Sherri Burr, Law Professor at the University of New Mexico, interviewed me recently for her Arts Talk television program. I've broken the interview into three sections, each about seven minutes long. They're on YouTube and my website, but for your convenience, here's the first one:
Debunking the Myth of Writers Block
To put this in perspective, I've help several hundred writers who thought they were "blocked." If this little video helps a few more, or even helps rid us rid of this destructive idea, I'll feel well rewarded.
I'll follow up with the other two parts of the interview--on Marketing Your Writing and The Writer's Life--in later posts.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Top Twenty Word Lookups
Merriam-Webster online tracks the top word lookups each month. The list and explanation for September's Top 20 is interesting:
http://www.word.com/unabridged/archives/2007/10/september_top_t_1.html
It's an gorgeous but eclectic list, with a number of ambiguous definitions, which makes it awkward to construct a metaphor for the quixotic hypothesis underlying the selection paradigm. In a democracy such as ours, the effect of this pretentious conundrum could be to become apathetic, albeit fascinated. One caveat: Whether or not we affect an egregious use of google to examine a googol of possibilities, we risk losing our integrity and falling into a sort of melancholy love with the problem.
So, if you would like to maintain your writing at a high gloss, try composing a paragraph using the entire word list. I would be a hypocrite if I hadn't done it myself.
http://www.word.com/unabridged/archives/2007/10/september_top_t_1.html
It's an gorgeous but eclectic list, with a number of ambiguous definitions, which makes it awkward to construct a metaphor for the quixotic hypothesis underlying the selection paradigm. In a democracy such as ours, the effect of this pretentious conundrum could be to become apathetic, albeit fascinated. One caveat: Whether or not we affect an egregious use of google to examine a googol of possibilities, we risk losing our integrity and falling into a sort of melancholy love with the problem.
So, if you would like to maintain your writing at a high gloss, try composing a paragraph using the entire word list. I would be a hypocrite if I hadn't done it myself.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Emotional Impediments to Improving
Reader Ideal Son writes:
"The biggest obstacle in my fiction writing now: when I do a good job being concrete in describing a setting or in revealing a character (through action, thought or dialogue), I end up believing it myself, making it hard to change in subsequent drafts. Sometimes these elements really need to change. It's hard to see, and when I see it it's hard to make the change. I have no doubt it's a purely emotional impediment... It certainly FEELS like an emotional one. But I don't know how to properly address it - do you have any ideas on this?"
Well, you've just put yourself in common with many of the "best of them." We all have these emotional impediments to changing our work. What makes those best writers best is that they deal with their impediments and go on improving their writing. That's what success in writing is all about.
As far as ideas about addressing this impediment, the only way the works regularly for me is to share mss. with other real writers. It's hard to make a reading group like this, but it's worth it. They just have to point to a section or passage, say a few words, and then I generally see it, and rather easily find a solution to work my way out of it.
I think that blindness to our own work is shared by most accomplished writers, though they don't always talk about it. Or write about it.
Any other suggestions for Ideal Son?
"The biggest obstacle in my fiction writing now: when I do a good job being concrete in describing a setting or in revealing a character (through action, thought or dialogue), I end up believing it myself, making it hard to change in subsequent drafts. Sometimes these elements really need to change. It's hard to see, and when I see it it's hard to make the change. I have no doubt it's a purely emotional impediment... It certainly FEELS like an emotional one. But I don't know how to properly address it - do you have any ideas on this?"
Well, you've just put yourself in common with many of the "best of them." We all have these emotional impediments to changing our work. What makes those best writers best is that they deal with their impediments and go on improving their writing. That's what success in writing is all about.
As far as ideas about addressing this impediment, the only way the works regularly for me is to share mss. with other real writers. It's hard to make a reading group like this, but it's worth it. They just have to point to a section or passage, say a few words, and then I generally see it, and rather easily find a solution to work my way out of it.
I think that blindness to our own work is shared by most accomplished writers, though they don't always talk about it. Or write about it.
Any other suggestions for Ideal Son?
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Breaking the Reader Trance - Part 2
A while back, I described the writer's job as placing–and keeping–the reader in a kind of trance, that took that reader to other times, other places, with other people. I gave some examples of writer mistakes that break that reader trance, then concluded by asking:
How about you, dear Reader? Do you have any trance-breakers to share?
Since then, quite a few readers have submitted examples of trance-breakers. Here are their quotes:
"After the fifth typo in two pages, I decided that if the author and editors didn't care enough to proofread the book, I didn't care enough to read it."
"I was reading a fine space opera, sailing through a galaxy far, far away, when the author wrote that an alien 'lead' the team into the warp core. I can accept aliens and warp cores, but 'lead' instead of 'led'–well, that led me right back to my living room in Des Moines."
"The story promised to be interesting, with a sympathetic protagonist, until I stumbled over a 73-word sentence. I looped back to read it four or five times, then managed to parse it into something sensible. Still fascinated by the character, I put myself back in the trance–until two paragraphs later, I hit a 112-word sentence. Now I was fascinated by the sentence structure and word count. Were there other, longer, sentences? I'll never know. I recycled the book."
"Generally speaking, I like to learn new words, but enough is enough. I was reading a literary novel and a few pages in, I had to look up 'aeneous,' a new word for me. I was pleased to add this shining bronze color to my vocabulary. A few pages later, I learned that 'luteolous' meant 'yellowish'–an adjective that might be useful someday. But when I encountered 'smaragdine' and 'pavonated' further down the same page, I put away my dictionary–and the novel. If I want a vocabulary lesson, I might go back to it, but the feeling I had was that the author was not telling a story, but showing off how smart he was."
"Whenever I come across alien names or places that I can't pronounce–like GN'*b-xrz or yyyytlmfh, I give up on the story. In fact, when I'm browsing for science fiction, if the book starts with a key to pronunciation, I stick it back on the shelf."
"I had more Latin than I wanted in Sister Mary Margaret's class. Haud gratiae!."
"I don't mind dialect, but a few words, once in a while, are all that I need to feel the character's voice. If it goes on and on, or I have to stop and figure out what the character is saying, I'm turned off. And out."
My co-critiquer, Pari, makes this point when she points out points that must be corrected to stay on point.
"If I want to read long lists, I'll go to a conference and sleep through a PowerPoint presentation."
Several sagacious souls spurned such silly shortcomings.
"A baker's dozen bright-eyed and bushy-tailed hotshots fingered extracts that were much of a muchness."
"When I can't keep track of who's speaking or observing, or when the point of view character is seeing or hearing or knowing something they can't possibly see or hear or know, then I realize I'm reading something made up, and not made up very well."
"Sometimes characters in a story do things that seem to have no motivation. They may have their reasons, but if the author doesn't make those reasons clear, then I cease to believe these are real characters."
Well, this essay certainly has examples, but perhaps it's time to stop.
How about you, dear Reader? Do you have any trance-breakers to share?
Since then, quite a few readers have submitted examples of trance-breakers. Here are their quotes:
Typos
"After the fifth typo in two pages, I decided that if the author and editors didn't care enough to proofread the book, I didn't care enough to read it."
Grammatical errors
"I was reading a fine space opera, sailing through a galaxy far, far away, when the author wrote that an alien 'lead' the team into the warp core. I can accept aliens and warp cores, but 'lead' instead of 'led'–well, that led me right back to my living room in Des Moines."
Difficult Sentences
"The story promised to be interesting, with a sympathetic protagonist, until I stumbled over a 73-word sentence. I looped back to read it four or five times, then managed to parse it into something sensible. Still fascinated by the character, I put myself back in the trance–until two paragraphs later, I hit a 112-word sentence. Now I was fascinated by the sentence structure and word count. Were there other, longer, sentences? I'll never know. I recycled the book."
Unfamiliar Words
"Generally speaking, I like to learn new words, but enough is enough. I was reading a literary novel and a few pages in, I had to look up 'aeneous,' a new word for me. I was pleased to add this shining bronze color to my vocabulary. A few pages later, I learned that 'luteolous' meant 'yellowish'–an adjective that might be useful someday. But when I encountered 'smaragdine' and 'pavonated' further down the same page, I put away my dictionary–and the novel. If I want a vocabulary lesson, I might go back to it, but the feeling I had was that the author was not telling a story, but showing off how smart he was."
Difficult Names of People or Places
"Whenever I come across alien names or places that I can't pronounce–like GN'*b-xrz or yyyytlmfh, I give up on the story. In fact, when I'm browsing for science fiction, if the book starts with a key to pronunciation, I stick it back on the shelf."
Foreign Words or Expressions
"I had more Latin than I wanted in Sister Mary Margaret's class. Haud gratiae!."
Extreme Dialect
"I don't mind dialect, but a few words, once in a while, are all that I need to feel the character's voice. If it goes on and on, or I have to stop and figure out what the character is saying, I'm turned off. And out."
Repetitive Words
My co-critiquer, Pari, makes this point when she points out points that must be corrected to stay on point.
Long Lists
"If I want to read long lists, I'll go to a conference and sleep through a PowerPoint presentation."
Accidental Arbitrary Alliteration
Several sagacious souls spurned such silly shortcomings.
Cutesy Writing
"A baker's dozen bright-eyed and bushy-tailed hotshots fingered extracts that were much of a muchness."
Point of View Inconsistencies
"When I can't keep track of who's speaking or observing, or when the point of view character is seeing or hearing or knowing something they can't possibly see or hear or know, then I realize I'm reading something made up, and not made up very well."
Lack of Motivation
"Sometimes characters in a story do things that seem to have no motivation. They may have their reasons, but if the author doesn't make those reasons clear, then I cease to believe these are real characters."
Lack of Examples or Excessive Examples
Well, this essay certainly has examples, but perhaps it's time to stop.
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