The New Intimacy

#Eden Lit Club Meeting- Getting Started - March 11, 2013 at 4 pm EDT

Skip to last post
Set alerts
Updates
Forum search
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
Quote:
Originally posted by SneakersAndPearls
I've read (but haven't tried) that you should draw a picture of your inner critic/demon. Then, when they annoy you, you flip the picture over so you can't see it.
I LIKE that idea!
03/11/2013
Contributor: Rayne Millaray Rayne Millaray
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
ok so for all those lurkers who will read this meeting after the fact and forget to post and then wander off again...

What advice would you give a writer who has demons whispering to them about how terrible he or she is at writing?
Put it on deviantART or some other art site and wait for the comments to come in. They've even got a critiquing function, now, where you can ask total strangers to rip your heart out of your chest and step on it...er...I mean, ask them for constructive criticism. Yeah...that's it.
03/11/2013
Contributor: SneakersAndPearls SneakersAndPearls
Quote:
Originally posted by Rayne Millaray
Put it on deviantART or some other art site and wait for the comments to come in. They've even got a critiquing function, now, where you can ask total strangers to rip your heart out of your chest and step on it...er...I mean, ask them for ... more
But the problem with that is if you want to send it to publication, many publishers don't accept previously published work. What they consider to be "previously published" varies wildly.
03/11/2013
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
Quote:
Originally posted by Rayne Millaray
Put it on deviantART or some other art site and wait for the comments to come in. They've even got a critiquing function, now, where you can ask total strangers to rip your heart out of your chest and step on it...er...I mean, ask them for ... more
That's what Arch does with his writing, and I have to say he has improved in leaps and bounds from the experience. I find the critics there tend to be quite gentle except when I post hard core fetish fiction...I expect that though because it;s meant to kinda make you a bit disturbed. LOL
03/11/2013
Contributor: Ansley Ansley
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
That's one way I suppose...and many writers, including Ernest Hemingway, choose that option.

What about writing with a pseudonym so that if the work is ill received then it doesn't sting so badly?
That's another, more common way...not entirely sure it applies to newer writers these days *coughStephanieMyers, E.L. Jamescough*
03/11/2013
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
Quote:
Originally posted by SneakersAndPearls
But the problem with that is if you want to send it to publication, many publishers don't accept previously published work. What they consider to be "previously published" varies wildly.
This is true too. Remember though that this is just to begin the process of killing the negativity demon. It might be worth it to post some of the works you consider less that perfect on a public site and ask for criticism.
03/11/2013
Contributor: Rayne Millaray Rayne Millaray
Quote:
Originally posted by SneakersAndPearls
But the problem with that is if you want to send it to publication, many publishers don't accept previously published work. What they consider to be "previously published" varies wildly.
It depends on the publisher, and the work. If you want it on another website, yeah. Usually, though, if you're going through an actual editor/publisher (as in, publishes paper stuff) that piece looks nothing like what the end product will, so it doesn't matter much.
03/11/2013
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
Quote:
Originally posted by Ansley
That's another, more common way...not entirely sure it applies to newer writers these days *coughStephanieMyers, E.L. Jamescough*
I suppose we have to consider her a writer don't we?
03/11/2013
Contributor: SneakersAndPearls SneakersAndPearls
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
This is true too. Remember though that this is just to begin the process of killing the negativity demon. It might be worth it to post some of the works you consider less that perfect on a public site and ask for criticism.
That's true.
03/11/2013
Contributor: Rayne Millaray Rayne Millaray
Quote:
Originally posted by Ansley
That's another, more common way...not entirely sure it applies to newer writers these days *coughStephanieMyers, E.L. Jamescough*
The whole "cough" thing doesn't work as well in text. Lol.
03/11/2013
Contributor: SneakersAndPearls SneakersAndPearls
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
I suppose we have to consider her a writer don't we?
Stephanie Meyers's The Host was actually pretty good. So shut it.
03/11/2013
Contributor: Ansley Ansley
Quote:
Originally posted by Rayne Millaray
The whole "cough" thing doesn't work as well in text. Lol.
Actually, it works better in my opinion
03/11/2013
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
Quote:
Originally posted by SneakersAndPearls
Stephanie Meyers's The Host was actually pretty good. So shut it.
Point taken E. L. James desperately needs someone to collar her ass so she can learn the ropes the proper way...>.<
03/11/2013
Contributor: SneakersAndPearls SneakersAndPearls
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
Point taken E. L. James desperately needs someone to collar her ass so she can learn the ropes the proper way...>.<
Something about that is hilarious to me.
03/11/2013
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
Quote:
Originally posted by SneakersAndPearls
Something about that is hilarious to me.
I spent most of the first book of that god awful series thinking about the ways I could educate her...it made the book much more exciting to me.
03/11/2013
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
Which actually brings me to another point entirely. How do you as writers suggest getting to know a subject that you are unfamiliar with but interested or commissioned to write about?
03/11/2013
Contributor: SneakersAndPearls SneakersAndPearls
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
I spent most of the first book of that god awful series thinking about the ways I could educate her...it made the book much more exciting to me.
Holy crap! I just saw on twitter--just now--that she's writing a how-to book. Please, please let that be a joke!
03/11/2013
Contributor: Ansley Ansley
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
Which actually brings me to another point entirely. How do you as writers suggest getting to know a subject that you are unfamiliar with but interested or commissioned to write about?
Talk to people, lots and lots and lots of people. Ask them questions and they will provide many, many resources.
03/11/2013
Contributor: SneakersAndPearls SneakersAndPearls
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
Which actually brings me to another point entirely. How do you as writers suggest getting to know a subject that you are unfamiliar with but interested or commissioned to write about?
Immersion. Google. Books. Everything. I'm basing an old farmhouse in a story I'm working on off of photos of other farmhouses in the region I'm writing about.
03/11/2013
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.
~Ernest Hemingway

Obligatory Hemingway quote!
03/11/2013
Contributor: SneakersAndPearls SneakersAndPearls
Quote:
Originally posted by SneakersAndPearls
Holy crap! I just saw on twitter--just now--that she's writing a how-to book. Please, please let that be a joke!
Wow...it's not a joke.
03/11/2013
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
Quote:
Originally posted by SneakersAndPearls
Holy crap! I just saw on twitter--just now--that she's writing a how-to book. Please, please let that be a joke!
Well should we invite her over for a real how to learning lesson? (Evil grin)
03/11/2013
Contributor: SneakersAndPearls SneakersAndPearls
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.
~Ernest Hemingway

Obligatory Hemingway quote!
Hemingway FTW!
03/11/2013
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
How about visiting the area or watching tv...news and other current events about the area? When I was writing about the deep south I spent HOURS listening to interviews done on lifetime TV, and other discovery type channels just to get the slang, accent and cadence of the speech patterns. Then I applied them to my midwest accent filter and VOILA living breathing peple!
03/11/2013
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
I dunno about you but I really hate it when an author describes silly details like what color the carpet is in relation to the curtains in a room. Unless the curtains are about to burst into flame or the carpet is spotted with blood or other fluids it's tedious to read.

How do you decide what is necessary in a scene?
03/11/2013
Contributor: Rayne Millaray Rayne Millaray
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
How about visiting the area or watching tv...news and other current events about the area? When I was writing about the deep south I spent HOURS listening to interviews done on lifetime TV, and other discovery type channels just to get the slang, ... more
I do that sometimes. Or if it's an area I can't visit, for whatever reason, I find movies and such about it.
03/11/2013
Contributor: Rayne Millaray Rayne Millaray
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
I dunno about you but I really hate it when an author describes silly details like what color the carpet is in relation to the curtains in a room. Unless the curtains are about to burst into flame or the carpet is spotted with blood or other fluids ... more
I usually save those decisions for the editing process. If the detail has absolutely no bearing on the story, and seems out of place, out it goes.
03/11/2013
Contributor: Ansley Ansley
Quote:
Originally posted by Airen Wolf
I dunno about you but I really hate it when an author describes silly details like what color the carpet is in relation to the curtains in a room. Unless the curtains are about to burst into flame or the carpet is spotted with blood or other fluids ... more
Sometimes those details are vital if they're used to show a character's thought process.
03/11/2013
Contributor: SneakersAndPearls SneakersAndPearls
All right, ladies, I'm out of here. I have places I need to get to. Thanks for hosting, Airen!
03/11/2013
Contributor: Airen Wolf Airen Wolf
(EF Review Program Mentor)
Quote:
Originally posted by Rayne Millaray
I usually save those decisions for the editing process. If the detail has absolutely no bearing on the story, and seems out of place, out it goes.
That's one way to deal with it. Back end proofreading! As Mark Twain says:

Substitute "damn" every time you're inclined to write "very"; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.
~Mark Twain

If you know you have an issue with filler substitute a word and let your editor go to town.

For me it is a process that evolves as I write. I am always evaluating whether something is necessary to add or whether I am writing my way off on a tangent. I know this is an issue with me and I self correct...probably too much.
03/11/2013