What If You Could Not Fail

What does an agent do?

I don't have anything for you about writer's block yet, but I did listen to this great podcast this morning on Writing Excuses, a program I highly recommend you check out. I want an agent like this lady. 

Hitting the Wall

What's worse than writer's block? Try editing block. In the next few days I will tell people how I overcome both. Hint: Neither one is easy.

Considering a Literary Critique Group?

 
I can scarcely concentrate long enough to vacuum the front room, let alone create a literary work that may take more than a year. But after more than two-and-a-half years I now have a finished draft—117,000 words, 456 pages—and it’s readable and even good.


I never would have made it without the help of a literary critique group.

We meet weekly for two hours in a local chain bookstore (hint—the only chain left): a small group of people taking turns reading novels and short stories, trying to be heard over the Musak. Afterwards we sit bravely while the rest of the group makes comments, from punctuation to lapses in logic to a shake of the head followed by, “I’m not sure that would happen in real life.” Our members range from unpublished writers with promise to a retired educator with more than 300 published poems and a dozen short stories in print.

Because of this group, I’m a better writer.

Here is a list of my observations about what makes a good critique group, and how you can make the best of them:

Frequency—The group should meet weekly. Especially for writers working on novels and lengthier works, you should meet often enough that members recall the story line.

Strong Management—The group needs a leader. This person doesn’t need to be a published writer, few of us are. But they need to be a leader. They make sure people get a chance to read, that one person does not dominate, and that the criticism is constructive. There is a difference between a leader and a Nazi. Stay away from the latter.

The Leader Needs to Make Some Tough Decisions—Sometimes a member crosses a line—inappropriate material or harsh criticism. The leader has to control these things. Our leader has even had to suggest that some people leave the group.

The Group Should be Nurturing—Some writers have good ideas and themes, but they haven’t found their voice (I reread some of my early chapters and I shudder—what drabble!). A good critique group will nurture. They instinctively know not to rip you apart and destroy your fragile ego, even though the writing is a little raw. They will carry you along and wait for you to get better.

Recognize the Weaknesses of this Format—Few members have perfect attendance. One of your chapters may be relying heavily on action in an earlier chapter. If some of the members were absent for that reading, there will be a disconnect. One of the final chapters in my novel draws heavily from a chapter near the beginning. I emailed everyone the earlier chapter so they could fully appreciate the relevance. Critique groups are good for the immediate stuff, but as a judge of the work in its entirety, few of the members will hear your complete book, and if they do, it will be over a longer period of time.

Listen to the Group—In a scene midway through my novel a homeless man—a second-tier character—loses his shopping cart. The event furthered the action in the book and helped develop another character. Afterwards a member confided to me that she was very concerned about the character losing his cart. I thought about it and realized he needed to get a new one. In fact, it figures strongly in the resolution of the plot. Had she not made that comment, I’m not sure that ending would have occurred to me.

You Don’t Have to Take Every Piece of Advice—There are some absolutes. Typos, misspellings, grammar and punctuation (unless you’re Cormac McCarthy) are hard and fast rules. But if someone makes a comment on the story line or your style, it’s your choice to heed it.

I can write much more about critique groups, but these are the highlights. If you are looking for a group, shop around. Don’t settle for the first one. Also, make sure you reserve a page in your book for acknowledgements, and please spell everyone’s name correctly.

Social Statements in Fiction

Hello. I am on a ten-day vacation in Yosemite National Park and then Pismo Beach. As hard as it is to believe, there will be times when I will not have an internet connection. In the meantime, please enjoy one of my favorite posts from this last year. 

As I start to work on editing my draft I have been giving some thought to novelists making social statements through their work. Some of these are no brainers. Steinbeck and the Grapes of Wrath comes to mind. That book was so controversial that Steinbeck was accused of being a communist. There were stories of detractors trying to embarrass him by setting him up with hookers and other contrived scandals. In the case of Grapes of Wrath, however, the story stood on its own as a social statement.

Earlier this year I read The Long Goodbye, my first foray into Raymond Chandler. Chandler uses second and often third-tier characters to make his statements, so that you hardly notice. Just some working stiff complaining why he can’t get ahead. Still, the statement gets made.

Right now I am reading The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. This was her first book, and the first of hers that I’ve read. She makes social statements, typically through the actions of her secondary characters. The protagonist picks up on these actions and becomes part of them, but the reader is party to minimal dialogue—internal or external—about the issues. How characters make decisions about these issues remains unsaid. The cause just becomes the right thing to do for them.

My novel, Rules for Giving, touches on some social issues—gays, the homeless and abortion. The message on the homeless and gays is pretty clear cut, without preaching. Abortion is a little more cloudy. The feedback I’ve been getting is that people come away from the story with whatever pre-conceptions they had before they read it. That’s not what I was hoping for. The story should make people think about how they feel about the subject. I have some ideas how to accomplish this through a second-tier character. We’ll see what happens.