Laurel Garver's Blog, page 29

The secret to using criticism constructively

photo credit: morguefile.comPutting ourselves out there to be evaluated by others--whether it's for critique partners or blog readers or agents and editors or the reading public--will involve risk every time. We may get all negative feedback, all positive or a mixed bag. Any of these scenarios has the power to eviscerate our productivity, though.

In The War of Art, Steven Pressfield offers this wisdom for keeping forward movement and using criticism well:

The professional loves her work. S...

Draft happy: Three tricks for silencing your internal editor

Shushing my Internal Editor (IE) is always a tricky task for me. I don't have the luxury of shutting off this side of my brain for months at a time, because I need dear, old IE for my day job. I have, however, come up with a few tricks to keep her quiet when I'm drafting.

Highlighting Photo credit: xandert from morguefile.comSay you're happily drafting and suddenly get a brilliant idea that's going to make the whole story freaking awesome, BUT you'll need fix an entire earlier plotline to make...

Draft happy: Three tricks for silencing you internal editor

Shushing my Internal Editor (IE) is always a tricky task for me. I don't have the luxury of shutting off this side of my brain for months at a time, because I need dear, old IE for my day job. I have, however, come up with a few tricks to keep her quiet when I'm drafting.

Highlighting Photo credit: xandert from morguefile.comSay you're happily drafting and suddenly get a brilliant idea that's going to make the whole story freaking awesome, BUT you'll need fix an entire earlier plotline to make...

Three tips to avoid subplot sputter-out

A recent library haul was eye-opening. Two of the four books had amazing voice, but the plots fizzled, in part because of what I'd call "subplot sputter-out." I've seen this ailment in contemporary YA more than other genres, and it got me pondering why that might be.

In analyzing the problematic plots, I found it helpful to contrast with a book that did succeed where the others failed. Because book three of the library haul was a winner: Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonne...

Digging deeper to build a setting that matters

I love my critique group. They're gifted and enthusiastic and most of all, thoughtful. They've given me the courage to take big risks in my writing, but they also won't settle for less than the best from me.

The manuscript I've been plugging away at diligently seemed to me to hit a bump in the "break into act 2" --that moment when the protagonist moves out of the known setting and into the unknown. When my group told me this scene wasn't really grabbing them, I had to agree. It wasn't grabbing...

Five ways to find the story you HAVE to write

What's the difference between a story you poke away at aimlessly when the fancy strikes, and one that dogs you when you're going about your business, haunts your dreams and waking life alike?

The obvious answer would be passion. The stories one is passionate about may be easier to write (or harder), and they have an amazing way of grabbing readers and pulling them deep into your story world.

The funny thing is, stories that tap into our passions don't tend to just fall in our laps. At least, no...

Staying on track...and a bit of Potter fun

Dear Blog,
It's not you, it's me. I've been seeing other loves. Specifically a manuscript I started in 2008 and feared I'd never finish. I've written two and a half chapters since I got back from vacation July first. 
I know. I can't believe it either. But I have fans now, Blog, and they want to read novels from me, not merely shop talk and writing tips.
There, there, Blog. I know my writing tips have fans too. And I promise we'll work together to create a book just for them. But not this month. ...

One reason you should never ignore setting

While copy editing at work, I came across a quote by Gertrude Stein (1874-1946) that hits on something important about the intersection of setting and character.
After all anybody is as theirland and air is. Anybodyis as the sky is low or high,the air heavy or cleanand anybody is as thereis wind or no wind there.It is that which makes themand the arts they makeand the work they doand the way they eatand the way they drinkand the way they learnand everything.

--Gertrude Stein,“An American and Fr...

I'm back!

Oxford, where we spent our first jet-lagged day.We returned from our UK trip yesterday evening and soldiered on valiantly to stay awake until 8 p.m. (1 a.m. UK time). I brought back a head cold with me (thanks so much, germy London Underground), along with a handful of souvenirs, many photos and a head full of great memories of our experiences.

It will take me some time to unpack it all--the laundry, the photos and memories especially. In fact, I took so many photos, I used up the last of my a...

Too many adverbs and clichés in your writing? I've got just the fix for you.

Hi Friends! I am still in the UK, so I've asked the multi-talented Jessica Bell to swing by and talk about her latest writing resource book. I think it's so wonderfully helpful I wrote the endorsement for back cover! Onto our guest post...
by Jessica Bell

Writers constantly have rules thrown at them left, right, and center. Show, don’t tell! Stop using so many dialogue tags! More sensory detail! More tension! Speed up the pace! Yada yada yada ... it can become overwhelming, yes? I used to feel...