H.B. Pattskyn's Blog, page 27

Martin Luther King Day...

Monday is Martin Luther King Day. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was a great civil liberties activist--this is something we all know. But a couple of years ago, when I was back at school to get my Library Technician certificate, I wrote an essay on Mrs. King, for my children's literature class.

Why?

Most Americans who have children have probably heard of the Newbery and Caldecott awards, but these aren't the only two awards out there for children's literature. So for my final paper in class, I decided to write about the lesser known awards--they may not get talked about as much but that doesn't make them any less important. The plan was simple: bring in a couple of books that had won each award that I touched on, and spend the bulk of my time discussing one award in particular--although I had no idea which one until I started doing some research. I was working in an elementary school library, so access to books wasn't an issue!

I had heard of the Coretta Scott King award; I'd just read We are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, by Kadir Nelson (who both wrote and illustrated the book). It's a children's picture book. I happened to cross the check-out desk one day and I was immediately taken in by the illustrations, so I set it aside to read when I had a minute (it was one of those days when I had lots of minutes, and really, not many people are going to grumble about a library tech reading a book!) I wasn't at all surprised when I saw that We Are the Ship was an award winner. But what was the Coretta Scott King award about, I wondered. Of course I knew Coretta King was the wife of Martin Luther King (I didn't do that miserably in history), but beyond that, I knew absolutely nothing about the lady.

I read a couple of the books we had in our library--children's books are a great resource when you happen to be surrounded by them, anyway (and had some really good ones).  I also did some research online. I discovered that not only was Mrs. King an activist for "racial" equality (remember why it is I dislike the word "race"--there is only one race, the Human Race, but the word "race" has been used for so long, by so many people that it is difficult to get away from, even when we want to). Anyway, not only was Mrs. King an advocate and activist for "racial" and cultural equality, but she was also an advocate and activist for gender equality, for women's rights. Remember, the world was a very different place in the 50's, 60's, and even in the 70's. Sometimes I think we forget how far we've come--which isn't to say that we're done, there is a long, long, long way ahead of is when it comes to equality.

Human equality. Because when you get right down to it, there IS only one race. The Human Race. That race includes people of different genders, gender identity, sexual orientation, cultural background, religious beliefs (or lack thereof), national original... but in the end, we are all People . As people, we have the same rights: to love and be loved, to be accepted for who we are, to feel safe, to have food and shelter. And we have the same responsibilities: to love and be loved, to respect one another for who we are, to provide a safe environment for one another, and to ensure that there will always be enough natural resources on this planet so that our neighbors and our neighbors' neighbors, and our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren will always have clean air, clean water, food and shelter.

Kind of a no-brainer, don't you think?
 




Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

My Review of Shira Anthony's Blue Notes

Published by Dreamspinner Press Blue Notes by Shira Anthony        














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Here are the rules:1.      I'm not out to eviscerate anybody in public (or private for that matter).2.      But my goal isn't mindless flattery either.3.      This exercise is really for me. I am picking apart other writers' work looking for the "ingredients of fiction"— (a-character/character development/POV, b-setting/world building, c-plot/subplots—which includes lots of good conflict—and d-good writing. I'm not adding in theme because it's just one of those things I'm fuzzy on.)  The idea is that if I can find them elsewhere, I will be better able to identify them (or their lacking) in my own work. 4.      Most importantly to you , the reader: there will be some spoilers . I will endeavor keep them to a minimum…but bearing in mind that I just don't do bittersweet, we all know going in that there's going to be a Happily Ever After. The point isn't the ending, it's how they get there. I don't want to spoil that for anybody, but just the same, you have been warned…

Let me begin by saying that one of the basic components of Blue Notes is something that some readers object to vehemently: Gay for you—or perhaps bi for you. Or just plain confused. I'm not one of those people. Why? Because life and love are damned confusing! 
Now, did I believe Jason accepting Jules into his bed (admittedly on the heels of a pretty rough breakup) with only minimal resistance quite as easily as it ultimately happened?  Maybe not 110% but what I did buy whole heartedly was Jason's reactions the next morning—and that got me past any little doubts that these two (and the author) knew just what they were doing.
Reading with a critical eye is a lot harder than reading for pleasure—and I admit that at a certain point, I stopped making notes, because I got so totally swept up in the story. (Note to Shira: there was, having nothing to do with you, it was just a formatting thing with the ebook, such a HUGE frickin' gap between the end of chapter 17 and the beginning of chapter 18 that I was scrolling like a mad-woman petrified that I'd reached the end, that it ended at the end of ch. 17.  Yikes, lady you've had me up past my bedtime tonight!)
All right, back to thinking like a critical reader  ;-)
Character/POVBlue Notes begins by with clearly marked alternating third person narration—but it's Jason's story we hear the most about (in fact, the bulk of the book is told from his perspective). There is a short bit of quick flipping back and forth between Jules's and Jason's perspectives as the author weaves together their first meeting—and the chemistry is instant.
Then for the rest of the first third of the novel we're in Jason's head almost exclusively. While I was momentarily annoyed (we'd been given glimpses into both men's cerebral processes for the first bit), I quickly realized that it was exactly the right choice. Jules was, for me imminently more interesting as a character than Jason, but the "mystery" of Jules would have been lost if we'd seen him through his own eyes. Watching him through the lens of Jason's perspective was ultimately much more satisfying. Within about thirty pages, I felt I knew Jason—or Jaz to friends—pretty well. He's not an especially complicated guy, even if he's discovering that maybe he bats for "the other team" after all. He works hard, he lives a good life, he's a little embarrassed by his own success, and trying desperately to get over his ex. There are a few surprises (a good thing) about him, but for me, it was Jules who stole my heart away. He is everything I like in  a character: sweet, vulnerable, tough… he's had it rough, but his heart is pure gold (but without being a Mary Sue, he's not perfect).
By about page sixty, POV begins to shift seamlessly back and forth between Jules and Jason; I don't know if that was by design or if it just "wrote itself" that way, but it worked, (and this is where my critic's hat will disagree with others' critics' hats) because by then Jules and Jason have begun to seriously "click"—even though Jason will only be in Europe another seven weeks and Jules knows he's setting himself up for heartache when Jason leaves. But take what happiness you can get while you can, right?
My fanfic readers who stumble across this will get it when I say that Jules reminded me of Kam—which is probably why he stole my heart away so utterly and completely. (Seriously guys, if you love Kam and Jack you'll really appreciate Blue Notes.)
All right. Back to business.
From a strictly technical standpoint, Jules and Jason come across as fully rounded human beings with thoughtful backstories. They did not simply hatch out from under a cabbage leaf; there is history, families, skeletons, the works. The chemistry between the men instant (but believable) and undeniable. It was palpable. It was beautiful. I love "love at first sight" when it works. It worked.
Secondary characters:
I love Jason's sister Rosie, even if she's a bit of the stereotype "sister" (in fact, someone in my own critique group said to me, of the family I'd created for one of my WIP something to the effect of "so which sister knows he's gay? The gay guy always has a sister who's his best friend!" And would you believe, I re-wrote it so that one of them was!) Rosie is, perhaps, a little too perfect, her timing is a little too good, and she's a touch too successful and too generous, but she is also quirky and funny and likable. I have mixed feelings about her role in the end (not gonna give too much away), but I am pretty sure that those are just personal feelings. (And somebody has to hit stubborn boys upside the head, right?)
Rosie and Jules's bandmates, Henri and David, also felt real to me; they were solid, they had backgrounds, we just didn't get to see much of their backstory because they were secondary characters.The "supporting cast" of extras was made up of well-constructed and properly used minor characters and stereotypes. No, really, good writers use stereotypes for a reason, so we all know them when we see them. Nobody has to work hard to picture the over worked, underappreciated social services employee. I really liked Sam and I hope we get to see him again someday.
Before I move on, let me say that I have an absolute pet peeve about "bad" dialogue. Seriously. I did not once cringe over something someone said in Blue Notes… let me rephrase. Of course I cringed when people said dumb things, but I never once groaned because of "bad" dialogue. Everybody sounded human, even the secondary and minor characters.  
Conflict/PlotThis is where I really would have liked to have seen more, at least in the first two thirds or so of the novel. Every time some external conflict came up, I thought ah-ha, this is it, the Big Hurdle. But each time the hurdle was jumped over with relative ease, and while as a reader I cheered that our heroes had gotten over another one of life's obstacles, the critic in me wanted more. All I could do was picture my own critique group telling me to ratchet up the tension, don't ease up, make it more than a beach read… and there were some places in Blue Notes where the hurdles could have been harder to overcome. There were also a few things that I would have liked to have seen rather than hearing about, particularly right after the business with Guy (not wanting to give too much away, just wanting to give a point of reference)
If some of the events in the middle had been drawn out, some of the hurdles harder to overcome, as a casual reader I would have been flying through the pages, anxious to see the boys back together. But as a critical reader, I kept wondering why the external conflicts seemed to get resolved relatively easily and with very little work.
Finally toward the end of Jason's stay in Paris, there was a major issue that did require a lot more work and all I can really say is that when I saw that huge gap of white at the end of chapter 17, I swore that that had better NOT be how it ended! (Rest assured, it isn't).
Where conflict existed (both in the beginning and toward the end) it was yummy! I was on the edge my seat, dodging phone calls, conveniently forgetting about household chores… I knew things would work out, but until they did, my stomach was in knots. Well done!


World Building and WritingI'm putting those two together, because I don't have a whole lot to say. Both the world building and writing were excellent.
Again, when I say "good writing", I mean more than the ability to cobble sentences together, I mean the ability to artfully bring together the right words, in the right way, to convey real meaning. Shira Anthony absolutely knows how to do that. Language and sentence structure are well used throughout. As for world building, all five senses were regularly engaged; I felt as if I could see, touch, smell, hear, feel places I've never been. (And part of that is good writing, knowing where to add details like the smell of grease, cigarette smoke and dish soap!)
Blue Notes is definitely a book that I'm glad I read and one that I would gladly recommend to friends. 
On Amazon and Good Reads I'm stuck with a five star system, so I'll end up giving Blue Notes four stars.
Working with more room on a 10 star system, I'd call Blue Notes at 8.5 stars. (Now, to put that into perspective, I can only think of maybe two or three books that I'd ever consider rating over 9 stars, because nobody but nobody is perfect). 
All right, I'm off to bed. I have a ton of work to do tomorrow... bloody migraine screwed up my day today, but I leave you with this... neither violin nor piano, but well... darned talented kid!



Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Reviewing Books to Become a Better Writer, Pt. 2

     

          Part Two

         So far I've covered...
Characters (who does what)Point of View See this artical if you're interested in a more lengthy discussion of POV
http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/2F55/pt_of_view.php Setting (because characters cannot exist in a vacuum)

That leaves:Plot (now that we know Who and Where, What are they going to do?)Conflict (makes life interesting) Theme

I'd like to add writing , the actual nuts and bolts of cobbling a sentence together, to my list, because nobody likes "word salad". (How to make word salad: Toss a bunch of nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and articles into a blender, hit frappe, and serve it up on plate with a side of ego...)

Now, my writing style is not your style is not that other guy's style. But style should never be used as an excuse for poor writing skills. We all remember third grade, right? (Or, if you've never diagrammed a sentence, you might want to learn how--not only is it guaranteed to prove endless hours of fun, but you'll learn something in the process). No, of course I didn't like sentence diagramming as a kid, but the point is that third grade English is where we learned the basic concepts of writing. It take it on faith that published authors are aware of those rules, and when we chose to break them it is indeed a choice.

But beyond the basics of good writing, there is something to be said for beautiful writing. (And yes, there are people who disagree with me on that point...but they can tell you about it on their blog. This is my blog and, so I'm going to do it "my way"....) One of the best examples of beautiful prose, in my humble opinion, is Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series. Bishop's writing flows effortless off the page. She conveys ideas and pictures with ease. She is also gifted at creating rich, complex characters. But more about characters in a moment...

It isn't an easy thing to catagorize and quantify "beautiful prose", it's just one of those things that you know when you see it--and you and I may see it differently. What we can do is is to look a the depth, complexity and sophistication of an author's words. Her sentences. Her paragraphs. (Or his, I'm not meaning to imply any gender bias, here.) One thing I'm not talking about is assaulting the reader with string after string of so-called ten and twenty dollar words. Plain language can be quite beautiful. It's all in the way you use it.

Good writers, like good lovers, know that there are more important things than huge size. Some readers--like some lovers--are intimated when things are a little too big and won't enjoy the experience one bit.

Erm.

Right.

Moving on.  ;-)



Plot

"In order to establish significance in narrative there will often be coincidence, parallel or contrasting episodes, repetitions of various sorts, including the repetition of challenges, crises, conciliations, episodes, symbols, motifs. The relationship of events in order to create significance is known as the plot."

(http://www.brocku.ca/english/jlye/criticalreading.php#fplot)


Wow. What a convoluted way to say that plot is what gets us from point A to point B to point C and so on. The plot is simply what happens in a story..."simply?" Well, okay, it's not really simple. Just as I found varying numbers of "elements of fiction", I also found varying numbers of "elements of a plot". Figures.

For me, it stacks up this way (and I'm speaking both as a reader and a writer here):

Set-up. While it's never a good idea to "front load" a story with a bunch of world-building and information at the very beginning, it is a good idea to "ground" the reader in the narrative. (And by the same token, we often read that it's important to "start with a hook" or "grab the reader with the firs sentences". This is absolutely true. Editors get literally dozens of unsolicited manuscripts daily, you need to wow them from word one. Readers can be pretty fickle, too.)  So... set-up... but don't forget that hook. (If writing is starting to sound like hard work, you're right, it is.)

Next, there needs to be some sort of conflict. Just as POV is part of character, conflict is part of plot. Conflict drives the story forward. Someone wants something. In order to get it, they must overcome an obstacle. Sometimes the obstacles are large, other times, they're small.

Conflict sometimes comes from within--we want something but stop ourselves from getting it because we think we can't have it, we don't want to upset someone else, we have baggage that sabotages us, etc. This can come out as angst. Personally, I like angst in my fiction--just not in real life!

The plot is resolved as the characters resolve their conflicts, whether that means sitting down and actually talking to each other, discovering that, oh, that conversation you heard where you thought I was cheating on you? No, I was just getting a quote on auto insurance! Or the conflict can be resolved by blowing up the alien spaceship moments before it destroys the earth.

Additionally, in a longer work, there should be an appropriate number of subplots (the number and complexity will be directly proportionate to the length of the work. I have a couple of fairly well developed subplots in my 89,000 word novel; there are only a few bare hints of subplot running through my 7000 word short story). I think of subplots as "the rest of the story". In real life, you don't just face one crisis at a time. No, you find out you're up for a promotion the same day you discover your spouse wants a divorce and your son just made National Honor Society (or conversely was arrested for smoking pot in the boy's loo) and just about the time you've finished half a bottle of wine because, seriously, you're a wee bit stressed, your best friend calls you to ask if she can crash on your sofa.... and on top of that, you still need to fix dinner, wash dishes, do laundry and oh yeah, hire an attorney to deal with that divorce that started out your day. Where's the second bottle of wine....?

Life happens all at once and it happens... well, at the speed of life. A good story is about characters that feel real, ergo, they have real lives.

The climax of the plot is when the characters come together to hash out their differences, discover they *can* be together (or die in the process of trying, like Romeo and Juliette)-- or  say screw it all and blow up the spaceship because they're sick of all the angsty crap and want to actually DO something for a change. (Hey, I'm allowed to poke fun at my own angsty characters).

In the final chapter/s of the story, there is some sort of wind-down, or "resolution".

So:
set-up (the who, what, where, and when)
complication (conflict)
climax (when it all comes to a head)
resolution (ideally, short and sweet)

Last but not least: Theme.

Theme is the thing that ties the whole thing together.

I was about half way through the rough draft of Heart's Home when I sussed out the theme: finding home (which is when it got its final title; up until then, I'd gone through several working titles).

Actually, homecoming is a theme I use a lot. I'll admit it; it's something that resonates with me. One of the sequels to Heart's Home, Daemon Heart, is more about honesty (or lack there of). I haven't exactly nailed it yet... like I said, theme is a hard one for me.



Now, back to reading Shira Anthony's Blue Notes, the first book up for "critical" review.  (And I've gotta say, it is REALLY hard not just tearing through it like a kid whose just discovered a gianormeous frigging chocolate Santa in her stocking on Yule morning. I want to rip into it and devour it... which should give you some inclination that it's a darned good book...or that I really like chocolate....)




Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

New Art

Later on this month (on January 17th), I'll be doing a guest blog, on Clare London'spage, here:  http://clarelondon.livejournal.com/374609.html
And I decided what I wanted to do was (yikes!) write a short story. I'm not going to give too much away now, but here's the picture I did to go along with it; the story is called Encantado. So is the drawing (the title got clipped off in the scan). 



Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Reviewing Books to Become a Better Writer

PART ONE

Dreamspinner is having this lovely sale and that means I simply HAD to go shopping!  I bought four books: Blue Notes , by Shira Anthony, Ghost on My Couch , by L.A. Gilbert, Dirty Kiss, by Rhys Ford (which has already gotten rave reviews elsewhere), and The Inventor's Companion , by Ariel Techna. Ariel's has been on my list since I noticed it durning the 12 Day of Christmas sale at DSP. Dirty Kiss... gheeze, it's just getting such amazing reviews... and it's been on my wishlist for a while too.  Blue Notes has been on my list since it came out... less than a week ago, but hey... Shira posted some excerpts on her blog, but really, she had me at "violinist".  ;-)  The last book was a total whim purchase; I was browsing through the supernatural books looking for something interesting. I'm totally unfamiliar with the author, but I love ghost stories!

(The sale is going on through the 2nd... you know, if you wanna buy a book....)


Anyway, buying four books at once reminded me that one of the things I've been meaning to do for a while was to give proper, thoughtful reviews of some of the books that I read. (There are a couple of other books on my eShelf that I'm planning to give this sort of thoughtful treatment of, too.)  Do please bear in mind, I'm no one special. What will follow in the area of reviews is truly just one woman's opinion... and I'm not starting today. I may start reading today... if I can decide which one to start with!

I will admit up front that my reasoning behind this venture is purely selfish (although I hope other people benefit, too). Mostly, however, my goal is to become a better reader. What's a better reader? For me, that's someone who reads a book more carefully, looking at story arc, character development, setting, theme... all that fancy stuff I get asked about when I submit something for review to my critique group! I figure if I can learn to recognize it in other people's work, I'll become a better writer myself. It also (hopefully) will make me a better critiquer (is that word?)

And it will force me to read more slowly and actually digest what I'm reading, rather than tearing through a book--which isn't all bad. Most of the time I read romance for fun. But I guess as a romance writer, I should step back and examine my craft a bit more seriously, huh?

Darn it. I knew this writing thing would turn into work eventually.

I decided to start by going back to basics and reacquainting myself with what makes a story a story.
And would you believe that the first thing I found were inconsistencies?  Okay, I get it that there are inconsistencies in Kabbalistic correspondences. I get it that there are inconsistencies in the order of the Tarot. I get it that there are inconsistencies when it comes to planetary magic(k).

But here, too?  Oy. Pass me a glass of moscato and make it big one!

(really, there's a point...just watch...)

Okay. So I kept digging until I found a list of Six Elements (actually several lists that do agree with one another) that included all of the things I remember from my days listening to ivy covered professors in ivy covered halls. 

SettingPlotCharactersConflictPoint of ViewTheme
I'm going to rearrange those a little, though. See, I pretty much always start out with characters when I write, and when I read, its the characters I want to be able to connect with. Erm. With whom I wish to connect. Let's not have any dangling participles  ;-)

So...
Characters (gotta have a Who)Point of View (because this is related to character)Setting (Who needs a Where)Plot (now that we know Who and Where, What are they going to do?)Conflict (makes life interesting)Theme (that over arching THING Stewart always asks us about in a critique session)
I'll admit that of the six, I have the hardest time with theme. Sometimes I can nail it down, other times... not so much. I have an even harder time finding it in other people's work.

But let's start at the top: Characters.

Characters are simply the people who inhabit the story. In most fiction (at least the kind we're talking about here), characters need to be "real people". They must be well rounded, multi-dimensional (rather than cardboard cutouts or caricatures). They need flaws and foibles (Mary-Sues need not apply). They need to be human, even if they're aliens, elves, robots, or fungi. Readers must be able to connect to the characters; not every character will resonate with every reader, but there has to be something there that majority of average readers can latch onto. If there isn't, it had better be intentional.

The exception may be in the realm of the fairy tale, especially children's fairy tales. The wicked stepmother can simply be wicked, she doesn't have to have a soft spot for warty toads. Likewise the charming prince is always charming and quite perfect. Charming princes never leave their dirty socks in the middle of the room and always use a coaster.

Most stories have a protagonist--or Good Guy--and an antagonist--or Bad Guy. The shorter the story, the fewer Good Guys and Bad Guys there will be. (Event in longer works, however, readers don't like to be overwhelmed by hordes of characters... introduce them slowly.... s-l-o-l-w-y.....) And remember, your Good Guys will probably leave their dirty socks in inconvenient places and your Bad Guys may want to consider using a coaster, just so they're not all bad. Just like in real life.

There isn't always an antagonist in romance, sometimes there are just people who make the protagonists life difficult--not out of any sense of malice, boyfriend stealing, home wrecking or the lot. I have a neighbor who installed bloody football stadium lights on his back porch (okay, maybe not quite, but seriously, these things are frickin' bright). He didn't do it to be mean or nasty, but it does make my life uncomfortable when I want to enjoy a glass of wine out by the fire pit and watch the stars at night.

Delving into personal preferences here, I don't want to see the antagonist's POV for one second. Not one word of it. I will skim through it to get back to what I care about: The Heroes. I have skipped whole chunks of books because I just did not care with the Bad Guy was doing or why. If it's that important, the writer can find some way of showing it to me through the Hero's eyes.

But speaking of Bad Guys, they have to be well rounded too. Unless you're reading/writing a fairy tale, villains must be believable. That doesn't mean the should start spontaneously rescuing a puppies in the middle of the book, but perhaps it turns out the Bad Guy has been such a prick all along because he's terrified of the Good Guy; maybe the Bad Guy recognizes what the Good Guy is capable of, even if the Good Guy doesn't see it (yet) himself. (That example taken from my own book). I knew that from page one. Readers don't get it until near the very end.

Every major or important character MUST have a backstory.
The reader should see very, very, very little of that backstory.
The author must know ever detail of it.

Sucks to be an author.  ;-)

Now, I will admit that sometimes (often), I start writing without knowing the full history of my characters. I allow them to introduce themselves to me over time... and then when I go back and re-write, I correct and fill in details. Other times, characters spring fully formed into my consciousness like Athene jumping out of Zues's head. Either way, part of the polishing (editing) process is deciding how much backstory to spell out, how much to hint at, and how much simply colors the characters' actions.

As a reader, I want to feel as if these characters have led full and interesting lives before I met them. I want to do the "getting to know you" dance throughout the story. I want to imagine what their lives will be like after I close the cover on the final page. I don't want to hear about their skinned knee or broken nose in the fourth grade unless it is somehow relevant to the story I'm reading.

Now, all of that blathering aside, there is a time and place for flat, or stereotypical characters. They're not main characters. They're not even secondary characters. Stereotypical characters are the people we all recognize: the punk kid, the smarmy salesman, the kind lady next door... of course even more fun will be had when those stereotypes are turned on their ear. Maybe the sweet lady next door is lacing the lemonade with arsenic and its the punk kid (who's really an all A student) and the smarmy salesman to the rescue.

Everybody has types of characters that they like and dislike; in learning to be a better reader, I'm going to try to step out of myself a little. Just because I don't like it doesn't make it bad. Just because I love it does not make it bad. I doubt that anyone is capable of total objectivity, but there are things that are simply good and bad writing. Such as character development.

It is important to every story, long or short, that the primary characters (the protagonists) undergo some sort of change between the beginning and the end of the story. For the most part, Change should be gradual, believable, subtle, and come as the result of the characters' response to plot elements and conflict (the Who reacts to the What and change accordingly).  It is a fact of life that we are all changing and growing. I'm not who I was ten years ago. Neither are you. (There are cases in a story when a character might truly be stagnent, but that has to be a conscious choice on the part of the writer; he'd darned well better be going it on purpose and for a reason).

I found a great worksheet for character development here:
http://www.the-writers-craft.com/support-files/character.pdf

This is the parent site:
http://www.the-writers-craft.com/creative-writing-worksheets.html

I don't necessarily love everything about it, but there are some really good questions like "what would this character want to most be remembered for (at the end of the story)?  Questions like that force you to get into the heads of your characters (whether you're a reader or a writer). I like that.

Point of View
I'm going to go ahead and lump POV (point of view) in with character, since stories are written from the character's/s' point of view.

POV comes in three (main) forms.

First person:  I. We.
Second person: You.
Third person: He. She. They.

I've had the displeasure of reading (a paragraph at most) of a few really bad "erotica" (read: "porn") stories written in the second person. My advice: don't go there. The only place you should ever find second person is in a "choose your own adventure" book.

I have mixed feelings about First Person. If it's done well...and I mean really, really, really well, I love it. Otherwise... meh.

But that's just me.  I've written in the First Person--but only because the central character was so bloody overwhelming that he wouldn't let anyone else's ego in!

There are two versions of Third Person (well, okay, I read one site with several more listed, but let's keep things simple). Originally, a very, very, very long time ago, I was taught to write in Third Person Omnicient--basically, in the Voice of God. That's fallen out of favor. Now, most writing is done in limited Third Person. We get a peek into one head and one head only--sometimes for the entire novel. One of the things I love about romance, however, is that we usually get to see into the heads of both (or more) of the lovers. I admit it: I'm a "head hopper". Romance allows the freedom to do this, at least selectively.

I'm not going to talk overly much about limited or "close" Third Person--I know others who are much more qualified to discuss it than I...and in fact, I'm taking his class, starting in February. Suffice it to say that when done correctly "close" or limited third person is almost the same as first person. The writer puts you so far into one character's head that they're practically narrating the story.

Personally, that is my favorite POV to both write and to read. Much like First Person, you can't always trust the narrator to be telling you the truth. Narrators lie. They slant things to their perspective.

Just like real people.

I suppose while on the subject of POV, I should make a comment about "tense".

99% -- no more than 99% -- of everything I've ever read has been in the past tense. "He said, he went, she asked, she made reservations..."  Once in a while an author feels the need to write in the present tense. "He says, he goes, she asks, she makes reservations".  Sometimes it works. Most of the time, it doesn't. It worked really well for me in a fanfiction piece I did, written in First Person POV. Then again, it was fanfiction. (Actually, no, if I had it to do over, I wouldn't change the POV or the tense).

Last up for today:
Setting.

I don't have much to say about setting. Why? Because I'm going to refer you here:

Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions By Patricia C. Wrede

I have never completed the whole list of questions, but it is a valuable, valuable exercise to at least start them when you start a new project. Patricia Wrede's questions force you to take a seriously long, hard look at the world you're creating. Just getting through half the list will give you a solidly credible world (assuming you actually take your answers and incorporate them into your work.)

What I look for when I'm reading is a world that is consistent within itself, a place that follows its own rules. World building should be subtle. It should take its time. Things shouldn't jump out of left field. We should also never read: "Well, as you know Bob, here on earth the sky is blue...."  Bob can see that for himself. The reader should be allowed to, too.

Just like there shouldn't be huge info-dumps on character history, no one wants to read huge info dumps on the world's history, either, even if it's an Alternate Earth, Pern, Gallifrey, or Magrathea.

Good books are well paced... but that's dipping into the realm of plot and I think I've blathered on enough for one day.... Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Happy 2012

Happy 2012 !!





First, I want to again thank EVERYONE who made the release of Heart's Home a rocking success last month! Congratulations to my 2011 winners, Megan, Debbie and J.W. who got copies of The Ossuary and other Stories, and Lynn, Kitsa, Eva and Kait who nabbed autographed copies of Heart's Home. I can't say it enough: this book would not be here without my readers.
January's Dates
(so far...)
These are posted on the sidebar, too (and will stay there all month long), but if you're like me, you don't always read the sidebars!  Oops, did I just admit that aloud??  Seriously, check back for any changes. I work pretty hard to keep this site as up to date as humanly possible.

I'm hoping to add a couple of things as the month progresses, but I don't have anything set in stone yet. So here's what we've got so far...


January 1 & 2
Visit the Dreamspinner Press Website for 25% off everything in the store. This is an AWESOME opportunity to pick up a copy of Heart's Home, get a new book (or three) or read that book that's been on your Amazon wish list for the last six months... I know that's what I'm going to be doing!
(in case you have trouble with the link, here's the url:)
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/
If you want to keep up to date on all of Dreamspinner's goings on, including notice up upcoming sales,c calls for submissions... awesome Free Reads... subscribe to the monthly newsletter.


January 17
my Birthday! ;-)


January 20-22
EPIC CONFUSION Troy Marriott, Troy, MI
I'll be in the dealer's room with my wonderful partner (I do mean that in a platonic way!) with my artwork and copies of Heart's Home... she'll have awesome jewelry and adorable dragons for sale. If you're in the area, come say hi!!
ConFusion is one of three local science fiction conventions that I've been doing since I was in my early 20's; I dropped out for a while (almost 15 years), but a few years ago, I started painting again, and that marked my return to the Science Fiction convention scene, too.  :D
Sci Fi cons are about more than grown adults running around in elf/Vulcan ears (one pointy ear fits all); there are concerts, costumes, book talks, writers and artists workshops... seriously, it is a good place to come and hang out, if only for a day. You never know who you're going to meet...
(No, really, I still SWEAR I saw Jason Carter at World Steam last year; he looked like he was having way too much for me to go up and confirm my suspicions--I was on my very best fangirl behavior.)
Click on the link or here's the URL for more Info:http://confusion.stilyagi.org/*  *  *

A little later on today, I'll be starting off the year properly (for me) by lighting a new Hearth candle for my home, thanking the Powers that Be for my successes in 2011--looking back on the not-so-successes of last year... not to judge, but just to observe and learn from. Those who don't learn from the past really are doomed to continue making the same mistakes... and I definitely learned a lot in 2011. Although I don't officially set my goals for the year until February, I already know what my writing goals are for the year... now I have to think about my art goals. AND how to accomplish them.

And look for a new day job. Something that I can do with a back that is more tender than it was 20 years ago. Sigh.

Of course I'll be working on the Ghost Book, getting those pictures into my editor (the ones I promised him yesterday)... Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

New Year's Eve Day...

What an odd title for a holiday  ;-)

This is a day when a lot people reflect on the year that's gone past...while they're getting ready to go out and paint the town!  Me, I won't be doing any town-painting. I'm working on getting caught up on the Ghost Hunting book, and then later on this evening, I will indulge in my personal New Year's Eve tradition and watch a few of my favorite Beauty and the Beast episodes. For the under 40 crowd, I'm not talking about the Disney movie. I'm talking about spending an evening in the Tunnels with Vincent and Catherine, who are the reason I started writhing fanfiction in the first place. (The formatting is *awful*, but if you want to check it out, here's the link:http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2256172/1/So_Cold_the_Night

One of these days I'm going to go in and tidy it up; it was the first thing I posted to fanfic.net, and I really didn't know what I was doing. It isn't actually the original version of the story, I added a few of the threads in later... it is, truly, crossover hell. I've caught some flack for that, but originally it was part of this gianormeous notebook of stories, so having Tenctonese characters *is* majorly important, not just the writer smoking a little bit of that wacky-tobaccy.   ;-)   I am still incredibly proud of that story and one of these days I'm going to get around to making it available in paperback copy, fully illustrated by yours truly. Can't legally sell it, but that doesn't mean I don't want to own it.  ;-)  And I'm getting back into black and white drawings, which lend themselves well to book illustration. And yes, even though it doesn't always show, I *can* do proper portraitrue. I just don't usually want to! 

What's that? Tenctonese? you ask.  Heh. I was a teenager in the 80's, remember? And not just any teenager, I was a geek. Erm. I still *am* a geek. In case you hadn't noticed.  (Just as point of note, loved the TV series, hated the movie.)

Yes, clearly, I am already in full Six of Cups mode (that's a tarot card, it deals with nostalgia).

 
This is the six of cups from my favorite deck... other than my own! 
This is the lovely Fenestra Tarot Deck.


But I believe I was looking back on this past year, not going back to the days of Alien Nation and 21 Jumpstreet...



This year was a real interesting one, and I do mean that in the sense of that Chinese curse/blessing, "may you live in interesting times".  Fifty one weeks ago, I was sitting with a group of women in a circle welcoming in the new calender year. Each year, we celebrate the change over of the calender by honoring Janus, who the month of January was named for, and Hestia (yes, all you mythology buffs, I know it should be Vesta, but, well... close enough! I've always resonated with Hestia under the Hestia).  Hestia is the Goddess of Hearth and Home, of Hospitality. "She who makes friends of strangers". This is one case in which the Roman Goddess (Vesta) is nearly identical to Her Greek Counterpart (Hestia).***

But I believe I was reflecting on the fact that a year ago, when I was sitting in a circle with some very special ladies. They are ALL still special, but two of them have decided that I'm no longer worth their time, not just as a teacher/priestess, but as a human being as well. Now, obviously, there's a LOT more to the story than that and I claim no special "innocence" in the situation. It takes two... or three... or maybe even four or five... to "tango".  And it did start with me: I made a decision that someone found unpleasant--however, it was the absolute right decision to make (and something that I found a cause for celebration, IMHO). I stand by that without regret. I would handle the aftermath differently if I had it to go back and do over (don't we all have those situations, though?) But seriously, if making the right decision ultimately cost me a couple of "friendships", I suppose it's fair to say that those friendships weren't very solid to begin with. And seriously, if anyone thought I would chose a friend of a couple of years over a friend of 20 years... yeah. There's a no-brainer for you. It's not just the quantity of time, but the quality of friendship, and the woman who went with me to look at wedding venues when I totally freaked out because the hall I was about to sign suddenly said "oops, we're not open on the day you want to get married" (after I'd been out TWICE and told them TWICE that the date was Oct. 31), trumps just about everyone else in my book! That's a friend.

In the ensuing months, as I've nursed my wounds (because regardless of it ultimately being my choice, losing someone whom I had regarded as a friend for nearly two years, the same someone who beta read Heart's Home for me and who is really responsible for helping me make it saleable, both sucked raw eggs and hurt like hell, because beta reading an 89k novel is also friendship...right?) But... after nursing my wounds, I've come to the conclusion that some people simply want more than I can give. (I or you, or that guy over there... it's not just me. We all have limits. I'm not sure that makes anybody a bad guy--in fact, I'm pretty sure it doesn't make anybody the bad guy).

You are entitled to your limits, folks. Don't ever let anyone ever tell you any different. (There's nothing wrong with stretching your limits, but it has to be something you want to do for YOU, not to please someone else.) My limits include the fact that I would rather be writing than cleaning my house. (Although I am SOOO excited, we bought one of those steam-mop things from Amazon and it shipped yesterday!!!!!  Yeah, you know you're getting old when a steam mop makes you that happy!)

I've suffered dings to the heart before this--some pretty big ones, too. But somehow, this year was different. Maybe it's because I'm older. Maybe it's because my priorities are shifting. Yikes. Maybe I'm just growing up. But I've become truly more guarded when it comes to giving my friendship. Not my acquaintanceship--I'm acquainted with a lot of people, many of whom I genuinely care for. But Sara Teasdale put it best when she said...



Four people knew the very me,
Four is enough, so let it be;


For the rest I make no chart,
There are no highroads to my heart;


The gates are locked, they will not stir
For any ardent traveler.


And on the whole, I think life good--
So waste no sympathy on me
Or any well-meant gallantry;


I have enough to do to muse
On memories I would not lose.

I've quoted that poem before.  It's not that there are only four people who know the very me, I don't put any limit on the number of people I love deeply--and many people find me a bit too open of a book--but the deepest part of my heart only holds room for people who won't try to change me into something I'm not, something I may not even want to be.

In the past, I have tried very hard to live up to other people's ideals (and that's nobody's fault but my own). Childhood baggage. Adolescent baggage. Yuck. What an ugly few years that was! The problem has been that that baggage stayed with me long after I left the acne and the see-saw hormones behind. Isn't it human nature to want people to like you? Of course it is. We all want to fit in. To be included. Who likes sitting on the outside looking in? But the truth is that not everyone is going to like me. Or you. Or that guy reading over your shoulder. Yeah, him. Tell him to go read my blog on his laptop.

Maybe it's a sad fact of life that you simply will not be loved and admired by everyone you meet...and maybe it's just a fact. From now on, I'm going to concentrate my efforts--my friendship--on the people who care for me as I am, who, after getting to know me, love as I am. And as for my acquaintances, hey, you can still count on me, too, because how else can we know if we're going to be friends if we don't take a chance, right? You'll know you've crossed the line into friend territory when I trust you enough to invite you into my home. I'm going to be more careful with who I trust--who I really trust--and above all more honest about who I am and what my limits are, for both our sakes.

Who I am has changed over the years. What happened last year forced me to admit that I hadn't caught up with my own self image--I wasn't seeing me for me, I was seeing me for who I was a long time ago. There's nothing wrong with that person--but she isn't me. I also don't think I'm the same person I was that day in September when the walls crashed in.  My priorities changed a lot this past year. I let go of some pretty damaging baggage--and letting it go also caused some damage of its own.

But I'm looking forward to what 2012 brings.

First, however, a look back....my favorite love song, from my favorite television show of all time... proof that I am a romantic sap at heart  ;-) 






........................................................................................

***And yes, my fanfic readers will notice something here. I was trying to come up with a name for that ship at about the same time I was getting the Janus and Hestia ritual written into a new copy of the BoS. Janus and Hestia sounded like as good of a name for a research vessle as any other. Janus is the Roman God of endings and beginnings; He can be honored at the beginning (or ending) of any cycle, and that story is, in a lot of ways (not all of which made it onto the page) about the ending of one thing and the beginning of another. Ooohhh bonus fries to those of my fanfic readers who actually read my blog. Have you noticed that John calls Jack "Jackie" a couple of times in the Ossuary? Now... who aboard the Welshman calls Jack that? All he wanted was his shot at being loved by our Captain. He got it. And moved on. How's that for beginnings and endings? ;-) And for those of you who feel utterly lost, here's a click through to my fanfic page... I'm talking about Forget Not Me, Janus and Hestia, The Bonny Welshman and a couple of brilliant stories written by other writers who graciously came to play in my playground. Here's the link: http://www.fanfiction.net/~helenpattskynHelen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Critique Groups: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

First things first: I'll be chatting today alongside a BUNCH of AWESOME Dreamspinner Press authors on the Coffeetime Romance (and More) group:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/karendevinkaren/

It is seriously worth your time to stop by and see what's going on. I think we're starting at noon and ending around 6 (Eastern Standard Time, or -5 GMT).

This will be my first time chatting via Yahoo group, so... wish me luck!  (I've tried to follow a few, but usually end up feeling lost. But surely a woman who can read a MARC record can suss it out!!)

All right...
Critique Groups, Part Two:
A week or so ago, I started writing about Critique Groups and some of the reasons a writer might want to belong to one.

I get different reactions when I tell other that I belong to a writers' group. Some people (talking fellow writers here) think it's great--but a few are surprised when I mention that I'm the only romance writer in the group (in fact, most of the folks in group I belong to tend to lean toward some flavor or dark speculative fiction). Yet other writers have admitted openly that they wouldn't be 100% comfortable with a critique group--and indeed, it does take a thick skin to have your work ripped apart and all the flaws pointed out. Even a year later, I'm still nervous when I submit something for critique, and this is after hearing fairly constant comment like "your writing is, as always smooth," "easy to read", "enjoyable".  In a way, hearing compliments makes it even more nerve racking, as I wonder if each new submission will live up to past "smooth, easy" reads.

Don't misunderstand, those nice things are always followed up with a laundry list of every flawed word, bad turn of phrase, plot hole, and logic problem. Yikes. And here I thought I'd written a masterpiece! (not really...)   But that's why I joined. I wanted the problems pointed out to me. I was frustrated by asking friends to critique my work and getting nothing more constructive than having my typos pointed out. That's great, but it didn't make my writing better.

Which bring me to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:

These are (to an extant) subjective words. Good and Bad are going to be determined primarily by what you want. Do you want your every literary flaw pointed out? Not everybody does. Some people are just looking for camaraderie, the company of their fellow wordsmiths. There is nothing wrong with that. Just be clear about it from the onset.

Back when I was running a coven (y'all got the memo I'm a witch, right?) one of the things I said to potential members in our first meeting was that not every coven is for every person. The same thing holds true for any kind of group, religious or secular. What works for me may not work for you. Or maybe it does, but you'd rather have a root canal than have to sit in the same room as me. Hey, there are just people I rub the wrong way. I don't mean to. But I'm only human, you know.

Even if you find a group that meets your needs, you still have got to consider the human factor. Do you like these people enough to want to see them as often as the group meets? Do you want to hang out with them for several hours? Do you want to network and possibly socialize with them from time to time? (Because you may well end up at the same conferences, writing classes and conventions).

You also have to look at what you have to offer in return. Are you willing to give an honest critique? Are you okay with saying "I really hated that and here's why..."?  (Okay, I'm usually a lot nicer than that). If you find a group where everybody writes in a different genre, are you willing to read stuff you wouldn't read ordinarily and analyze the writing?

Being in a critique group where you are getting honest feedback means letting go of your ego.


Take an honest inventory of yourself and decide what you're really looking for. Then figure out what you have to give in return. Look for a group with the same needs and wants.

Regardless of your goals, there are a few universal things that makes a group "good":

The honest desire to see each member learn and grow as a writer (even when it hurts) Even if you're joining a group for the company of other writers, rather than for critiques, per se, your fellow writers should still want to see you learn and grow.The honest desire to give and receive useful feedback.One of these days I'm going to talk about the art of receiving feedback... You should find yourself surrounded by people who will celebrate your successes with you and encourage you to get back up and dust yourself off again when you stumble.Respect. There should be respect for you, your writing, your views. Likewise, you must respect your fellow writers, their work, and their personal views. You may find yourself surrounded by people come for wildly different walks of life--you can learn a lot from them if everybody is respectful of one another.   The best group for you is going to be filled with people who are more or less on the same level as you are, as a writer. Now... I was nowhere NEAR the level of the crit group I joined when I joined it. I think I spoke once before about feeling totally intimidated. One guy has an MFA, another has a published novel, these other folks write and publish short stories... yikes!  I was terrified. But I decided to come back anyway, because I liked the kind of feedback they gave and hoped to be able to learn something--and I hoped I'd be able to contribute enough not to get the boot.   Along the same lines, you should be in a group where everyone has the same level of commitment. Commitment does not equal output, it just means that everyone has the same overall writing goals you do. If you're a hobby writer, a group of serious (i.e. desiring publication) writers is not going to be a "good" fit.  It is my personal opinion that it is very helpful to have at some common interests with at least a few of the members. You're already starting out strong because you all like to read (writers should be voracious readers). Having common ground helps establish trust and you're going to have to trust these people with your literary babies. You will never find a group of random strangers that love all the same thing you do. There are three or four members in my group who also go to science fiction conventions. One lady loves the same Steampunk band I do. I found out that another guy and I both really enjoy Steven Brust... he reads Robert Lynn Aspirin, too. Clearly this is a man with a wicked good sense of humor!  :D  On that note, it doesn't hurt in the least to stretch yourself. If the guy sitting next to you is talking about some great book he just read, check it out of the library. Invest in each other. Laughter. Being able to laugh together, with each other is the sign of a very healthy and functional group.
Which brings me to the Bad...

I don't have much experience in writers' groups, but I do have some experience with group dynamics.
Nobody is perfect. Everybody has flaws. We talk out of turn, get a little egocentric (imagine, writers who like to talk about themselves!!), and have strong opinions (authors with opinion? What's the world coming to??) And yes, we can be snarky. What we should never be is mean-spirited.

You should never feel like the people around you need to put you (or anyone else) down to make themselves feel better.There should be a minimum of jealousy. It's human nature to be mildly envious, to wish you'd done X or had Y, but there's a difference between that and the ol' green eyed monster. One makes you work harder to succeed, the other lends itself to sabotaging both yourself and others, it is an unhealthy expression of ego. Group politics should be kept to a bare minimum--nobody should be on a power trip.  We are not meeting to tell one person (or a select group of favorites) how great they are. Favoritism, one person always getting to submit (even when others want to), or one person getting undue recognition of any sort, is one sign of an unhealthy power dynamic. There is a difference between making concessions to help someone who needs to meet a deadline and ALWAYS reviewing so and so's piece because he's "teacher's pet". One (or more) people who never submit. Yes, work and homelife may get in the way of writing and we all go through dry spells, but if realistically everyone should submit something, even if it's just a few hundred words, once or twice a year. (And you may find yourself in a group with an actual rule in place over this. Whether you need that much sructure or not is up to you.)There should be a procedure for submitting material for critique, a procedure for giving and receiving a critique. These will vary from group to group and what they are doesn't matter. What matters is that they exist, that there is an established format for how meetings are run (and the group should stick to it).  If a procedure isn't working, is the group willing to address ways to change it? How are decisions handled? Group vote? One person dictatorship? (Voting good, dictatorship bad). Most members should show up to most meetings. We all have lives, but if nobody shows up, it's not going to be a very productive group. Unreasonable obligations. It is healthy and normal for someone to say "hey, we're having a party, y'all wanna come?"  o "I'm teaching a class, if you know anyone who might be interested, please pass the information on to them."  It is not healthy or normal for others to pressure you into attending social functions, conventions, take classes, pay for workshops that they are putting on/hosting. I hope you want to spend time with your fellow writers, but it should never, ever be an obligation; no one should be put down or ostracized for not being able to attend.
As for the Ugly... that happens when the Bad gets out of control. I've only belonged to one in-person writers' group, but I belonged to a few online groups that fell into the category of Ugly. These were groups where certain of my fellow writers (who were just as unpublished as I was) took a Holier than Thou attitude about our craft. In one particularly hurtful incident, I found myself being picked at long after a conversation had ended. Someone with an opposing point of view kept snarking at me in a series of little jibes, in totally unrelated posts. The moderator never stepped in to say "hey, play nice". I left.

I consider myself amazingly lucky to belong to the critique group I belong to now. I am surrounded by professionals I respect and people I genuinely like.

Whew. What a post. As always, feedback welcome...now, it's time for more coffee, brunch, and to get ready for my chat at Coffeetime! 

Happy weekend...and happy release day to Shira Anthony; Blue Notes came out today, and is going on my To Be Read list... not quite at the very top, but maybe second or third down from a couple of other things... seriously, violinists are sexy (and boys kissing are hot)!!Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Chatting today on Good Reads

The direct link for that is:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/747849-meet-h-b-pattskyn


And... although it's a little early for these things, I set some goals for myself for the year and did a tarot reading for myself on how to best accomplish them. (It was an awesome reading, by the way! For you cartomancers out there: end result, 10 of pentacles. Whoo-hoo!!  Which isn't to say the road is all sunshine and roses... well, it is sunshine, the Sun came up too, but, you know... it'll take work.)

I want to try and get four books out this year. One is already written, it just needs serious polishing. The others are all started and chugging along nicely. So that seems a realistic goal, and if I don't have goals, I won't know what to work on next and I'll flit from project to project like I did for the last few months.

Of course I have to finish the ghost book, it simply isn't an option.

And I'm leaving my current job; that isn't an option, either. My back is a total mess right now. I have applied to one other waitressing gig, just because it sounds like fun, but seriously, I don't think my body can do what it did 10 years ago. Sometimes, I'm learning, you just have to realize your limits and not be afraid to ask the Universe for what you need, and what I need isn't actually that outrageous: a part time job that allows me enough time to write, doesn't leave me to exhausted to write, and where I can make enough money to cover what I need to cover... about a thousand bucks a month. I'm not exactly asking for the Rockefeller estate, here  ;-) 

Okay, time to finish getting ready and the pack it on over to my sister in law's house. I'll be chatting from hers, as our family gathers for Christmas Eve.

~HelenHelen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author

Critique Groups... Part One

As you all know, I belong to a wonderful critique group. Well. I belong to a critique group that I happen to think is wonderful. I'm sure not everyone would agree with that assessment... in fact, I know of at least one person who left in a bit of a huff because apparently she found the group to be anything but wonderful (I never did find out exactly what the issue was). That, and a couple of conversations I've had with folks over the last...hmmm....when did I join? Six or seven months ago? Surely, it hasn't been that long...

At any rate, I've given some thought to what makes up a good critique group, especially after attending a recent holiday part hosted by one of my fellow writers, who happens to belong to two local writers' groups, one geared towards genre writers (the group I'm a part of) and the other geared toward literary writers. There are a couple of members who belong to both; I don't think I'll ever be one of them, just because there are only so many hours in a day...and I'm not sure the literary group is ready for hot guy on guy action, anyway.  ;-)

But... back to critique groups in general. What makes a good group? What makes a less than good group? Why join one in the first place?

Taking that in reverse order:

There are lots of reasons to join a writers' or critique group. My main reason--and the main reason I hear cited most often--is the desire for honest feedback on one's writing. See, Aunt Sally will always tell you how great it is--if I was willing to show Aunt Sally my writing. If she does like it, I don't know that I want to know, but mostly I don't want her knowing what I write...unless she Googles me...but my fictional Aunt Sally is 90 years old and still thinks 8-track players are newfangled devices. DVD player? Heck, she never even owned a beta max. I have little fear of her Googling anything. And before you think I'm making her up out of thin air, no, she looks an awful lot like my great aunt.

Getting constructive, honest feedback on your work is vital for a writer. It keeps me working hard to be better--constantly. There's no chance to fall back on the laurels of a single success if you belong to a critique group.

Being able to get the feedback of six or seven or eight writers whose opinions I both respect and value is, even if it's just on a chapter or two, is--for me--more valuable than getting the feedback of a single beta reader who has time to read an entire novel. Six or seven or eight pairs of eyes are simply better than one--even when half the room loves something and the other half hates the very same thing. I may be the only writer of my genre in the group, but good writing is good writing and bad writing is bad writing, and THAT transcends genre.

One also learns a lot listening to others' critiques of other members' work--and by critiquing other people's work. It is often far easier to pick out mistakes in someone else's work than my own. Not because I think I'm "that good", but because I know my story. My eyes gloss over the mistakes--I draw the lines between the plot threads automatically. Another reader might not. That's part of what I like about having a group of readers go over something. Having those other readers be people I respect means that when they throw out ideas (and oh do they ever), I'm going to at least listen. I may not use every idea...in THIS story... but I might use it later. Someone else will always think of something I never dreamed of...and quite often that something is good.

Another reason to seek out other writers is camaraderie. Indeed, for some, that is the main reason. Some souls want the company of those who understand. And, seriously, only other writers (or at least other creative types) are going to understand what it's like to be a writer. Your friends are going to wonder why you're in front of your laptop instead of out mini golfing with them and your spouse would like to know if maybe you can't clean the gutters THIS weekend, since last weekend, the Muses hit and you didn't emerge from your office (be it a real room or that corner of the kitchen table you horde as yours and yours alone) except to get another cup of coffee for TWO DAYS.

Other writers will understand what you mean when you say things like "my character just totally hijacked my story away from me!"

Other writers will understand when you say you just HAD to get those 7000 words out of your head before you could do anything else, or why you got up in the middle of the night to write that scene that struck at midnight.

Other writers will understand why that commitment to meet with other writers every other week is something you plan the rest of your week around.

I've also found great value in networking with other writers. Although I'm the only person in my group who writes in the m/m erotica genre (or any sort of romance for that matter), I don't get as much use out of it as some of the others, but if they hear of a possible place for me to submit my work, they certainly let me know. I return the favor. We want to see each other succeed.

Simply put, there is tremendous value in peer support.

And...
more later.

Quick note: I've started a Q&A group on Good Reads:
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/60272.Q_A_with_H_b_Pattskyn
because it is considered bad form--or at least a way to get yourself into trouble--to directly interact with reviews/readers...not that I always follow the rules. I figured this would be a "safe" way for people to ask questions, if they had them and for me to answer. (I figure if someone posts a question they do at least honestly expect me *to* answer).

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Just a reminder, I'm chatting tomorrow on Good Reads! Please come join me!

I'll be coming to you from my in-law's house, chatting live on the Dreamspinner Press Discussion Board (http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/45452.Dreamspinner_Press) from 1pm-6pm Eastern Standard Time (-5 GMT).  You have to sign onto the Dreamspinners Press group (and be a Good Reads member) to participate, but both are quick and painless!

I know for most of you Christmas Eve is a time for family get-togethers, horrible holiday sweaters, and Charles Dickens, but if you have a minute, I'd love it if you stopped by to keep me company! I'll be chatting about my book, future projects, writing, fanfiction … whatever y'all want to talk about.Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author