Contemplating Writing Issues

[queenoftheskies]

For the most part, I think I have most of my writing issues well under control now.


I admit that the negativity (the feeling like I was writing crap) issue has TRIED to raise it's ugly head a time or two when I was exhausted and feeling unwell. But, I have pretty much developed the ability now to bonk it on its UGLY head and send it back to the rock it crawled out from under.

Hooray! That's a real accomplishment.

Internal editor has re-fused with the muse and the two are working together now. What a shock! Internal editor now makes notes like, "Revisit this on rewrite", "Maybe this scene should come out later", etc., but she does NOT tell me I'm writing crap. We have all come to the conclusion that many words are better than no words and feeling lousy and that anything can be fixed on the rewrite. Writing is nothing if not rewriting.

Hooray! Another accomplishment.

I have learned to set goals that I think I can adhere to and try to keep up with them. However, if I discover, for some reason that they are not reasonable, I am willing to revise instead of thinking that I failed because I admit that it's possible I was more optimistic in setting them than I should have been. As more information becomes available, it is OKAY to revise them.

Hooray! Another accomplishment.


But, there had to be a catch in all these accomplishments, didn't there?


I do still have one deep-seated, dark problem that raised its nasty head this morning. It's not something that's going to keep me from writing. But, it might keep me from succeeding later, so I have to start dealing with it now.

This problem is two-fold, I guess. No, maybe it all boils down to worrying what other people think. No, it's not even that. How to explain it?

Part of it is worrying about being trashed in public, I guess. Part of it is having people laugh at my ideas and tell me they're stupid. Part of it is having people tell me, "No, that'll never work". Or, "somebody already did that", when all they've heard is that I've got aliens in my story.

It's that they aren't willing to give what I write a fair chance. They base their opinions on pre-conceived notions without letting the story stand for itself.

Once I write it out and look at it this way, it all sounds stupid. And, when I'm writing, I don't think about this kind of thing and don't worry about it.

I also don't worry about it in regards to some day sending submissions to agents/publishers. I honestly think they will give it the chance it deserves.

So, why do I let what my peers think bother me so much? Especially when the majority of people doing this are not published themselves.

I'm battling the other problems and succeeding. What is it about this one that lingers?

It's not even so much that I think they're right. Or maybe I do on some level. I'm not sure. It's just embarrassing for me, in a way...or something.

All I know is that when I posted my question this morning about my WIP, I started expecting people to say, "OMG, what a stupid idea", and ignore the question completely.


That obviously means that I still have some lingering problem that I need to deal with.

Comments

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

>>Part of it is worrying about being trashed in public, I guess. Part of it is having people laugh at my ideas and tell me they're stupid. Part of it is having people tell me, "No, that'll never work". Or, "somebody already did that", when all they've heard is that I've got aliens in my story.

It's that they aren't willing to give what I write a fair chance. They base their opinions on pre-conceived notions without letting the story stand for itself.<<

But bear in mind a lot of these people will be the sorts where it's obvious that they didn't give the book a lot of thought or a fair chance. Their actual posts might give it away (D00D i thought this SUCKED cause there weren't no VAMPYRES in it) or where they're posting (Welcome to the BOOKS THAT SUCK BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE VAMPYRES Forum), or random anonymous Amazon.com reviews (DASVAMPIR says, "What's up with all the no gay sex??????").

A lot of authors also take issue with Kirkus Reviews because their reviewers are anonymous and, as Poppy Z. Brite has cheerfully pointed out in the past, have admitted before that they enjoy hiding behind their anonymity.

The point is, if someone is commenting on your work without having really read it or coming at it with certain prejudices, this will usually be apparent from the get-go.

If you're set on reading reviews of your own work (I am sometimes and at others not; I go through phases), then target the ones that are generally known to be reliable, like Tangent, SFFNet, and so on. I've gotten mixed reviews before (fortunately no bad ones yet, at least none that I know about), but it was clear that the reviewer had read the work, and the source was a solid one.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

So far, the comments have come only from writing groups and critique lists/workshops or just general comments to list posts I've made.

I have yet to actually submit. I just don't think I'm quite ready yet. :)

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

One of my biggest problems... happens all too often... is this sort of intense paranoia that crops up, and I think, "They are *totally* going to be able to tell I just made this crap up."

Sounds like a related problem, really. Of *course* they know you made it up. They got it in the fiction section. But...

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I worry about making everything logical, trying to make sure people can understand what I'm doing, and I even run the magical aspects past my Physics major son to make sure the real world would really react that way if a certain type of force acted on it. (We have some amazing theoretical discussions.)

So, even if it's made up, I try to make it make sense. (But, I always worry that it doesn't.)

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Cat. I know you understand a lot of these feelings, so your comments help lots.

If you think the agents/editors will give your work the chance it deserves,then that's all that's really important in the end, isn't it?

Yes, you're exactly right. I guess the main reason I'm trying to fight this is because of what it does to me and how it affects me as a writer.

Obviously, I'm struggling not to let it affect me. However, as I'm drawing to a close on Ancient Secrets, I'm faced with three possibilities to get feedback on it once I've done some editing/rewriting. Perhaps that's what's making me address this issue again. 1) I can post it for critiques in several places I belong to. 2) I can beg and plead and try to find some beta readers. 3) I can pay to have a professional editor look at it.

There's always sending it out cold once I think it's the best I can make it, but...I'm not sure about that one.

...we get what the critter wants to give.

However, I don't want to allow people's opinions to kill my writing self or to make me rewrite my novel to their image, the way they would have written it. What I want are the valid criticisms.

I don't mind rejections. Got lots when I submitted screenplays. Some were awesome rejections. Some were even long phone conversations, which are practically unheard of in Hollywood. But, the point of these rejections was that they were all beneficial. Even the person that wanted to buy the screenplay, but couldn't because they made fluff movies gave me marketing strategies and told me things he thought would make it appealing to the marketplace. They were CONSTRUCTIVE.

That's all I ask of anyone. Please, be CONSTRUCTIVE. That's what I try to do when I critique someone else's work. Be CONSTRUCTIVE. I don't think that's too much to ask, do you? If a person doesn't read my genre, their opinions don't do me as much good. (I hope that doesn't sound elitist.) One person, for example, said I should turn Beyond the Darkness into more of a travel piece because most people reading it probably haven't been to Japan. Guess what? Neither have I. But, I sure as hell know how to research. :)

However, if they can point out where I've made mechanical errors, where I have plot holes big enough to drive a Mack truck into, where I haven't tied up plot threads, why my ending (or any other part of my novel) doesn't work, then that is CONSTRUCTIVE.

Who will read your book when (not if) it is published? Those are the folks to listen to.

I agree completely, but here's my problem. Finding the people in the groups/lists/etc. I belong to that read contemporary/urban fantasy/SF. Still not totally clear on my genre. I have aliens, small amount of tech, but basically I have a big sweeping fantasy epic that starts centuries before on other worlds and ultimately moves to Earth in the present. My magic-users just happen to be aliens instead of wizards, warriors, elves, dwarves, etc.

On most lists, a person is pretty much at the mercy of whoever decides to crit their work or whoever it's assigned to. How do you actually reach your target audience?

Eeek...I'm waxing HUGELY long-winded today. I'll shut up. :)

Hope that's of some help....probably not... :)

It helped LOTS. You always help and I always appreciate it more than you'll know when you comment.

We share a lot of the same insecurities, you know. :)

[navicat.livejournal.com]

I understand the paranoia well. I wish I could offer wise advice. I just put up with the tummy butterflies (that pop up everytime someone so much as looks at my work) and keep going. Perseverence is all I can offer :)

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, perserverence is what it takes. :)

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

I'm battling the other problems and succeeding. What is it about this one that lingers?

Parents. Steve. What did all of the above do to you re: writing?

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Maybe, though I still think I'm working on getting it through my head that I really DO know as much as some of these people who are telling me they know more than I do.

[dragovianknight.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, but being told you don't know anything is part and parcel of being told constantly that your ideas/desires/dreams are stupid, ne?

[kimberlychapman.livejournal.com]

The thing is, whatever we write, for someone it won't work and it has been done before in some sense or other. We can't get too worked up about such comments, because 1) they're often true and 2) so what?

Your story is about aliens. Mine is about good cops trying to live their lives in a world going sour. Both have been done, but hopefully each brings a new twist, a new concept, a new opinion, or enough interesting characters that the ways in which the plot matches things done before won't matter so much.

In fact, in some cases being unoriginal is GOOD because it can be in the sense that what the characters are going through is, on some level, what the reader has gone through. Then the reader identifies with the character and that can be very powerful, even if the basics of the plots are different.

No matter how good you are, some people will think you suck. Others will think you're better than anything ever. Both are extremes and likely untrue, but that's how people are.

But knowing all of that doesn't take the sting out of it. Check this out...a month or so ago I noticed that sometime in early 2005, not long after I'd had a big fat fight online with some nasty people, two reviews showed up on my book's Amazon page (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591051894) that defy the other reviews and everything I've ever been told. Neat trick, since the book has been out of print and impossible for even me to buy since early 2004, and only a small number were ever sold. It's highly unlikely that these people read the book. They're trashing me for some petty personal reason or other, or out of immaturity, or both.

It can't impact sales on an out-of-print book. I told some author friends and a bunch of 'em went and clicked the "not helpful" buttons for me, which was sweet and unasked for. Still...it's irritating because someone was being vicious, and that sucks.

And one of those well-meaning authors posted a bogus positive review, which I appreciate, but it's a lie and doesn't help. The other review in between is a reprint of a genuine review from a website that has since deleted the original, so that's genuine.

People suck and there will always be someone to rain on your parade. It's hard to ignore them, but the best we can do is trudge on in spite of them.

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

You're exactly right.

What I'm dealing with mostly is comments from peers, from other writers, that have affected me badly in the past. Almost all of them do not read my genre, but were more than happy to tear my story apart.

I got over that and moved on.

Now, however, I'm facing the fact that Ancient Secrets is almost done. Once it is, I'll give it a quick read-through to correct typos, inconsistencies, take out some scenes I'm not going to use any more, and basically smooth it out. Then, I'll let it sit while I move onto something else.

When I'm finished with the something else, I'll edit/revise for the first pass. Then, I have to decide...do I want opinions on this? If so, how do I find people that read my genre? If I can't, I have to learn to deal with the kinds of comments I got the first time around with the first few chapters of Beyond the Darkness. That's what I'm trying to get ready for, because I don't know how to find "qualified" people to read the novel and comment.

That seriously sucks about the Amazon fiasco. People are sooo stupid sometimes.

BTW, have a good trip to CA this weekend. Maybe we'll pass on the road. :)

[kimberlychapman.livejournal.com]

A word to the wise about other authors: a lot of them suck ass but don't know it, and think they know what they're talking about because they've sold a few books to a small press run by friends and they've sold a whopping few dozen copies of each book. Oooooo.

Not that I've had bigger success. My book barely sold at all, in part because my shitty small publisher pulled it when I wasn't being her friend...y'know, when I started exposing her to her friends for the shady crap she was pulling (she's lost all of those friends now and everyone on that list who used to flame is is oh-so-nice to me these days).

But I still meet authors who go on and on about what experts they are, slam other people's work, and act all friggin' hoity-toity when in reality, they're just as far down as the rest of us only with a little bit more "success" to flaunt.

Ignore those dipshits.

There are plenty of other authors out there, published and not, who are decent people who will give authentic and honest criticism without being dicks about it. I strive to be one of them (although I can be a bit of a snob with really bad amateur writing, especially when the grammar and spelling suck, so I just try to avoid saying anything so as not to hurt people's feelings). If I don't like something, I'll say it, but I try to do it in a positive and helpful way. I see people on my flist offer their chapters and books for beta-reading and I almost never volunteer because most of the subjects are things that won't interest me as a reader and I don't want to unfairly kick someone just because I'm a fellow writer. That, and I've found too many amateurs can't take even the slightest bit of positive criticism or advice and then they get all hurt and I don't need the drama.

But if a fellow writer I knew and liked and trusted to be mature (including yourself) said to me, "Hey, I know this isn't your favourite genre, but could you look this over and tell me honestly what you think in terms of characterization or plot structure or whatever" I'd do my best to help in a fair and honest way. If I had time...I wouldn't take on a project and then screw someone over. Too many of my test readers have done that to me and it's a pain in the ass.

Anyone who comes off the least bit competitive or snide should just be avoided. Chances are they suck and are being overly critical of others to hide it.

BTW, have a good trip to CA this weekend. Maybe we'll pass on the road. :)

We're not going on the weekend, but in the next couple of weeks. I won't announce specifically when until we're back. I'm paranoid about alerting people to us being away from the house. :)