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After thirteen years of off-and-on novel writing and three years of grad school, craft is a dirty word to me. Fortunately for my parents and unfortunately for me, I have always been an overachieving student. Imagine my frustration when I realized that writing, unlike other academic subjects, could not be mastered by learning a few rules and corollaries, by memorizing dates or by scouring academic journals to see what the “experts” had to say. No, writing is an open-ended subject complete with fickle teachers who often can’t tell you what they want. They, like many of my old literature professors, seemingly hold our partials aloft, close their eyes, and stick out the tip of their tongues saying, “Mmm. Feels like. . . . another stale you-can’t-go-home-again story. . . . C+.”
Now that you’re thoroughly depressed, consider the one thing that successful writers say over and over again: keep writing. Just keep writing. The more you write the better you’ll get—at least that’s what I’m hoping. I feel as though my writing has improved, and my husband assures me that I’m not delusional. At least not on the subject of my writing.
In the spirit of this month’s topic, I will share with you some of my tough lessons learned. None of this advice is new, but take a moment to imagine me as third wheel Helga on the old Saturday Night Live sketch Hans and Frans: “Hear me now; believe me later. You really have to do all of this craft stuff.”
- Set up a time to write and do it
- Be willing to cut, slash, and revise. If you wrote it once, you can do it again.
- Don’t love yourself or your words too much; if folks are confused or turned off, it’s gotta be changed no matter how clever you think it is for the heroine to have a pet skunk who helps her solve the murder of Mr. Stinker
- Counter-argument to the line above: you can’t change your story for every comment from every person. Be reasonable, but always be true to yourself. Weigh advice carefully and always consider the source.
- Submit your work. You can’t get published if you don’t submit your work.
And that’s all I have. One day, I would love to give advice from the point of view of someone published, someone knowledgeable about what it takes to be successful. Right now you’re taking the advice of a teacher’s pet who yearns to be someone’s favorite student.
So, let’s sneak into the teachers’ lounge and do what all good teachers do: vent. And, yes, vent is a euphemism for what teachers really do which is complain, rant, rail, bitch and moan. (It’s all to release the frustrations of trying to educate America’s youth, now, so cut them some slack.) What part about craft really gets your goat? And by that I mean the figurative goat, not the one you have in Chapter 5 eating your heroine’s mother-in-law’s curtains. Craft, plot, motivation, characterization, conflict, show don’t tell: what are your favorite “dirty words” of writing and why?
by Sally Kilpatrick
30 comments
Love it, Sally. As you might guess, I’m a craft junkie. But what I love about craft is the same thing I hate about it. There’s always something new to learn. With so many books and blogs and workshops, it’s seems there’s always some new nugget of wisdom out there about how to write well enough to be published. That’s exciting and it keeps things fresh, but it’s hard to keep up with all these kernels of truth. And hard to pick out the best ones to hold onto.
I like your summary. Especially that last one. I’ve finished my final revisions of last year’s wip, and am about to embark on a submission frenzy. I’m shaking in my boots. Wish me luck!
Great post! Show don’t tell is my most significant challenge. I know the rules but don’t always follow them.
Marilyn
Linsey–the last step, submission, is a very important one. We don’t want to end up like the guys who stockpiled newspapers.
Marilyn–thanks. I don’t think any of us follow all of the rules. I’m sure there’s a parallel to religion in there somewhere.
Enjoyed the post Sally. As a former teacher, I have certainly done my part of ranting. Love that lounge!
I know I should write and write some more. I love your 5 points! We should all frame them – especially ME. Thanks.
My favorite part of writing…ranting…grin…
Great post, Sally. I, too, can’t wait until I can give the advise of a published author.
The part of craft that really “Gets my goat” is grammar. I’m sure there are others, but it’s amazing how many ways you can mess up a sentence. I definitely need to brush up on that before I get much further. I’m HOPING this will make the rest of the process go much smoother…hehehe….
Have a great day!
Tami
I”m with you Tami. My goat eats tin cans with labels like “Comma Splice” and “Fragment.” I’m a poor grammarian – difficult to admit as a former English teacher. I’ve even tried online classes for comma usage to no avail.
For me, it’s not grammar! Although, I’ve made my fair share of mistakes. I think I’m still too new to this to have only one thing that frustrates me. Plot is certainly one, but the rest of the list is long.
Terrific, Sally. I’m cutting and pasting right now.
As for my goat, what gets it is figurative language.
As an English teacher and I LOVE LOVE LOVE metaphor. Have to. English Lit is my specialty, everything from Beowulf to my darling Keats.
That said, in my own writing, I’m a little masturbatory when it comes to metaphor (playing with them too much, etc.).
I need to stop messing around and get to the story.
Maxine,
Thanks for stopping by. I forgot to mention that I did my time in public education, too. (8 years of teaching Spanish–because that’s what you do with an English major)
Ranting is therapeutic, and teachers only rant because they want the best for their kiddies just like we want the best for our manuscripts/babies.
Crap. Apparently my goat also gets got with typos/spelling/the addition of mystery words.
“As an English teacher *AND* I LOVE LOVE LOVE metaphor” ??
It’s like I’m always drunk writing or something.
Tami and Michelle,
I don’t know what to tell you ladies about grammar. I know that there was a time that I knew all of the comma rules by heart, but I’m not sure you want to take class with “Killer” Keller or to do the punctuation project that consisted of finding about 50 examples of the comma rules in actual text. Then again, I promise you’d learn all about commas. : )
Thanks for ranting with me!
Yes, Debbie. You’re still a newbie, but you’re headed in the right direction with your Chicken Soup stories being published and with your Fire & Ice win. I’m not sure you need to rant!
J–it’s all good. I am with you because I, too, suffer from the English major’s desire to use figurative language. I get really attached to symbols, alliterative passages, and literary allusions that my husband tells be are beyond esoteric.
Nice rant–I feel your pain!
Sally –
Great post. I’ve always wanted to hang out in the teacher’s lounge and hear what they talk/rant about. Fun to pop into it today.
I write clean and am pretty good with grammar, but certainly not a pro with it. I don’t worry too much about a comma in the right place or whatever since eventually the copy editor will have his/her way, which sometimes make us crazy with so many extra commas. For example, I put commas where I feel the reader needs to pause in a thought and I know one major author I met recently who takes practically all the commas out (and over rules the CE who puts them back in) because she doesn’t like what they do to the rhythm of the story for a reader.
I’m the same way about colons and semi-colons. I do not use them (I prefer a dash or elipse or to break up the sentence), because colons and semi-colons pull me out of a story by reminding me I’m reading text when it looks “proper” like something in a thesis or nonfiction book. I’ve heard other readers say this, too, but the CEs are not happy when they get overruled on that either.
One of the things I do (Sherri does, too – we were laughing about this the other day) is repeat some word throughout the book, like a new favorite word that can be as simple as “So.” We were laughing about how it’s annoying because it’s never the same word in every book – argh! That’s where another reader is so valuable.
Thanks for stopping by, Dianna! I can’t believe how much controversy those commas create, and I think I sympathize with the copy editor.
I completely agree about the “word of the book;” I think I heard Rita Herron talk about that once, too.
As to the teachers’ lounge, it’s a great place to hang out, but don’t leave any food there that you want to still be there when you get back. The rants are often very creative because they’re born of the frustration of trying to do the right thing–well, that and the crazy things that kids sometimes do.
First,
I have to stop laughing. I love reading funny posts and Sally my dear, you never disapoint!
Next, I just got done reading a form rejection from a publisher who shall remain nameless so reading your post and seeing that you’re encouraging a good vent is just what the doctor ordered.
WHY do editors come to conferences, seem very thrillied about your story and ask for a full if they know that the first few pages or 1st chapter and synopsis is really all they need to see whether they like your writing style, story, plot, characters, whatever!
Why can’t they say, “I love the idea of your story, please send me page one.” WHY?
I printed out the whole F*%$ing thing, 298 pages, went to the post office in the rain 6 months ago, paid nearly 15 dollars to send it and include the SASE and instead of the editor who asked for it with big swoonie eyes, I get a form (and I mean form!) rejection from an assistant editor I never met!!!!!!! The manuscript looks fresh off the presses even after going there and back in the mail too. Unless she’s Martha Stewart, turning pages with tweezers and white gloves, I doubt seriously she read past page one anyway!!!
Okay…Tamara, take a breath. Calm your jets.
Woo…okay, I’m calm.
My question is why do they ask for a full? Why…why? Why can’t all editors and agents, especially if they know they want it snail mail, ask for the first five pages and a synopsis? Then if they like it, great! They ask for more. If they don’t, at least I haven’t helped desimate a forest for nothing!
I wish I could get this question answered because I have three five requests for manuscripts to put out and I’m really not looking forward to the results.
Sorry for the overzealous vent.
Loved your post!
Tamara
Three, five requests? What the heck did I write there?
I have three FULL requests for manuscripts. That’s what I meant to say.
Sorry Sally. That’s what happens when I get venty. My brain gets all fuzzy.
T
Great post, Sally. Mmm, my crafty goat gets riled up over my internal editor – that nemesis that wants me to rethink every sentence I put down before I move onto the next. I guess that’s not really a craft issue, but it certainly can be a problem.
Hi Sally,
Loved the ranting post. We all have our days of wanting/needing to rant…you know, get it off our chests. Isn’t that what writing sisters are for? :>)
My rant is somewhat similar…but has to do with the waiting. I’m a fast-food person…which means that I send in a partial and I want to know in 2-4 weeks if they want to see more instead of 2-4 (or 6-8) MONTHS that they’re not interested or they want the full…and then you have the same old waiting thing going again.
The other thing that I know is necessary, and I cooperate without ranting, is the editing required if they show interest or buy.
I’ve read about authors who are requested to do a bunch of rewriting and editing so they can take another look at it and then they don’t buy it. Now THAT would make me want to rant.
Enjoyed the subject and your list.
Sandy
My problem is like Darcy’s…I have a problem “moving on” thinking I can transform a good sentence into something that truly radiates! I instituted a rule–I cannot go back and rewrite any sentence until I have a full page. If I go back and rewrite anything on that page, I can’t change anything else until I finish the chapter. This at least forces me to complete a full chapter before I go back in and clean it up.
Oh, and when I get started the next day, I will allow myself to edit only the pages done the previous day. Otherwise, I spend all my time rewriting!
Great post, Sally!
Big rewrites are the worst for me. Like Ana, I tweak the previous day’s work to get myself started again and tweak while getting it on paper, so the result is fairly clean. What I dread, unless there’s clear direction given to guide me is big rewrites. Not that I can’t do it, but it’s just that those things seem to affect everything else, so that the big change means combing over and over everything else, braiding the change into the story. Then I’m always worried I’ve missed some sentence somewhere that will no longer make sense to the reader.
Tamara, pobrecita. You need to focus on all of those requests for fulls. I’ve had one request for a full in my life, and there are several other people who’ve never had a request at all.
Yeah, it’s a crap shoot and someone’s assistant is going to end up with a project going, “What the heck?” and then pass without actually reading it.
Chalk it up to a business loss and see if it helps your taxes? I don’t know what to tell you other than I happen to be about 40 pages in as of today, and I think it’s fresh and wonderful.
Darcy, I know what you mean about that pesky superego. One of the things that really helped me was a device used by one of my professors: he had us write a certain amount of pages every week no matter what. We could go over, but we couldn’t go under that amount–either 10 or 15 pages.
At any rate, I had to focus on production for a while and that helped my fixation on quality. Then, I was surprised to learn that often the quality of those rushed, tooth-pulling pages was about the same as the ones that flowed freely–a couple of articles in writing magazines serendipitously backed up my discovery that semester, too.
Other than that? I don’t know. My internal editor can be a really hateful beast.
Thanks, Sandy! I know what you’re saying about the waiting game. I’m still waiting to hear back on a partial from early November.
As for editing, I think one of the advantages of writing so long before getting published is that I don’t have a lot of pride about that sort of thing. I’ve never had a problem voicing my opinions, but I’m ready to edit for someone.
Ana, Spending all of my time rewriting is so not a problem for me. I do generally push myself forward to finish at least a chapter before I start nitpicking, though.
Oh, and I have been known to delete whole chunks and start from scratch rather than worry through the prose.
I know. I need help.
Carol, rewriting seems to be a big bugaboo. As I told Ana, I usually end up deleting huge chunks or, as I have for my Master’s thesis, starting from scratch. Twice. Boy, I could rant on that, but I can’t argue with the results, so. . . .
Thanks!
Don’t get me started on ranting. Oh, why not? Biggest craft rant — I was taking a master’s level fiction class and the teacher said, “No science fiction or fantasy. I can’t read that stuff.” Another lit teacher’s take on science fiction / fantasy: “It’s okay if you read it fast.” Message — don’t waste your time writing that unworthy stuff.
Sally,
thanks so much for the advice. A business loss is a good way to look at it…and also, I’m taking my full requests for granted. I feel like a real heel.
Thanks for putting things in perspective and thank you for the compliment.
luv u,
T
Anna, obviously your professor hadn’t read YOUR work. Your writing is very well done and not something to be glossed over. It’s a shame you couldn’t have had my fiction teacher in grad school–he’s not big on genre, but he does like science fiction/fantasy.
Tamara,
Don’t you dare feel like a heel! We all have our frustrations, and we all have them at different levels. Go ahead and be mad–especially about that chunk of paper that didn’t appear to be touched. When you’re done, then pat yourself on the back for getting those three requests.
I’m just telling you to hang in there because you’re getting there. It’s always slower than we want it to be, but you’re getting there!