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The place to post questions and find answers on all of your too-afraid-to-ask concerns, hesitancies and worries about breaking into the publishing field.
Statistics for Ask Allison
Number of Readers that added this blog to their MyJacketFlap: 35
So the main ingredient to Ask Allison is that this is a place where authors, aspiring, published, on their way, support other authors, and so today, I wanted to shoot off a quick post about one of my favorite people in the world, Laura Dave, whose paperback, The Divorce Party, was released yesterday. Woot!
Now, before you rolls your eyes and think that I'm just pimping one of my author friends to increase book sales, I wanted to give you a little background. Yes, Laura is one of my dear friends, but we became dear friends because I wrote her a fan email. Yes, this is true. Even authors write other authors fan emails. :)
A few years back, I plunked down on the couch and started reading her debut, London is The Best City in America. I barely removed my ass from the couch until I was done. (And this was while I was at the beach, which is seriously saying something.) I saw that she and I had gone to the same college, so I fired off a note to her about her precocious and tender writing. Well, she wrote me back, invited me to meet for coffee (because that's just the kind of gal she is), and a friendship was born.
Here is the type of friend, author aside, that Laura is: not only did she insist on reading a print out of an early draft of Time of My Life (which she actually printed herself), she then promptly offered me what is now the epigraph in the book. It was one of her favorite quotes, a quote, in fact, that she had reserved for one of her own books, but she insisted, INSISTED that I take it. I have countless other ways that she rocks, but that one really exemplifies her collaborative, supportive spirit and why I hope you'll take a quick sec to click on the Amazon link and buy the book, which is a wonderful, smart, insightful novel that stands on its own, even if she were the most horrible person on the planet. :)
I just always think it's great when authors embrace other authors: there are those out there who are threatened by their peers and there are those who bring out the best in their peers. You already know which category I choose my friends from. Same with Laura.
Also, NYC-ers, Laura and I are doing a joint reading/discussion on writing and publishing THIS MONDAY, AT MCNALLY JACKSON (52 PRINCE STREET) AT 7pm. Hope to see some of you there!
1 Comments on Laura Dave Rocks (And More...), last added: 4/29/2009
I ADORE Laura's books, and you're right--she's a great example of how wonderful the author community can be. Gotta love great writers who are also cool people :)
I cannot claim this idea as my own, but I love it so much that I had to blog about it. I woke up this AM and checked Twitter and saw that @joshmalina, an actor whom I don't know, but whose work I have followed (West Wing, Big Shots - yeah, I watched that, so what?, I confessed as much to Michael Vartan when I interviewed him), posted the brilliant idea of tweeting your worst reviews. Ha!!!! I am SO DOWN for that.
Here's the thing about bad reviews: they may be eviscerating, gut-punching, vomit-inducing at the time, but I promise, you can look back at them and giggle. I swear. Case in point: when The Department came out, the Washington Post ripped me a new one. I mean, it was like the reviewer knew me and launched a personal attack. (Seriously, my agent saw it and called me to ask if I knew her!) The review, at the time, literally gave me the shakes - it was physically revolting. But now, omg, I saw Josh's tweet, and I'm actually laughing as I try to find the review on the internet to post it up. I mean, seriously! It was one stinking review that the reviewer took a little too seriously.
Anyway, whether you're on twitter or not (and if you are, come post your own bad review!), this is just a good reminder that this too shall pass. :)
Twitter: TOTAL PAN TUESDAY! #tpant My twitter tag: @aswinn
UPDATE: Josh stops by in the comments section and weighs in! Say hi to him below!
19 Comments on This is the Best Idea Ever, last added: 4/29/2009
Fabulous idea. I can include the review of my book that started, "You must be kidding..."
Fond memories :)
Anonymous said, on 4/28/2009 11:49:00 AM
AWS -- Thanks for the plug! Since you mention both wretched reviews and Big Shots, a quick anecdote:
I have always read and reveled in reading reviews, pleasant and not so. Occasionally I am reminded that not all actors take this tack, as when I brought a sheaf of truly horrible notices to the set of BS. I don't know...I just thought they were funny.
Later that day I got a call from my press guy who had gotten a call from the main ABC press guy saying "WTF! Why is Josh bringing shitty reviews to the set?! That's crazy!" We had all laughed at them, but apparently someone wasn't so amused. Out of a sense of diplomacy I'll provide only his initials: D(ylan) M(cDermott). In any event, I told the ABC guy to bug off. I suggested his time might be better spent fighting the tsunami of bad BS press, than chastising 42 year old actors.
Oh well...DM's a great guy, and perhaps it is best to ignore the vitriol. But until then...
IT'S TOTAL PAN TUESDAY ON TWITTER! #tpant
Come join the fun. You'll find me at @joshmalina.
Until we meet, I'll have my head buried in THE DEPARTMENT OF LOST AND FOUND which looks wonderful.
Thank you, thank you (in all seriousness!) for sharing those insights. Honestly, I share your perspective about reviews, and I often say as much here on the blog, reminding authors and aspiring authors to not take them as gravely as we sometimes do.
Btw, I LOVE the above story! Hee! Vartan and I talked about BS (hmmm, interesting initials, I'm referring to Big Shots) for a while a few weeks ago, and I loved his humor about the whole thing too.
Readers - for those of you who haven't been following us on Twitter, Josh loved my horrid WashPo review so much that he bought the book. LOVE IT! Go follow him - I haven't laughed this hard in a while. :)
And JOSH, I must interview you for your next project. We'll make it happen!
Thanks again for the brilliant idea of TOTAL PAN TUESDAY!
Josh rocks for suggesting this and you rock for doing it. (Do the kids say "rock" anymore?)
If I had any (reviews I mean - not good/bad ones) as a writer, I'd so share them. I had a few as an actor but they were positive (I totally paid them off).
OMG! I can't believe you unearthed this! This article has always been my secret shame. It was this experience that taught me never to take "news" at its word.
I never, ever said the phrase "dishing up the self" -- perhaps the most self-important description an actor could give to his profession -- which appears in this article! My cousin Joel still taunts me with it!
Very, very funny. And the many interviews I have done since, have in fact proven the old adage "don't believe everything your read." It is rare that I am not somehow misquoted in some sort of cringe-inducing way.
j - This might be the most succinct, apt description of husbands/fathers ever. :)
I'm writing people back and telling them to post here instead of to me!
Anonymous said, on 4/28/2009 4:14:00 PM
All I want to do is mumble inanities like "Jeremy 4-eva" and other unintelligible stuff. Jeremy and Natalie gave hope for smart, nerdy couples everywhere. Oh God, see what I mean?
OK. Josh, you're pretty awesome and I was so happy to see you walk through the doors of West Wing. (Too bad they never gave the Danica McK storyline any legs ... you two made a good team.) And I'm so glad to hear you're a Dad. I'll bet you're a great one.
Josh -- You did more than replace Rob Lowe on WW -- you did him one better. The relationship between you and Richard Schiff was fantastic. Please tell me you protested the plot shift when you went to work for the VP. You should have stayed!
I don't want to go on for fear of sounding like a crazed mumu wearing WW blogger, which I'm not. Totally sane writer and mom of two here who just happens to own the whole WW.
Like my buddy Sandra, running away now...
Denise
Anonymous said, on 4/29/2009 12:04:00 AM
Sandra and Denise:
Thanks for the kinds words; they are much appreciated. For the record, I was disappointed when will Bailey hitched his wagon to Bingo Bob, but alas I am but a cog in the machine. They write and I obey....
And Richard Schiff, Sabrina LLoyd and danica M. were all great fun to work with. One of the (many) nice things about working for Aaron, is he opportunity to work with great actors.
WTF?! I just launched a blog on Monday about this VERY THING. It's called THE WORST REVIEW EVER: www.theworstreviewever.blogspot.com. This is too creepy. Hmmmm.
Question of the day: Can you talk about the best way to go about asking authors for blurbs? How do you approach them? When is the best time in the process to do so?
This is a timely question for me, as I'm sitting here typing this with a stack of ten or so to-be-read-for-potential-blurb manuscripts and galleys on my desk. Sigh. I feel soooo badly that I haven't had time to read them all, but given where I am with my manuscript, it hasn't been possible. BUT, now that I've been on both the asking and the being-asked end of this question, I do think I have some insights.
First, I can't and won't blurb a book that hasn't been sold. A lot of authors feel this way, and there are several reasons for it. To begin with, as noted above, I have a long pile of books that HAVE been sold, and truth told, I just don't have the time to read a manuscript that might not see the light of day. That sounds terrible, I know, but it's honest. And I think understandable. Second of all, agents and editors advise authors not to blurb anything that hasn't yet sold for legal reasons: if the manuscript never sells and the author THINKS he sees something similar in your next book, who's to say that said author won't raise a stink about plagiarism, stolen ideas, etc? Again, I know, very unlikely, but people can do very weird things when they don't fulfill their dream and see someone else doing it, and it's not a chance worth taking.
So, let's say your manuscript sells. Hurrah! Congrats to you! What now? Well, once you have a finished ms, you can certainly start sending out notes to your favorite authors. If you're not in the galley stage, however, this means one of two things: that the author, if she agrees to read, will receive a bound copy of the ms (sort of like a bound term-paper/thesis that you might have made at Kinko's in high school or college) or the author will receive a 300-page print out of your book, akin to a loose ream of paper. You can guess which ones get relegated to the bottom of the pile. I do my reading at night or on the subway or in hit or miss places where I might find a few spare minutes. I simply cannot carry around loose pieces of paper, not to mention that it feels much more like homework than pleasure reading when you're reading a literal print-out.
BUT, sometimes, you can't avoid that, and it is what it is. If you really want an author, it might be worth asking, even if she receives a 10-pound lug in the mail. Most often, however, I'd simply advise that you wait until the galley stage. Yes, it's soooo wonderful and joyous and perfect to have blurbs on your galley, but unless you personally know an author, I really wouldn't have an expectation that she'll read those 300 loose pages.
How do you ask? You send a very, very polite email to said author, explaining why you'd like HER to blurb, why you think the book might resonate, and of course, being very, very understanding if she can't. I'd also make note of the fact that blurbs aren't obligatory, and when I was asking for blurbs, I never, ever assumed that someone would like my book OR would have the time to read it. If one did, bingo! And if she didn't, there were no. hard. feelings. You should also leverage your agent and editor contacts: they might rep or work with authors who are good fits and with whom they have an in. Authors always feel more obligated to read a ms if there's a connection.
Finally, don't take it personally if you don't receive a coveted blurb from a particular author. I can honestly say, now that I'm on the other side, that I am so, so busy, and I am trying to bust my way through all of these, but a realistic voice in my head also knows that's not going to be possible. I used to think: how hard is it to read one lousy book? But it's never one lousy book; it's a lot of them, along with juggling my own work, my own life, and ideally, my own reading for pleasure.
I'm also trying to be judicious: there are authors who blurb just about anything, and I don't think that's fair to readers. I'd like to think that I'll be someone who readers can count on to be honest in my endorsements, so if I don't fall in love with something, I just don't feel right tacking my name on. It's not personal. Hell, plenty of people didn't blurb me. And I get that. It made the ones that we DID get all the more sweet. And that's not to say I wouldn't go back to these authors and ask again next time. But when and if I did, I'd keep in mind their own looming tower of to-be-read manuscripts, and I'd recognize that one blurb won't make or break my book. Really. You won't believe it now, but looking back on it, I promise you that it's true.
6 Comments on Blurb Bartering, last added: 4/27/2009
This covered all the bases and was so well written. I agree on every point. My book will be in the galley stage next month, and although I've gotten a dream blurb from my favorite author, it was all through my editor. I'm going to do exactly what Allison suggests: Politely approach other authors I adore with a personal note and ask them to consider reading my galley. I actually feel a bit guilty about it, to be honest, because I know how busy bestselling authors are. And reading an entire book takes hours and hours. I feel like I'm asking people I don't even know for this enormous favor. But I certainly wouldn't expect them to agree. And I'll remain a fan of their work regardless of the answer.
Excellent points. I've just gone through the process of asking for blurbs for my own novel that will be out early next year. It's a ticklish business, no doubt about it. Thanks for your forthright and sensible advice.
I think you nailed this. I've been very very very fortunate with blurbs. The key is to be polite and expect nothing. I do believe that most authors really WANT to give blurbs. They remember when they were at that stage- however they do have buckets of other commitments.
So I feel like some of my posts these days are getting redundant - and for that, and if so, I apologize - but when I'm in full-on writing mode, I probably go into a little bubble where I have the same thoughts over and over again. :) But once again this week I was reminded that the hardest part of this gig is WRITING. And once again, I was also reminded that the best way to overcome this is TO WRITE.
To wit: every day this past week, I have come up with A MILLION excuses not to write. A hundred different websites to check. A thousand different Scrabble games to play. A gajillion reasons to check Twitter. (Which, incidentally, I'm now really loving. Check it out if you haven't. I'm @aswinn.) But, after all of my procrastination, I did indeed carve out time every day to write, and I was shocked, shocked, SHOCKED, each day to discover that while the words didn't always come easily, they did eventually snowball, such that I wrote at least 1300 words each day, topping out with 2k words on Tuesday. I mean...wow! Just forcing myself to do it for an hour can actually add up to something substantial.
Again, I know that this is repetitive but it's also such a good reminder. Sit down. Write. Surprise yourself that you can be productive. Even if it's just a few hundred words. It's more than you had yesterday. And you'll always write more tomorrow.
3 Comments on This is Not a News Flash, last added: 4/24/2009
I always say that the best way to start writing - is to open the Word doc.
:)
And I agree, if I am "not in the mood" or something else calls to me, I give myself a short time out w/ the computer and it usually ends up being a few hours before I get up from the chair.
It is so true -- we make the simple fact of just getting those words down so complicated sometimes. But the thing is, there is always rewriting! The words don't have to be perfect the first time around. But what a great feeling when you see that word count add up and you have the raw material to work with. Congrats on getting it done!
So one thing that I've definitely noticed now that I've written a couple of manuscripts is that music DEFINITELY helps boost my creative brain cells. This probably isn't anything revelatory, but it really kicked in for me this past weekend when I was walking the dog and listening to The Killers over and over again. They have a theme running through a lot of their songs that sort of echos small town life - the joy, the despair, the claustrophobia - and I found, while out with the pooch, that the songs almost played as background music for me while I ruminated my characters and their next plot development. Like, I could see the songs playing in the movie trailer, and while on this walk (and listening to said music), I worked through the next part of my book. Something clicked in to place for me, and voila, I knew what I had to write.
This isn't new for me - when I wrote TOML, I was definitely influenced by more female-oriented songs about loss, longing, regret, rebirth, and even now, whenever I hear a song like Chantel Kraviazuk's Time or Sheryl Crow and Sting's Always On Your Side, I think of my characters and how those songs shaped them (and my writing process). Ditto the Ben Folds song, The Luckiest for The Department of Lost and Found. But still, this weekend was a good reminder to me that sometimes, I just have to let my brain go, listen to the literal music and see where it takes me. Try it - if you're a music obsessive like me, it might work.
Anyone else use this technique? If so, what are you listening to now?
9 Comments on Is Music Your Muse?, last added: 4/22/2009
I have ALWAYS operated this way. Music is my muse. I can't listen to the same thing over and over -- it makes my ears bleed -- yet I need music in order to function.
Susan - I think I remember you writing about this on the blog, and me then writing about it on mine in response. :) So yep, we're definitely on the same page!
It's funny you mention this - when I read Stephanie Meyer's books, she always thanks several bands for helping her get through. That's the first time I've seen an author actually credit the band for helping her through.
Maybe you'll have to give the Killers a nod?
Anonymous said, on 4/21/2009 9:47:00 AM
I was gonna mention Stephenie Meyer too. She's pretty insane (in a good way) about her music muses, and aptly enough her main muse is the band Muse. The bands she listens to while writing her books are all over her acknowledgments. I don't write fiction regularly (yet) and as of now I cannot write nonfiction (as in, articles -- not personal nonfiction) with music playing. Too distracting. Fiction, though, I can totally see. Music is so emotionally evocative.
I didn't know that about Stephanie Meyer - very cool.
What I'd love to do, rather than thank them (which could be a possibility), is find a line to use as the epigraph, but I haven't found a perfect one. But we'll see! I'm kicking around a few other songs as well.
What a great post! I hadn't realized this, but the past few weeks I have had a public radio jazz station playing in the background, and I have been in the best, most creative writing mood ever. After reading this post, I stopped to just listen to the music and realized that this music was definitely my muse.
I've found, perhaps because I'm also a musician, that if I try to write with music playing, my fingers want to tap to the rhythm or write out the lyrics instead of my story. So it's dead quiet for my writing.
But I agree - music can certainly inspire. And not just the lyrics, but also the tone. For instance, the first time I heard Zoe Keating, an avant cellist with no lyrics, I felt like she was playing my main character's theme. Another time, it was Tom Morello's new folksy, protest songs that created an atmosphere for a particular scene.
You mention music, but I find I get just as much inspiration from other sources (tactile experiences, the news, smells). And I wonder, do other writers tend to get their inspiration from one particular thing, like music, or a variety of sources?
Totally into this after reading the Twilight series, then watching the movie, and now listening to the soundtrack (The Muse song is a hit from the movie) and now I'm all over iTunes creating a "soundtrack" for this book to fit what it looks like in my head. I'm obsessed. But glad everyone (like A) is obsessed right along with me. I will post my soundtrack on my blog next week.
Funny, I don't use music to create a background for my characters or to inspire me to write about a certain topic. I have a certain set of music that sort of creates this virtual closed room, if you will, that tells my brain, OK, the door's shut now and you have no distractions--let's get to work. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that this music of choice is Enya. It just has become my go-to writing music since before I wrote my first non-fiction book 13 years ago.
Question of the day: Why didn't you try to be the screenwriter for Time of My Life? Do you care that someone else is writing it?
I get asked this question a lot, and to begin with, I didn't even entertain the idea of adapting TOML. For a few reasons: 1) I had no idea how to write a screenplay. I'm sure I could have learned, but at the time, it felt like selling the book was enough. 2) The various producers who were looking into acquiring the project weren't interested in using me, or so I assume. Producers like to vet their own "talent," work with people who have reputations or experience they're aware of, and I totally respect and understand that. And 3) the stakes were just too high. Selling this project and getting it made mattered to me personally but also, let's be honest, mattered (and matters) to my career. I didn't want to mess around by either not landing the producers we wanted or producing a screenplay that wasn't up to par. It was just too important that everything came together seamlessly, more important (to me) than writing the script.
So I guess, to answer the latter question, I don't care AT ALL that someone else is drafting it. To begin with, I totally trust the producers - I met with them several times, and my vision is very cohesive with their vision. But, that said, even if it weren't, it's a win for me to get this made, period. Even if the movie were total crap (which I don't expect it to be), that's no reflection on the original book. The book stands as it is. THAT was my work. The rest is gravy. A bad movie still sells more copies, a bad movie still raises awareness of the book. Beyond that...I don't feel any real ownership. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love this book, and I love the characters, but whether or not they're perfectly translated on screen...well, I have other things to worry about. (Really, I do!) I mean, sure, are there some actors who I might not want playing these roles? Well, yeah! But the fact that ANY actors are playing them is enough for me.
For now.
For the next book, if we're lucky enough to sell it, yeah, I might be interested in tackling that script. But I'm at a different point in my career than I was when we sold TOML, and I feel more confident with that challenge. And if they opt for someone else? That will likely be okay with me too. The good news is, is that by then, I'll hopefully have moved on to my next book, and with that one, there's always more possibility for another movie and another challenge and another option to write a screenplay...not to mention new characters who promptly make me forget the old ones.
Would you guys be okay letting your work fall into someone else's hands or do you think you'd be concerned over the implications?
6 Comments on Scrapping the Screenwriting, last added: 4/20/2009
i'd def be concerned about what they'd too. there are too many books i can list which have be ruined by movies. saying that, i dont think i could cut the required amount to make a screenplay. i'd be fine with it if they stayed true to the basic storyline and didn't change it that much
Anonymous said, on 4/20/2009 7:55:00 AM
I wouldn't do it. Writing a good screenplay is very different than writing a book, totally different skill set, and not something I'd want to practice with on my own book! I'd rather have a seasoned screenwriter who has done other successful adaptions do it. Then I'd focus my energy on writing another book.
If I wanted to try screenwriting, I'd try it, but on something else, something that didn't matter so much, so I could learn the process of screenwriting. It's very rare that a novelist also writes the screenplay adaption of their own novel, for a reason.
Great question, great answer. I think a lot of writers feel so protective of their work that they'd rather not see a movie get made if it's not true to "their vision", but honestly, that's not how I see it. I've seen a play I wrote performed on the stage, and it is just incredibly amazing to see people you made up walking and talking. I think a movie of my book would be like that times eleventy hundred.
And you're SO right about screenwriting being a different skill set. Let an experienced screenwriter take a whack at it. Sure, maybe the movie will become something other than your original vision. But it's never going to be exactly the same, even if you're the one writing it. Writing a novel is a solitary act, for the most part. Making a movie takes hundreds of people. Most of them are not going to be you.
I do know how to write a screenplay, but hypothetically speaking (since I'm as of yet unpublished) I feel the same way as you. I'd rather let the experts handle that aspect and continue focusing on my fiction career. Screenwriting can be fun, but a screenplay is a whole other beast from a novel. Isn't taming one lion enough? :P
It would be hard to let someone else write it but I think that writing a screenplay is a lot different than writing a novel. And like you said maybe once you got more experience you'd want to try.
So I've made no secret on this blog of the fact that I really do struggle with motivation (and procrastination) when it comes to my manuscript. It's not that I don't love my job, I do! But mentally, looking on the outside in, I don't always love writing. I know, I know, this makes so little sense that it sounds inane even as I write it.
Let's back up: once I've jumped-started my work for the day, I find that the time goes by a lot faster than I realize, and I do, really, get completely wrapped up in the scene I'm working on. I love re-reading what I've written. :) I love considering the characters and their various entanglements when I'm not writing. But getting started, typing out those first few sentences just...well, they suck for me.
So, the best trick that I've devised for myself to get around this is to stop my writing the previous day mid-scene. If I end on a chapter break or a section break, I sit there and stare at that looming on set of another scene, which requires yet another creative idea, which just seems so freaking exhausting, that it's almost enough for me to skip the writing for the day altogether. Since I've realized this about myself, I deceive myself into making things a little easier. I think the part I dread most about writing - since I'm a pantser - is coming up with the next twist and turn, and fitting all of those various plot lines into something cohesive, something interesting, something page-turning, and since this is the hardest part for me, I try to get ahead of myself.
Rather than close down for the day in a logical place, I'll push myself to keep going. Even if it's only three sentences into the next scene. It's SO much easier for me to open up that doc the next day and see, WOW, I've already done the heavy lifting as to what comes next! Now, I just have to keep that momentum going.
I'm serious - try it. It's really, really helped my motivation and my urge to write (or not to write). But I'd also LOVE to hear - what jump starts YOU in the morning? How to overcome that urge NOT to open your doc and go about your day without getting anything done at all?
Yours is an interesting trick. I do tend to stop at the end of a scene. Right now I'm thinking of where to open the next scene. If I would have written SOMETHING before I stopped, I might have had a launching pad. Or, if I didn't like the direction, I could have deleted. I would have had some words there instead of "Chapter X" staring me in the face right now.
LJCohen said, on 4/16/2009 8:55:00 AM
Even though I'm not a 'pantser' I have to do the *same* thing to get motivated for the day's writing. And yes, I totally understand the love/hate relationship with the work. Really, it's like Sisyphus rolling that ball uphill every day. I just can't imagine not doing it, no matter how heavy.
:)
Kristan said, on 4/16/2009 9:04:00 AM
Re: your first and second paragraphs- No no, not weird at all. I feel exactly the same way!
And your stopping mid-scene trick is precisely what my creative writing professor/mentor advised me when I was in school.
Another thing - not so much a trick as just a nice thing to do for yourself - is to not beat yourself up. No matter how much or how little you get done, if you beat yourself up about it, you turn writing into a chore, into something that lowers your self-esteem, and that just feeds into the dread.
Also, I like to remind myself at 2 pm or 5 pm or 7 pm or even 9 pm, there are still several usable minutes of my day left - it doesn't HAVE to be a waste!
Tara- yup, that's the problem exactly. When I'm staring at that blank header or page break - eek - it's like looking starting down the barrel of a gun.
Kristan - funny, just after I wrote this blog post, inspiration struck, even though it was late night and I never write then. So I seized the moment and cranked out 500 words. So that's definitely true: grab those moments where you can find them!
LJ - glad to hear I'm not alone!
Jolie said, on 4/16/2009 9:16:00 AM
This is EXACTLY the kind of self-manipulative trick I need! It can be so hard to get back that high once you've set it aside for the day.
Jeffrey Duckworth said, on 4/16/2009 9:41:00 AM
What a wonderful idea! This could be applied to other aspects in life. Need motivation to get out of bed and get dressed? Go to bed with one pants leg on and one off. You will wake up in the morning and say "Wow, I've already started to dress myself. Lets get up and finish."
In all honesty, this is a wonderful idea. Never thought of it this way. I will give it a try. What jumps starts me in the morning is motivation to be more for my family and myself.
Ha! But seriously, I've read before that some people suggest sleeping in your gym clothes so you just wake up and motivate...sort of the same idea. :)
(Btw, thanks for the retweet!)
Emma Newman said, on 4/16/2009 10:56:00 AM
For me, I have to tackle the root cause of the avoidance. It's always fear. The best technique I have found in dealing with that is to remind myself - before I even start - that it is only a first draft, and that first drafts are allowed to be rubbish. If that doesn't work, I negotiate. I'll say to myself, "Ok, try it for ten minutes, see how you go." Usually, if I can make it through 5, I'm so caught up in the scene the fear fades and the noisy inner critique is safely locked away in the cupboard.
I still have to do this *every single time* however. One day, I wonder if I'll just be able to start without all of this. Who knows.
I tried the leaving it in the middle technique and it just didn't work well for me - I couldn't do anything else, it haunted me until it was done. My characters got grumpy (I am a tiny bit mad) and nagged me until I went back to them. Oh dear, maybe I shouldn't have told you about that - but it's true!
Philip Sington said, on 4/16/2009 12:18:00 PM
Ernest Hemingway said he used to write a set number of words every day; and that, once he had reached that number, he stopped, even if he was in the middle of a sentence. The only limitation in the usefulness of this method is that most people tend to set their targets too high, so they never reach the sentence they are supposed to stop in the middle of... (or, if you are an English usage pedant: they never reach the sentence in the middle of which they are supposed to stop!)
Sara Tribble said, on 4/16/2009 2:12:00 PM
I usually go in phases. I write what I need to and then if I have it in me try sum it up. Easier said than done though I find myself lacking for my revisions for my transition novel. Ah! Oh well I'm just goint to have to jump in and get to it!
Caryn Caldwell said, on 4/16/2009 7:42:00 PM
I am EXACTLY like that (except I'm not a pantser). I love to daydream about my book and I love the breakthroughs when I figure out what will happen next - usually when I'm washing dishes or in the shower or just falling asleep. And I love re-reading what I've written - if I'm happy with what I wrote, at least! As for making myself write, though, I have a few tricks. The main one is knowing that getting started is the hardest part, and pushing myself through that. I will often set a timer and tell myself I must write until it goes off, no matter what. Or I'll tell myself that it doesn't have to be brilliant; it just has to be on the page. And, finally, I skip around a lot, which I suppose is one of the benefits of being a plotter. Then I can write whatever I do know and let my subconscious work on the rest.
Stephanie said, on 4/16/2009 8:22:00 PM
What jump starts me? Caffeine. Seriously - without it I just sit and the page and dread writing. I don't drink a lot of caffeine (just green tea here and there) so when I do drink it, I'm off like a shotgun!
Allison, I’ve heard of this approach before and never tried it. But reading your post today, something clicked for me. I just finished marking up the first draft of a novel, and I noticed a pattern: many scenes start out rather sluggish. My character walks into the office, gets something to drink, says hello to folks, lazily checks email, etc., etc., for way too many words before something actually happens.
I realize this is a result of me waking up, going directly to the laptop, and writing something, anything, just to get my fingers moving. I too allow for plenty of rubbish in my first drafts and it takes away tons of pressure. But as I’m revising, I see that I have an awful lot of muck to get rid of, and a lot of it is in those first few paragraphs of a new day of writing. I write to a specific word count (or as best I can) each day, but will now try your trick of getting down the first few sentences in the next scene or chapter while I have the momentum on my side. Maybe then each morning I’ll have something a little more lively to start with instead of something so groggy. Thanks for the tip!
Hey there! I just found your blog via Jen Lancaster's website and wanted to say I loved TIME OF MY LIFE--as did all of my friends!
Anyway, my best motivational writing tip is to "baby steps." Like, just open the document. Force myself to write at least ten words. I usually find by "tricking" myself into at least writing a couple of sentences, I can write a couple of scenes.
I fear what my writing would be if I stopped mid-scene. Like, a love scene would all of us sudden morph into stilted dialogue and bizarre behavior.
Neat thinking, I really like this idea. The unfinished thought would circle my subconscious as I slept, the whole time chewing away at the story line. By the next opportunity to sit before the keys my quieter half would be demanding that I add his thoughts to the story.
Like Caryn I am also a plotter and I could probably just write down notes on conflict points in the next scene(s) and my quieter half would have a banquet.
Question of the day: Do you feel the current state of the economy is dictating what books are being published? For instance, my second novel is about a mother caring for her adult daughter who suffers from a chronic illness. I am struggling to find an agent for it, although all my rejections are personal. You were able to write about cancer and yet didn't scare away agents, why is writing about diseases now so taboo?
I'm pulling this question out of one that I answered last week because I think it's important enough not to get lost in the post from last week, and I definitely wanted to open it up for discussion.
My thoughts are this: selling a downbeat book - in any market - is tough. When we shopped The Department, we certainly did hear that "cancer books don't sell." We heard it pretty often, in fact. But we got four offers nevertheless. Why? Well, for one, as someone pointed out in the comments section last week, that particular book used cancer as a plot device but it wasn't specifically about cancer, and, certainly, it can never be classified as a downer. BUT. In retrospect, knowing what I know now, do cancer books sell to readers, much less publishers? Eh. The jury is still out.
The bottom line is that people often shy away from uncomfortable subjects in their literature. Cancer, death of a child (I won't read a book that deals with this), autism, anything like that...all too real subjects that a lot of us have to face in our daily lives. We're given a choice at how we want to divert ourselves, so why would we choose something that's already been tough for us to handle in our every day lives? It's a shame - as someone who wrote a "cancer" book, I'll say that much. Because, again, I never thought of my book as a "cancer" book, but some people did...and that's life. I'm grateful that some publishers DIDN'T because it never would have gotten the offers or the recognition that it did, but readers, well, in the end, they're what count, since they're the ones who buy books, and thus, publishers HAVE to consider readers' interests when they offer on books. Maybe they thought mine was an aberration - an uplifting cancer book that would defy typical book buying patterns. It sort of did. It did okay. Didn't tank, didn't hit the best seller list. Did respectably.
But. That was then. That was in a good market with a cheery environment when readers and the population in general were willing to partake in non-upbeat entertainment. These days, I'm not so sure. I firmly believe that part of Time of My Life's success is due to the current state of our nation: people want diversion, they want to be hopeful, they want something that shows that the glass is still half full, and yes, I DO think that publishers are and will shy away from downer stuff. It's silly, in some ways, because by the time a book is bought, packaged and hits the shelves, we very well may be out of this funk, but I also don't blame them for being cautious. It's a business after all, and as always, they're trying to project where readers will be in a year or two...and when they're off, they lose money big time. So they're hedging on their better safe than sorry motto, and yeah, I guess I don't blame them.
Anyone else seeing these trends or think that the current state of the world is affecting what publishers are buying?
1 Comments on When the Going (And Everything Else) Gets Rough, last added: 4/15/2009
So normally, I am a big fan of sitting down in front of the computer and cranking out at least 1k words come hell or highwater. If I didn't hold myself to this daily rule, my manuscript would never, ever get done. Let's face it: writers are the masters of procrastination, and certainly, an entire day can pass with me accomplishing exactly zilch. Thus, my per diem rule: crank those words out OR ELSE. (I don't actually have consequences for my OR ELSE, but much like when I use empty threats on my kids, this seems to work on me as well.)
Anyway, last week, I knew, knew, knew that I had to sit down and write. I'd blocked off the amounted time, opened the document, and...just couldn't. Well, that's not true. I could have. But I also knew that before I did, I had to sort out a quagmire that I'd run into with the ms. I wanted to write. So badly, did I want to write. Because, frankly, writing would have been easier than recognizing that I might have to go back and redo several parts of the ms, but...again, I couldn't. I knew that something had gone askew, and rather than stick to my 1k rule, I had to address it.
Now. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I were actually just procrastinating by PRETENDING the ms had a problem, or if I really and truly had a problem on my hand, but the morning turned to noon and noon turned to mid-afternoon, and all the while, I hadn't written a thing. But what I WAS doing was thinking. What appeared to be a total waste of a day was actually spend ruminating, even while I was on Facebook, or Twitter, or J.Crew or...well, you get the idea of how I spent my day.
And something pretty great happened during this day of doing nothing: I figured out how to resolve this problem, and now, I think the ms is going to be so much better for it. In most jobs, doing nothing means just that: you're wasting your time doing nothing. But as writers, some times, doing nothing is simply the best thing you can do. I could have wasted that day writing another chapter that would inevitably need to be overhauled OR, I could have stopped, thought about things, and considered that just as productive - if not more so - than upping my word count.
So this week? This week I'm starting at the beginning (yet again - I think this is my third redraft of the first half of the ms), and that's totally fine. I want to get this part just right because if I don't, then the second part of the ms will have to be just as overhauled as this part has been, and if I can work out the kinks now, all of that extra work won't be necessary. So...if you're having a day in which you seem to do anything BUT write, that's okay! In our world, "not working" can still be considered "work," and sometimes, it might be just what your ms needs.
10 Comments on When NOT to Write, last added: 4/14/2009
what a great expression of the little mini war that goes on among the various voices inside of many writers... glad to know i'm not alone in quest for balance as far as time, productivity, and creativity. We need all these inner voices, but it's hard for me to know which to listen to at any given moment.
This happens to me all of the time; I take a lot of "thinking showers" when I'm stuck. I'm glad you were able to resolve the probs with one good day of nothing, Allison.
Thank you for this. I seem to have spent a lot of time lately editing, re-writing and re-drafting, but the word count barely changes. Yet I am sure the final document is improving every time!
Thanks for keeping us posted on your progress, Allison. Yes, sometimes staring at the wall solves a whole lot of issues. I just wish I could charge for that time, ya know? I'm known for it now.
Trish L @trishlawrence http://www.trishlawrence.com/blog
Think the phrase, "Just let it go," works wonders...especially when I walk away from the computer.
Philip Sington said, on 4/14/2009 2:58:00 PM
Sometimes the most important writing you do is in your head. Yuu get ideas, you live with and subconsciously sift the ideas your already have; you ponder your story from a little distance. At least that's what I tell myself, often... In my experience, the writing life is brief periods of productivity puncuated with long periods of staring into the fridge. Wish I could say my fridge is especially fascinating; but at the moment, the only interesting thing about it is the strange smell coming from behind the crisper.
Did you guys see this article in the New York Times on writer advances? I've mentioned a lot of the info before, but it's a very thorough piece and well worth reading.
Thanks for pointing out this piece. One thing that wasn't discussed here -- which really surprised me when my novel sold -- was how foreign rights quickly add up. Obviously there's no guarantee that you'll sell overseas, but those advances can be significant.
An agent I spoke to a while back told me that she had a lot of trouble selling one of her client's books, and eventually it sold in paperback in Greece (there was a connection to Greece in the manuscript). The book went on to sell in 20 countries, an although each advance was in the low five figures, the final tally was into the six figures. Of course, the commission is usually 20 percent for foreign sales, but still...
That is the question I'm talking about over on Writer Unboxed today. I've jumped in full hog to Twitter and am chatting about how useful (or not) I've found it to be.
Question of the day: Do you feel the current state of the economy is dictating what books are being published? For instance, my second novel is about a mother caring for her adult daughter who suffers from a chronic illness. I am struggling to find an agent for it, although all my rejections are personal. You were able to write about cancer and yet didn't scare away agents, why is writing about diseases now so taboo? Everyone says that my writing is great, yet they say that the subject matter is a tough sell right now. Arrgh!! I wanted this to be my break-out novel and it's not breaking anything but my heart. I've written a third novel in the meantime and my publisher is gobbling it up, but I had hoped to have an agent by now to help me. What would you do, wait to see if the second book can find an agent or go ahead and sign the papers on the third book even though I'm sure the contract will be bad? Do desperate times call for desperate measures or is patience a virtue on this one?
I'll offer a third suggestion: since your newer book is the one that's generating the heat, why don't you shop that one around to agents? I wouldn't sign a contract that I know is going to be crappy, but an agent can certainly take a crappy contract and make it a better one, AND, hey, you never know what other offers an agent could get you. If your previous manuscript just isn't getting the job done, set it aside, and you might discover that as time goes on, your wound will mend...especially if you sell the next one. :) And once you've sold the other one, who knows, maybe it will open doors for the one you have your heart set on right now.
I think the key is not to get too, too, too invested in one manuscript, such that it can divert the trajectory of your career. A lot of us have had that ms, the one that we poured every ounce of ourselves into and that ultimately didn't sell, but I'll tell you what: I am so grateful that I didn't get hung up on that specific ms and that I moved on from it, because if I hadn't, my career would be DOA right about now.
As far as the first half of your question, I'm going to devote a separate post to it because I think it's a worthy discuss to have in and of itself.
Good luck and hang in there! BTDT. Other readers who have BTDT, can you weigh in and help her out?
4 Comments on Fish or Cut Bait?, last added: 4/10/2009
It's so key not to get too attached to any one project. So many times we refer to books as our "babies", and while I understand that impulse, I think it makes us too blind to accept feedback and let go when something isn't right or isn't going to work.
My agent and I have been through numerous ideas that just didn't pan out. Each time I try to remind myself that if I'm really a writer, that means I can sit down and write something else...I get to try again. The old ideas aren't lost, just shelved for awhile. And sometimes (as Allison points out) that's a good thing :)
I think a book with a depressing, difficult subject, like caring for a chronic illness, dealing with cancer, etc. is a tough sell in any market. This is just my opinion a reader, but the only way I'd consider tackling that kind of a book would be if it were to shed new light on the subject go somewhere no one had gone before. An example that comes to mind is Lisa Genova's book, Still Alice. It's fiction, an imagined memoir of a brilliant doctor dealing with Alzheimer's. Why would I read this? The author is a doctor and knows this subject and reviews have exclaimed about the book how it offers a new glimpse inside the world of Alzheimer's.
Still, I haven't read it yet. But it's on my imaginary list, for when I'm in the mood for a darker book.
Speaking as myself as a reader, I look for books for an excape from the real world, for adventure. A book that focuses on disease is too realistic and not what I'm looking for when planning to spend several hours with a book.
That's why I haven't read Allison's first book, even though I adored and have raved about Time of My Life. I lost my Mom to cancer 7 years ago, and it's still too close to home to consider reading a book with that storyline.
I wonder too, in this kind of economy if people are seeking feel-good, escapism stories more than ever?
Funny that I'm following Trish Ryan's comment...don't know if she'll be back to read this, but have to add that I just read her book last weekend, her memoir, in one sitting. It was amazing! and uplifting.
~Pam
Anonymous said, on 4/7/2009 2:33:00 PM
I think a great strategy is to look for an agent for your third book--especially if you think the publisher's contract is crappy. (What's the benefit of this "crappy" contract? The fact that your book will be published?) My thought is, if you snag an agent for #3 and it finds a home, then #2 might find a home later.
I completely agree -- set aside the second book for now, and shop the third to agents. I think heavy subject matter is subjective and depends on the voice of the writer in terms of how it can be marketed and sold. Marian Keyes' "Is Anybody Out There?" and Lolly Winston's "Good Grief" both tackled sad subjects -- widowhood -- and managed to combine humor along with a very moving and poignant depiction of the grieving process. But without humor, difficult/painful subject matter seems like a very hard sell (unless maybe it's purely literary and not commercial?) I read Allison's first book, and even though the subject was tough, the writing touch let up and became lighter at times, even humorous, so there was a lot of relief from the difficult scenes.
Question of the day: Was it difficult to create relationships with editors at magazines, and thus, create work through said relationships?
Hmmm, well, I guess it depends on your definition of difficult. :) The reason I say this is because creating these relationships is sort of like establishing your freelance career: they happen over time and eventually snowball, but there are a lot of factors that are going to contribute to your success (or lack thereof).
The first thing you have to remember is that you're going to have to be persistent. If you don't hear back (which you likely won't) from a query, follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. If you have other ideas for an editor if she passes on your initial query, send them, send them, send them! Too many aspiring mag writers give up on an editor, and while sure, sometimes you should, many times, you shouldn't. You have to keep pitching until you find something that sticks.
From there, once you land the assignment, you need to nail it. By that I mean that you need to consider her instructions and deliver what you promised you would. Without careless fact-checking errors and typos and all of those easily-correctable mistakes that look sloppy. Your job as a writer is not just to hand in a great piece but also to help make your editor's job easier. Yes, I know this sounds sycophantic, but I don't mean you have to turn yourself into a slobbering servant, but yeah, you need to ensure that the piece really is the very best that you could make it.
After that, you need to be amenable to reasonable edits. These days, yeah, I hear about some ridiculous requests for revisions and no, you are not a doormat, but I consider two rounds of revisions fair game (this is just my opinion, of course), and even if the questions and red-lining are driving you crazy, that's part of the deal, and you'd be wise not to let your editor know. When I was really in the thick of my mag writing, I really did pride myself on the fact that there was very little editors could or would ask of me that I couldn't get done. And I think they knew this, which is part of the reason I was a go-to writer. (I am not talking about those last-minute 10PM "we need a total overhaul by tomorrow" requests, which I perhaps would conveniently not reply to until a reasonable hour the next morning. I'm talking about what I considered fair requests even if they were annoying and pains in the ass.)
Finally, I made it a point to be friendly with my editors. Not everyone is comfortable with this, but for me, it was only natural. I knew about their kids, I knew about their outside interests. And I really think it benefited me - not in a selfish way, like I was learning about their lives only to land work - but because it made our collective experience working together a hell of a lot more fun and enjoyable. You're a lot less likely to get irritated with an editor (or conversely, a writer) if you genuinely like her, and I really did (and do) like the majority of my editors, and I think they felt the same way. We enjoyed working together, partially for the reasons mentioned above (i.e, I worked my tail off for them) and partially because we had something in common other than the 750 words we were working on together.
So, all in all, was it hard? As you can see, yes and no. I also found that if I did good work for one editor, she was always happy to refer me to another, and from there, an entire network of business contacts AND friendships have been built. But it takes time and hard work. But yeah, it's entirely doable, in my opinion.
What about you guys out there? Easy or hard to build those relationship?
Great post, Allison. I agree with you on each point. Building relationships is the key to repeat business, and repeat business is essential to boosting your hourly rate.
p.s. I saw this post because you tweeted about it. The power of Twitter!
Great post, Allison! I think everything that you said is true. Building and maintaining those great editor relationships is key to a successful freelance career. Thanks for the reminder to touch base with some of my editors that I haven't "talked" to in awhile.
Okay, so I've been really bad about Twittering because, to be honest, I just don't really get the appeal, but my lovely friend, Christina Katz, aka, The Writer Mama, suggested that I install Tweetdeck...and thus, I have done so and hope to be more diligent about it. We'll see. I remain skeptical.
But if you're on Twitter, come find me at @aswinn!
6 Comments on ATwitter for Twitter, last added: 4/4/2009
Here's one thing I've found useful for Twitter, among others. For it to work, you have to have people following you first, which means that you must tweet the kind of things that make people want to follow you and stay with you. But hey, you have 216 followers at this moment, so....
Let's say you're working on an article about left-handed Republican cross-dressers. You post a tweet that says, "Hey, does anyone know a good place to find left-handed Republican cross-dressers, or at least Republicans with style sense?" Within minutes, you will likely get a response, especially since several of those 216 are likely to retweet it. Critical mass within seconds, without it taking on a life of its own like that kid in England who was collecting postcards.
I'm still trying to figure out the appeal, and am trying so hard not to embarrass myself. I have deleted a few of my tweets that sounded stupid after the fact! Anyway, I am following you now.
I'm in the boat that is on twitter but still doesn't get it....that said, I agree with Donnell's example of one use for it...and perhaps it will become useful when you launch your next book and want to keep your fans updated on book tour details, etc.
Donnell - Thank you, this is exactly what I'm trying to figure out right now. Because I'm not really sure what the point is for me. I have a blog for professional reasons, I use Facebook for strictly personal reasons, and Twitter is this vague in between. Trying to navigate it right now, and I appreciate the help!
I appreciate the appreciation, Allison--and I think we're ALL in the same boat, since, as you know, next month there will be some new tool none of us has heard of, and we'll have to figure out whether it's useful or not. [smile] Thing is, we'll probably hear about it via a blog, a Facebook post, or a tweet. Thanks for all you're doing!
So I'm hesitant to post this because I really don't want to seem like I'm whining (because I'm not a whiner), but it's been on my mind lately, so what the hell.
Part of being an author is getting reviewed. We know that. Sometimes, we might not like it, but we know it all the same. In fact, as the years have gone on, I've more or less numbed myself to reviews (after the first initial weeks of a book's release when you really don't know what the reaction will be). I mean, some people are going to like it, and some people aren't, and that's life. Really.
But I've made it a point, on Goodreads, for example, to only highlight books that I've enjoyed. Why? Because I know that authors are out there reading their reviews! And I'm always sort of surprised that some people can say such terrible things so publicly about an author or his/her works. I KNOW this sounds weird. I know it! I know that negative reviews serve a purpose to steer other people away from wasting their time reading said book. But still! I still find it negative reviews to be shocking, I don't know why.
Maybe it's because, as an author, I truly believe that it's an accomplishment to write a book, much less get it published, and so I'm not going to disparage what anyone else does. Could that be it? Yeah, maybe. Or maybe it's just that I don't like tearing someone down when I know the hard work that goes into it, and I also understand that, as noted before, if something isn't my cup of tea, that doesn't mean AT ALL that it won't be anyone else's. Maybe it's because, unlike a TV show or a movie, which are collaborative efforts and have a lot of cooks in their kitchens, a book is really the work of ONE person, and I think it's gutsy for that ONE person to put him/herself out there in such a vulnerable way. But regardless of my reasons (and obviously, I'm still mulling them over), I simply will not critique another author in public. It is my golden rule. I don't see the service of it to anyone. (Again, yes, steer someone clear of it, I get that, but isn't it also just as productive to instead point them toward something you like?)
I don't know. I don't know what my real point is here. Ha! I just read a review (not of my work, I'll note) that I thought was fairly rude and disparaging, and I thought, "I'll bet dollars to donuts that the author sees this," and had a momentary pang for her. I think part of the problem is the anonymity of the web: people write terrible things - not just about books, of course, but about celebrities, in blog comments, all over the place - that they're not accountable for. And I'm not talking about middling or lukewarm reviews. I'm talking about the really eviscerating ones that sort of raise your eyebrows and think, "WOW!"
Anyway, I really don't want to come off as sounding lame/whiny/ungrateful for this job that yes, exposes me to criticism, but offers some wonderful other benefits. It's just sort of me talking about this out loud and wondering if people realize that authors really do see your blog reviews/Amazon reviews/etc. I'm not suggesting that anyone alter their review to spare the author's feelings...really. That's part of this biz. But...I dunno. Am I making sense to anyone????
18 Comments on My Golden Rule, last added: 4/4/2009
What you say makes perfect sense to me. I think what motivates a lot of people to be negative is the sheer volume of positive comments and endorsements that get plastered all over books (especially in the U.S.). I talked to a U.S. editor at a major house a little while back who told me that a for a book to be brought out in paperback (i.e. for its second, mass market, outing) it needed to have at least a couple of dozen glowing reviews on the back, front, and inside. I've seen paperbacks (soft covers) where the first seven or eight pages are taken up with lengthy excerpts from reviews and endorsements. Imagine then that you pay the money, read the book and then 'discover' it's really nothing special, or worse. You might feel it's time someone set the record straight. In other words, I'm suggesting that hype and overselling lie behind these harsh reactions. That said, I'm with you on respecting the effort that goes into producing books; and in recognising that your response to a book, whatever your qualifications, ultimately comes down to personal taste.
I totally know what you mean. And it's not limited to authors, actually... I learned the hard way not to check what students post at ratemyteacher.com. I think the web frees people to be cruel with no consequences, and I think that's not a good thing... it is almost impossible to develop skin thick enough not to mind. I also think that we don't see authors (or even teachers) as real people too much of the time... I think YOU feel for fellow writers as real people because you are one, but others probably have no idea that authors will actually read these reviews and might be hurt by them. Ah, well.
Btw I just won a writing contest over at AbsoluteWrite.com! I know it's a really small contest and not that big of a deal, but I'm really excited just the same. :) PLUS it means I won a $25 gift certificate to Amazon, which I plan to use to assuage my guilt at the high shipping fees to Israel and order your books!!
I've lurked for a long time, but have never actually left a comment. I review books at my blog http://www.skrishnasbooks.com - I actually reviewed TOML and quite enjoyed it - and I have given negative reviews before.
But.
I always make it a point to point out the positives of the book first. No matter how much you hated a book, there is always something good to point out.
When I do get to the negatives, I am gentle. I don't think there is any point to making disparaging remarks or personal comments about the author. I think it's horrible when people are vicious in their negative reviews, I think it shows a lack of respect. Whether you liked it or not, someone worked hard at writing the book you read.
I also always make it clear what audience I think might enjoy it, even if I didn't.
I do think when you are a writer you review differently because you know what an accomplishment writing a book is.
"I still find it negative reviews to be shocking, I don't know why."
I think negative reviews are shocking when they are ignorant and/or angry. You get ignorant and angry reviews from people who didn't like something about the politics or religion or author's beliefs that entered the book. I also think you get ignorant and angry reviews because of jealously--either the author had success with an idea they didn't or is making a boatload of money off great stories with mediocre writing.
I ignore 1-star or 2-star reviews that are ignorant or angry. But, if I find a very intelligent, insightful review that is 1-star or 2-stars I take it into consideration.
"Again, yes, steer someone clear of it, I get that, but isn't it also just as productive to instead point them toward something you like?)"
I started a women's fiction review site last month so I've been really mulling this over. At first I thought I would read new releases and post ratings and be brutally honest if I needed to be--but then the unpublished writer in me dared me to look at the site another way. I realized what I wanted to put out there was recommendations, not just reviews, I wanted to dig into the new releases and find the gems and use my blog to give said gems some exposure.
And you're right, the sense of anonymity people have on the Internet doesn't force them to stop and think, "Would I say this to this person's face." This has been my mantra since I started looking at books to review/recommend--if I couldn't say it to the author's face then I don't write it.
For me, because I write memoir, bad reviews feel like personal attacks. I stopped reading Amazon reviews a couple of months after my first book came out and haven't been back since late 2006. Didn't matter how many nice things people said about my writing, I only focused on the negative reviewers... and then started Googlestalking them and subsequently making myself crazy.
I also NEVER Google myself, nor do I check trackbacks on my website. (I do use Factiva, but that only records media mentions.)
It's not that I don't take and accept criticism from other sources, because I'm always open to ways of improving. However, I'm aware of my limitations (and ego) and know personally that I shouldn't go looking for critique.
I agree that some of the really mean-spirited personal attack kind of reviewing is unnecessary, particularly given the effort that goes into writing any book. For the most part, I tend to only review books I like. That said, I do agree with Philip that a lot of the negativity comes from the incessant over-hyping of ok books and the reader's subsequent disappointment. If I'm told on the cover that a book is "going to change my life," then it better do more than just bore me to a predictable and not particularly memorable end. I'm all for writer's supporting each other -- and have I number of writer friend's who cheer me on and critique my own work. But as a reader I hate to be fooled, so I appreciate honest reviews good and bad. Like Jenna, I think you can usually spot the vitriolic posters who have an ax to grind...
Actually, I do believe it is a code of honor, especially when it's an author reviewing or commenting upon another author. It would be like Leo De Caprio saying, "Yeah, Brad Pitt ... he's just not a very good actor." Imagine the chaos in Hollywood and the world! Even if it were true. (And I picked those two actors out of a hat, by the way, simply because they are kind of the golden boys, not because of my actual opinion.)
There are critics, and there are cranks ... or something. :)
You and I share this part of our brains. I do the same thing on all three of the book networking sites, as well as on my blog. For the same reasons -- and one more. There's so much negativity in the world (and the Net). I don't want to contribute to that. I want to be known as one of those people who follows the old maxim: If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.
When I review a book, even if it's horrible (and I've had some real clunkers come my way), I try to find the good in it to balance out the bad. And also to put the bad in a constructive light, as much as I can. Even if the author doesn't see it or agree, you never know who it'll have an effect on -- hopefully a good one.
I write about the positives in reviews but if I didn't like the book, I explain why. If I continually tell my readers that I like books that I don't than I am compromising myself.
It's got nothing to do with being positive or negative. If you commit to reviewing a book, it should be an honest review.
I agree with you. I think if you are going to give a negative review at least do it tastefully. I have read some and thought my goodness! A book written and a publication and they told them THAT!! Yeah I see what your saying 110% Nice post!
Anonymous said, on 4/2/2009 5:22:00 PM
I'm not even published yet but I decided a while back to post only positive reviews on Amazon. (If I don't care for the book, I don't review it.) Partly because I know how difficult it is to write a book and I wouldn't want to hurt the author's feelings if their work simply wasn't my cuppa. But partly because I don't want to be critical of an author's book and then run into them at a conference someday. Or find out we share the same agent. Or maybe my editor thinks this author would be a good candidate for a blurb. Self-serving? Yes. But the idea of publicly disparaging another writer's work also feels icky to me. (I do dish privately with my writing friends, of course.)
As a writer I only post reviews of books I like. I have no interest in getting into a cat fight with another writer. I don't mind negative reviews, but I do dislike the snarky/mean review. It smacks too much of someone trying to look clever.
I am so right there with you. J.A. Kontrath also had a great post on this topic. I had a drive-by review on my Amazon page last month and it was SO clear to me that the person who wrote it had not bothered to read a single word of my book.
Argh.
Further research of his reviews indicated major sour grapes toward both traditionally published authors (that's me) and women (ditto).
And yet, I have no recourse. If I confront the person I will come off as defensive. And yet it feels so wrong not to defend myself. I can tell from a review if someone has read my book or not. Of course I can. I spent a year writing it.
What I typically do instead is e-mail a few friends and vent. Frankly, I'd rather confront the &(*&*&%^&$. But I don't. That would be stooping to his level.
But let's face it, there are some people who should be in therapy using the Internet to do damage. Apparently they have not heard of karma. But I'm counting on it. Oh, yes I am.
Allison, I totally agree. I think it's as you say--if you know the work that's gone into writing and publishing a book, it's difficult to say really mean things about it. I do think that reviewers can say what they don't like about a book as long as they don't make it a personal attack on the author. (And many people seem to do this.)But frankly, I don't review books on my blog if I can't say something nice.
This is my second try so excuse me if this comment is rushed. I had two things I wanted to share (and did and didn't get posted because I forgot my google password).
1) If it's your byline it's wrong to have someone else's words. I worked for a magazine for about 6 years, many articles, most long. I had a great editor and we could hassle for hours over a phrase but that made the writing better and it was mine, with her help. I think changing your words and using your name is almost as indecent as horrid reviews.
2) I wrote a book in 2000 that I still think is pretty great. I had a famed publisher and editor and she agreed though I somehow never got PR nor reviews, not many. One night, it was about midnight in Manhattan I saw my name on some magazine that had three reviews, and was so elated I ran home to sit and read it. Three reviews. One was by a more famous editor who wrote a book much like mine only not really well-written, the highway not the scenic tour if you will. His book had two pages of all praise. The next review was a full page of a book that was poetic but vague. I'd read both of them carefully. Turning the page and trying to keep my excitement in check I saw one little graph at the end suggesting readers do NOT buy my book. The reviewers short sentences said mainly, "Look she never learned Hebrew. Need I say more?" I was so crushed. That was five years of my life and good writing too. Then, about two months later, after wanting to kill his first born, of course I did nothing, I went to google and found a four month old article about how he and his wife couldn't master Hebrew!!! I was amazed. It was only then I realized that my book was probably too 'left' for him or his publication but to accuse me of something he too had not mastered somehow lessened the hurt. The End From Wendy
Question of the day: I have a question about big-time magazines...Last year I got an FOB assignment from one of my dream publications. Obviously, I was thrilled, and worked my booty off to make a good impression, do what the editor wanted, etc. It seemed like all went well. But when the article came out, it looked 80% different than the piece I sent in. The editor hadn't asked for any rewrites. I guess I'm wondering...is this normal? Should I be discouraged or just chalk it up to the editing process? I'd like to send the editor more ideas, but am a bit hesitant to do so. Do you have any advice/thoughts on this?
Ah, yes, I have so been there, done that. You file a piece that you think is perfect, receive positive feedback, and then voila, rush to the newsstand when it comes out, only to find that it's nearly unrecognizable! And your stomach drops because you think it must suck.
The surprising truth of the matter is that often times, it doesn't mean a darn thing. Some magazines and editors - and the only way to get a feel for this is really through repeat work - are very, very, very into making it look like "their" mag, with "their" voice, in "their" format. These types of mags tend to edit just about everything, even from long-term writers.
That said, certainly, there are some editors who want their writers to nail the voice, etc, right out of the gate, so that they have less work to do (fair enough request), so sure, at times, this could be an indication that she wasn't pleased with the work. But, given that she didn't ask for revisions, I wouldn't necessarily infer that in this instance. It could be that once they had the info that you drafted, they envisioned the piece differently or as a box, not a narrative, etc, and it was just easier for her to repackage it. There are a lot of reasons why she might have changed it.
I think the best thing to do is simply to keep pitching her. If she assigns you something else, I'd just chalk it up to her/the mag's style and not give it a second thought. You could also easily send her an email and say, "Hey, I just wanted to be sure that you were satisfied with this, given that the published version was so different." I HAVE done this with one editor in the past, and she was totally pleased with my work (and I've since gone on to work with her many, many times) but had to make some changes to it for reasons that were out of my hands.
So don't be discouraged...this isn't a big red flag...and definitely, you can investigate and find out more. Anyone else out there been in this situation? What did it mean in your case?
5 Comments on When Change Isn't A Good Thing, last added: 4/4/2009
I was a magazine editor for about five of my last years as a journalist, and used a lot of freelance writers. I would say, if your piece has been being heavily altered (presumaby by your editor) it means, basically, one of two things. Either a.) the editor was insufficiently clear about what he or she wanted (a common problem); in which case the fault is the editor's, not yours; or b.) you didn't follow the brief closely enough; in which case the fault is yours. This is definitely worth investigating, in either case. If the fault turns out to be largely yours, at least you will have demonstrated some professionalism, and shown that you aren't just interested in completing the word count and banking the cheque. As an editor, I used to hate that sense I sometimes got of being taken for granted.
You're welcome. And congratulations on a great site.
PS - I should just add to the above that the wisest slant on an inquiry to the editor should be along the lines of "I'm so sorry you had to spend so much time re-working my piece. Did I misunderstand what you were looking for?" Sort of thing. Then you get into a cosy chat about what he or she really is looking for, swapping recipes, etc. And the next thing you know you have another gig.
Hi there, I'm a freelance (UK) journalist who has also edited a few national mags. I agree with Philip's points - as an editor, I would have been impressed with people coming back to me for feedback after changes, provided of course, that it wasn't in a prima donna fashion, so as he suggests, I think an 'eager to improve' tone is required. :o))
I have to admit that as an editor I dreaded contacting some freelancers for rewrites and found it quicker/easier to sometimes do the work myself, but I doubt that case applies here - especially if it was a first-time commission. As bizarre as it sounds, some editors consider it a normal thing to do - although it's clearly an inefficient way to go about things.
As a writer who has received some pretty vague commissions in her time, I have always found this type of thing very annoying - particularly when you have no idea that changes have been made and head down to the newsstand expecting to see your words staring back at you - only to find some alien piece with your name on it.
But I can tell you that every time I've asked for feedback in such an instance, it's been positive - and the editor has always come back and said that they had changed their own plans for the piece and didn't feel it was appropriate to request a rewrite from me on that basis.
Whatever your editor comes back with - either positive or negative - will be useful.
So super-duper excited! I was told last week that things are moving forward with the movie version of Time of My Life! After an extensive search for just the perfect screenwriter, the producers have finalized a deal with Nicole Eastman, whom I do not know personally but who wrote the forthcoming flick, The Ugly Truth with Katherine Heigl, and given the depth of the producers' search, Nicole is, I'm sure, a great match! What does this mean? Well, for one, it means that they're definitely serious about moving the project ahead from book to film, and it also means that we might have a draft of a script in a few months. (Squeeee!!) (I should note that I use the term "we" very liberally, as the producers are very kind to keep me abreast, but certainly, they are helming this - as they should! - and I'm not the one in charge, and anything they share with me is out of the kindness of their own hearts, which are big, and which I appreciate very much.)
Anyway, here's a trailer of Nicole's movie, out in July. Hopefully in the near future, I'll be posting the trailer of her NEXT movie, TOML! :)
25 Comments on Movie News: And We Have Lift-Off!, last added: 4/6/2009
Question of the day: I have what I think is a great idea that's been (tentatively) picked up by a national mag for a short FOB piece. I'm thrilled, but I'd also really like to write a longer version of the piece for a regional magazine -- a totally noncompetitive market. The story would be different enough that I'm not just re-pitching the same thing. What's the etiquette here? Am I OK to pitch to the regional mag if it's a totally different take on the story, or should I wait to see what happens with the national mag?
The answer, in my opinion, is a very affirmative yes. In fact, this is how a lot of writers earn their bread and butter: you can't always sit around waiting to be handed the big feature op, so many of them re-angle and refashion their previous sold ideas (and thus likely GOOD ideas) for different markets.
The key, as you already seem to know, is to ensure that they are indeed non-competitive (i.e, don't pitch both Self and Shape), and to tweak the story somewhat so it's not just a rehash. I used to do this fairly often with men's magazines: if I sold a cool idea to a women's mag, I found a way to re-angle a similar idea for the men's, and often times, I hit pay dirt. Regional magazines are also a great way to reuse pitches, again, as you've already discovered, because they really aren't competitors with the larger national ones (for the most part), yet still use general subject-matter pieces.
So I say go for it! Of course, I'm not the expert in reselling ideas (to be honest, I sometimes just got too lazy to do so), so if there are any other wiser souls out there, please feel free to chime in. Or I'd also welcome thoughts on how YOU resell ideas, it's a really interesting (and occasionally tricky) subject.
3 Comments on Casting a Line for Reangling, last added: 4/6/2009
I've recycled a few magazine/newspaper articles -- but this was years ago, when I was doing more free-lancing. But here are my thoughts: Definitely don't pitch to competing publications -- I'm with Allison on this. It's a way to piss off all the editors involved. But in terms of regional/national, I've done a piece for The Washington Post that I then sold to a specialty national magazine, and I wrote another Post piece that I sold to People (after showing them the Post clip). In other words, I wouldn't necessarily try to hide the fact that you're "regifting" your pieces -- use the clips to show how you can tweak the article in a non-competing publication to better serve the needs of the new publication's audience. But recycling is done all the time, and you can actually use it to your advantage by becoming something of an "expert" on a particular subject. I think my record was selling one topic -- how to make your home safer -- to a half-dozen publications. I interviewed all new people and re-wrote it every time, of course, but the basic structure remained the same.
So I'm nearly done revising the first 150 pages of The Happiest Days of My Life. Or at least done the very first revision. No doubt there will be many more to come. But as I mentioned a while ago, I knew that something was slightly not right about the book, so I asked for editorial input, and got some fabulous ways to tweak the story.
So I'm nearly there, and I'm totally psyched about the improvements I've made. But I have to say...ugh...it is so, so, so painful to hit that delete key on entire scenes and see my word count dip so dramatically. Anyone else feel this grief?
I know, I know, that it is for the best. Trust me, the book is so much stronger for it, but still, part of me dies a little every time I have to do this. That said, the reason I'm actually blogging about this is because I think that sometimes, writers get too attached to scenes/ideas/characters that just aren't working, and for the love of God, while we don't want to cut them, we must! Whenever I hit that delete key, I remind myself that this book is a compilation of scenes and stories that all add up to one big package...and if any of the elements are off, well, the package can be a doozy. It CAN'T be about keeping one specific scene, regardless of how much it depletes my word count, because it just isn't fair to the rest of the book, not if that scene sucks the big one.
And so, with a heavy heart, I have axed, and axed, and axed, BUT, honestly, by cutting an entire subplot that I really wasn't thrilled about writing AND really wasn't popping off the page, AND finding a new subplot that infused the ms with a lot more energy, I really have done the book (and myself) a favor. And when it hits bookstores, I know that I won't regret it. Even when it breaks my heart (if only for that dang word count) right now.
11 Comments on The Big Cut is the Deepest, last added: 4/6/2009
Oh, believe me, I am with you on the word count thing. It feels like a huge step backward even if it's a necessary step forward. Especially in a first draft, an increasing word count is your main sign of progress, so you get used to measuring that way, and then... gulp.
But yeah. Leaving it in and writing the whole rest of the book around it and THEN having to cut it out? So, so much worse.
I had a post on my blog in December when I was in the middle of MAJOR slicing and dicing that, along with the ball dropping in NYC, my word count would be right there with it. 10, 9, 8, 7... Happy New Year! (Where did my book go?) But, it rocks now, so I have no regrets. You know you're doing the right thing.
It's so hard to cut! It feels like you're firing people or kicking them off the island. In the long term you're glad, but short term, it's awful! And I can't even look at my word or page count when I'm editing. It feels like carnage.
I have a file called "Stuff" where I put cut material. It's essentially purgatory, as I rarely ever go back there. But somehow it makes the process feel less grisly.
Hang in there, Allison. It's so hard to kill off those scenes and the hours of work they represent, but we're all in a learning process. It's one of the best things about being a writer, even though it can also be one of the most frustrating. Jennifer Weiner mentions on her website that she didn't feel her third book was working -- so she scrapped the entire thing and turned to something new. Incredibly brave move, and it turns out, the right one for her. Once you've found a fantastic new subplot the writing is going to come really quickly. Probably part of the reason you struggled with this book is because you knew something was wrong and you were focusing on trying to fix it before moving ahead. Now you can let those fingers fly across the keyboard (oh, and coffee helps. Chocolate doesn't hurt either).
Anonymous said, on 3/24/2009 9:55:00 AM
Sometimes an axed scene or subplot or some version of an axed scene or subplot can work in another manuscript. Be sure to keep copies of the chopped stuff. You never know...
This reminds me of that quote from Stephen King, "kill your darlings." Ha, I know that's the most unoriginal comment ever, but SO many great writers talk about how important it is to have the ruthlessness to cut. Good luck!
As much as you don't enjoy the process, Allison, I LOVE hearing this. In particular, "...I really have done the book (and myself) a favor. And when it hits bookstores, I know that I won't regret it."
Two questions. Do you feel the current state of the economy is dictating what books are being published? For instance, my second novel is about a mother caring for her adult daughter who suffers from a chronic illness. I am struggling to find an agent for it, although all my rejections are personal. You were able to write about cancer and yet didn't scare away agents, why is writing about diseases now so taboo? Everyone says that my writing is great, yet they say that the subject matter is a tough sell right now. Arrgh!! I wanted this to be my break-out novel and it's not breaking anything but my heart. I've written a third novel in the meantime and my publisher is gobbling it up, but I had hoped to have an agent by now to help me. What would you do, wait to see if the second book can find an agent or go ahead and sign the papers on the third book even though I'm sure the contract will be bad? Do desperate times call for desperate measures or is patience a virtue on this one?
You mention the pain involved in paring back manuscripts. I know it well. My last 1st draft came in at 420 pages. I add another 40 and cut a total of 110. I don't even like to think how long they took to write. That said, I've actually developed an almost masochistic pleasure in being ruthless, except where certain passages I'm especially fond of are concerned. It's like taking your medicine. It may taste nasty, but somewhere deep inside you know it's doing you good. (Maybe a better analogy is dieting. In which case beware of anorexia!) Philip
Question of the day: I am currently working on my second MS (the first one I should have thrown in the garbage and never sent out) and it's not an autobiographical story, but that being said, there are many behaviors and characteristics that come up that I put into my characters (positive and negative) that may be recognizable to friends or family in my life, as I collectively draw upon all the people I’ve encountered throughout my life to come up with each character. I was wondering how you deal with this as an author. While you don't write stories that are autobiographical, I'm assuming that you draw upon people you have met or even know intimately. (or maybe you don't and in that case, what is your process for character-building?) Do you fret over offending anyone in your life, or worry that they may read more into a character than you intended? I struggle with letting go as an artist and being completely authentic and sometimes find myself toning a character down to not offend someone in my life – present or past.
This is a great, great, great question, and I hope that I can answer it adequately, because truthfully, I'm not sure if I have the correct answer to this. If not, I hope that others will chime in with their own thoughts.
To begin with, do I base characters on people I know? Not really. (Which is part of why answering this is a little tricky.) I've said this before, but for me, to really delve into a fictional world, I need to have entirely made-up characters, so if I'm thinking of someone from my real life, it sort of muddies my creative waters. I do sort of get a kick out of the fact that I'm certain that there are some exes out there who think that Time of My Life is probably a lamenting love letter to them or something (sort of like Carly Simon's You're So Vain), but I'd just never do that. Like in The Department, how everyone assumed that the exes she tracked down were MY exes. Ahem. No.
But have I cribbed behaviors for characters? Well, sure, because part of what we do as authors is observe human behavior and find a way to translate that onto a page. I've found that for the most part, if it's a positive behavior that you're mimicking, the person in question is sort of tickled to have made it into the book (and to have left such a positive impression that they DID make it into the book). And if it's a negative behavior? Well, a few things. One, if possible, handle it with a bit of humor. While I've often said that Henry in Time of My Life isn't based on my husband (at all), sure, does my husband leave his glasses in the sink instead of the dishwasher (one of Henry's habits)? Absolutely. But he knows that this habit drives me bananas, and it's almost sort of funny (you know, if it didn't drive me crazy), and no one was harmed in the writing.
If it's a more negative attribute than that? Well, what I'd likely do is ascribe the nasty behavior to a different character than the one from your real life. So, if your mother has very specific passive aggressive tendencies, well, then I wouldn't write a fictitious mother with these same tendencies. Give them to someone else in the book, if possible. OR, make her passive-aggressive but in a very different way than your own mother is. Maybe yours operates by preying on guilt, but your fictional one could operate by fear of having her children leave her behind. I don't know, I'm just ruminating.
Do I let this hamper my writing? Well, again, it's a lot easier for me to spin characters from thin air than modify a real-life person to make him/her fictitious, but if I truly thought something might be offensive to someone who was important to me, then I probably wouldn't do it. I don't kid myself that I'm writing Pulitzer Prize winning stuff, and while yeah, I do like to "honor the writing process," (in quotes because it sounds so pretentious), I also believe that there are usually several ways of writing something (at least for me and in my genre). If the mother in your book needs to be reprehensible, find a different way to make her so than your own mother or consider another tactic, another ploy to get your character where she needs to go. Once it's on the page (and published), you can't take it back, and in my opinion, you don't want any lingering doubts about what is going to be read by thousands of people. So if you're unsure, try writing it a different way, and you might be surprised by what you find.
But I'm curious to hear what others say on this...how do you handle personal touches from your real life?
4 Comments on Making It Personal, last added: 4/6/2009
I think the key is, like you said, to mix it up. If a character has a positive attribute of your real life friend, but also a positive attribute of yours and a few that you wish you had but don't, no one will see him or herself completely -- simply because they can't -- it's fiction. People sometimes are looking for themselves in books by people they know. You can't stop that, unfortunately.
I write things as they come to me (and with nonfiction, I'm always writing about real people). But with each edit, I try to be a little stricter with myself, asking, "Is this more mean than funny?" and "How am I going to feel when this person friends me on Facebook?"
It's sort of like writing those angry letters to vent when someone has done you wrong: you don't send THAT letter, but maybe writing it helps you get to a letter you can send.
I draw on my life for words and places but never people. That said, I bet I have plenty of friends and casual acquaintances who would or will point to a character of mine and say "Hey, that's me!" Whatever you do, some people will find themselves in the people you made up.
Other than that, I can only echo what the smart writers here have already said -- don't take a whole person from reality and put them in your novel, but if you're looking for traits to make your main character's best friend more interesting, you can certainly consider putting together one friend's addiction to Oreos with another friend's tendency to make a big deal out of little things and make a composite character as a starting point. Then as the book develops you'll customize her more to serve the story, and you may leave the drawn-from-life starting point behind.
Question of the day: Can you explain more about how I can find a good writing group (preferably online)-- i.e., one that can help me develop writing as profession, not just a hobby-- and how exactly writing groups work? I'm not really sure, for example, about at what stage you might share your writing with a group. Can groups help with brainstorming/developing ideas as well? How would you know if you trust a group enough to give honest, good feedback? Would you ever be worried about a group stealing ideas? I'm not sure if you've ever worked with a fiction group, but I know you say that freelancer groups helped you as you were breaking into that business.
The freelancer groups that helped me when I was breaking in were more geared to magazines. Specifically, I found an incredibly supportive group of folks over at FreelanceSuccess.com, who, even now, are part of my network of support, and I've become dear friends with many of them. These are folks who often share the same writing philosophies that I do: that there is more than enough work to go around, that collaboration is a GOOD thing, that sharing contacts, etc, is good karma.
Unfortunately, I've never been in an a fiction writing group, but I wanted to post this anyway because I KNOW that there are readers out there who have been and who currently are, so if you are one of them, will you please share your insights as to how you found your group and how they help you? I imagine, though this is just a guess, than a writing class is a good place to start: you'll meet like-minded adults and can see who gels when you read your stories and give critiques.
Anyone want to weigh in to help this reader?
7 Comments on Finding the Right Match, last added: 4/6/2009
I've had problems hooking up with random writing groups online, because people are looking for different things and are working at all different levels with a variety of expectations. I have hit the jackpot a few times w/ a writer or two, but my best connections have come from people I met online through writing classes. I knew they were dedicated, I was exposed to their work, could estimate their level of expertise or enthusiasm -- and through that I've made a few real life friends and some amazing critique partners.
I'm not part of a group, but I imagine that taking a class that is geared specifically for where you are in the process would be helpful. For example, the crowd in a "start your novel" class is probably different than that in the "polishing your finished manuscript" class.
On the other hand, I can see the benefit of being in a group with a mixture of experience levels--published authors get fresh eyes on their latest work, while newbies get to tap the wisdom of authors who have been in the publishing world for awhile.
Maybe it all just comes down to chemistry--finding a group that gels?
And now we know why I'm not in a group...too many variables to consider :)
I found my writing group through another writer. So, my advice would be to find other writers you get along well with and then find out where they go and what groups they are in. My group is very structured (has a teacher who keeps the workshop moving in the right direction) and the teacher is well-published.
I've found that online groups are really tough (apart from Freelance Success and Backspace) because you have to really trust who you work with.
Hope that helps.
Trish L http://www.trishlawrence.com/blog Twitter: @trishlawrence
I've found a very informal group -- more of a regular sushi-and-writing-support group -- though a writer friend. It kind of formed organically -- my friend introduced me to someone I really liked, who also teaches writing, and that friend ended up bring one of her students into our regular lunches. We don't critique each other's work as much, since we have other people to do that, but we talk about the mechanics of writing and cheer each other on and try to support each other as much as possible. I've been part of classes before and found there is such a huge range of genres and styles -- both personal styles and writing styles -- that it was hard to connect with the right group. I think putting an ideal one together takes time. And yes, Trish, trust is key!
Anonymous said, on 3/21/2009 8:11:00 AM
Hiya, I've got a question! How did you start your writing career? I would love to become a freelance writer but want to test my skills first! I have a blog and know of a popular free newspaper, here in London, that print readers articles but I would like to find more publications and even enter my writing into competitions before I brave query letters. How can I find these outlets and is this the best way to go about it?
Thanks so much for the help! So maybe I should really be asking about where I can find online writing classes. (Seriously-- if you know of anything, Alison, I'd love to get info!) I submitted a short story to a recent contest on www.absolute-write.com and it seems like a nice community, but a bit too uncontrolled-- I don't know that I'd want to share large chunks of my work there, semi-password-protected or not. Anyway, great ideas!
Maya
Anonymous said, on 3/23/2009 10:11:00 AM
Here, this might be of interest to you and your bestseller books:
www.freelanceforum.com, a Freelancers Database for freelance writers, freelance coders, freelance webmasters, freelance designers, and almost anything relating to freelancing. There are prose writing contests and creative-writing competitions there,too, so it might be of your interest. And the prizes are reasonable and the payment system credible. Aside from saying that your entry's worth my following, im inviting you to join in the said site.
Question of the day: You did a great blog a while back about how you packaged a story with a "Why You Resist/Why We Insist" theme and I wondered how a big a part of the process that is -- coming up with the catchy concept and headline.
I think that coming up with this complete package is one of the most critical parts of landing a pitch. Here's why. Let's be honest: virtually every idea under the sun has been covered by a magazine before. There are only so many subjects, frankly, that we can write about: diet, sex, relationships, fitness, mental health, etc. So what editors are looking for are catchy new plays on these same topics. The particular story referenced above was a play on breaking bad habits: namely, why you resist breaking them, and why we (the magazine) insist that you do. This isn't a rocket science of an idea, but it is a fun spin on the same old advice. You could just as easily send a pitch that says, "I'm pitching a story on breaking bad habits." But is that really going to garner an editor's attention? They get a million of those queries a week. Instead, by coming up with a catchy idea AROUND THAT VERY SAME SUBJECT, you're likely to get your editor thinking, "Ooh, I can totally see this tag line on the cover of the magazine!"
Another example of this is this piece I wrote for InStyle Weddings that I remember very clearly pitching. It's called Weddings A to Z, and basically, I knew that my editor was looking for an evergreen article that covered a wide scope of wedding planning. Well, how could I come up with a fairly creative way to encompass that? I pitched the A to Z idea, complete with a few examples like, S is for Stephanotis or D is for Destination Wedding, or what not, and she got a very clear idea of just how the article would play out. Bam, I got the assignment.
I'm not claiming that these ideas crack the genius shield. But they're clever ways of reinventing the same-old, same-old wheel, and in this tough market, you have to find ways to stand out. Period.
2 Comments on A Package Deal, last added: 4/6/2009
Great ideas aren't always "genius." I think more often they're just captivating or fun. I saw the "why you resist" article and loved how it busted me on things I did, but then offered a way out. It kept my attention and distracted me from a long, uncomfortable plane ride.
Question of the day: How hard is it to break into magazines? How much tougher is it in this economy?
Piggy-backing this onto last week's magazine post. The answer to this question is going to inevitably vary from writer to writer. As I said, in my case, I broke in relatively easily by pure fluke, but then, even once I had a few credits, it took a really, really long time to establish myself as a go-to writer and/or a writer to whom editors brought ideas rather than having to pitch them myself. But I think my experience is pretty unique in terms of ease of breaking-in, and from friends' anecdotes, I think it can truly be all over the board: right away or years later.
I'm hesitant to say that breaking in to major magazines is difficult because I think it's a very doable goal, but the truth is that there is a difference between difficult and unattainable, and I think you need to keep this difference in mind if you're aspiring to break in to magazines. I think that if you have the stomach for a hell of a lot of rejection and the fortitude to ignore said rejection and the tenacity to keep pitching, pitching, pitching, AND an ego-less personality in which you don't mind taking smaller, less prestigious jobs, AND you're a good writer, then by all means, I think this is a very viable goal. And I don't mean that sarcastically at all. I think to make it in this business, you really need to have a personality that can endure the peaks and valleys, and if yours meets the above criteria, yeah, then certainly, over the long run, I do think you'll break in. But you have to KNOW that it's not going to be easy, and you have to be okay (and not whine about it when things aren't okay) with all of this.
Has the economy made it tougher? I'd say so. Editors simply aren't assigning in the way that they were before, so even long-time writers are seeing their regular pieces drop off. For a newbie to crack this force field will undoubtedly be tougher, but again, not impossible. It really depends on how much you're willing to hustle and how wide you're willing to cast your net and how many rejections (or silences, as often the case may be) you can stomach.
I really, really hope this doesn't come off as a negative post. It's not meant to be. At all! Remember again, that there is a difference between difficult and unattainable, and if you don't shy away from a challenge, this one is certainly within reach.
Thoughts? Am I a negative Nelly or just a realist?
6 Comments on How High is the Magazine Ceiling?, last added: 4/6/2009
Nope, not negative. It sounds really similar to trying to break into book publishing -- or acting, or anything else subjective and highly competitive. Thanks.
Not negative at all, just very truthful. Someone breaking into magazine writing today, definitely needs to know that it can be (probably will be)tough and that tenacity is a key factor to their success. Thanks for the great post, Allison.
Realistic, and I wish more people would listen. I tried to stop a gal who's never written for pay a day in her life from selling off her current stock on eBay. She's just sure she can start making money doing her dream job in a matter of weeks.
People with 20 years of experience aren't making money right at this very second, so it's just hard to see her give up an income to chase this. She can be the most talented writer in the world, but this isn't a smart move for March 2009, KWIM?
Not negative because you also state that it's doable with a lot of persistence. I'd say that makes the difference in every endeavor! BTW, I can't wait to read your next book.
This is more of a query-specific question than anything, but I'll pose it here, anyway. I have what I think is a great idea that's been (tentatively) picked up by a national mag for a short FOB piece. I'm thrilled, but I'd also really like to write a longer version of the piece for a regional magazine -- a totally noncompetitive market. The story would be different enough that I'm not just re-pitching the same thing. What's the etiquette here? Am I OK to pitch to the regional mag if it's a totally different take on the story, or should I wait to see what happens with the national mag? Thanks for any advice you can offer!
Nope- not negative. I think it means writers are going to have to an even better hook, a fresher approach to a topic etc. You are going to have to fight that much harder to stick out.
haha... with that teaser, I had to check out the link!
I'm floored by how self-centered people can be in giving "feedback"-- I, too, don't think I would be so honest. And I kind of want people to be honest with me in their feedback, but, um, I'd kind of want to protect my own ego too. These situations sound very awkward!! Great fuel for something in one of your books, I'm sure. :)
Btw, I haven't read your books yet because I haven't seen them yet in Israel. Do you have any idea whether they might be exported? I don't mean translation into Hebrew, although that would be cool :). We do tend to get a decent selection of English novels in our bookstores. They're mostly paperback, though, so maybe I'll have to either wait until TOML comes out in paperback or I can get someone to bring me your books when they come visit! :)
I'm Shannon, a writer and also a web producer and founder at a web startup called Mobrick, from Singapore. We've just launched a new site - an online zine publishing platform called Zinerepublic (http://www.zinerepublic.com). I was wondering if you might be interested to do a blog post about it. I'd be very grateful if you could, because we're just starting to get the word out now, and any help would be much appreciated. I've included info about Zinerepublic below:
Zinerepublic is our attempt at a revolution aimed at democratizing magazine publishing. We believe that magazine publishing - from article sourcing and content generation, to editing, assembling and publishing issues, to subscription and distribution - should be open to everyone, so we've created tools to make it easier.
Zinerepublic is an easy way to create and distribute your own crowdsourced zine. On Zinerepublic, anyone can be a reader, writer and editor, create your own zine out of your own and other users' articles, and submit articles that other editors might like to use in their zines.
On the site, users can create zines, submit articles for zines and subscribe to zines. To make zine publishing easier for zine editors, Zinerepublic allows users to crowdsource for articles, edit, assemble and publish periodic issues of their zine, and also provides a subscription and email distribution system so that people can subscribe to and receive new issues of their zine.
Please check out our new site here:
http://www.zinerepublic.com
You can sign up for a new account by clicking "Join", then give it a spin by checking out the zines, posting some articles and creating your own zine.
Please enjoy the zines, have fun creating your own, and Viva La Revolucion!
I loved your post at Writer Unboxed. I"m not sure how I would handle it if a book club invited me in, then members proceeded to tell me all the things they didn't like about my book. On one level I'd probably find it hysterically funny, but on another, a little hurtful. Of course no author expects everyone to love their stuff, but as you said, what exactly are you supposed to do about the criticism? Sounds like you handled it really, really well. I'm glad the ugly falls into the "very occasional" category. But it's still kind of scary it's out there!
hello from France, I am English but have lived in France for 20 years. I am recording those 20 years of moving from a caravan into 4 chateaux ( err one at a time) and it has been suggested by a few people that I should be writing this as a book? Where would I go from here? I would value your advice...
I discovered a site that helps you translate texts in any language you want. French Translator it is like a free dictionary. I think it is new.It works great! Thanks!
Question of the day: I'm curious about how you broke into writing for major women's magazines. Is it hard to do so? Harder now with the economy than it used to be? You did a great blog a while back about how you packaged a story with a "Why You Resist/Why We Insist" theme and I wondered how a big a part of the process that is -- coming up with the catchy concept and headline.
I'm going to break this question up into a few parts because it has a lot of different elements to it, so check back for the answers to the second and third questions.
I think I've chatted about this before, but I'm happy to revisit. I broke into women's magazines in a fairly untraditional manner: I did it with no magazine experience. Basically, many years ago, I was doing some celebrity ghostwriting for a PR firm (yes, celebs hire ghostwriters and don't pen things themselves), and I was antsy to break out and do some editorial work. I was planning my wedding at the time, so sent of a pitch letter to The Knot, which now is a magazine, but back then, was only a website. I figured it would be an easy way to break in. Well, as fate would have it, they were looking for a ghostwriter for one of their books. I submitted a proposal, along with some sample chapters, and they hired me. I know. I couldn't have been more floored.
While the experience was less than ideal (for reasons I won't publicly get into - and don't take this as disparaging against the current Knot - this was years ago and many editorial teams ago), I have no regrets about it. Because with that on my pitch letter, "I recently ghostwrote XYZ for The Knot," I broke down my first door. I fired off a query to Bride's, based on a similar subject to the book, and voila, was granted my first feature. Easy as pie!
Ha! While it didn't take me long to break in, once I broke in, it DID take me a looooong time to land something else worthwhile. I did contract one other feature relatively quickly, only to be met with a swift and nasty kill fee, for reasons never explained to me and yeah, oh boy, was that demoralizing. (And FYI, in my defense, I'd freaking outlined the piece AND written half of it in proposal form, so to this day, I remember that editor and would never work with her again.) So instead of concentrating on features, I opted to really bone up my clips: I started pitching FOBs and a variety of websites, who always need more articles than magazines do, and slowly, things began snowballing for me. Cooking Light and Men's Health (I adore those editors to this day) began contracting a bunch of my FOB ideas, and eventually, I was able to leverage my good work with those shorter articles into feature pieces, not only for those original magazines but others as well.
Breaking into magazines requires a lot, A LOT of patience. There is very, very little instant gratification but if you realize you're in it for the long-haul, and attack your career with that mentality - whittling away piece by piece - I do think that you can find success.
So I'd love to hear from readers how YOU broke into mags.
5 Comments on Cracking Women's Magazines, last added: 4/6/2009
Oh, it is hard! And I know so many people who say, "Don't write for free." I did though, and for me, it paid off. I wrote my first piece for free, and then it led to some regional magazines that paid, which led to a monthly column that paid in that regional magazine, which gets you the clips and the status you need, and the confidence to go after more, and then you just keep at it. Then I started sending out to Parenting and Parents and Pregnancy and you work hard to establish relationships with the editors, right Allison? And I had established a great relationship with the editor at Pregnancy magazine and was writing for them monthly and then BAM! She left. And while I still wrote for a while for them, sometimes new editors bring with them their own team and their new ideas, and you can get left high and dry.
But at that point I was ready to start working seriously on my novel (whole 'nuther' story -- haha), and now I just write for websites. The end! hahah.
I broke in with a total fluke - spent months crafting my first query, then fired it off to a major consumer pub and just didn't mention writing credentials. And I got a 1000 word assignment out of it! It took a little time to get another clip, but that one large clip was instrumental in landing other assigments.
I was lucky enough to get an Op-Ed published in The NY Times, and then, like juusan, I spent months honing a query to target to a national mag. It worked. That same query became part of a cover story in The Writer (May '08) on how to craft winning queries. So, study the magazine you want to write for, then pick a topic that you're passionate about and really work that query. Even if your first query is rejected, odds are the editors will remember you when you submit the next idea. Hopefully, one of your ideas will eventually fit the magazine you target.
I ADORE Laura's books, and you're right--she's a great example of how wonderful the author community can be. Gotta love great writers who are also cool people :)