectrum does something like lolicon fall? And, again, why do you, personally, think that it should be defended?

Thanks for reading my ramble, and for being accessible to us, and engaged in things like CBLDF. Mostly, they are a fantastic org., but I’m really on the fence with this case…

Jess
– – – – –

Let me see if I can push you off the fence, a little, Jess. I’m afraid it’s going to be a long, and probably a bit rambly answer — a credo, and how I arrived at that.

If you accept — and I do — that freedom of speech is important, then you are going to have to defend the indefensible. That means you are going to be defending the right of people to read, or to write, or to say, what you don’t say or like or want said.

The Law is a huge blunt weapon that does not and will not make distinctions between what you find acceptable and what you don’t. This is how the Law is made.

People making art find out where the limits of free expression are by going beyond them and getting into trouble.

 

Read the full post on Neil Gaiman’s Journal.

 

Lessons From The Traditional Publishing Model Part One: THE BOOK, THE BOOK, THE BOOK!

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This post by Susan Malone originally appeared on her Malone Editorial Services site on 8/6/14.

Traditional publishing is in the toilet. Big news flash, right? I lined out some of the whys in my recent guest blog on Authorlink.com.

But what can we learn from big publishers’ successes and failures?  A lot.  So let’s dive in and today talk about the thing new writers are missing all over the place—putting the product, the book, first.

This really does seem like a no-brainer.  I mean, we’re writers, right?  It’s what we do—we write, we hone our craft, we study, we get critiqued, we write some more.  At least, that’s the way it used to be!

One of the issues new writers (and many seasoned ones as well, although they handle it differently) have with the Traditional folks is that this takes f o r e v e r.   Yep, it does.  At every single stage of the process, writers get to hurry-up-and-wait.  Hurry up and produce exactly what that agent, editor, etc., requests, and then sit on their hands for months and wait on responses.  It can drive a sane woman batty.  I’m in the process of getting one of my great YA writers agented, and of course, as it’s August and all of publishing is on vacation, my writer is frustrated that the agent won’t read his work until September.  Hey!  That’s actually quick!

 

Read the full post on Malone Editorial Services.

 

Charlie Hebdo Offends — And We Must Defend Its Right To Do So

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This post by Bill Durodie originally appeared on The Week on 1/7/15.

The motive behind the tragic shootings at the headquarters of satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris has not yet been confirmed but it seems clear that there is a link between the publication’s stance on controversial content and the decision by several masked gunmen to launch such a murderous attack against the staff.

The perpetrators of the attack, in which 12 were killed and several more critically wounded, must be apprehended — but, more broadly, we also need to reaffirm the importance of absolute freedom of expression in an open society — regardless of how offensive it might be to some and, on occasion, how puerile it may become. The solution to bad ideas — as the enlightenment philosopher John Stuart Mill noted — is not censorship but more speech with which to counter them.

By all accounts Charlie Hebdo has certainly been scurrilous and provocative in the past and hasn’t relented in its approach since 2006, when it republished controversial cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, or since 2011 when its offices were fire bombed. Recent front covers have poked fun not just at the Muslim prophet, but the pope, Jesus, Jews, various world leaders, and celebrities. Infantile as some of this may seem, it is also a reaction to an increasingly censorious society.

 

Read the full post on The Week.

 

The Truth about Content-Writing Mastery

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This post by James Chartrand originally appeared on Men With Pens on 1/5/15.

We all know how we’d like to feel when we write.

We want to be transcendent. We want to craft breathtakingly compelling content that brings us piles of comments and eager new clients. We want words to flow from our fingers and magically appear on the page, dashing genius from our brows after four hours of taking dictation from gods on high.

We just don’t want to do the work it takes to get there.

 

That’s the problem with writers.

 

I can’t tell you how many people in my writing course, Damn Fine Words, tell me that they want to use the class to elevate their writing. To master it. To bend words to their will.

They want to be completely unique. They want to write something new and exciting. They want to find a voice that’s all their own. They want to succeed.

There’s nothing wrong with that ambition. In fact, I encourage it. But it’s often painfully clear that some people are trying to tackle a level of mastery that’s far above their current capabilities.

They’re trying to skip the first step – the boring one, the one where you have to learn the basics and fundamentals. They want to cut to the head of the line, where they get to try cool new things.

Here’s the truth about writing:

There are no shortcuts. You can’t leapfrog your way to mastery.

You have to put in the work.

 

The 4 Stages of Mastery

 

Read the full post on Men With Pens.

 

The Four Essential Stages of Writing

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This post by Ali Luke originally appeared on her Aliventures site on 2/12/14.

In last week’s post, 7 Habits of Serious Writers, I mentioned the importance of actually writing, plus the need to redraft. I thought it’d be worth putting those stages into context – because they’re not all you need for an effective piece.

Every finished piece of writing passes through four stages:

Planning
Drafting
Redrafting
Editing

Sure, you can publish a blog post without doing any planning, or any rewriting and editing. Unless you’re very lucky, though (or writing something extremely short), you’ll be lacking a clear focus, the structure won’t quite work, and there’ll be clumsy sentences all over the place.

I wouldn’t call that “finished”, myself. I’d call it a draft.

The four stages don’t always have to be tackled in order. Sometimes, you’ll find that they can be combined – rewriting and editing, for instance. They don’t even have to be carried out by the same person. (I’ve written blog posts to other people’s plans, and I’ve had my work edited by others.)

But it’s crucial to be clear about what each stage involves. If you’re struggling with a particular piece of writing, there’s a good chance that you’ve skipped a step somewhere – or that you’ve tried to do everything at once.

 

Stage #1: Planning

 

Read the full post on Aliventures.

 

Living The Stuff Of Novels: The Ghostwriter’s Lot

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This post by Roz Morris originally appeared on her Nail Your Novel site on 12/14/14.

In this season of the notorious Zoella ghostwritten novel, I’m getting deluged with questions from people who know I ghostwrite. What’s it like? Who have I done? Well, I can’t tell you that because it’s a trade secret. Also because to divulge the details might get me shot. (Though I can give advice on how you get into it – here’s my recent post on that.) As the nation sings Zoella, Zoella, I thought you might like this piece on ghostwriting, originally penned for Authors Electric.

Write what you know? Ho ho ho

An acquaintance from my dance classes read My Memories of a Future Life last month and has since been seeing me in a whole new light. I can tell by the thoughtful looks he gives me as we wince through stretches and wobble through pirouettes; an expression that says ‘I never knew you had that weird stuff going on…’

After class the other day he said to me: ‘that freaky scene with the hypnosis in the underground theatre… you must have been to something like that?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘It’s research and imagination.’ He looked a little disappointed.

 

Read the full post on Nail Your Novel.

 

Finding Your Genre: An Epiphany

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This post by Christa Allan originally appeared on Jamie Chavez’ site on 12/22/14.

If you’re not from New Orleans and you find yourself plopped in the Big Easy one day, it’s likely one of the first questions you’ll hear is “Where did you go to school?”

Here’s a “quirk alert” that will navigate you through this disarmingly simple question. If you answer with the name of a college or city or state, we’ll know you’re definitely someone who lives outside the greater New Orleans area.

When locals ask that question of one another, we respond with the name of our high school. You may have attended Harvard, been selected as a Rhodes Scholar, or graduated from the University of Paris-Sorbonne. To us, those distinctions provide little, if any, information about the real you.

But a high school? Say a name and we’ll know if it’s public, private, religious, the demographics of the neighborhood in which you were raised, where you shopped and ate, your friends … For the most part, our high schools defined us and were reference points for those who didn’t know us well. And there were anomalies, like the kids awarded scholarships to private schools or the ones who transferred to schools whose football teams won championships.

So finishing my first novel and being asked about genre was as disarming as a tourist being asked about school.

 

Read the full post on Jamie Chavez’ site.

 

The Copyright Naughty List

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This post by Susan Spann originally appeared on the Writers in the Storm blog on 12/10/14.

Happy Holidays!

‘Tis the season to stay off the copyright “naughty list,” so I’m here to share a few #PubLaw tips for avoiding copyright infringement in your holiday blogging and social media celebrations!

When celebrating online this holiday season, keep these helpful rules in mind:

SONGS (AND LYRICS) ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

At the holidays, it’s tempting to re-post the lyrics to favorite carols or celebratory songs, either on Facebook, on a blog, or on other social media sites. Unfortunately, lyric-sharing often violates the copyright of the lyricist or songwriter, because lyrics are protected by copyright, as are novels, short stories and poems.

Posting an excerpt (no more than 2-3 lines) is often permitted as “fair use,” especially when the quoted work runs at least 30 lines. However, there is no absolute test for fair use, and no definitive test for when you’ve used too much of a copyrighted work. The legal test is “facts and circumstances,” based on several factors (so anyone who tells you “X lines is ok, but more is not” isn’t telling you the absolute legal truth.

 

Read the full post on Writers in the Storm.

 

NaNoWriMo Doesn’t Matter

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This post by Chuck Wendig originally appeared on his terribleminds blog on 12/1/14. Warning: strong language.

On November 1st, NaNoWriMo matters.

On November 8th, it still matters.

On November 13th, 18th, 24th, mmm, yep, it matters.

(Thanksgiving? Only pie matters. Do not argue this.)

On November 30th? Still matters!

December 1st?

*the quiet sound of crickets fucking*

Today, it doesn’t matter.

This isn’t a dismissal of National Novel Writing Month. Not at all. I’ve come around to love the spirit around that month — a 30 day descent into the lunacy of being a novelist, equal parts fun and frustration (“funstration!”). A hard dive into creative waters. Let it fill your lungs. Drown in it.

Rock the fuck on.

But right now? It doesn’t matter. NaNoWriMo is just the wrapping, the trapping, the springboard, the diving board. It’s what got you going, but it isn’t what matters.

What matters is you. What matters is the work.

And right now, you’ve got something.

I don’t know if it’s finished or not. Did you win or lose?

Forget winning and losing.

You left those words behind when NaNoWriMo ended. What matters now is what happens next.

Don’t know what happens next? Here. I’m going to tell you. Or, at least, I’m going to give you a general idea of what happens next — a menu of permutations and possibilities.

If you didn’t finish what you started, you’re going to finish it. (Why? I told you that last week.)

And if you did finish it?

 

Read the full post on Chuck Wendig’s terribleminds blog.

 

6 Tips For Becoming A Better Writer

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This post by Eric Barker originally appeared on Business Insider on 11/11/14.

U want 2B a better writer?

Good writing is often looked at as an art and, frankly, that can be intimidating. No need to worry. There are rules — even science —  behind writing well.

Our brain works a particular way; so what rules do we need to know to write the way the brain best understands?

To find out the answer I gave Steven Pinker a call.

Steven is a cognitive scientist and linguist at Harvard. He’s also on the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary.

Steven was recently ranked as one of the top 100 most eminent psychologists of the modern era.

His latest book is “The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century“. And it’s great.

Below you’ll learn:

  1. The two key elements that will improve your writing.
  2. The biggest mistake we all make — and how to fix it.
  3. The science behind what makes writing work.
  4. The most pleasant way to improve your knowledge of grammar.

And a lot more. Let’s get to work.

 

Read the full post on Business Insider.

 

Is “Likeability” Only an Issue if the Character is Female?

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This post by Kirsten Reach originally appeared on the Melville House site on 11/18/14.

Asked whether she’d want to be friends with the protagonist in her latest novel, Claire Messud famously quipped in an interview with Publishers Weekly last year, “Would you want to be friends with Humbert Humbert?” Nora, the main character in The Woman Upstairs, might be described as an “art monster,” a term Jenny Offill coined in Dept. of Speculation.

Nora devotes herself to her work with fervor, but she also behaves in a way the reviewer disliked, which changed her experience with the book. How much should that be discussed in a formal or informal review? Moreover, how deep does likeability go? Are readers at fault for not taking time to get further in the characters’ heads, or are authors supposed to be held responsible for the questionable behavior of their characters?

Messud’s interview seemed to kick off more than a year of authors reflecting on the way the women in their novels were received, especially if the reviewer assumed some traits in their characters were drawn from the authors’ own lives. Edan Lepucki wrote a piece for The Millions this week on the reception of her characters, especially the female protagonist, in her novel California:

 

Read the full post on the Melville House site.