The Learning Doesn't Stop

Once again I must point you over to the Writers of the Future forum.  Great discussions going on there.  A must-read for any new writer, I think.  Please consider signing up and joining in the discussions, if you haven’t already.  It’s a great place!

http://forum.writersofthefuture.com/viewforum.php?f=16 

This link directs you to the general writing topics sub-forum.  Browse the threads, there are several active at the moment that are worth an in-depth read.  In particular I’d have a look at The cold equations: what are you prepared to do?; The learning and effort doesn’t stop; E-publishing a short story collection; and Reading tea leaves.

~Marina

39/100

P.S. Got another HM in Q2 of WotF.

Consider RKpyx up at Baen's Bar

Want to know what a (non-winning) Writers of the Future finalist story looks like?  If you’ve got an account at Baen’s Bar you can see one right now.  My Q2 2010 finalist story, Consider RKpyx, is up for critique.  I’d love it if you’d read and comment!

The Bar: http://bar.baen.com/default.aspx

~Marina

Goal: 35/100

On Giving Advice

I know once in a while I throw a few tid-bits of advice out.  And, since it’s my blog, I use a lot of “shoulds” and “should-nots.”

Most of what I say comes from my own learning experiences, the rest of it I parrot.  But I parrot it because I think it’s right.

I don’t claim to be an expert on writing fiction.  How can I?  As a currently-unpublished writer, I don’t have enough successes to say for certain that my way is the right way.  All I can say is I think it’s right, and often I feel in my gut that it’s right.

I want to be straight forward about where I’m coming from, because I’ve seen plenty of newbies try to give advice on their blogs.  Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don’t.  Either way, it’s usually harmless.  But occasionally it’s not.

So, when I look for advice, I always look at the source.  If the advice is in the form of a crit, it can usually come from anywhere.  No one has to be a published author to tell you if a story works or not, because really, when you crit you become a reader, and readers don’t need credentials.  They really don’t.

But, when you get down to the nity-gritty of the bizz, it helps to know who’s saying what and why.  Even when general writing advice is given, it’s good to know what kind of authority the individual has, so you can better judge how to interpret the advice.

The most dangerous thing I see is people giving advice about the publishing business and basing it on credentials that have little to do with the reality of the industry.

For instance, a degree in writing does not give you any authority on how to tell a story.  It really doesn’t, which is a shame when you think about it.  I feel the same about someone telling me they have an English degree as an agent or publisher does: So what?  A degree and hard-earned experience aren’t the same thing.

I’m far more impressed by people who are experts in their subject matter.  Writing about science fiction and have worked in the hard sciences?  Cool, I’m there reading your science advice.  Have a degree in psychology and use it a lot in your humanitarian work?  Cool, I’m there hoping to glean what I can in order to improve my character development.

Now, does this mean that newbies can’t give sage writing advice?  Absolutely not.  That would be the same as saying young-adults don’t have worthwhile opinions because they haven’t lived as long as other people.  Life experience doesn’t always equal wisdom.

But it always helps me personally to be able to gauge why someone thinks they have the authority to give advice.  If I agree with their opinion, usually it doesn’t matter to me who said what.  It matters more when I disagree, and it helps me dissect my own thought processes when I try to understand why their opinion is different from mine.  Sometimes I think they have valid evidence to support their views, sometimes I don’t.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, take my advice with a grain of salt.  If you agree, great, if not, that’s ok too.  All I can give is what I know, and when it comes to the publishing industry all I really have at the moment to back me up is research.  Lots and lots of research.  If that’s good enough for you, great!  If the fact that I don’t have anything published yet worries you, don’t listen to me.

I’m just here to provide my perspective, not the end-all be-all of what it means to be a writer.

How do you guys feel about newbies giving advice?  Do you ever listen to it?  Scoff at it?  Wish you could save a newbie from herself?  Let me know!  I’m dying for comments. ;-)

~Marina

Goal to date: 34/100

Editors

Great discussion going on right now over at the Writers of the Future boards on what you can expect from editors and what you can't.  Thought I'd post a link for anyone who isn't a member (PS, you should be!): http://forum.writersofthefuture.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=643&start=240

~Marina
Rejections: 33

On Pre-Rejecting

I said it on a message board, and I’ll say it here: For the love of all that’s writerly, don’t pre-reject yourself! 

On the various boards I visit, it seems like there’s a never ending stream of people who are waffling about what they want to write, because they’re afraid it’s not marketable.

“Should I include consensual incest in my novel?  I’m afraid it’ll turn publishers off.”

“Should I write my vampire novel?  There are so many out there right now.”

“Should I write space opera?  I hear that genre gets a bad rap.”

The answer to all these questions is so simple: Follow your bliss.  If you are passionate about it, do it.  Do it!  Do it!

Only you know best how to tell the story that’s inside you.  Yes, critiques and such help you unveil it to the world, but in the end it’s still yours, and you need to be proud of what you’ve created.  That means including everything you think adds to the story.

The other day, my brother said he was bored during his lunch breaks.  So I told him to take a hacky-sack to work and ask if someone wanted to play with him.  He shook his head.  “The guy’s at work don’t like that kind of thing.”

“Oh really?” I said, “Have you asked them?”

 “No, but they’re just not that type of people.”

My response, “How do you know?”

He didn’t have to get rejected by his coworkers because he did it for them.  He tried to use ESP to gauge what they wanted without actually asking what they want.  Don’t be him.  Don’t assume you know what agents and publishers are looking for and pre-reject your work before you send it, or even--heaven forbid--before you write it.

Yes, paying attention to the market is good.  Doing your research in likes and dislikes of agents and editors is good.  But don’t assume you can read their minds.  What, there’s no clause on the submissions page that strictly forbids you from ever sending them a manuscript in which incestuous vampires battle aliens in a game of space-chess for the known universe?  Well then, why wouldn’t you send them such a story?

Write what you want to write.  It’s your passion that makes a story shine.  If it’s amazing, people will read it.  Trust in your bliss.  Trust in your hard work.  Just trust yourself. 

We’re all in this because we love what we do, no?  Kill your darlings, not your passion.  :-D

~Marina

Rejections, goal of 100: 32

Integrity in Science Fiction-- Part Deux

I’m writing this post as an amendment to the first.  The comments I’ve gotten on the other suggest I didn’t communicate my point clearly.  I apologize for that.  Writing’s all about proper communication, and I seem to have failed in that regard.

My use of the word “fantasy” was a little confusing.  I was not at all suggesting there be no cross-genre work.  In fact, when I used the term “fantasy” I wasn’t referring to the genre at all.

I was trying to make a point about suspension of disbelief.

Facts help you ground your readers.  They set the parameters for your story.  In science fiction, or any genre in which the real world plays a large role, people will expect to find shared knowledge. 

They’ll expect that the speed of light is the cosmic speed-limit, and that you can’t go backwards through time, and that if the sun died we’d all die too.

Does this mean that you have to give them what they expect?  Absolutely not.  But, trying to get your reader to believe something they know to be false is on your shoulders, not theirs.

What does that mean?  It means you have to give them reasons to take your word for it.  Any time you differ from what people know to be real you have to explain yourself (and no, that doesn’t mean you state, “This is different from what we knew in the 21^st century because...”).

Fiction is all about suspension of disbelief.  You can’t get away from it.  You’re asking a stranger to accept what you say, to believe in your lies.

You have to make them feel secure, get their subconscious to nod and smile and say, “Yes, yes, I see, yes.”

But if they hit something in your story that makes their brain stumbled, makes them say, “Pft, no way,” it’s over.  Sure, some people will keep reading.  Some won’t.  And for those who do, they’ll have a more critical eye turned on your work.  They’ll be counting strikes against you.  Maybe not consciously, but a reader can only be jarred out of a story so many times before they decide it’s not worth the effort.

What I’m trying to say is: Don’t give them a reason to put your story down.

I’ve had people tell me, “Well, if it’s a good story, factual problems won’t matter,” as if there is some difference between a good story and its content.  No, a good story is good because it grabs you and doesn’t let you go.  Everything works in harmony in a good story: the plot, the characters, the prose, the setting, and the events. 

So, when there are clear scientific and factual errors--basic errors, ones that are obvious and easy to find--the audience notices.  Some people are forgiving, some not so much.  There’s a lot of fiction out there, so much that’s it’s impossible to consume it all in a life time.  Time is precious, and most people dole theirs out judiciously.  If there is something wrong with your story they don’t owe you a second more.  If you fail to keep their attention they’ll move on.

Factual errors are like bad prose or boring characters, they give people reasons not to read what you’ve spent long hours putting together for them.

As I said before, everyone is bound to make mistakes.  No one can be expected to know everything, and slip-ups will happen.

But there is a difference between a mistake and getting something wrong because you don’t care enough to get it right.

I’m advocating for research.  Enough to let your audience know you care about them, that you don’t expect they’ll just gobble up whatever you say, that you love your work enough to do it right.

That you respect their intelligence.

That’s what I was trying to say with the last post.  That the author is always responsible for explaining the universe he or she has created.  If there are differences between current, accepted knowledge and your world, you are responsible for making the audience believe.  If you differ on the basics of the real world, it better be purposeful, and you should explain it to your audience.  Otherwise they might just think you have no idea what you’re talking about and move on.

It might sound harsh, but it’s true.  Put on your reader hat and think about how selective you are.  How much time do you give a story?  How many times can your brain say, “Yeah, right,” before you stop reading?  

Fact is, fiction is bull.  It is.  Writers are snake-oil salesmen, the lot of us.  And if you tell someone that Advil cures tonsillitis they won’t buy your Grogork potion that cures cancer.  Get it?

Ok, hope I made myself a little clearer.  Thanks for sticking with me, ya’ll.

~Marina

Rejections with goal of 100: 29

Childhood Dreams

Have you ever noticed how becoming an adult lets you be an even bigger kid?

I recently returned from my first trip to Washington DC.  I saw a lot, but my favorite was the Smithsonian. I only had time for two and a quarter of the museums, and I knew I couldn't miss out on Natural History or Air and Space.  

Yep, I wear my geek badge proudly.

So, my husband and I were walking through an exhibit of planetary photography when he came up with a great idea: We should decorate our bedroom with Hubble pictures!

Remember those glow-in-the-dark stars you begged your mom to let you stick to your ceiling?   I mean, come on, what nerdy little kid didn't want a space-themed bedroom? 

And now I get one!  Only no plastic stars for me.  We're going all out.  It's the super duper, totally awesome, beyond-that-seven-year-old's-wildest-imagination version.

How about you?  Anything you wanted as a kid that you realized you can have--but better--as an adult?

~Marina

Rejections: 29