Peg Herring's Blog, page 35

Don't Be in Such a Rush

I'm about to give up on an author I know is good, at least on the piece of her work that I'm currently reading. It's pretty obvious that this one was done in a rush, and it suffers. I'm about done suffering along with her.
Someone told me once that a writer's first book is a luxury. She has her whole life to write it, if need be. She doesn't have to send it off until she feels it is ready, and even then, it might take years for someone to notice it. During those years, she can tinker with it from time to time, possibly responding to snippets from agents or editors. (You don't get much, but sometimes a phrase is tossed out: "liked the main character, no strong hook".)
If a first book is successful, the race is on. Now the publisher wants to keep things going, and the writer is expected to produce book after book. Some (notably Diana Gabaldon) refuse to be rushed. Others (better not to name them) write to a formula, repeating what worked in Book 1. In the case of the book I'm reading, it's obvious that the writer did not get a chance to let the story sit for a while and then look it over carefully and make it better. Mistakes everywhere: picky little things like "women" for "woman", use of the same adjectives every time a certain location came up, and a generally unbelievable opening premise that had me thinking "Where in the world would a group of adults actually act like this?"
The other thing that can happen, I think, is that a writer falls in love with all the things people say about her and becomes pretentiously literary in succeeding works. I see places in this book where the author is trying way too hard to recreate those beautiful descriptions praised in Book 1. Back then they flowed naturally; now they sound forced, like "Here's a spot where I can show my talent with words."
Will I give this author another chance? Probably. But I wish she had taken a little more time to be herself with this book. That's what got her where she is today.

Do I Tell 'em What They Don't Know Now?

Writers get requests all the time for "pointers", and I've had three in the last few days. A phone call from a stranger who wanted to know if we could get acquainted so she could learn about publishing. A request after a meeting for me to give a third party some advice she could pass on to an aspiring author in a nearby town. And a woman at church who wants to "let" me read her stuff to see if I like it.
I've learned to be kind but firm. Just like a lot of publishers, I don't read unsolicited material. And there simply aren't any two-minute recaps on how to get published. I recommend research, suggest WRITERS GUIDE, and tell them about my next workshop if one is scheduled anywhere nearby soon.
I hope that doesn't come off as unhelpful, but it's the only way I can deal with those who haven't got a clue where to start. Yes, I was in their shoes once, but I read everything I could find early on, and as a result I did not expect some other writer to a) critique my work, b) tell his/her agent what a gem of a writer I am, and c) have the secret of publishing all tied up in a bow to hand over to me.
I really don't mind people asking intelligent questions, and it's certainly wise to consult someone who has been through a process to learn how things work.
Signals that I won't be able to help a person:
Me: What do you write?
Person: Oh, I'm all over the place.
Me: Do you have something finished?
Person: No, I've started a bunch of things, and I thought I'd send them to an agent and let him decide which one would sell best.
Me: Has your manuscript been edited at all?
Person: My mom (or in the case of teenagers, "my BFFs) read it. She says it's really good.
Here's my advice for newbies: Immerse yourself in research about publishing. Listen to authors whenever you get the chance, but keep quiet about your own stuff until you know a tiny bit about the business. Ask questions like, "How did you get published?" and then take away what you can from that.
But don't offer to "let" them read your stuff. They've got stuff of their own.

Browsing

Your computer says it does, but it just isn't the same. I love my Kindle, but I sometimes want to go to a bookstore and just wander through the aisles, especially the mystery section. I look at the covers, read the back, the inside front, and often the author info. I don't know if the photo influences me to buy the book, but it's fun to know what the writer looks like. I put some back, take some home. Anticipation.
Amazon tries to give me the same experience, but it is not the same. Amazon works best when you know exactly which book you want. You go there. You buy it. Bam! It's on your Kindle. Instant gratification.
I guess there will always be room for both in my life. Sometimes I don't know what I want to read, and a bookstore is the place to help with that. Other times, Kindle is perfect, because there is no bookstore where I live, and it's inconvenient to drive thirty miles for a browse.
Having both options is the best of all possible worlds.

When Almost Lives with Always

Almost is a great help around the house, and he can fix just about anything. When he is finished, he puts everything away. Almost.
Always has a need for things to be where they belong. It is difficult for her to sleep if the dishes aren't done, and she has a little pattern that she likes for the items left on the table: salt here, pepper there, napkins just so. The leftover bolts and the un-stored duct tape that Almost leaves behind upset her. She puts them away, only to find (a week later) that Almost wanted them left there.
Almost gets his dirty clothes ALMOST into the hamper. When he leaves something on the chair beside the bed, he is ALWAYS irritated to find that Always has relegated it to the laundry, even though it wasn't very dirty. Her contention is that it is ALWAYS better to have clean clothes.
By now you might have guessed that Always does household chores on the same day every week, ALWAYS. And you can bet that Almost helps out, emptying ALMOST all of the trash cans, for example. That one he missed is a thorn in Always' side until the next trash day. He tells her to relax, it's just trash, and he ALMOST got it all.
Almost and Always love each other, so they make it work. But it is almost always irritating for them both.

It's Probably Impolite, But--

I'm not talking to anyone today. I'm so deep into an edit that nothing else registers. So read an earlier post. Read someone else's post. Write your own post.
But don't expect any more than this.

If I Ruled the (Grammar) World

I'm not ambitious; I just want to tell people how to speak and force them to make sense. I don't always agree with Webster's, and I would like them to get a clue.
For example: our local weatherman uses the word "seasonable" to describe the temperature on a given day. I looked it up, and my big ol' honkin' dictionary agrees with him that "seasonable" means usual for a particular season. What's wrong with "seasonal"? As one long interested in etymology, I find it makes a lot more sense. The "al" ending makes it "like the season", which is a lot better than adding "able" which makes it "capable of being seasoned." (Think "reasonable")
Another rule I don't like is the "I am well" answer one is supposed to give when asked how she is. It seems to me that it is just as likely that I describe myself with a predicate adjective "I am good" as it is that I describe the verb "am" with an adverb. "I am well" sounds poncey, "I am good" sounds descriptive, at least to me.
I know. There's no sense arguing. Somebody decided these things were "correct", at least for this century. (Remember, double, triple, and quadruple negatives were permissable in Shakespeare's time, the thought being that piling them up added emphasis. Now we claim they cancel each other out, like numbers in a math equation.)
Language does not make sense, and English is as bad as, maybe worse than, any other. A mishmash of Latin, Celtic, and a dozen long-lost languages, it has been added to from other languages, twisted by centuries of use, and transformed by idioms and idiots. The rules, therefore, are arbitrary and often silly.
I can be arbitrary, and I'm often silly. So let me rule the grammar world, and I'll tell you all how to speak correctly--my way.

But I Don't Want to Edit Anymore

I always edit my work many times before I show it to anyone else, knowing myself too well to assume I did it right the first time. Then I send it off and VOILA! someone wants to publish it. Yay!
Then come the edits.
As I read the editor's comments, I think, "Yeah, she's right. I should develop that character more," and later, "Wow. It's true, I left that chapter hanging." Farther on I think, "I really do need to clarify that plot point. She got me there."
What all this means, of course, is work: fixing, fixing, fixing, and then reading for continuity and then more fixing and more reading.
Sometimes (just for a little while) I think, "Why doesn't she get this?" Then I remind myself that this person reads for a living. If she doesn't get my meaning, what are the chances my readers will? A good editor (like the one I currently have) makes a book better, and for that any author should be--indeed, has to be--grateful.
Even when it means more work.

Logic? No Such Thing

Think about it (due to subject matter, I won't add "logically" to that command).
If there were such a thing as logic, then we would all have to agree on stuff. And we don't. Therefore, logic cannot exist, of if it does, it is outside human capacity.
I think that a particular political philosophy makes sense. You, having an equally adequate brain, come to a different conclusion and support opposing candidates and platforms.
I read a book and like it a lot. You read the same book and find all sorts of problems with it.
You believe that the world was created by aliens from the next galaxy over. I have problems accepting that aliens would want to create something as chaotic as this.
Yup, the above items are all quite subjective. But if logic exists, why can we not delve into them and find the truth? Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am." If that proves my existence, then my thinking has to be right. But if my thinking doesn't agree with yours, does that mean you don't exist?
Wow. Logically, I must be Will Smith and the rest of you are those creepy beings that keep chasing him around in I AM LEGEND.

The Girl with....Oh, You Know

I finished THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. I know, it's been a while since I promised to publish my thoughts, but at last, here they are.
It was good. However, the fact that it has taken me this long to finish the book is a clue to the fact that it was not compelling for me, at least not until the very end. It could have been a lot shorter, with fewer characters introduced who meant nothing to the book. I got tired of reading the minute details of someone's day.
I wonder how the author got away with never letting his readers actually meet the secondary bad guys. We were told they were bad, and they did evil things, but I wanted to see them for myself. I suppose the smart people would say that Larsen was hinting at the detachment modern society creates between people, but my editor would have told him, "Show, don't tell."
That said, the two main characters were interesting and the story was satisfying in the end, although I saw the big surprise coming a mile away.
Verdict: a good read, but I can't say I get what all the hoopla is about.

Networking Works

Networking works, but you never know when or how it will. Last night I spoke at a library. After my talk, an audience member told me that she'd visited my website due to pre-talk posters she'd seen. She noticed that I do writing workshops. Would I be willing to do one there?
Of course, I said I would.
She went right to the librarian and made her request. The librarian approached me and set up a tentative time for the workshop.
The library had also asked a local bookstore to handle book sales. After the talk, the bookseller asked if I would do a pre-Christmas event at her store.
Of course, I said I would.
I was also able to tell the audience about a craft show I would be attending in the area where I will demonstrate Tudor clothing (and sell books, of course).
One event: three branches, each different but each likely to help both sales and the all-important name recognition that authors need.