Writing Critique Partners: POVs

04 Sep 2012 7 Comments

by StuHN in Booking Agents, Books, Creative Process, Creative Thinking, Creativity, critique, eBooks, Language, Learning, Marketing, Published Author, Published Writer, Reading, Short Story, True Stories, Uncategorized, Writer, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,


If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own. ~Henry Ford

An art whose medium is language will always show a high degree of critical creativeness, for speech is itself a critique of life: it names, it characterizes, it passes judgment, in that it creates. ~Thomas Mann

I enjoy writing, but hate editing. I’ll do it, but it is a painful experience. From what I’ve read, a good number of you agree. Recently, I wrote two longer stories for submissions as opposed to the shorter/flash fiction I put up on Tale Spinning. For those tales I knew that if I was to have any chance of success they would have to be edited.

Luckily, I had a number of people I could call on to give my work an editorial eye. What I found enlightening was, through five different POV’s (points of views), that all who responded to my call saw something different. Grammatical changes pretty much were the same, with punctuation styles varying from one to the other.

What changed was how they approached the work: solely as Editor; solely as a reader of the genre; or a combination of the two. This allowed me to take what was offered, evaluate what I wrote through others eyes, and then edit myself to the point I felt I produced the best work possible.

To see the results of this: Nyctophilia (entered for the Figment/HarperCollins YA Defy the Dark contest). If the link does not work for you (and I think it only works in the US): go to Figment and type in the name of the story in the search box. I’d be interested in your comments, as I do think this story is publishable. The other story has been submitted, and only time will tell (both submissions had a September 1, 2012 cut off).

I want to thank the following for their time and effort: Golden Eagle; Allan Douglas; Roy A. Ackerman; Lisa Vooght;and someone who wishes to remain anonymous. The links are to their blogs. They are all well written, all interesting, and all very different POVs. Check them out.

Writers:

  • How do you edit your work? 
  • Do you hate editing your own work?
  • Do you have Beta Readers/Critique Partners?
  • Are you part of a writing group?
  • If you have an editor that you work with consistently, how did you find her/him?

Origins of Creativity in Writing

13 Feb 2012 33 Comments

by StuHN in Blogfest, Blogging, Booking Agents, Books, Comic Books, Creative Process, Creative Thinking, Creativity, eBooks, Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Fiction, Folk Tales, High School, Librarians, Library, Middle School, Myths, Poetry, Published Author, Published Writer, Reading, Short Story, Tall Tales, True Stories, Women Writers, Writer, Writing Tags: , , ,


There are numerous Blogfests running on any given day. Some are ongoing and others are one shots. With all that run, I do tend to pick around the lot, finding the ones that really interest me…and, hopefully, you.

Origins: When did your writing dream begin? is the brain child of DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude,  and he has three co-hosts: Katie Mills aka Creepy Query Girl ; Matthew MacNish at The QQQE ; and Alex Cavanaugh at Alex J. Cavanaugh.

To find the other blogs participating in this blogfest, click HERE or the Origins logo. There are close to 200 writers participating. Check them out.

I’ve also written a Flash Fiction piece  Origins: Entitled on my creative fiction blog, Tale Spinning. I hope you enjoy the story.

I can’t really pinpoint an exact time when writing became one of my dreams. It feels like it’s always been there, at the back of everything I’ve done in my life.  I don’t feel I’ve ever been tied down to wanting to “be” just one thing, ever. When I have done that, I find that I tend to get bored: especially the times when I’ve played the money game (read: non-creative pursuits).

As a kid, I read comics, watched TV and went to the movies. Outside of school projects, I would create little things for myself. Mini-comics were a way to pass time when I was bored in class. I’d take paper and fold it down, and then again, creating a sequential booklet for myself to draw in (lots of stick figures) and write short pieces. These would get passed around to friends later. I don’t remember ever getting caught.

There were stories I wrote for sleep-away camp newspapers, mainly mash-ups (yes, plagiarisms) of others work, combining different elements into one piece. While never criticized for that, I was often praised for “imaginative writing” and writing skills. I knew the truth, and just shrugged my shoulders.

High school changed that. I worked on the DeWitt Clinton newspaper for a year, writing articles, learning the craft of setting up the newspaper from scratch. I was really involved, and was going to be promoted to an editor’s slot when my parents told me we were moving to Westchester County. While my dreams of the paper were shot at that point (the new HS paper was not very open to someone new coming in), I did continue to write.

Off and on, I would write poetry, short stories, begin ideas for novels…and more times than not they would languish, first just as a pile of legal pad paper and then committed electronically and saved. All through this, I was always hoping I’d have my name on a book (or comic book) as a writer. It was a passing dream that wove itself throughout most of my life, a goal I always hoped I’d achieve.

2011 saw a new stage of writing for me. I created my second blog, Tale Spinning, for experiments in creative writing. Starting only in February of that year, I wound up writing close to 200 short pieces of fiction. I’ve now had two short stories published in anthologies, have my own eStory published, received a number of blogging/writing awards, been asked to write a number of guest blogs, and have won a few online writing contests.

Still to come: holding that physical book with my name on the cover in my hands.

Q&A On Creativity: Nick Daws (The Creativity Series)

30 Jan 2012 9 Comments

by StuHN in Blogging, Booking Agents, Books, Creative Process, Creative Thinking, Creativity, eBooks, interviews, Learning, Marketing, Published Author, Published Writer, Science Fiction, Writer, Writing Tags: , , , , ,


It has been a pleasure being a Writer Warrior on Triberr. I’ve connected with a number of really wonderful people. Many in the group responded to my call for articles or interviews about Creativity.

Here, In this Q & A, British freelance writer and editor Nick Daws reveals why creativity is important to him both personally and professionally…

The Creativity Series: Nick Daws on Creativity

 

Q. What do you do that is creative?

A. As I am a full-time freelance writer and editor, some would say that everything I do is creative. Personally, however, I feel that some of my work is more creative than others.

Sometimes I’m hired for my creativity – this applies especially with copywriting work. At other times, such as when I’m editing a book, the scope for creativity is less.

Even so, there are often many possible ways to edit a text, and creativity still plays an important role in achieving the best possible outcome for all concerned.

Q. How do you use your creativity?

A. I use my creativity in my work, as mentioned above, and also for coming up with ideas for new projects of my own. Although I write for clients to pay the bills, I enjoy fiction writing when the time permits, and always have a few short stories and other projects on the go.

Another area where I have to be creative is in marketing myself and seeking out new outlets and opportunities. Being a freelance writer is a tough gig at times. You have to be creative in how you present and market yourself. And sometimes you may have to reinvent yourself entirely!

Q. Why is creativity important to you?

A. Creativity is essential to me partly because, as I said above, it’s one aspect of what my clients pay me for (and sometimes the main thing).

Beyond that, though, creativity is what keeps me excited and motivated by my work, and always trying to do better. I’d hate to have a job that offered no scope for creativity. I’d soon go mad from boredom!

Q. Who or what has been a creative influence on you?

A. There are numerous brilliant creative writers whose example has inspired me – just a few examples would include the British poet and novelist Laurie Lee, science-fiction author Roger Zelazny, thriller writers Stephen King and Dean Koontz, and fantasy author Robin Hobb.

There are also some brilliant bloggers whose creativity (and productivity) never cease to amaze me: Darren Rowse of Problogger, for example, and Joanna Penn, of The Creative Penn.

More generally, the Internet itself has been a huge creative influence on me. It’s an endless source of creative ideas and inspiration.

Q. What do you feel your creativity does for others?

A. For my clients, I hope my creativity helps them to produce the very best work they can – be it a book, a website, a blog, an advertisement, or whatever. And I hope that, through my work, my creativity inspires readers to try new challenges, to take on projects they might not otherwise have considered, and to find new sources of fulfillment and creative satisfaction.

 

Byline: Nick Daws is a professional freelance writer and editor, living in the English county of Staffordshire. He has a blog at www.mywritingblog.com and a homepage at www.nickdaws.co.uk. His publications for writers include the CD-based Write Any Book in Under 28 Days and Kindle Kash, a downloadable guide for writers who want to publish their work for profit on the Amazon Kindle platform.

 

On Writing In A Cafe (The Creativity Series: Guest Post)

30 Dec 2011 12 Comments

by StuHN in Blogfest, Blogging, Books, Creative Process, Creative Thinking, Creativity, Dialogue, Language, Learning, Poetry, Published Author, Published Writer, Reading, Women Writers, Writer, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , ,


I’ve know Rita Bregman for a long time, more as an online presence but we have met, and talked on the phone. A displaced New Yorker living just outside of San Fransisco, Rita is a talent writer and good friend.

On this, the last Bornstoryteller for 2011, Rita offers you a poem from her book: On Amethyst Glass: Two Voices, One Song

On Writing in a Cafe

In the process of reading,

you concentrate on the lines,

and the words filter through you

as though through a fine sieve.

You can see them; you can keep a few,

but you don’t really need them.

But the process of writing takes you over,

drives and tortures you,

lets nothing in to save you –

no noise, no time,

no pain, no hunger.

It’s not a casual pick-up,

not a one-night stand.

No!

It’s a long-term, symbiotic relationship.

You are one with your words,

and they with you,

(although you fight a lot),

and it’s a restless world placing words over words, under words,

turning inside out the world of rhythm and sound, time and space

that lives inside.

And you’re never sure if you’ve found that one right word

that will stand-in for your feelings…

…but you damn well know when it’s wrong!

Sometimes in the oddest places

you will become so excited by the combinations,

and so necessary to you are they,

that you will grab a lipstick pencil and an old, used tissue,

or write all around the borders of a road map,

just to see how the words work together….

because they are gifts to try on,

be amazed by,

and held onto because they are yours.

And then WHAM! You’re jolted!

Because someone across the room has dropped a cup on the tile floor

and shattered your concentration in a million pieces,

and you slowly become conscious that you’ve been writing

with a pen borrowed from the waiter

on a napkin,

over a wilted spinach salad,

in a cafe filled with laughing, young men in shorts,

and young women with no make-up reading novels,

and that you are the fossil

they know they will become some day.

Rita Bregman, © 2011

Happy New Year, Everyone. See you in 2012.

Journaling to Unleash Creativity (The Creativity Series Guest Post)

28 Dec 2011 9 Comments

by StuHN in Blogfest, Blogging, Books, Creative Process, Creative Thinking, Creativity, critique, Dialogue, Learning, Published Author, Published Writer, Reading, Storyboard, Women Writers, Writer, Writing Tags: , , , , ,


For a return engagement, Corrine O’Flynn offers further thoughts on the creative process.

The Creativity Series: Guest Post

Journaling to Unleash Creativity

Ask a creative person what they do to keep track of their ideas and you’ll find many different answers. Some will file them away mentally until they can revisit them later, others will use a voice recorder, and still others will email themselves, call their own voice mail, or make lists. I do all of these things. But my tried and true solution to problems that crop up in my stories is usually found within my journal.

Creativity can become stifled if we’re unable to move beyond a certain sticking point. In my case, as a writer, I will find myself staring into the dark abyss of a plot hole and wonder how in the world I am supposed to get my characters from point A to point B while maintaining whatever was happening at the moment on the page.  My head will be stuck on some minute detail, and then everything stalls, leaving me unable to find a solution.

Awareness of my tendency to do this does nothing to keep it from happening, mind you. Our minds play tricks on us in broad daylight!

Enter my journal. In a case like this I will pull out my journal, grab a pen, and start writing out the issue long hand. I’ll write out a question at the top of the page like, “What is the problem with Character D at this point?” And then I’ll start writing out an answer as if I was explaining to someone who was not familiar with my story. Eventually, I will get lost in the telling of the issue and start brainstorming the possible solutions I’ve come up with.


Maybe they could go here and discover this fact before such-and-such happens, or maybe they don’t find this detail out until they arrive at the next town. Or, maybe they don’t stop here at all and instead…

Thinking through a problem like this is like taking part in a one-man brainstorming session. When you start being open to putting the issue down without worrying about the writing, and instead with a goal of problem solving in mind, you free yourself from that sticking hold on your brain.

Journaling to unleash your creativity in this way can bring about many different solutions, sometimes making you change everything once a gem of an idea emerges. It forces you to separate your ego from the stunning and fabulous idea that has you stuck in the first place and allows you to come up with alternative (and equally fabulous) solutions to your problem.

Do you journal to solve creativity problems?

Bio:
Corinne loves to write about fictional dark and fantastical things. You can find her on her blog and on twitter @CorinneOFlynn

The Initial Spark (The Creativity Series: Guest Blog)

21 Dec 2011 8 Comments

by StuHN in Blogfest, Blogging, Books, Creative Process, Creative Thinking, Creativity, critique, Debate, Democracy, Dialogue, eBooks, Library, Published Author, Published Writer, Reading, Thinking, Writer, Writing Tags: , , , , ,


The Creativity Series: Guest Post

The Initial Spark: Derek Flynn

 

Stu wanted a post about creativity and the first thought that struck me was the initial act of creativity. As writers, we all know about the second and third and sixteenth drafts, and the critiques and so on, but what about the initial spark. What about that moment when you first pull the words out of the ether and put them together into a sequence that (hopefully) makes sense?

This set me thinking about writers going back a century ago, and their initial act of creation. It’s very different from writers today. Even just going back to the Forties or Fifties – before the advent of television and certainly before the advent of the internet – a writer sitting in a room was not bombarded with any of the things that they are now. There was no sensory overload. The writer sat – as many writers still do – with a pen and paper, or at a typewriter, but the mind worked differently.

Many writers probably still sit quietly writing and don’t have all this external flotsam coming in, but I would imagine that’s increasingly less common. There’s this constant multi-tasking going on. Previously, if a writer got to a point where they needed to research something, they would have just made a note – “Need to research that” – and gone back to the writing, or gone off and picked up an encyclopaedia. But the speed which we can research something now is amazing. And, of course, this is not always a good thing. Because while you can research 18th century Parisian townhouses in a couple of Google clicks, this doesn’t make up for the two hours subsequently lost reading about the Three Musketeers. (No idea how I got to that page!)

For a long time – probably since the first person sat at a desk with parchment and a writing implement – writers pretty much sat at their desks and wrote. And they still do, but there are different ways of going about it now. I often use a Dictaphone, and it’s a much more off-the-cuff, stream-of-consciousness way of writing. So, I can be dictating whilst looking at something else, and all these ideas are coming at me, and I can stop and research, and so on. And oftentimes I’m just throwing down random ideas, rather than necessarily keeping on a constant train of thought.

It’s an interesting way to work. It’s not a way that I used to work. And, funnily enough, when I dictate while I’m out walking, I actually write more “conventionally” because I’ll get on a roll and I’ll start to write an actual whole scene. When I’m at my desk dictating, oftentimes another idea pops into my head because of something I’ve just seen on the computer and I’ll go off on a tangent with that. And I know there are writers who would gasp in horror at the idea that you would write with all this going on around you, but I think that’s the difference between the initial writing and the later edits. I would find it impossible to edit and rewrite that way; for the later drafts, I have to work from hard copy and the computer has to be shut off.

But it’s the initial phase that I’m interested in, and that initial phase of creation has certainly changed radically for writers in recent times and I think will continue to do so.

 

 

Derek Flynn is an Irish writer and musician. He’s been published in a number of publications, including The Irish Times, and was First Runner-Up in the 2011 J. G. Farrell Award for Best Novel-In-Progress. His writing/music blog – ‘Rant, with Occasional Music’ – can be found here:
http://derekflynn.wordpress.com
 and on Twitter, he can be found here:
http://twitter.com/#!/derekf03

 

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