Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 237

What Is A Genre & Should You Try To Write In One?

"Genre" simply means a kind or type of writing.

Some folks have even criticized the whole concept of genre.

If you look the word up in Wikipedia, you'll see a questioning of the genre of the very article about genre:

"This article is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style."

Wikipedia supplies a list of genres and there's a much more extensive one here.

So, do writers sit down and think about all the genres and choose a particular one to create within?

Some do and some do it well. Still, some "genre writers" get stuck in the form and fill it with less than original content.

Many writers say they first meet or create their characters and that helps determine the genre. Yet, a book can begin to be written in one genre and end up turning itself into quite a different genre.

And, to include an edit of this post after it was written and published, one could explore mash-ups, where an idea from one genre gets recreated in a potentially jarring genre. Take a gander at Roz Morris' post on literary mash-ups!

Sometimes a writer finds a plot first but almost any specific plot can happen in a number of different genres.

Also, you don't have to look far for arguments against genre-writing by folks who try to compare it with "literary" writing–as if a book written in a particular genre automatically becomes non-literary…

You can also find arguments like:

"…even good genre…is by definition a constrained form of writing. There are conventions and these limit the material…If you are following conventions, then a significant percentage of the thinking and imagining has been taken out of the exercise. Lots of decisions are already made.  So it follows that genre tends to rely on a simpler reader psychology."

But the article that contains that quote goes on and extols good genre writing.

So the question of whether a writer should try to write in a particular genre could become completely moot.

What matters most is good writing, creative writing; even writing that pushes hard against genres and rules and conventions–steps up to the literary plate and belts one out of the authorial park :-)

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Tagged: authors, crisis, fiction, genre, literary, write, writer, writing

Write Your Way Out of The Bad Days…

We all have bad days.

Bad days in general and bad days for writing and days when we can't understand anything we read and days when the hope of publishing turns into the worst idea we've ever had…

This blog covers Reading, Writing, and Publishing and I'm still offering, "Write Your Way Out of The Bad Days…", as an option in all three pursuits.

Let's say you're an avid reader, it's what makes the rest of life bearable, but you hit one of those days when every book you have and even the new ones you trudge out to buy just seem like so many dead words on dead paper from dead trees.

Write Your Way Out of It…

No one has to see what you write. You can even tear it up after you're done. The thing is, though, that many people smarter than me have recommended writing as a pressure relief valve for all kinds of rotten states of mind.

I was once in a therapy session and my deeply-held bad feelings about my father were the point of focus. The counselor told me to write my father a letter and tell him everything that was wrong with him. Write it, put it in an envelope, seal the envelope, address it, put a stamp on it, and bring it to the next session. {What helped motivate me to accomplish this was that I was checked into a facility I couldn't leave with ease and the counselor was a former biker, built like the dark lord of an ominous army.}

I wrote, I enveloped, I addressed, I stamped. I showed up at the next session (it was a group) and the counselor took us out to the parking lot and told me to take out the letter. He put down one of the coffee cans we used as outdoor ashtrays, handed me his lighter, and told me to burn the letter.

This might sound like some gimmicky psycho-game but it worked. As the letter flamed away in that dirty coffee can, my hate for my father began to melt away. I can positively date my release from the oppression of blaming my father for what's wrong with me from the sight of the smoke of that letter…

Well, the reasons for a reader having a bad day don't have to be quite as dismal. Still, write a letter, write a note, write on the fogged-up window. Let the brain connections to your hand provide a conduit for the release of your murky feelings.

Write whatever you feel, write through the pain to personal resolutions for improvement, write like your life depends on it, write to your heart…

Just write.

You may not feel immediate relief. Sometimes this action is like a time-released medication. Just take the pill and trust in your deeper mind to spread the healing…

I think the writers reading this post have already done various wild things to get them over the hump of a bad writing day. I truly hope they relate their experiences in the Comments :-)

But, hey, you writers!  Ever thought about writing about why your writing is bad?

What about bad days in the push to publishing? I'm writing this post because I'm in the middle of one of those days…

I got my book's manuscript back from my editor a couple weeks ago and was surprised at how few corrections were needed. I met her face-to-face two days ago and it became a two-hour session of her defending my book against every bad thing I've had people say about it.

That got me on a high and certain highs can have within them the slippery slopes of ego-inflation…

Yesterday I received the corrections deemed necessary by a special Review Board. You'd have to actually read the manuscript for any explanation of why I submitted it to them to make sense.

This morning, as I went through my email, I linked out to an article about building an author platform (something quite important if a writer wants their book to have a fighting chance at being noticed amongst the 2,000-odd books that will be published the day their own work is released).

The high of ego-inflation from the talk with my editor combined with the vast importance of the necessary revisions from the Review Board as well as the weight from the sheer multiplicity of tasks necessary to prepare for publishing and they imploded. I slid right into a bad, funky, foul-smelling, wicked mood…

So, all that was left was to tell myself:

Write Your Way Out of It…

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Tagged: books, depression, publishing, reader, reading, self-publishing, write, writing

Getting Up Close And Personal…

Our last post had me interviewing Simone Benedict. I'm in the process of lining up a number of other writers, some published, some aspiring, and bringing them here to talk about the strange craft they pursue.

Today is me interviewing myself…

I'm a writer but I used to be a singer.

What motivates me in music is the very same mojo that writing gives me.

My soon-to-be-published book carries the same thumping heartache as the Blues, the same impetuous triumph as Jazz.

I was raised by two ministers, Mom and Dad, and my two older sisters also became ministers.

I tried for six decades to fit into our corporate-controlled world and failed miserably.

My book, Notes from An Alien, explores fundamentalistic religion and fundamentalistic corporatism. It also portrays possible solutions to both.

The whole struggle of my life is woven into the book. The whole song of my existence is sung by the book.

Yet, I'm just a writer who used to be a singer…

Maybe you'll understand my motto, "I'm a writer with roaring flames in my heart", if you hear my favorite singer.

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Tagged: blues, corporation, Diana Krall, jazz, music, religion, singer, writer

Author Interview ~ Simone Benedict

Ever lived in Kansas?

Ever wondered how to escape from Kansas?

Our interview is with an author who can answer yes to both those questions :-)

Without further ado, here's  Simone Benedict.

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Let's start with where you're from, how old you are, and is Simone Benedict your real name?

I was born and raised in Kansas near the exact center of the continental United States. Currently, I'm living in the same place. I'm in my forties. Simone Benedict is one of my pen names. As happens with some fiction writers, I was categorized into a certain type of writing under other names. The new pen name has helped me to expand my writing into other areas.

When did you begin writing and can you remember how it felt inside back then?

I first began to write stories down when I learned cursive writing. I was telling tale tales long before then. I don't remember feeling anything inside. It just seemed to be a part of who I was. A grade school teacher wrote on one of my papers, "You're a great story teller!" Inside, I felt proud that she was impressed.

Was there any certain date or time you remember when you began to either think of yourself as or call yourself a "writer"?

After I learned to read, I thought I could be a writer like the authors of the books. After being published, it felt good to walk into bookstores and find my work on the shelves. I felt like a writer at that point because my book was with other writers' books.

What are your hopes, or dreams, or goals for your writing?

At this stage in my life, I only hope to do my best. Like everyone, I would like to have one of my novels take off in an astonishing way. Yet, I think more than that I would feel a deep satisfaction if only one person was affected positively by my writing.

Have you had any "formal" training in the art of writing?

I didn't pursue an M.F.A. The degrees I did pursue required a great deal of focused non-fiction writing. I always enrolled in creative writing classes as electives, but they were not of help to me other than requiring me to write. If I could do it over, I would take more care in selecting writing classes that were taught by good writers by reviewing their work before I enrolled in the class.

What do you feel has taught you the most about "how to write"?

I believe there are two things that have taught me the most about how to write. Reading a lot of books is one. The other is my "hands on" and diverse life experiences. To most people it would seem my life has had no direction and I just hopped around like a vagabond. Of course I hopped around like that. I was busy gathering material. Over time I've worked and re-worked the material giving me the experience of how to write.

Who are your favorite writers and why are they favorites?

There are so many. My favorite authors include most of the well-known writers. Anais Nin's Journals affected me because of her beautiful and open style. St. Teresa of Avila's, The Interior Castle, also affected me because of her brilliant use of language (originally in Spanish) and imagery in describing that which can't be seen and is not fully understood by anyone. Another author who comes to mind as a favorite is Willa Cather. I've always admired her strength in character development.

Where and/or how do you get your ideas for your writing?

Most of my ideas begin over some situation I see in the real world. Through my writing I imagine other outcomes of the situation I see. Other times, a character comes to mind so I place him or her in small plots which gives me more ideas.

What is your normal revision or editing routine?

After writing, I re-read several times, and at least once aloud to make sure the words "sound" true. I then set it aside for up to a week if I can restrain myself from returning to it for that long. Then, I re-read for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. As I do this, I check for balance in paragraph length, chapter length, and making sure it "looks" right. After that, I place it in my done cabinet and move on to the next project.

Are you published?

I've been published. I don't know when I'll be published again because I haven't set any goals. It isn't something that's important to me at this point. Writing is.

Tell us about your blog: its purpose, how you go about deciding what to post, and what you want to do with it in the future?

My blog is silly and sometimes absurd. On occasion, I write posts about writing or my thoughts about a book. I just go by the seat of my pants when deciding what to post. I don't have a method. As I wrote in a past post, my hope is to eventually narrow the focus of my blog. I hope to stop the silliness and be more serious. I believe this will happen very soon.

Thanks, so much, Simone for taking the time for this interview! And, I hope you keep a little of that silliness in the blog :-)

I hope our readers will put a few questions for you in the comments!!

~~~

Folks, be sure to check out Simone's blog :-)

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Tagged: author, authors, crisis, fiction, Willa Cather, write, writer, writing

Reading? Writing? Publishing? ~ Results from Our Poll…

There's a poll in the sidebar and, for those reading this post on the book site, you can reach it by clicking here.

It's been there since the 2nd of January and, just like I wish more folks would comment on individual posts, I wish more folks would take the poll. It can be of great aid in deciding what our readership wants to see here. Multiple answers are accepted :-)

The results, so far, are:

Writing=41.2% ~ Reading and Publishing both=23.5% ~ Other=11.8%

There's a little link at the bottom of the form to view the results…

Thing is, there have only been 17 votes so far. If I go with the leading result for Writing, at this point in time, I would be ignoring that there's a sizable count for Other…

The average number of viewers of this blog are somewhere around 45/day.

Wonder what all those other people think? Did they stay around long enough to notice the link to the poll?

I could reason that the people who have voted so far are the ones who are reading the blog and take my cue from them on how to apportion the themes of my posts.

Still, with about four years experience in blogging, I know that there are always more people reading a blog than indicated by actions taken on the blog (polls or comments or links clicked). Of course, there are also always more visitors to a blog than there are people who read it.

This blog is personal to the extent that it fulfills my daily need to write. I fulfill my daily need to read by following the sites in our Blogroll. And, I'll be fulfilling my need to publish, again, by releasing my book in May…

This blog is social to the extent that I endeavor to create posts of value and interest to my readers…

Did you take the poll yet?

Do you feel a need to tell me more about what you'd like to see here than a poll can capture?

Are you the kind of person who is shy about leaving comments?

Is anyone still reading this post?? :-)

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Tagged: blog, opinion, Opinion poll, poll, publishing, readership, reading, writing

An Occasional Thing ~ Music for Writers :-)

Don't know how often I'll do this but, every so often, I'll add a music video post.

Give me some of your favorites in the comments–performer(s) and title, or just the performer(s), or the uTube address. We'll see if sharing some music can give us a little kick in the creativity :-)

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Tagged: Bob Marley, humanity, Music video, one love, playing for change, world, writers, YouTube

Revisiting, "Where Do Writers Find Their Ideas?" ~ My Tribute To One of My Commenters

The last post in this blog generated more comments than any yet in its short life.

One of them was so unique and so valuable that I'm taking the liberty of freeing it from its public presence in the comments to give it prominence in a more public presence in this post. {alliteration, anyone?}

The writer of the comment was, for many years, a teacher of English. He now is a blogger who reveals a rich and powerful command of the language through his poetry on Once written; a kind of testament in sonnets…

The only editing I've done is to separate the full comment into what I feel are thought-segments, add a couple commas, and change the ending of one word [may the gods of English teachers, past and present, forgive me...]. And, just as I speak in a radically different voice in this blog than I do in my books, this gentleman has a different way of writing comments than the way he composes poems ( though, I must say, there a bit of slight resemblance in the way he can put words together and have them take a mind on a stream-of-consciousness journey :-).

We've actually begun a sort of conversation in the comments on his blog :-)

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"There are so many levels to any given question that it seems to me to be somewhat simplistic to goad a writer into revealing where he got the material for his work, especially some particular work he has written. When it comes down to it, it certainly is evident that with many great writers, in fact some of the greatest writers of all time who were so great at what they did that the language underwent a massive change, revolution, evolution, even a transformation such that they are recognized as the "Father" of this or that stage of development of the language in which they wrote were not, at the same time, innovators when it came to content.

"Generally speaking, often it is acknowledged that with Chaucer came the swift acknowledgement from about the end of the 14th Century of the transition between the Anglo-Saxon, or "Old English" versions of the Germanic language we call English, to what became Middle English; we associate the same sort of transformation with the effects of the works of William Shakespeare.

"Chaucer is at times called the "Father of Middle English" while Shakespeare is credited more often than not with being the "Father of Modern English." Neither were original in the content of their work as both "borrowed" their plots and characters from earlier works and historians. What made their particular works of monumental importance was the evident ability that both of them had to recreate formerly known classical narrations from earlier times but in a manner that called attention to the crafting of the dialogue and narration that was in and of itself superior to the originals from which they "stole" their material.

"How're you going to keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paris?

"Once exposed to Chaucer (apparently, considering the almost instant positive reaction of the English to Canterbury Tales) there was no going back; once exposed to Shakespeare's peculiar expression using his own dialect of English, not to mention his minting of some 1,800 words that are still in use today, Shakespeare's dialect and vocabulary rapidly became the standard or model for what we refer to as "Modern English" beginning around 1550, especially as it coincided with the end of civil wars in England with the reigns of all the Tudors and most especially after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588, that secured ascendency of the English Kingdom among the super powers of the entire period of the Renaissance in Europe.

"At any rate, the idea of originality so far as content is concerned is beside the point with the greatest writers of all time, the likes of Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, Virgil, Homer, et cetera.

"These writers could get away with this because, clearly, they understood and comprehended their language in a manner that engaged their peoples in an unforgettable manner and in such a way that a kind of avalanche of change came to pass because they were in fact artists, not artisans; their respective experience in the observation of life and captured within the "tale" that each of them told, through sheer magnitude of intimate intercourse with their respective peoples and periods, matched by the advent of similar fortunes in the history of their homelands at the time of their writing, married the effect of greatness in their art, spent and given bent almost by accident because they did what they did at a time of change whose time had come.

"There is more to this, of course, than what I have cited here, but having said this, still your comments on the possibilities of original content as having everything and little to do with plagiarism are well grounded; originality in content rarely has to do with any work of art's success."

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Tagged: Anglo-Saxon, Canterbury Tales, English language, Geoffrey Chaucer, Middle English, William Shakespeare, writer, writing

Where Do Writers Find Their Ideas?

From that little bunny that pops out of the magician's hat?

From dragons who've run out of knights to fight?

From bookies who moonlight as creative content dispensers?

Ya think??

One of the most common sources claimed for the brilliant ideas writers sometimes display is the fabled Muse. I'll come back to that source in a minute…

Some writers steal their ideas.

I'm not talking about plagiarism. What they do is "borrow" plots, characters, or themes from books they've read. Then, they dress them in different clothes, do some creative plastic surgery, or otherwise mold them into more original guises.

Some people contend there are an extremely limited number of plots and character types available to humans and all writers are always dipping into that pool of dreams. This relates to the Muse and I'll bring it back up shortly…

There are writers who will tell you there is no magic or psychological mystery to how they come up with ideas for stories. These folks are in the minority and just might be unaware that they're attributing far to much power to their naturally-limited conscious mind…

Most of us don't go around all day, or sit at our desks all day, and remain aware of the vast territories of a resource we all share, the Collective Unconscious.

Apparently, we all have a rich storehouse of Archetypes, deep in a space in our minds, that holds idea-complexes that "drive" us to create stories; or, if we don't take care of our mental hygiene, drive us to sociopathic acts. Hence, many writers' conversations about the therapeutic value of their work…

The archetypes of the collective unconscious include powerful, basic ideas represented as mythic characters like: The Mother, The Virgin, The Hag, The Hero, The Child, The Lover, The Beast, and, of course, the Beloved Muse who seems to be destined to carry these ideas from their deep haunts up to the light of the writer's conscious mind…

All this psycho-mumble may or may not be true. But, the entire contents of a book that thrills us and helps us change our lives may or may not be true…

I'm betting on the bookie :-)

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Where do your bright ideas come from?

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Tagged: characters, Collective Unconscious, fiction, plot, spirit, stories, writer, writing

What Kind of Feedback Do Writers Need? What Helps Them Most?

Our last post had me offering to put your name and Bio and web link in a Special Listing in my forthcoming book.

All it takes is getting the free copy of Notes from An Alien and giving some feedback.

I need to quote part of C. M. Marcum's comment on that post:

"But we're such good friends now. Why spoil it?

No, seriously, I have run the gauntlet of writing sites and I have found the relationships to be dreadfully one-sided."

I think part of that one-sidedness is folks not knowing what writers really need when it comes to feedback. Though, I think C. M. knows exactly what kind of feedback to give, even if it's not appreciated :-)

People who give feedback on a WIP [work-in-progress] are sometimes called "beta readers".

I've even known writers who only let beta readers have their WIP if they follow a prepared outline of what questions to answer about the piece.

Personally, the very worst form of feedback is, "Great job!", and its many variants.

If they meant those words, fine, but what was "great" about it? And, if they didn't mean it and were thinking they "protected" my feelings, the faux-comment is actually an attack against honesty and fairness. "This sucks!", is much more welcome…

There's an interesting discussion about what writers want and need in feedback at the Absolute Write Water Cooler.

One of the most interesting comments was: "Beta readers should be used to critique story effectiveness."

Exactly! What effect does the writing have on you? What did it make you think? What did it make you feel? What was your response to various characters? Was the storyline understandable? Where did the piece disappoint you? Why did it disappoint you?

Another person in that forum thread said: "…'train' your beta readers to read with a pencil in hand. Have them mark any section, phrase or word that pops them out of the story, even if they have no idea why it did. Sometimes that's all you need to see a problem."

Now that is some excellent advice :-)

I'll end this post with some quotes about feedback and critiquing:

"A guest sees more in an hour than the host in a year."

~ Polish proverb

"Asking a working writer what he thinks about critics is like asking a lamppost how it feels about dogs."

~ Christopher Hampton

"Constant, indiscriminate approval devalues because it is so predictable."

~ Kit Reed

"Don't judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins."

~ American Indian saying

"It is easy – terribly easy – to shake a man's faith in himself. To take advantage of that, to break a man's spirit is devil's work."

~ George Bernard Shaw

"He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help."

~ Abraham Lincoln

"When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself."

~ Oscar Wilde

"Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee; rebuke a wise man and he will love thee."

~ The Bible

"To escape criticism – do nothing, say nothing, be nothing."

~ Elbert Hubbard

Please, leave your feedback and criticism in the comments :-)

[ The Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-]

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Tagged: criticism, critique, feedback, reader, review, reviewer, writer, writing

Want Your Name (or, alias) In My Book? How About A 2-Line Bio & Web Link??

"Start with a 500-year InterWorld War. Continue through ecological disaster and the decimation of populations. Follow the institution of a Worlds' government that helps bring a glimmer of hope. Discover the challenges and failures of unifying three very different Worlds. Explore what it takes to give birth to a lasting peace. This is what reading Notes from An Alien promises. And, this story could help Earth…"

That's the back-cover blurb for my book. In the last post, I talked a bit about final edits and getting the book ready for a May publication date.

But, ever since six months before I started writing the book, I've been seeking feedback. Once it was written in "clean draft" and sent off to my editor, I started offering the pre-publication copy to folks on the book's web site.

During all this time, I've been telling folks they could have their name (or, an alias) in a Special Listing at the back of the book and, if they gave me "significant" feedback, I'd give them a two-line Bio and the web link of their choice.

There are three and a half months left before publishing and, even though the editorial process revealed very few changes (and, none as far as plot or characters were concerned), I'm still eager for feedback.

I'd be happiest if you went to the book's site and filled out the form to get an email copy of the book. That way, I'll have your email address and can let you know about future publications and what's happening on our Forum.

The book site also has a widget so you can read the book online. And, if you want to download it now, here are two different file formats:

Word .doc

.pdf file

If you read it online or download it and want to get a Listing, just send your feedback to amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com

I've offered this opportunity here because, even though I've already held it out to over 300 people, only about ten have taken advantage of it. Curious………

By the way, to get the Bio and web link, "significant" feedback to me is more than "I couldn't get into it" but less than a full page. Personal recommendation blurbs for the back cover are always welcome :-)

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Tagged: alien, book, crisis, fiction, global, humanity, science fiction, space