{"id":800,"date":"2016-12-21T21:34:19","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T02:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/?p=800"},"modified":"2016-12-21T21:34:19","modified_gmt":"2016-12-22T02:34:19","slug":"self-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/21\/self-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Self help"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, I read these two words: slight shock<\/em>, and was put off. I suppose a shock can be slight. We hear of mild shocks in laboratory experiments, but in fiction\u00a0the word slight<\/em>\u00a0weakens the word shock<\/em>, and a different noun would be more accurate. Surprise<\/em> might do, or something else. This is where our enormous language and a thesaurus can help. Or we can let it be a full-scale shock, nixing the slight<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written before about weakening words, but I\u2019m guessing seeing that slight shock<\/em> startled me into writing a refresher. We should be suspicious of such words, like slight<\/em>, and also almost<\/em>, nearly<\/em>, half<\/em>, a little<\/em>, which can sap the vigor of our prose. These vocabulary miscreants are handy words, and sometimes they\u2019re exactly right. We should just train ourselves to be aware when we use them and weigh whether they\u2019re needed.<\/p>\n

Words that punch up can also weaken, words like very<\/em> and extremely<\/em>. For example, if we write, The chicken-pot pie was extremely (or very) delectable–delectable<\/em> says it all. We don\u2019t need extremely or very.<\/p>\n

My lecture segues nicely into this post\u2019s question.<\/p>\n

On July 31, 2016, Taryn Chan wrote, My older brother is the only other person besides me who has read my story. He says he likes it and there is nothing wrong with it. Unfortunately, I know better than that. My parents have no time to read my story, and my friends aren\u2019t interested. Is there a good method for editing a story by yourself?<\/em><\/p>\n

Christie V Powell responded: A few people have mentioned different websites where you can connect with people. The NaNoWriMo forums are a good one. As far as editing for yourself, I like www.prowritingaid.com<\/a>. It\u2019s a free site that will highlight some of your mistakes and helps make your writing better. There are a lot of similar sites (www.grammarly.com<\/a>, for instance), but most require money.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you, Christie V Powell, for these links!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m revising Ogre Enchanted<\/em>, my Ella Enchanted<\/em> prequel, right now before sending it off to my editor. Sadly, it\u2019s in rough shape. A love story, but the romantic part isn\u2019t right. My characterization of one of the major characters is muddled. The pace is slow in spite of time pressure on my MC.<\/p>\n

How do I know all this?<\/p>\n

Well, my editor has seen parts already. But I\u2019d know even without her input, because I\u2019ve been writing for almost thirty years (published for almost twenty). I know where I go astray, and pacing, for instance, is a regular issue.<\/p>\n

So experience is a good teacher. By doing, we get better at diagnosing our flaws.<\/p>\n

However, outside opinion can speed the process. A teacher can be recruited when family\u00a0members are less than helpful. (It is kind, however, of Taryn Chan\u2019s brother to be her reader and to be encouraging even if he\u2019s light on the criticism. Encouragement is a wonderful boost to keeping us going.) For those who are home schooled, a librarian may be asked. Friends may also be helpful. We don\u2019t need to be critiqued by other writers necessarily. The most important qualification we\u2019re looking for is love of reading. A good reader is likely to notice where our story loses its way.<\/p>\n

And the other most important quality is kindness. Global criticism (“This is lousy,” for example) isn\u2019t useful. We don’t learn from being ripped apart.<\/p>\n

Sharing our work online may be helpful, but I worry about the kindness factor. We know the people when we share work in person. An anonymous online critiquer may not be worthy of our trust. I don\u2019t say not to use such resources, I just caution caution. If you\u2019re not sure about feedback, if it doesn\u2019t ring true or even seems spiteful, I suggest getting an opinion from someone you know. After that, I\u2019d double down on the caution.<\/p>\n

Having said that, I am constantly delighted with the quality of the comments, the thoughtfulness, the knowledge, of the people who post right here. If you\u2019ve met first here and then started sharing work through NaNoWriMo, I think you can move forward with confidence.<\/p>\n

There are autodidacts who like to go it alone. My husband is one. When he wants to learn, he reads on the subject. He may look online, too, but he doesn\u2019t take classes\u2013and he becomes adept\u00a0anyway.<\/p>\n

If, for whatever reason, you are on your own, there are things you can do. For one, seek out good writing. If you’re \u00a0writing for children, the Newbery and National Book Award winners are sources for models of excellent prose\u2013and excellence in all aspects of storytelling. If you’re writing for adults, the National Book Award is still good. When I was getting started, I read many Newbery winners and runners up. To mention just one author, the young adult writer Virginia Euwer Wolff is incapable of an awkward sentence. I suggest reading her books, which aren\u2019t fantasy. My favorite is The Mozart Season<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I hate to say this, but mediocre\u00a0prose gets published. Some writers are great at plot and character, not so much at\u00a0deathless writing. We can read and enjoy the less stellar, but it\u2019s nice to be in the presence of greatness sometimes. And greatness rubs off.<\/p>\n

If something grabs you, take a few minutes to analyze what\u2019s going on. Look at sentence length, sentence variety, vocabulary. Think about what grabbed your attention.<\/p>\n

If you love a writer, see if he or she has written about writing itself. Some of us have, but, alas, many books about writing fiction we find online are\u00a0by people who have never written a novel, so be alert. It\u2019s possible that they\u2019re excellent, but I\u2019m skeptical. You can read my recommendations for writing resources right here on this website: http:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/writers.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Do any of you know The Elements of Style<\/em> by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White? When I was in college, everyone had it. I\u2019ve heard it called old-fashioned, and the charge may be true, but it can\u2019t be beat for elegance and concision. A very thin book, but packed. I used to reread the examples for pure pleasure in the way the ideas are expressed.<\/p>\n

Here are three prompts:<\/p>\n

\u2219 Your MC has survived a disaster (you decide what), but modern life has been destroyed. Before, she was into Legos. Every spare minute went into creating Lego structures. After the disaster, she is separated from family and friends (or they\u2019ve all died). Her survival is in her ill-equipped hands. Write her first attempt to teach herself how to stay alive. Keep going if you like.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Your MC has survived a car\u2013or spaceship or winged horse–crash. He\u2019s alone, badly injured, in harsh conditions. Write the scene in which he attempts to save himself. You decide whether or not he succeeds.<\/p>\n

\u2219 Your MC starts a new school and discovers that her old one failed her. She is way behind. Her teachers could speaking ancient Sumerian for all she understands. She is ashamed to ask for help. Write her struggle to catch up on her own.<\/p>\n

Have fun, and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, I read these two words: slight shock, and was put off. I suppose a shock can be slight. We hear of mild shocks in laboratory experiments, but in fiction\u00a0the word slight\u00a0weakens the word shock, and a different noun would be more accurate. Surprise might do, or something else. This is where our enormous language […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[77],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800\/revisions\/803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}