Jennifer R. Hubbard's Blog, page 115

It's that time of year again

Before I start the serious business of this post, I refer you to one of my favorite posts of the week from hooton  , chronicling the misadventures of a tortoise who is even more of a drama queen than my cat.

And now, with a sigh, I turn to my annual observance of Banned Books Week, which this year runs September 25-October 2. I'm sighing because I wish this week would become obsolete, that there would be no need for us to raise awareness and object to censorship, because people would stop tryin...

More thoughts on forcing vs. pushing through

On my last post, I asked: "What's the difference between forcing something that isn't there, and pushing for something that is there but is just difficult to get to?"

Your answers gave me some insight!

tracy_d74   pointed out the difference in author and character motivation: "I ask myself, what would this character want or what would they do ..." And I thought, Of course. If the author is intruding, trying to plant something in a top-down way instead of letting it rise organically from the char...

Forcing vs. trying really hard

Last time here on the blog, I said, "... when I force it, the writing is crap."

That is true. Such writing can be lusterless and shallow, having that phoned-in feeling.

But it's also true that when I push myself, my writing often breaks through to another level. Case in point: the toughest part of responding to my editor's revision suggestions on The Secret Year was the work I did on the ending. Almost everything else that I revised, I saw pretty clearly where I wanted to go, and then it was ju...

Quickly or slowly, we'll get there

Sometimes I see blog posts by people who have just written (or are about to write) an entire book in a month, or a week, or some other amount of time I consider amazingly fast. I cheer for them, but sometimes I also sigh with a sort of longing.

And I say "a sort of" longing because even though part of me would like to write a novel that quickly, most of me doesn't even want to. Which is good, because that generally isn't the way I work.

I write every day. Sometimes it's one sentence. Sometimes ...

Skip the boring parts

Writing is such a convoluted process that I spend half the time reminding myself of things I already know. That's one reason I started this blog: to keep this knowledge fresh, to run through this stuff until I know it cold--if I ever do.

Anyway, the brilliant insight I had this weekend was: Skip the boring parts.

And yes, I have had that brilliant insight before. Approximately 45,179 times. But somehow I found myself forcing myself to write a transitional scene (characters going from one impor...

Speaking

I started a long, rambling post before this one, but I think I'm better off just linking to a few more eloquent posts:

Laurie Halse Anderson defending a book (SPEAK) that should need no defense, since it is a book about empowering the survivors of abuse.

Myra McEntire's thoughts on the controversy, including a religious perspective.

Saundra Mitchell with a wrenching example of why censorship may be harmful to kids. (Not protective, as censors often claim.)

Sarah Ockler on the challenging of...

Around the internets, and welcome to my sandbox

If you ebook: Over at Tiffany Trent's blog is the announcement of the release of BREAKING WAVES: An Anthology for Gulf Coast Relief. For $4.99--100% of which goes to oil spill relief--you can explore writing from the first, previously unpublished piece by Ursula K. LeGuin, to the closing poem by friend o' this blog (and friend o' me) Kelly Fineman.

Also in the Generous Minds line: Tenner Extraordinaire Karen Healey is doing a fundraiser for New Zealand earthquake relief.

Brian Kell wrote a fab...

Critique: good, bad, and ugly

Phoebe Kitanidis has a great post up at the Geek Goddesses blog: "The Jerk in Your Critique Group." The twist? She claims to have been that jerk.

One thing I especially like about her post is that it explores the rival impulses we often have in seeking critique: getting approval vs. getting constructive criticism. In the former case, we'll submit a manuscript that's already polished--perhaps has already been workshopped more than once--in the hope of getting praise. Often, we won't get much cr...

The Book Launch Survival Guide

Quick note: Anna Staniszewski ( annastan  ) has been running a series of writers giving advice to their younger selves, and I think I've linked to it a couple of times. I was honored when she invited me to participate, and my letter is up here. I talked a lot about the need for patience!

My main topic today is something I hope will prove helpful, or at least give you a laugh:

The Book Launch Survival Guide

Congratulations--your book is coming out! This guide provides handy tips based on my own exp...

Taking stock

I've just returned from a week of doing nothing much besides hiking and enjoying the company of my husband (that most patient of men who, when we're at home, has to share me with a day job, a computer, and several dozen imaginary characters). I had no access to email, blogs, Twitter, or my computer files. I turned on my cell phone for five minutes a day to check for messages. In fact, for two days I was in an area with no cellular reception at all.

Such times are good for taking stock of how ...