Social Media Sucks

I’m not referring to its general uselessness but its aid to aspiring authors.

It comes down to two questions: what do we need as writers and where do we fill that need?

When it comes to writing, aspirants like myself need much help, and there are many ways to categorize this help. I’ll start top-down.

First, we need to understand what story is. We all know inherently what constitutes story. When we read, hear, or view one, we are moved. We react. Story is part of our genetic makeup. We have been telling story as long as we have been communicating with each other with words. Four million years? Six thousand years? Apply your own understanding of human history, but story has always been there. We all know story, yet hardly anybody can define story without help. Very few people can tell story effectively. Even fewer can write good story. Modern story is told with ancient techniques, but we have refined our understanding of story so that it is now considered a complex field of study worthy of advanced educational degrees o– MA, MFA, PhD., and this refinement is hidden within the philosophies and tomes of our history. Everything we now understand about story has its roots in Aristotle’s Poetics. Story is opsis, melos, lexis, dianoia, ethos, and methos, otherwise known as spectacle, melody, diction, thought, character, and plot. These elements are arranged in order of importance with the most important — plot — at the end. Story falls apart without plot, but story can fly with weak spectacle. Great stories address all of these elements.

I wish it was as easy as remembering six concepts. It’s not. Drama is more than high-level story. Drama is created at scene, paragraph, sentence, and word levels. Each level of refinement brings its own dramatic challenges. Fail to write effective scenes, and your story becomes mush. Your paragraphs do not sing and pulse with rhythm, well, aloha reader. You fail at comparing and contrasting, figures of speech and other literary elements, foreshadowing, backstory, consistency, and connecting dots, your story falls apart. If you fail at grammar — and too many writers do — then you’ve lost your reader before you’ve started. Can you name thirteen sentence structures? Can you describe when to use each type of structure? Do you understand voice, and not just the point of view considerations? Does your writing come from one voice or does it transcend? Have you incorporated the chorus? Why or why not?

Most writers have little idea about what I just rambled on about within their own stories. Most writers I see in social media circles seem to simply write a book and throw it out there. Most of social media writing groups consist of writers looking for validation of some mysterious ability they possess and is clearly evident in their prose if you would only buy their $0.99 book.

Writers in social media circles do not discuss these fundamental elements of writing fiction, not regularly. These writers want ideas for world-building. These They want help in picking names for characters, advice on overcoming writer’s block, or story ideas. These writers want you to share in the fun they experience at the keyboard. These writers search in the dark for lost keys, in a hurricane, on a beach, naked and afraid.

I have given up on them. In a half-year of trying to gain knowledge from writing groups, I’ve abandoned them. I clicked “leave group” and turned off notifications.

So where am I going for help? I am re-discovering forums. Absolute Write has some very knowledgeable peeps. Other forums are also popping up. Forums are good at a few things social media groups fail at: they persist  information and they categorize it.  If there was a discussion of correct comma usage five years ago, it is still there for me to read. In social media, it is gone from my view within days at most.

One thing social media has helped with is spread the fiction writing bug. I believe that writing story is catching on again. I believe that people are discovering that a life without story is shallow, that a life full of story is compelling.

My main source of nuts and bolts help is in books and blogs. Whenever I find a used writing book, I snap it up. When I address a weakness in my writing and find that one book that fills the gap, I buy it. I have bought one new book in the past two years. I now have over fifty craft books.

Writing blogs are everywhere. If you cannot find them, you are not looking.

I get involved with real people. Hold on, I need to count my fingers … I belong to four (five under broader criteria) writing groups, three book clubs, and am a board member on a literary festival. I get people to review my writing and I offer to review other writers’ works. My team knows they can slam me hard and they do. And I grow with every word of feedback. I grow every time I read to a group. I grow with every book discussion. I grow with every book I read, every scene, paragraph, sentence, and word I read. I grow when I write.

I have never grown from any interaction with a social media writing group. They are now history with me.

Doing it the write way!

Last Monday or Tuesday, maybe Wednesday — sheesh — I began another edit of my novel. I have a couple of manuscripts out to readers, but the story called to me. This might go against all sound advice, but I completed a development edit on August 31, and the story was more or less fresh in my head. I debated giving it a long timeout, say three months, but I knew there were sections that needed surgery. At the end of my story, looking back, I knew of several scenes that needed either modification or removal. Reparative surgery or amputation. I debated waiting for feedback to confirm my suspicions.

I decided to re-read my first chapter.

I should backtrack a bit. I’ve been reading Neil Gaiman’s ‘American Gods’, Francine Prose’s ‘How to Read Like A Writer’, and Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451’. I had literary words in my head. I had Gaiman’s efficiency, Prose’s extreme literary examples, and Bradbury’s almost hyperbolic style hitting me all at once. I had focus on words, sentences, and paragraphs. I was focused on the writing, not the story. I felt I was in a zone.

I have also been working on a short story extracted from my novel. One of my readers told me a short scene I shared read like a short story. But it was only 500 words. Hmmm. I found another dangling scene and glued them together. It was an improvement, but it didn’t quite work. (see my previous post) The story also primed my thinking on my novel, and reaffirmed my need to get back at it.

I created a new file and began. I assumed a position of a content and line editor. I asked two questions: does it read well and does it belong? Maybe these do not belong in the same edit, but that is what I asked. The very first answer of the very first sentence was no, so I re-wrote my opening lines. I smiled. I felt good. I kept going.

Scene number three was my first challenge. I felt many times it needed trimming but could never find it, could never slash any of it. As I read it, it became very clear that much of it was crap. It was crap content and it was crap writing. I cut, cut, and cut. I then jumped ahead to a scene I knew needed a beat-down. I had just pounded one scene, so let’s roll. Let’s rumble why we’re in the mood. I chopped, chopped, chopped.

I am now 27k words in and have removed almost three thousand words. Yes!

But I added my short story in. It is a chapter in my novel. And this brings two dilemmas:
– do I remove bits of reference material needed for the story but not for the scene; because they were introduced in the novel?
– what will this do to my publishing chances? How does the copyright thingy work? Is it good or bad to publish a chapter as a short story?

I am discouraged I write so poorly, but aren’t we all? Anne Lamott in ‘Bird By Bird’ claims all our first drafts are shitty and not to worry about it. Good writing takes much effort, may rounds of editing, many attempts at trying new words and phrases, of experimenting, of working at it. Determination results in more creativity any noetic miasma might. So I plod forward and don’t look back.

Last night, after a weekend away, I edited a key scene. I asked myself “did I really write this?” It was good. Seriously, it was very good. It gave me chills. I woke this morning at 4:30 and jumped back in the pool. I re-edited the same scene and felt just as good. I edited the next scene, and … I removed it. It was part of my short story. I welded the remnants to the next scene, and read through it twice. I made some sentence changes. I moved me almost to tears. I smiled. “Fuck I’m good,” I thought, and slapped myself.

No I am not. Not yet. Never will be good. Quality writing occurs with a quality process. Focus on the process John. Do it the write way!

If you are beta-reading my last draft, sorry about this, but I will not likely use much of your feedback. Well, maybe I will, or maybe I will have already.

A Winner?

Tags

editing, feedback, review, short story, toastmasters

Have you ever written something you know is a winner?

I think I am writing at least one, but it is not easy.

On Sunday morning I sat at a Second Cup coffee shop with a writing friend talking and writing. I had a new short story in my bag, and I was struggling with it. I knew some of its content was special. You know what I mean by special? Words that make you laugh or cry. Words that make your heart skip a beat. A story that slaps you upside the head and knocks you into a daze. One of those rare birds.

My story wasn’t there yet, and I was lamenting to myself on how I needed a master reviewer to tell me what was wrong with it. Not how to fix it; just tell me what doesn’t work, and if possible, why. I had uneasy feelings about the story, but I was too close to it. I couldn’t touch it because my fingers were all over it. You know what I mean; you as a writer have been there. Clarity. My kingdom for clarity.

What I needed was a specialist, and I know very few feedback specialists. Or do I? Jim walked into the shop. Jim is a distinguished Toastmaster as is my wife. I know most of the local Toastmasters, but hey, they only speak. They don’t write short stories or novels. But communication is communication, right? Jim knew Neil and I were writing and he sat down next to us; because that is the kind of guy he is. He is interested in what people he knows are doing. I have known Jim for 22 years, and we’ve never failed to at least say hello when our paths cross. Jim is also one of these special people. He is driven. He is actually the President-elect of Toastmasters International, a highly prestigious position in that organization.

I asked Jim to read my story.

“It starts out too slow.”

He didn’t say much more than that. He scattered a few nice comments. It contains good stuff. But it starts too slow and he never gained interest.

Bang! It’s the kind of feedback that kills writing careers. It’s the kind of feedback that can knock you on your ass so hard you never want to get up. This story I felt so good about, even with my nagging doubts, was shit. It was the truth.

I said thank you and let it flow through me and out. I did not let emotions take root. It was a bold chess move I didn’t expect, and I sat back and analyzed deeply before deciding what to do. And changes did need to be made. The more I thought about it, the more I agreed. The more I pondered its slowness, the more ideas for speed crept into my head. I found a glimmer of hope — that my premise was in fact sound — and I clung to it for dear life.

This morning I sat down, opened it, selected the first half of the story, and pressed delete. The action was now at the top. My 1290 words was now back to 600. Then I typed. I wrote. I realized I had opportunity to create imagery revolving around the main topic. I filled in spaces. I fleshed out story. I wrote, and I smiled.

Tonight after at least a half-dozen edits, I am feeling once again like I have a winner. I don’t know if it is there yet. I have passed it on to some other reviewers and have asked them to skin me alive, rake me over the coals, and beat me with large, heavy clubs. I know I have a winner, and I know I cannot do it alone.

Thanks Jim, and Abby, and Elsa, and Max, and Neil, and Megan, and John, and a host of other writers all struggling to make our beginnings, middles, and ends match each other and our own creativity.

Write on!