Re-thinking When to Say “Cut!”

by Melissa Dalton
Published on: May 3, 2012
Categories: Challenges, Craft, Critique Process
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Comments: 3 Comments

In a Scriva critique, it’s not unusual to hear me suggest: “You could cut this out,” or to get pages back with slashes through paragraphs of text. These kinds of suggestions can be incredibly helpful. “Cut” written in the margin of a manuscript lets you see where you’re losing the reader or going off topic.

However, I was recently reading Alice LaPlante’s book The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing, and it’s making me re-think the suggestion to “Cut.” She says:

“Then there’s the fact that the kind of advice parceled out during workshops isn’t always appropriate for the stage that a work is in. You may be trying something new that doesn’t work — yet. But a workshop may well decide that a section that isn’t working simply needs to be removed. “Take it out!” is a common phrase heard in workshops. Yet the passage in question, when refined, could become a critical part of the story or essay or novel in question. Just because it isn’t working now doesn’t mean it won’t work in the next draft…or the next…or the next.”

Now, I’ll be asking myself the following questions when I want to suggest “Cut.”

1) What is the writer trying to do here?

2) Does she do it better elsewhere?

3) Do the ideas here just need to be broken up and inserted in other places?

If the information seems completely unnecessary, a suggestion to cut would be in order. But if it is information that is just slowing down the narrative pace or could use rephrasing, that is a better distinction to make for the writer rather than just “Cut.”

As a writer, I’ll also have to think about when I receive the suggestion, rather than just reaching for the delete key. Only you, as the architect of your story, can know if that particular section is really integral to the story as a whole. If anything, LaPlante’s is a good reminder to always be true to your creative vision, to listen to the little protest that might niggle at you when you see “Cut” next to a particular passage in your manuscript. Sometimes, it seems like, no matter how many critiques you receive or creative writing books you read, it is really that little voice that you have to heed the most!

Tales of Revision: Helpful Tips from THE INTERN

by Melissa Dalton
Published on: March 4, 2012
Categories: Challenges, Craft, Writing Process
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I love THE INTERN.

THE INTERN is a blog that started in 2009. It is written by just whom the title implies, an anonymous intern at a big, unnamed, publishing house. (Though recently, THE INTERN unveiled herself because she signed a book deal for a YA novel. Congrats to her!) THE INTERN’s blog is hilarious, provides astute insights into the workings of the publishing industry, and often offers spot-on writing advice. Careful, though. She’s an addictive read. The only downside to reading the blog, as far as I can see, is that if I read too many posts in a row, I start narrating everything I’m doing in the third person, much like the snarky voice of her blog. And that’s just odd.

So, I am just beginning revisions of the “sh*tty first draft” of my realistic teen novel. I am about 20,000 words in and it’s…not going well. I have arrived at two chapters that I find to be, quite simply, a snoozefest. And if I’m bored writing them, what’s that going to be like for someone reading them?

But I think, I think that these chapters are necessary because they provide pertinent background information/context for the reader to better understand my main character. I know the Scrivas will tell me for sure if I need them. But in the meantime, I wondered if perhaps I could step back from the chapters and look at them a little differently.

That’s when I remembered this post from the intern. It breaks down the “formula” for the addictive prose that is The Hunger Games. (Or so I hear — I actually haven’t read it yet!) THE INTERN highlights a chapter of The Hunger Games in different colors. Each color corresponds to a certain category:

* LIGHT BLUE: Action/Description

* PINK: Dialogue

* DARK BLUE: Internal Conflict

* RED: External Conflict

* DARK GREEN: An action or decision that the character must make stemming from the internal OR external conflict

* GREY: Internal narrative: “telling,” memories, reactions

Now, I had heard of revising a text in different colors and having each color correspond to each sense (sight, smell, hear, taste, touch). And that seems like a good idea, perhaps further down the road when you are finessing things more and other things, like the plot, are solid. But this model just seemed to make wicked good sense to me. And INTERN’s conclusions after she finished highlighting the text are fascinating.

When I started to look at my own sleep-inducing chapters according to this paradigm, one thing popped out immediately: Too much grey and not enough dark green! Too much telling the character’s reactions and not enough decision making!! Could that be why I’m so bored writing and reading this???

Well, duh. Now it seems obvious. But it is hard to know these things when you’re so close to the text.

So now, I have to go back to these chapters and ask even bigger questions: What is my main character discovering here? What decisions does my main character need to make based on these discoveries? How does this contribute to either her internal/external conflict or both?

Whew. These are big questions begging answers that aren’t immediately apparent.

Hmm, that about sums up the revision process right now.

Thanks, INTERN!

When You Don’t Know How To Say It — A Quick Primer for Brainstorming Helpful Comments

by Melissa Dalton
Published on: February 3, 2012
Categories: Basics, Critique Process
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Comments: 1 Comment

Sometimes, it’s hard to know how to phrase your critique comments so that they are helpful to someone else. Here is a little cheat sheet on critique language to help you get started…

1) Start with a positive: “I like the way…[the plot is advancing, this character is demonstrating XY, etc].”  You can then follow this with a related point, if you think there’s something that needs work: “But I am concerned about…”

2) Ask a question: “Do you want to think about…” “What’s the character arc?” “I ask because…” It’s good to follow this with a specific observation about the text and your points of confusion, to help illustrate why you’re asking this question.

3) State an observation and follow this with the reason your observation matters: “Sadie seems a bit non-reactive in this scene. This makes it hard for me to know where she is coming from.” Give examples from the text (i.e. Where is the character non-reactive?) to help your fellow writer.

4) Feel free to point out your own strong reactions: “Wow! Love this detail here!” “This is making me laugh aloud on the bus.”

5) Offer block suggestions for revisions: “You might want to trim here…” “Can you add some sensory detail here?” “I wanted to see more XY here…”

6) Commiserate. “I know it’s hard to rhyme, but perhaps looking at your word choices here and here will…”

7) Encourage, encourage, encourage: “Keep up the good work!” “This book is turning out awesome!” “I can’t wait to read more!”

What critique language do you find especially helpful?

Tip #212 for Getting Unstuck or Getting Inspired By Your Fellow Writers

by Melissa Dalton
Published on: July 7, 2011
Categories: Challenges, Craft, Inspiration, Writing Process
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Comments: 2 Comments

Me and My Manuscript

At the beginning of the summer, I got stuck in my manuscript.

For a while, I had a great schedule of writing once a week. I would meet up with a couple of my Scrivas in a local coffee shop every Friday morning. After catching up on our weeks and settling in with our pots of tea, we would bend heads to laptops and start writing. For these sessions, I always set a relatively low word count goal of 1000 words. I did this because I have learned, the hard way, that if I set my sights too high (A rough draft in a month? Of course I SHOULD be able to do that!), I inevitably fall short. This can be followed by critical self doubt and complete abandonment of whatever it was that I was trying to achieve.

So, having learned my lesson, I made my writing goals more manageable and stuck to a consistent schedule. And miracle of miracles, I started making progress on a manuscript. I reached 50 pages, then 80, now 142. This has never happened! Wahoo!

And then I stopped.

For weeks.

It probably started with a disruption to the schedule — a trip out of town, a doctor’s appointment. Whatever the first interruption to my writing mojo was, it was followed by challenges to the writing itself. The scene I was working through just felt awkward. Questions crowded out my ability to write. How did it fit into the whole book? Why weren’t the characters saying anything? It was as if my two main characters were standing there, staring blankly at each other. Friday after Friday I found myself just staring at my screen. I’d try to start the scene at different points. I shuffled the characters around. But everything I tried seemed to bring me back to the same stagnant place.

Oh boy, I was good and stuck.

I thought about ditching the scene all together but there was a problem with that — I liked it. There was build up to it. Things spiraled out from it. In the grand plotting scheme in my head, it worked. It just wasn’t cooperating on the page.

Then, I went to my monthly Scriva meeting — the first after a long absence. Mary had submitted the first chapter of a new YA novel she was working on and she had submitted it in two versions — one in first person and one in third. She wanted advice on which one she should proceed in.

The following Friday, I thought about this as I stared at my same-old defunct scene. Why not do as Mary did? So I opened the first chapter and started rewriting it in the first person. This instantly got me into my character more, which was the underlying problem to my stuckness all along. I needed to have a better idea of what she was feeling and where she was coming from in order to make the scene work, in order to giver her something to say. So I switched to the stuck chapter and restarted it in the first person. It probably helped that I opened a new document to do this and headed it up with this title: THIS WILL NOT NECESSARILY GO IN THE BOOK. NOTHING TO SEE HERE, FOLKS. JUST WRITING.

But write I did, and when I finally looked up from my screen, I had 3000 words under my belt. Chapter Sixteen was FINALLY done and my leg was twitching under the table from all the caffeine I’d consumed. Thank goodness for the awesome Scrivas. Inspiration from seeing their writing processes up close always seems to get me through. That, and copious amounts of green tea.

On Getting to Know Your Writing Process

by Melissa Dalton
Published on: May 8, 2011
Categories: Craft, Critique Process, Other Topics, Writing Process
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Comments: 2 Comments

“Every writer has to develop her own process: what works for her time and time again. Having no process is like having no craft. It leaves you dangling out there over the abyss, a potential victim of writer’s block. Having no process puts you at enormous risk because writing becomes a threat instead of a joy, something that you are terrified to begin each day because you are at the mercy of a Muse that you do not understand how to beckon…Your job is to discover your own process…”

–Elizabeth George, Write Away

So the question I’ve been asking myself lately is: How should I incorporate my critique group into my writing process?

It’s tricky trying to answer this question, as I am still figuring out what my process is exactly. Do I write in the morning or at night? Every day or a couple times a week? Alone or with friends? Plot and plan or write “by the seat of my pants”? Finish a whole draft first or send in the first few chapters when I’ve got them? The questions can seem endless and now here I am adding another.

But perhaps the answer is simple. Perhaps it’s not only about timing. Perhaps communication is key!

This means that when I hand over a new piece, I need to be clear about what I’d like the Scrivas to read for. If I’m sending in something in the gestation phase and I need to bounce ideas around, I should ask my fellow group members to refrain from line edits. Similarly, if I need a good polish on a query letter that I want to impress agents with, then I need to tell ‘em to have at it with the red pen.

The best part of figuring out my process with a critique group is being side by side with fellow writers and seeing how they work through their own processes. It can be inspiring to see a Scriva come back again and again with her own revisions or a chart of a novel’s narrative arc. It causes me to push myself harder, try new approaches, and ultimately, get to know my own work better.

Yes, it is important to know when it’s time to share your work with your first readers. But even more important may be the ability to communicate where you are at with the piece and what you’d like others to help you with. Then be flexible and open-minded with the feedback that you get. Who knows what you may learn about yourself, and your writing process, along the way?

 

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Welcome , May 18, 2012