@GD: My power animal is the penguin, that comical waddling bird of po-faced mien and regal bearing. Has been, ever since the 2nd grade when cruel children (a redundant phrase if there ever were one, eh?) mocked my bow-legged stride.

I do keep an inspirational writing totem near at hand. Setting on the bottom left-most, front-cover corner nearest the outward-facing spine of the horizontally-positioned Vol. II of Webster's Third New International Dictionary (said volume pressed into use as both monitor elevation and shelf, reposing upon a triple-stack of mahogany squares setting atop a briefcase—"It's turtles, turtles—all the way down!" as a devout Hindu woman once screamed at Carl Sagan) is my totemic writing ape: A prince-nez wearing brownish-white chimpanzee (yes; I'm well aware that chimps are not monkeys but it's how I think of him, you see—as "my writing monkey") dressed in frock coat and bow tie, approximately an inch-and-a-half tall, captured in a pose that finds Professor Monkey sitting cross-legged upon the ground clutching a tiny skull in one hand whilst adjusting his spectacles with the other, his sober expression one of utmost concentration and deliberative reflection.

And that, my fellow Book Country knights of the quill/finger-stabbers of the keyboard, is the strangest sentence I have ever written. Till tomorrow . . .

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 10/10/2014, 12:40 AM--

Carl - When I moved up to UConn for grad school, I brought a few penguin things with me (a mug, a small statue, and one poster). I mean, who doesn't like penguins? Well, the folks living in my grad dorm building, as well as friends/family at home, got it into their heads that penguins were my all-time favorite critter. So, during those years, I ended up with quite a collection of penguin paraphernalia (mostly gifts). I still have some (especially one mug from a friend who died a few years after I completed my studies and moved back to Philadelphia). (And I'm sure there are even stranger sentences still waiting for you to write them!)

I do remember very early on when I started writing (back in high school), that I had an odd little piece that I had inspired me. I had toured a stained glass manufacturing company when I was in high school. I and one other girl from my art class took the longest trolley route in the city to get from our neighborhood out to the factory. It was quite an adventure for us! The folks at the factory were great to talk with and it was so exciting to see the way the glass was made and cut, etc. After the tour, they let us pick out some pieces of slag to keep. The one I ended up with was a bluish not quite circular smooth blob of glass fused to a base of jagged black pieces. I honestly don't know what happened to it. I feel a search coming on!

I don't have anything now that keep near me for inspiration; no totem, no good luck charm, no muse. Then again, my house, which friends have likened to an art gallery and my sister has called the most magical house ever, is filled with things that I love. So maybe just sitting in my house is all I need to be inspired.

Now, as to what object my soul will take up residence in when I move on, I'll have to think about that. . .

@Angela: You have an entire penguin-themed collection of objets d'art?! Too funny-kewl! In my best Burgess-Meredith-as-the-Penguin voice: "Waah! Waah! Waah!" Heh!

Seriously, though, I love these insights we're gaining into each other's personal writing spaces. I don't know about you but the first thing I want to check out when visiting someone's home is their library, sculpture, paintings/posters, assorted knick-knacks and other collectibles. I'm almost rude about it. "Mm-hmm, mm-hmmm. That's nice. (I say in reply to whatever they're babbling about at the moment.) Go away now while I roam through your house examining these fascinating curios . . ."     

I'm the same way when I visit other people! Especially if they're artists or craftsmen. I WANT to see their work spaces - their studios or kitchens or workshops or favorite little reading nooks in their homes. I want to see how they organize (or not!) their tools and supplies and books. And I love discovering aspects of their personalities by looking at their, well, stuff. Every piece in a person's home potentially has a story behind it. And I love hearing those stories. The mug from a radio station that was part of a prize package that included a trip; the antique photo and frame from a great-grandparent; the collar from a long-gone beloved pet; the woolen leg wraps from a WWI veteran; the hand-knit finger puppets decorating a chandelier made of deer antlers. Fun things, historical things, sentimental things, quirky things - but all keys to unlocking a treasure chest of tales.

From a writing perspective (since this is a discussion on advice to new writers), I think it's important to notice all the art and knick-knacks and other bits and pieces in people's homes and to learn their stories. How else can we improve as builders of worlds and developers of characters?

Once, in a writing class in college, I had written a short story in which the main character took a watch with a broken band out of his pocket to check the time (this was LONG before the days of cell phones). One of the other people in the class, during the critique, said that that was a silly detail because nobody carried a watch with a broken band around with them in their pocket. I didn't say anything - just pulled my still functioning watch with a very broken band out of my pocket and set it on the table.

What does my writing space look like? You don't want to know.

Some would call it messy. My printer, a big HP3052 3 in 1 laserjet, sits on the right, piles of paper (I have to print to edit. Cannot do it on the monitor) on the left, a coffee cup on the left, ashtray and cigarettes on the right., books and printer paper on and under the desk. CDs and DVDs here and there, some used some new. I'm not sure what's on the used ones because I always forget to mark them. 

An external HDD sits beside the computer. Scattered here and there are maps. I don't recall why they're there, but I might find a use for them someday, so they remain. I've also got two old HDD from long dead computers off to one corner. I keep them because I haven't bothered to destroy them and have some vague remembrance that both contain something I might want to retrieve.

Directly behind the computer is a framed copy of a Matthew Brady print of 3 Confederate soldiers captured at Gettysburg. I plan to one day hang it on the wall. It's been there for a couple of years. There's more stuff, but that should provide a picture.

The most amazing thing is, I can instantly find what I need. Another amazing thing, my wife avoids this area like the plague. She says that she's afraid of catching something if she gets too close.

--edited by ChuckB on 10/9/2014, 10:48 PM--

I've seen a lot of good advice given in this thread, but what's missing is advice for the new writer who says, "I think I can write a novel," and turns to the keyboard.

That pretty much fits the vast majority of people posting their work on this and every other writing site on the Internet. They began with good intentions and no professional knowledge. And when that doesn't seem to be working they turn to people who are in exactly the same situation. So they get sincere and heartfelt advice that amounts to, "This is what I do." And since they're pretty much doing the same thing our new writer is…

Is it any surprise that the rejection rate is 99.9% or worse?

The problem is that when we come to writing all we know is the general skill set we all learned in school. Our idea of a scene is influenced by the word "scenery," and our knowledge of what a scene is in a film and play. So no matter how hard we may try we cannot write what a publisher views as a scene. Writing the story before we learn our craft might be satisfying, but does little of value that a three page plot synopsis wouldn't do. Without recognizable structure, coherence, foreshadowing that works, etc., it will have to be reworked, with a chain saw.

Reading is important, of course, because it's how we learn the norms of the genre we're writing it. But trying to learn to write by "analyzing" the work of others is like trying to learn to use a chefs knife properly by eating food prepared by a chef. We see only the product, not the process. We know nothing of the choices the writer made, or why they chose one way over another.

What I'm getting at is that every writing technique we own is the product of study and practice at the hands of our English teachers. We spent so much time at it that the techniques we come to writing fiction with seem intuitive and right. But they're not. They're designed to be what employers want, dispassionate and concise, author-centric work that's fact-based and designed to inform.

So our new writer arrives unprepared to write what publishers think of as fiction and unaware that there's another set of skills, one that's character centric, emotion based, and designed to entertain. And without a knowlege of those skills that's as deep and intuitive as the schooldays writing we arrive with, publication is an elusive daydream.

So my advice for the new writer:

• Write. It's great fun, satisfying, and keeps us off the streets at night.

• Take the same steps you would, were you to go for any other profession or complex skill, because you're trying to perform at a level where people pay you to do it. Learn the tricks of the trade, the specialized knowledge, and the pitfalls, from the people who work in the field, or teach it. The library's fiction writing section is filled with that kind of thing.

I can explain what a scene goal is and why it's necessary in a minute or two, and get, "That makes sense," in response. But it's something that will take a long time for the new writer to realize what it is and why it's vital. There are hundreds of such things that publishers expect us to know and use without thinking.

•Take  Mark Twain's observation to heart: "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." Work on getting rid of all the "know for sure," things cluttering your writing tool box and fill it with professional tools.

• Writing is also a business. Learn that part too, so you can intelligently direct the writing part and produce stories that publishers are looking for.

Rant over. I feel better now.

@Chuck B.: Thanks for sharing a couple of details about your personal writing space/man cave. I can well believe the wife veers away from your cluttered office!

@Jay Greenstein: Thanks for checking in, Jay! You SHOULD be here; this is exactly the thread beginning writers might stumble upon for advice on how to make the jump from amateur scribbling to generating polished professional copy. And no one has been more tireless in pointing out (1) fiction writing is not like the report/essay writing skills we learned in school, (2) most beginning fiction writers, regardless of age, make the same mistakes starting out, and (3) Dwight V. Swain's Techniques of the Selling Writer is one of the great resources for learning effective nuts-&-bolts fiction writing skills.

Would you mind elaborating a bit more on this particular thread? God knows you're been tireless in sharing this info elsewhere on the site but I'm thinking it would be very helpful for all writers, regardless of skill level and/or experience, to hear from you once again re:

(1) What did you look for on that critical first manuscript page when accepting or rejecting a submitting writer?

(2) What are the top three techniques, in your opinion, a writer can utilize right now to improve their fiction?

(3) What advice would you kindly share with the beginning writer who says, "There are no rules for fiction writing so I'm simply going to do it my way and hope for the best."

Salute! 

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 10/10/2014, 1:05 AM--

I've already spoken about my writing space, which is still in the stages of being put together since we just got our stuff in, but my favorite writing totem right now is the Smith and Corona Electra 120. Now, I love all my typewriters, but this one was given to me by an old vet who used to visit the bowling alley on base I worked at. I liked talking to him because he reminded me of my old writing instructor. This man told me he had a typewriter he had bought on base ages ago. Then he brought it in. My boss even took a picture of the exchange and put it into the photo slide on the score screen. Then this man's brain and lung cancer ended his life.

So, I have dedicated myself to finish my sequel to HANDS on Electra. I just need to order some ribbons, and I'll be set to go. I just have to be careful and plug Electra into a transformer because, well, Germany has 220 and not 110 voltage.

And now my other piece of advice to new writers:

You know that nagging voice that says you aren't good enough? That nagging shadow in your thoughts that sneers and drags at your self confidence? Yes, that one. Ignore it until you finish your first draft. You'll need to parcel out that doubt as you edit, put it to some good use. That's how I deal with it. I honestly live in the shadow of doubt about my writing skills, but I keep going, using it constructively. You aren't alone in this feeling, just put it to some good use.

@LeeAnna: That's quite a back-story to your electric typewriter, there. What an honor and a privilege; what a gift you've been given! Very moving, LeeAnna. Use it well; use it often.

Sage advice re: keep going; over-ride your internal critic to get that all-important first draft done. 

Steven Pressfield writes in The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles:

I power down. It's three, three-thirty. The office is closed. How many pages have I produced? I don't care. Are they any good? I don't even think about it. All that matters is I've put in my time and hit it with all I've got. All that counts is that, for this day, for this session, I have overcome resistance.

........................................................................................................

There's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write.

What keeps us from sitting down to write is Resistance. 

Are you learning to Review?

Read Carl E. Reed's review of From Reality's Edge by AR Neal.

http://www.bookcountry.com/Bookdetail.aspx?BookId=6383

It's encouraging because the reviewer recognizes what is excellent about the writing and the story. Criticism is specific and presented to encourage the writer to improve.

That's the essence of a good peer review:  Recognize the good and encourage improvement with specific suggestions.

Hello! There have already been many spirited and inspirational comments here and I hope this is a welcomed addition.

On writing space: I write everywhere. No, really. When inspiration hits, I try to get it down--even if it's only a word. I keep a notebook by the bed, at my work station (ideas and spinoffs invariably show up when I'm in the middle of a great flow on a current WIP), and in the car. I have taken down sentences and character names at stop lights. I've gotten the advice to use the "record" function on my mobile, but that's like telling a scribe to take notes with a gel pen instead of ink and quill . I do use Scrivener more of late to outline characters and develop stories. I enjoy pencil-and-paper writing but the program helps me keep characters and story arcs straight.

On writing: Do it all the time. No, really! If you are a novelist, write short stories. If you write short stories, write novels (or at least ideas for novels). If you've never tried flash fiction, do it. Do whatever it takes to sharpen your skills. If you need a push, visit my blog and go to Cave of Scribes for flash fiction prompts each Monday!

Have you ever done NaNoWriMo? National Novel Writing Month typically takes place in November and the idea is to write a 50k-word novel in 30 days. Before you freak out, let me say it's more than possible. There is a community of folks out there and has grown to a place that there are two Camp NaNoWriMo's each year (April, I think and July). My first try I came out with a novella of just over 21k ("Adventures in Cargo City"--find it on Amazon!) and my second try was with "From Reality's Edge" that you'll find here in BC (I think I hit somewhere around 52k).

The point is, you won't write if you don't write. Write every day, even if it's just a sentence; it won't be just a sentence because one turns into two and two turn into a paragraph and before you know it, you've got a story on your hands.

@Carl

ROFL! Thank you for, "...the strangest sentence I have ever written." It is truly visionary. (pardon the pun  : )

JaY!

Welcome back, you old curmudgeon. You add a necessary realism to the world of new writers. Whom I should now warn.

[Warning to new writers: If you are fortunate enough to receive a review of your book from Jay Greenstein, don't let his ruthless advice and one star rating crush your spirit. (Jay has the bedside manner of Carl Rove administering to Democrats : ) He can teach you a lot. He spends considerable time going through your work, tells you exactly what he feels is wrong, and if you can apply Jay's advice you may well have a publishable book.]

@LeeAnna

Germany? When I was defending freedom on freedom's frontiers, I once spent a wonderful summer in Wiesbaden. I liked Germany. It no doubt has changed, but they must still have the world's finest beers, paddlewheel boats to ride the Rhine, incredible libraries, Glockenspiels overlooking shopping plazas and a National Holiday devoted to ...walking.

Enjoy!

Andree : )

Welcome to the discussion, Andree!

--edited by GD Deckard on 10/10/2014, 11:49 AM--

Listen to Jay. Another key point to add to a discussion on advice to new writers!

Which leads to - Be willing to put your scribblings out there for others to read and review and criticize. Writing is just as much a skill/craft as it is a creative endeavor. All artistic expression is. When I look at my earliest attempts to bend clay to my will, I cringe. But we have a saying in my tile/mosaic group: No squishing! Let it dry. Bisque fire it. Glaze it. Fire it again. If anything, it may serve as a test piece for color and glaze choices and glazing techniques. Or, it may be the perfect piece to add to the shard pile to later shatter and incorporate into a mosaic. And even if it explodes in the kiln or sticks to the kiln shelf, it has value as a learning experience (no one wants to incur the wrath of the kiln operator more than once).

To improve your skills, to be better at your craft, you need to keep learning and keep plugging away at it. Criticism - good criticism - is a valuable learning tool. Nothing we write is etched in stone. But even if it were, it can still be changed with a lot of sanding and some re-etching. Or a fresh piece of stone.

Oh, and for those of you not on Facebook - Book Country posted this earlier today:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jaebird/19-signs-youre-that-guy-in-your-writers-worksh-bnwy?hootPostID=eb9de230f22cc0803d57a49d66c9c094

I will add my two cents presently, I am thinking on the topics self-discipline, which I have ever had in short supply, and auditory aids to writing, which either distract me from the turmoil or calm me, or both.

.

We have been having extreme problems with the internet this whole last week, and have been unable to get on at all except for brief periods since yesterday. It may now be fixed, after a lengthy session with at&t on the phone, guiding my husband through some complicated shit, this morning.

.

I think my most effective writing space is a quite room with a desk that is FAR away from any sort of bed

An overdrawn checkbook ledger and a bottle of bourbon. 

No, not really. Sometimes yes, but money isn't much of an incentive when I've made so little of it writing. But I really don't have any totems or good-luck pieces that inspire me.  Mostly I do rough drafts in a spiral bound notebook with whatever pen or pencil comes handy. Couch, car, bench, bed…though as Janet said, bed is risky. For that matter, so is couch. 

What keeps me going? I don't call it hope. It's more the inability to look away from a car wreck.

.

I don't have a routine, X hours at the keyboard. In fact, I've been taking (another) hiatus. I'm about to get back to it. I write as Anne Dilliard described in The Writing Life, I run at it, from page one, like a pole vaulter, hoping to hurl myself a few yards farther from sheer momentum.

.

Music eases my ever-present anxiety, particularly the soothing voice of Mark Knopfler. His themes comfort also. Redbud Tree, Shelter Me, Shelter Me, indeed.

.

I am reading heavy history and biography, my episodes to come double down on twisted reality. I don't know if the stacks of books help my state of mind or not. I feel like that guy in L'il Abner with the raincloud always over his head. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. I've just had the idea that Sly will write Nostradamus-style quatrains for John Dee, urging Dee, who was always in financial straits, to publish almanacs with predictions as a reliable money maker. It may not be easy to comically out-obscure Michel but I'm gonna give it my all.

.

I sit surrounded by art, many prints, a few treasured pieces of original art, my great prize being a signed costume sketch by Leon Bakst. A fifty-year serial collector, I have way too much marvelous stuff to properly display, much of it is packed away.

.

No totem, no routine, gimmick of any kind keeps me keeping on. I am the ultimate pantser, no firm resolution in mind. I write because I have to. I have to find out how this mess ends for my own satisfaction. All I can say is, I am unable to throw in the towel, as much as I sometimes want to. As an incentive to write, that works, I guarantee it.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 10/10/2014, 8:06 PM--

• What did you look for on that critical first manuscript page when accepting or rejecting a submitting writer?

What I look for is writing by someone who took proactive steps to learn their craft. I did a quick survey of the writing posted here and chose ten stories at random, from various genres. What follows is what hit me first with each. It's important to note that every single one was written by someone seriously interested in pleasing their reader, and trying as hard as they can, to do that.

1. Comedy. It began with about a 150 word soliloquy by a character we've not met, speaking to someone unknown, prompted by something unknown. It's meant to be comedy but we can't hear the character speak or see their expression, so it's delivered in a monotone.

2. Erotica: The first paragraph is a series of factual, and unconnected, sentences explaining the situation-a report. The actual story, when it arrives, is of the form, "This happened…then that happened…and after that…" It's being explained, not presented.

3. Fantasy: Has a prologue in which someone we've not met interacts with someone we don't know. In chapter one the author is talking about the story, using the same words they would were they telling it verbally.

4. Historical fiction. The first, long, paragraph is backstory, nominally something the protagonist we know nothing about is thinking about. But backstory is backstory. The actual story is 100% the narrator explaining.

5. Mystery. The story opens with the protagonist talking to the reader, and giving backstory. The character then talks about how someone we know nothing about is sitting with them, as they get ready to visit someone we haven't met.

6. Romance. Told in present tense. The protagonist talks about "her" as if the reader knows who they mean. We learn who a line later, but that doesn't retroactively remove the confusion.

7. Science fiction. Opens with a sunrise -almost a guaranteed rejection. That's followed by a long report on the setting and then a verbal tour of the setting that takes several pages before a character appears.

8. Thriller. We open with a long paragraph detailing the protagonist destroying a piece of pastry for unknown reasons. The writer is visualizing the scene and recording what's happening in it as a narration for the film the reader can't see. A graphic novel minus the pictures.

9. Western. We begin with an extended first person monolog giving the protagonist's background. The story, itself, is a very detailed synopsis of the events the protagonist once experienced.

10. Womens fiction. This one began with promise. It was written in the character's POV and proceeds within it. The writer obviously has spent time learning their craft.

• What are the top three techniques, in your opinion, a writer can utilize right now to improve their fiction?

At the top, no question: learn the nuance of POV. We all come to writing thinking that POV refers to which person we tell the story in. POV is the single most powerful tool we own because it's what makes the story real for the reader. It also keeps us honest by forcing us to see the scene as the protagonist, with their needs, resources, and imperatives.

Next comes structure of a scene. Until we understand that, and the need for it, we're flailing about, chronicling events just like our English teacher said we should. We won't know how to achieve a balance between boredom and melodrama that will keep the reader worried for their new friend. There's so damn much that comes with that knowledge, that it's like being given the gift of sight.

The third is to never, for one minute, forget that our objective is to entertain the reader by playing with their emotions. When we write horror, for example, we don't want to tell the reader the protagonist felt terror. We want to terrorize the reader. So every damn time we find ourselves moved to explain, it's time to stop and rethink. Our goal is to place the reader on the scene fully empathetic to the protagonist and their goals, as a shadow character: http://jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/a-mirror-for-the-mind-the-grump-writing-coach/

• What advice would you kindly share with the beginning writer who says, "There are no rules for fiction writing so I'm simply going to do it my way and hope for the best."

Watching TV didn't make a screenwriter of you. Riding airliners didn't make you a pilot. Why believe that fiction, uniquely, of all the professions, magically comes to us?

Mindful of what Jay Greenstein has written above, consider these words of John Gardner reproduced from The Art of Fiction: Notes On Craft For Young Writers. Note that Mr. Gardner offers both a concise definition of what fiction is along with a concomitant re-affirmation of the writer's artistic freedom. Ah, but hold on! This is immediately followed in chapter 2 of the book by one of the most directly-worded and to-the-point rebukes I've ever read directed at those writer manques and wince-inducing amateurs who proffer their muddled scrawlings up to the public with such lame excuses as (the following examples invented but representative of the type): "I no have grammar much but this story idea quite the best don't you think?" and "It came to me in a dream; I've never written before but here it is," and "I don't worry about sintax and punctuals and petty stuff like that any editor can fix."

And now, ladies and gentlemen: John Gardner.

 ................................................................................................

 The argument that what the writer really needs is experience in the world, not training in literature--both reading and writing--has been so endlessly repeated that for many it has come to sound like gospel. We cannot take time for a full answer here--how wide experience, from Zanzibar to the Yukon, is more likely to lead to cluttered texture than to deep and moving fiction . . . The primary subject of fiction is and has always been human emotion, values and beliefs. [emphasis mine] The novelist Nicholas Delbanco has remarked that by the age of four one has experienced nearly everything one needs as a writer of fiction: love, pain, loss, boredom, rage, guilt, fear of death. The writer's business is to make up convincing human beings and create for them basic situations and actions by means of which they come to know themselves and reveal themselves to the reader . . . But it's by training--by studying great books and by writing--that one learns to present one's fictions, giving them their due. Through the study of technique--not canoeing or logging or hash slinging--one learns the best, most efficient ways of making characters come alive, learns to know the difference between emotion and sentimentality, learns to discern, in the planning stages, the difference between the better dramatic action and the worse . . .

. . . mastery--not a full mental catalogue of the rules--must be the writer's goal. He must get the art of fiction, in all its complexity--the whole tradition and all its technical options--down through the wrinkles and tricky wiring of his brain into his blood. Not that he needs to learn literature first and writing later: the two processes are inseparable.  Every real writer has had Melville's experience. He works at the problem of Ahab and the whale (the idea of an indifferent or malevolent universe), he happens to read Shakespeare and some philosophy books at the same time, and because of his reading he hits on heretofore unheard-of solutions to problems of novelistic exploration. Mastery is not something that strikes in an instant, like a thunderbolt, but a gathering power that moves steadily through time, like weather.

In other words, art has no universal rules because each true artist melts down and reforges all past aesthetic law. To learn to write well, one must begin with a clear understanding that for the artist, if not for the critic, aesthetic law is the enemy. To the great artist, anything whatever is possible. Invention, the spontaneous generation of new rules, is central to art. And since one does not learn to be a literary artist by studying first how to be something different from a literary artist, it follows that for the young writer, as for the great writer he hopes to become, there can be no firm rules, no limits, no restrictions. Whatever works is good. He must develop an eye for what--by his own carefully informed standards--works. 

........................................................................................................

Often one glance at the writer's work tells the teacher that what this student writer needs first, before stirring an inch in the direction of fiction, is a review of fundamentals. No one can hope to write well if he has not mastered--absolutely mastered--the rudiments: grammar and syntax, punctuation, diction, sentence variety, paragraph structure and so forth . . . punctuation . . . is a subtle art . . . but its subtlety lies in suspending the rules . . . Learning to write fiction is too serious a business to be mixed in with leftovers from freshman composition.

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 10/11/2014, 7:26 AM--

This leads us into my other point: be open to criticism. You would be amazed how many people have knee-jerk reactions to someone telling them how to improve their work. Those knew to criticism have a tendency to ignore even the good things that the critic said about their work. I understand. Every bad thing feels like your soul being dragged behind a car going sixty miles per hour. Instead, suck it up and take notes. It's much easier to figure out which advice to take when you have multiple reviews, and you can only do that if you accept reviews graciously, and do a few yourself. (Hence BC's posting policy.)

@LeeAnna

Jay Greenstein, GM  -I like that : )

And it brings the question, what (affectionate) "title" can we give to others here?

Carl, you are magnificent.

DO NOT WAVE AT ANYBODY.

http://www.extremelysmart.com/humor/howtofly.php

My favorite advice to writers is

the very first line in Jon Winokur's book, Advice to Writers:

"This book will not teach you how to write."

 - Advice to Writers: A Compendium of Quotes, Anecdotes, and Writerly Wisdom from a Dazzling Array of Literary Lights by Jon Winokur

My favorite insight into learning about writing is from Hemingway,

who maintained that it was bad luck to talk about writing because it

takes off "whatever butterflies have on their wings."

 - Ernest Hemingway on Writing by Larry W. Phillips

In the end, the writer alone writes, or doesn't, and it's good, or it ain't. I love the adventure.

Doesn't writing free your soul? The creation of worlds and people and situations unfettered by any constraint you don't allow is as free as flying.

According to Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy tells us How To Fly.

"There is an art, it says, or rather, a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. .... in your astonishment you will miss the ground completely and remain bobbing just a few inches above it in what might seem to be a slightly foolish manner. .... Do not listen to what anybody says to you at this point because they are unlikely to say anything helpful. They are most likely to say something along the lines of "Good God, you can't possibly be flying!" It is vitally important not to believe them or they will suddenly be right."

Sometimes, I think writing is exactly like this.

--edited by GD Deckard on 10/11/2014, 1:34 PM--

GD, ditto.

.

The both of you are giving me what I need to hear right now. I have a big smile on my face, and my heart is considerably lightened. 

Thanks, Mimi : )

"I have a big smile on my face, and my heart is considerably lightened."

is a wonderful compliment. I know Carl agrees.

Hone your skills with Book Country challenges,

like Carl's "The Three-Sentence Horror Story."

http://www.bookcountry.com/Community/discussion/default.aspx?g=posts&t=8589936572&page=-1

Happy Halloween!

Learn from Book Country First Lines

For amusement and enlightenment, read the opening line(s) of a few books here. Does it make you want to read on?

These five are from books I'm following:

This is how I think it happened.

 - Thomas Moody by Charles J. Barone

http://www.bookcountry.com/Bookdetail.aspx?BookId=6969

"Innkeeper! Another round of ale for the King's men. And see you be quick about it!"

 - Wil o' the Blood Bucket by Carl E. Reed

http://www.bookcountry.com/PeerReview/BookReview.aspx?BookId=7235

The day I turned seven, Papa winked and said, "Skye, my boy, small you may be for your age, but seven is seven, and a special age it is. It's time to take you to a special place."

 - The Water Pearl by Gloria Piper

http://www.bookcountry.com/PeerReview/BookReview.aspx?BookId=6525

Good Lord! What a mess! A muddle, absolutely. But most of all, and worst of all, the regrettable situation was the result of his own fat-headed arrogance.

 - Sly! The Rogue Reconsidered by Mimi Speike

http://www.bookcountry.com/PeerReview/BookReview.aspx?BookId=2839

Cronos looked around the streets of Montreal.

 - Eternal Life by r-Erik

http://www.bookcountry.com/PeerReview/BookReview.aspx?BookId=7189

Thanks for the mention, GD. The link you've got listed is to the first draft. I've been trying to delete it but it refuses to go away.

The second draft of Thomas Moody is  http://www.bookcountry.com/book/tools/Editor.aspx

I tell myself it's an improvement with quite a few additions and changes but lots still to do. 

--edited by ChuckB on 10/12/2014, 5:24 PM--

Referring to the original post in this thread, here's one of my favorite quotes:

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

Ernest Hemingway

I found an interesting blog post on the neuroscience of creativity (http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/2013/08/19/the-real-neuroscience-of-creativity/). Here's a section that really hit home with me:

"In a recent large review, Rex Jung and colleagues provide a “first approximation” regarding how creative cognition might map on to the human brain. Their review suggests that when you want to loosen your associations, allow your mind to roam free, imagine new possibilities, and silence the inner critic, it’s good to reduce activation of the Executive Attention Network (a bit, but not completely) and increase activation of the Imagination and Salience Networks." (The posting explains the different networks of the brain.)

What caught my eye was "silence the inner critic." Yes, I've already posted about the importance of listening to good, constructive criticism from others, but I think during the initial creative process - roughing out a draft of a new book, or new chapter, or new scene in a chapter - it is important to tell our inner critic to shut up and take a hike. Get the words - no matter how rough, no matter how God awful - down on paper or kilobytes of memory in the initial rush of creativity.

Then walk away from it for a little bit, put it aside. Work on something else. Clean the kitchen. Take the dog for a long walk. Make those phone calls you've been meaning to make for more than a week.

Then, with your inner critic wide awake and reporting for duty, read your words again. And again. Edit. Rewrite. Repeat.

@ChuckB

I couldn't delete my old draft either -had to ask the "live chat" person, who deleted it for me. Since the book was finished, I left it off.

Since you made that post about first lines, I went in and looked Thomas Moody again. When I'm done with the thing I'm on now, I'm putting that line you posted back in, and printing out the entire book. That's the only way I can really edit. I'm not that good reading from a monitor. The second draft is several thousand words longer, but still needs work.

I thought it was done, so started the other script that had been rattling around in my head for months. After being away from Thomas Moody for a few weeks, I can see things needing to be fixed just in the first few pages.

@Carl re: preferred writing spaces--

I've moved so many times that I've lost all sentimentality or superstition about the objects that are near me when I write. In fact, I think always being in the same spot puts me in kind of a rut. For me, the more mobile my writing set up, the better. I've been writing on the same first-generation MacBook Air for 6 years (knock on wood for many more), but in graduate school I wrote on all kinds of university computers, usually just descending upon one wherever I happened to be on campus--and this, I really loved.When I was traveling around South America a a couple years ago, I used a notebook for the first time in years, and that was awesome, because I felt like I had proven to myself that I really could write anywhere. (Though I was surprised at how I had to build my handwriting muscles back up--who knew those leave you?)

So I guess the only things that REALLY need to be near me when I write are the same things I need with me all the time: lip balm, water or coffee (depending on the time of day), a wrap or scarf if it gets cold . . . and some way of recording whatever it is that I want to write.

I am an apprentice writer, come here to learn to write a novel. My genre, if I have one, is literary fiction. Most of the regular posters are working in other fields.

The advice in this thread is entertaining but confusing. If I tried to follow half of it I'd never get anything done.

My first creative writing teacher gave good marks for poor work. He was incapable of helping anyone to improve.

My advice, if as an apprentice I can offer advice, is to find a coach who knows what you're trying to do, and can offer concrete suggestions. 

I have posted nothing for review. I have read a few books here with the intention of writing a review, but I didn't feel confident in my ability to make useful suggestions.

I don't have totems or a special writing space. I composed this post with a BIC on lined paper while sitting in my cardiologist's examination room.

I have a 57,000 word start on a novel. Many chapters need color and context. The whole thing needs editing to remove words and passages, and to replace some of them with better ones. 

I've had two short story collections published by a small traditional publisher. Some of my readers assumed the stories were autobiographical, which they are not. I was flattered to have them think the stories might have really happened. I want to make the stories real for the reader, at least for a little while.

How do I keep the reader believing the story through the length of the novel? That's what I want a coach to tell me.

Welcome Perry!

Yup, the advice here can be entertaining and is often contradictory. That's because creative people are usually fun and almost never agree completely with one another. The best we can do is to respect one another's opinions.

You ask: "How do I keep the reader believing the story through the length of the novel?"

That depends on your audience. I write hard sci-fi. Hard sci-fi readers expect a fictional story in a world where everything else is factual. So I research maniacally, to the point where I'll use Google Earth to examine a creek bed to find a good camping spot. That camping spot is real, even if the people I put there are not. If I were writing a romantic novel, of course, the camping spot might have to be more romantic than real.

"How do I meet my reader's expectations so they can believe my story?" might be another way of asking your question.

The Phoenix Diary was "test-read" by people living in the area where it is set. I sometimes wondered from their comments if the writing was secondary to how real the setting struck them. Some seemed to accept the story because they knew the setting was accurate.

You will get additional, different & better advice from the people here. Pick those parts that make most sense to you and use them as tools to create.

EDIT

Hmmm... I just read your profile where it said, "I grew up with storytellers, learning to tell a story ...." Since your novel is not yet posted here, I have a technical question. Are you telling your story or are you showing it to the reader?

--edited by GD Deckard on 10/17/2014, 8:04 AM--

Hello, Perry! & Welcome!

What GD said . . . seriously.

Creative people disagree with one another all the time; it is indeed "all part of the fun". Truly! If you're wired that way . . .

To your points directly (I suspect you're a no-nonsense, bottom-line it for me now kind of guy):

....................................................................................................

The advice in this thread is entertaining but confusing. If I tried to follow half of it I'd never get anything done.  

Follow the other half—the half that makes sense to you.  

My first creative writing teacher gave good marks for poor work. He was incapable of helping anyone to improve.

That too is a learning experience, is it not? Did you produce writing—any kind of writing—for this teacher? Then congratulations! He helped you improve. Experience is the best teacher.  

My advice, if as an apprentice I can offer advice, is to find a coach who knows what you're trying to do, and can offer concrete suggestions.  

Good advice! Don Pendleton is not Ray Bradbury is not Henry James is not William Faulkner. The teacher who appreciates one or more of these writers may devalue or otherwise be unimpressed/unmoved by the work of the others. Find the teacher whose methods, aesthetic sensibilities and criticism appeals to you. 

I have posted nothing for review. 

Why not? How do I put this: Exposing yourself to readers' opinions—and learning to take constructive criticism while weathering the occasional off-kilter/non-pertinent remark—is all part of the authorial process of professional development. Joyce Carol Oates and others have spoken at eloquent length about this. Being critiqued—even attacked—by others "who don’t write, or who don’t write in quite the way you do, for whom you may seem a threat"—and discovering within yourself the fortitude and confidence to continue writing (all the while honing your craft) is what separates the pro from the amateur. 

As to the subtext of your comment—please forgive me if I'm reading too much into your posting—that you've refrained from work-shopping your manuscript on Book Country because you might hear from readers that are (a) unqualified to comment, (b) insufficiently trained in doing so and/or (c) might critique your work according to genre conventions instead of "literary" ones, I suggest the following attitude: Every man and woman is my teacher. Even the "bad" ones, eh? If you receive criticism that you deem off-target, unhelpful or otherwise not pertinent to your own work—so what? (Though I suspect that even in the "wrongest" [sic] critique of a manuscript most writers will find at least one remark made by any given reviewer here to be of service to them. Such has been my own experience, anyway. I also must tell you that one feels fervent gratitude towards those reviewers who point out ways you can improve your own work, in line with your own aesthetic goals and intentions. These people are very good at what they do. Give them a chance! You may be very surprised . . . and grateful.)  

I have read a few books here with the intention of writing a review, but I didn't feel confident in my ability to make useful suggestions.   

That's why Book Country prefers to call them reviews, not critiques. You're a reader who has written: that's more than enough experience to share with another writer (a) what you enjoyed about their work, (b) what you didn't, (c) passages that were unclear and/or inexpertly executed, and (d) a couple of pertinent suggestions you think might improve the story.

I don't have totems or a special writing space. I composed this post with a BIC on lined paper while sitting in my cardiologist's examination room. 

To be clear: I, personally, write longhand in cheap notebooks almost everywhere: book stores, hotels, restaurants, dog parks, etc. But when I return home I enter the comforting sanctuary of my own writing space and transform hand-written copy into typed manuscript. Writers, in the main, are superstitious creatures: We like to be surrounded by those articles that inspire and motivate us. I'll bet there's some particularly interesting and/or relevant item fulfilling a similar function in your home, no? A favored book, perhaps. Framed photo. Knick-knack, sculpture, action figure or other collectible . . .    

I have a 57,000 word start on a novel. 

Congratulations! Seriously. Freakin' awesome! That's a fair bit o' focused scritch-scribbling right there . . .

Many chapters need color and context. The whole thing needs editing to remove words and passages, and to replace some of them with better ones. 

Umm . . . that's your work. A good book doctor, story agent or editor can only propose changes that you must make. Their services are widely available—and expensive. Of course, in the meantime, you might consider posting your work publicly for review. Some place like . . . oh I don't know . . . Book Country?

I've had two short story collections published by a small traditional publisher.

Congratulations! Again: pretty freakin' awesome! I hear the chest-burster roar of pride in that humbly-proffered flat declarative sentence.

How do I keep the reader believing the story through the length of the novel? That's what I want a coach to tell me. 

Jay Greenstein, this is your cue . . .

--edited by Carl E. Reed on 10/17/2014, 5:35 PM--

Welcome Perry, 

There's nothing I can add about rules on writing except this quote.

“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.” 
― W. Somerset Maugham

@ ChuckB

Woot!

And these. I love quotes and have many. Someday I'll find a use for them. I really like the last one by Robert B. Parker.

All the information you need can be given in dialogue.

-Elmore Leonard

We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”

—Ernest Hemingway

Well, people give me too much credit for foresight and planning. I haven't got a clue where the hell a story is going when I start.

-Robert B. Parker

I don't know what I am going to do in terms of what a book is going to be about until I actually start writing it. I have reached the point where I know that as long as I sit down to write, the ideas will come. Sometimes!

-Robert B. Parker 

At the start, guidelines are necessary. Farther along, targeted advice from someone who shares your approach is useful. Here's what an illustration teacher, a nationally known figure, told us in a class I took from him: "I can't teach you to illustrate. I can only teach you how I illustrate." This is true for writing as well. 

--edited by Mimi Speike on 10/17/2014, 1:38 PM--

I remember something from an interview with Elmore Leonard when asked about writing, plot and structuring a novel.

His answer was pig simple. "I don't know. I begin at 'A,' progress to 'B' and finish at 'C.' Then I go back and take out all the parts that readers always skip."

It has occurred to me that if I spent as much time trying to fix my own work as I did looking for comments from established writers living and dead on how to write, there is a chance I might be writing better.

I'm just going to throw this in here.

Lately I've been doing chapter by chapter break-downs of YA novels, and I admit that it's improved how I look at my own writing. If anything it's editing practice, especially on a characterization level. Since I'm a big character nerd, it's allowed me to gain the attitude needed to assess my own characters' actions more objectively. I've been doing book reviews for a while, but diving in depth in a way where I'm essentially forced to break things down through summary and analysis has helped me out. I'm also more dedicated to writing them since I know there are people waiting on them. I've also been able to come up with better "back of the book" summaries for my own work since I must trim the fat for an audience. (Especially on the book I'm doing now. Purple prose alert.) I find it's a great way for me to at least gain back my discipline and continue my writing skills.

It's also awesome having an audience. Just saying.

• How do I keep the reader believing the story through the length of the novel?

That's easy. Keep the protagonist too busy to do anything but react. Throw them in the deep end of the pool and toss in a shark or two. Then toss the reader in there with them. The idea is to make them live the story, not hear about it.

The thing to avoid is thinking in terms of story and making sure the reader understands all the details of what's happening. That's informative. You want to entertain. You want them running downhill and out of balance, on the verge of disaster (and that applies even if the big problem is a date for the prom). What's happening has to matter, desperately, to the protagonist and the reader, because the reader wants to shadow the protagonist and react as that character. So if you keep your reader busy planning and reacting, and filled with worry over what to do next, your reader will be right there with you, turning pages.

That being said, literary fiction is different, in that beauty of language and poetic prose is equal in importance to the action. So I can't advise you on scene construction in that genre. But within that framework, stay as close to being in the protagonist's footsteps as a shadow character. This article might help explain what I mean: http://jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/2014/09/14/a-mirror-for-the-mind-the-grump-writing-coach/ (the site may append some garbage at the end of the URL, so when you paste it in, you may need to delete that)

GD - Good question on the editing process. Yes, I grew up among storytellers. I am a storyteller when I speak to groups. When I write a story, I try to show not tell, but it's worth mentioning always.

Carl - No, my first creative writing teacher didn't teach us anything. Sure, the students were writing things in his class, but he didn't help us improve, and he couldn't lead us in helping one another to improve.

And yes I think you are reading too much into one of my comments. I haven't posted anything in part because I should be writing a review first, and I haven't been able to do that. 

Yes, the editing work that my book needs now is my work. I am enjoying it. I have two coaches, but the book is not ready for my coaches. Both of my coaches are fine writers. One is my sentence smith. He has taught me what a sentence is for, and he has told me where to stick my adverbs and adjectives. The other coach is my story consultant. She has helped me with some of my short stories. The coaches fit between my edit and any beta readers.

Jay - Excellent advice. This is something to keep in front of me while I go through the editing process. I think it's easier to do it in the few thousand words of a short story, and more difficult in the novel when we think we need back story and world building. I have been on your site, and will return.

--edited by Perry on 10/18/2014, 8:55 AM--