Writers are an odd bunch to start with. Fun people, for the most part. Creative, hard-working and sometimes, a tad sensitive, but generally people who are a pleasure to know. I like the writers I know.
The published ones are often kind enough to share their experiences, offer a helping hand by blogging about their process or holding writer workshops. I've run across none who don't want to see other writers succeed. By far, the majority want to pay forward. That way, there's more for them to read. I, for one, am very glad they're readers as well as authors.
The unpublished writers I know like to share what they've learned. There are a million light-bulb moments when a vague nuance suddenly clicks and becomes a bold understanding. What made it click for you, might be just the very thing I needed to read or hear to make my own unique little light glow.
Then there's the sensitive part. Writing is gratifying in many ways, but nothing is more exciting than finding out others share your enthusiasm for your work. They enjoyed it! However, even the most thick-skinned writers cringe when the response is well...not enthusiastic. The truth is, we need to hear it. Most of the time. Some people just like wielding an axe. Let's weed them out now. What we do with genuine feedback is up to us and depends on our vision for the story. Many writers have stayed their ground when told to remove a subplot or a character or a scene and have been rewarded greatly for maintaining their vision. More often than not, there is a problem when someone trusted points it out. Personally, I want to know. Then I can assess how important...or not...that road bump is on my story map. Maybe I can smooth it out or maybe it just plain needs to go. If killing it makes the story better, I don't care how much I love that scene where Mary Sue gets her first kiss, it's gotta go. Maybe it'll work in another story, for another character. Or maybe it will languish forever on my hard drive with only the rare visit from its adoring creator. I know about it even if the reader never does.
When learning the ropes, writers make a lot of false starts and wrong turns. Experienced writers toss out chapters, pages, characters, whatever isn't working. So what? I hope I learned something from my mistakes. I also hope I won't repeat them, but I won't swear they won't sneak back in when I'm away from my computer refilling my tea glass. I do, however, promise to try to invent new ones, something that will take me one step closer to writing a sound story readers will like.
Learning the craft and learning the publishing business takes time. It's okay to make a few boo-boos along the way. No one was harmed in the making of a writer. Annoyed, maybe, when you do something really stupid. Embarrassed even. Still, the end results will be worth it if we don't let the failures paralyze us.
Janet Reid, an agent with FinePrint Literary Management, wrote an excellent post on her blog today regarding making mistakes. Don't let them paralyze you. Don't stop taking the next step. I felt much better after she told me it was okay to do dumb things. Just don't do it again. Okay. I'll try.
http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/
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4 comments:
I had an orchestra teacher, who did her best to teach me and many other children to play the stringed instrument of our choice (or our parents'). To someone with a good ear and talent, it must have been excruciatingly painful. She was my musical mentor from 4th grade through 10th grade when I finally admitted defeat and gave up on the violin and went with my strength, singing.
One day when were timidly sight-reading our way through a new piece of music, she threw down her baton in disgust and and blurted out, "If you're going to make a mistake, it might as well be a LOUD one!"
Revelation! I have never forgotten that experience or her words, and like to pass them on whenever I get the chance. God bless you, Lois Fees, wherever you are! You changed my life.
Revelation! I have never forgotten that experience or her words, and like to pass them on whenever I get the chance. God bless you, Lois Fees, wherever you are! You changed my life.
Go Lois Fees!
Her advice sounds sort of like no matter whether you're perfect or not, live life with gusto. I like it!
I read once--back before printing presses were invented--in a book or an article by an author long forgotten that making mistakes should never make you feel like the weakest link. You're simply being re-forged to be stronger.
So...you played the violin? When my youngest son started playing the violin around the 4th grade, my older son called it killing the cat. I'm proud to say, #2 son can play anything with strings and the cat soon began to purr.
I'm so jealous. I can't even play the spoons. And honest to Pete, my college roommate tried to teach me. Sad. Really sad.
My sister was 2 years ahead of me in school and she started on the violin, but she's not musically inclined. I inherited it when she quit, because they'd already paid for it, so it was the violin or nothing. I wanted to play the cello.
After a few months of lessons, she played the Star Spangled Banner for the talent show at church, but she didn't know how to tune the violin. My dad tuned it, but he tuned it to the wrong notes. Long story short, she had learned where to put her fingers and didn't seem to notice that the sound coming out was nothing like the Star Spangled Banner, and it's kind of a long song when it's played the way she played it. I've never seen so many people with tears coming out of their eyes as they tried not to laugh out loud.
Just another story of someone of making a BIG mistake and living to tell about it. It was after that she switched to the saxophone, and let me tell you, it is even more painful to listen to a beginner practicing the saxophone than the violin. Thankfully, she gave up music for good after that!
: ))
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