“BLOG” MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU’RE SORRY
*** or ***
HOW WE LEARNED TO STOP FRETTING ABOUT THESE BLOG POSTS
BEING
LATE (IN THIS CASE, RIDICULOUSLY SO) AND JUST GET ON WITH IT!
Ah, Schmoozers – how we’ve missed you! But fret not – the Westside Writers
Schmooze resumes in just a few short weeks.
Since summer’s really, really fun, we never got around to
recapping the June Schmooze on revision (okay, we are sorry), so we thought we’d take this opportunity to,
briefly, do that (briefly?...you’ll believe that when you see it, right?) and
provide a sneak peek at the very exciting upcoming Schmooze year, which runs
from September 2012 through June 2013.
After the usual announcements, intros, and some tales from
the Critiquenic which had happened a few weeks earlier, Charlie kicked off the
revision discussion with a moving metaphor. And by “moving” we don’t mean emotion-eliciting (which,
let’s face it, is not exactly Charlie’s bailiwick) we mean literally
moving, like as in “change of address.”
You see, Charlie and his family had recently moved, and it got him to thinking about how moving and revision are
the same (it’s a good thing Mr. Self-Involved didn’t recently have a stomach
flu or the opening metaphor would have been very unpleasant indeed).
Here’s a little of what he said:
Why
is moving so painful? Cause you’re
taking apart a life you’ve built for yourself over the years. It wasn’t perfect; in fact there were
many things you found obnoxious: the overstuffed garage, the lack of things on
the wall you really like, maybe even the setup of the house itself. But still, it was your home and, as
such, it served you fairly well.
And now you’re ripping it apart, ripping its guts out, going through all
the crap, and deciding… ENDLESS DECIDING… what crap you need and what crap is
crap and what crap is crap but with enough emotional heft that you want to keep
it with you and lug it to the new place and try to find somewhere to fit it
in.
It’s
the same with your book. You take
something that kind of holds together, you pull it into its separate parts,
and then you appraise the parts. And,
like moving, once you’ve ripped everything apart and it’s lying in pieces all
around you, it’s overwhelming. How
could there possibly be so many interlocking pieces to your life/book? And now that they’re not interlocking,
what, exactly, was the point of saving that walking matzo ball that’s been
gathering dust on your desk for 20 years?
After
you get rid of the obvious garbage, you‘re left with daunting questions: what do you do with the rest? How do you decide what to keep and, if
you do keep it, where you’ll put it in the new place? Will the new place even work with your old junk? It’s so scary that, if you hadn’t
already signed the lease, you might well not move at all. But you did, so you gotta.
And
this is where the metaphor is valuable:
once you decide your project needs work, sign the lease on the new
draft. Don’t listen to folks telling you it’s good enough if you
know in your heart that it isn’t. Sign the lease so that you know that by the
end of the month you have to move your shit out of the old draft and
start placing it in the new version.
You’ll be glad you did.
This launched us into a discussion of why rewrites are so
scary. Why are we so often faced
with such angst?
This novel is
terrible. I can never fix this. If I try to do anything like X suggested, I
will fail; maybe she can do it, but I can't. Was all my effort wasted? Will I
freeze up and be unable to write anything else, ever?
The answer to why we have so much angst is something like – because we’re human, and
worse creative humans. We’re going to have our doubts, our
anxieties, but we must push through the angst and get on with the business of
improving our work and making it the absolute best it can be.
So just how do we do that? How do we internalize feedback, determine what’s valuable,
and apply it to our work in ways that feel organic and germane to the stories
we’re trying to tell? We
dunno. Thankfully, you Schmoozers
were full of incredible suggestions:
- Look
at your emotional beats. Are
they all the same?
- Work
backwards, scene by scene, thinking in terms of cause and effect: does
each scene propel the story into the one that follows?
- Think
like illustrators, who often start with gesture lines, and build from
there; don’t get bogged down in the details. (Charlie loves this one!)
- Don’t
attempt to write “the perfect draft” – they always stink.
- You
don’t need to cover everything in
one rewrite. Try tackling one
set of problems (i.e. character development, plotting issues, etc.) to start.
Longtime Schmoozer and
Cricket contributor
Joseph Taylor wasn’t able to attend, but was kind enough to contribute (via an e-mail to Karol) some valuable words of warning about taking advice too literally. Here's an excerpt:
A helpful critique is one in which the person offering it understands what it is the writer is trying to do, points out the good points as well as the bad, and offers suggestions for improvement where possible.
Seeking sound feedback is not a luxury
for the writer; it’s a necessity.
Still, securing feedback does not absolve the writer of revising his or
her own work. The writer who
simply does what someone else suggests and doesn’t find places to improve her
own work isn’t doing her job. The
writer is Reviser-in-Chief.
As important as getting feedback is,
suggestions for improvement are not always on target. While those who critique usually have good intentions, they
can be hasty, not fully grasp a point of reference, or try to remake a piece
the way they would do it. It’s the
writer’s job to smoke these out, and set aside such comments when
necessary. I would go so far as to
say that if the writer is not rejecting some feedback, she is not engaged
enough in her own revision process.
The best providers of feedback are
like the best editors; they help you improve your work—sometimes noticeably
so—yet they always manage to allow you to retain ownership of it. That’s as it should be. Those who give feedback do not have
ownership of your piece; you do.
Hence, Karol’s tip from Don Roos that she always seems to
come back to:
- Only
take feedback from people who love and “get” your work. They’re the ones who are best
suited to help you improve your story.
Karol also loves these great (previously shared at a
Schmooze) tips from an interview with YA writer
Allen Zadoff and his publisher,
Elizabeth Law, on dealing with feedback (or, as former screenwriter Zadoff
calls them, “notes”).
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Allen at the Schmooze, December 2011
Photo credit: Rita Crayon Huang, Copyright ©2012 |
Here’s an excerpt from the interview:
“…the ego is always hurt
when first receiving notes. I think it’s natural because the author really only
wants to hear one thing: “It’s genius. Don’t change a word.”
But that’s not the real world, and it’s not
what makes you a better author. The most important thing I’ve learned is that
the hurt reaction is just the first impulse. I don’t have to do anything about
it. I let it pass like a summer storm.
Once it’s blown itself out, I move to the more
interesting place of sorting out the feedback. They generally fall into four
categories.
· 1. Notes I agree with.
· 2. Notes I disagree
with.
· 3. Notes I intuitively
feel are wrong, but I’m not sure.
· 4. Notes I intuitively
feel are right, but I’m not sure.
· As I think about it,
there is a fifth category: Notes I don’t understand and I need more
clarification.”
And there were LOTS of tips from other online articles and
interviews as well. Here are some
links to explore:
Eventually, it was time to wrap up and say our goodbyes for
the summer hiatus (though many of us knew we’d be seeing each other at the
National Conference in August).
We, your humble co-coordinators, would be remiss not to
mention that we felt a great deal of love coming back at us at this Schmooze –
and throughout our first full year of duty. You’ve made our job easy and fun with your participation and
general awesomeness – so we thank you! With your continued assistance, we’re set to have another year of amazing Schmoozes.
- Two
(2!) Guest Speaker nights.
- Two
critiques nights – but a little later this year, since the LA County
Writer’s Days are much earlier.
Both critique nights will be in time for the National Conference
manuscript consultation deadline.
- A
couple nights where we take on ethics issues – sex, violence, hate speech
and more. These Schmoozes will explore the idea of how far is too far? If we are
completely authentic in our depictions of kids, teens and the sometimes shady people around them, are we somehow endorsing bad behavior?
- Explorations
of niche markets, reality-busting stories and books we just plain LOVE.
We’ll also be co-sponsoring a screening of Library Of The
Early Mind with the Santa Monica Public Library. More info on the film, described as “an exploration of the
art and impact of children’s literature on our kids, our culture, and
ourselves” can be found here
http://www.libraryoftheearlymind.com/.
The screening’s set for Saturday, December 1st at
2 PM at the SMPL Main Branch (we may plan an informal Kid Lit Happy Hour event
afterward as well) so SAVE THE DATE!
But, first things first. The Schmooze resumes Wednesday, September 12th
with a Conference Recap/Query How-To night, where you’ll be able to relive all
the glory of the conference – or live vicariously though those lucky stiffs who
got to attend – and get your questions about writing great query letters
answered. We’ll even spend some
time critiquing Schmoozers’ own query letters, so it’s an evening you
definitely DON’T want to miss!
We really can’t wait to see everyone again!
Until then, keep passing the open windows,
Charlie & Karol
As an added treat, here are a few Schmoozetastic photos from the conference!
 |
Charlie & Rita hanging at the Hippie Hop.
Photo credit: Rita Crayon Huang, Copyright ©2012 |
 |
Jeff enjoyed the Hippie Hop, too!
Photo credit: Rita Crayon Huang, Copyright ©2012 |
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Rita, Lee and Sara at the Hippie Hop.
Photo credit: Rita Crayon Huang, Copyright ©2012 |
 |
Wait, who let these zombie into the Hippie Hop?!
Photo credit: Rita Crayon Huang, Copyright ©2012 |
 |
Karol, Rita, Mara and Jen enjoying the Crystal Kite Luncheon
Photo credit: Rita Crayon Huang, Copyright ©2012 |
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The Schmooze's own Sara Wilson Etienne at her breakout session!
Photo credit: Rita Crayon Huang, Copyright ©2012 |
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