Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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Writing Questions for Josh
Josh wrote: "So I keep circling back to...can I still write? Intellectually I know I can. But...can I really?"This refrain has been rolling through my mind for months. It's crippling.
I will state that there are objective metrics for critiquing work, but at the end of the day if everyone loves what I do it might make me question whether what I'm doing is correct. Think of feedback in normalizing terms, there are the fanatical few who ADORE everything and those who HATE, but if like baseball you're batting average is pretty good--then be happy.
Blaine wrote: "Pender wrote: "Blaine wrote: "When I was doing my first (and last) teacher's internship, I was shown a report that started with "He hot from distuingished John" Now... you guys guess what the fir..."
This is funny :).
Your story actually reminded me of the book
Everything is Illuminated where an Ukranian man writes in English based on words he finds in the dictionary. Hilarious at times, although there are also sad and heartbreaking parts as well.
Vivian wrote: "I will state that there are objective metrics for critiquing work, but at the end of the day if everyone loves what I do it might make me question whether what I'm doing is correct. Think of feedba..."There are some objective measures that should be taken when critiquing a book, yes. But for me objective aspects deal with the more technical aspect of the book, grammar, misspelling, plot consistency, fact checking (for historical and contemporary especially), and such.
IMHO, the main function of publishers should be to screen books that don't pass these objective tests. Of course, in reality, it isn't the case nowadays.
Na wrote: "Vivian wrote: "I will state that there are objective metrics for critiquing work"You made me curious there. What do you mean ? What would they be ? :)"
Na, as Cleon stated in a subsequent comment there are non-subjective elements to story craft; I would add in quality of characterization, setting or world building and pacing.
I apologize if my comment seemed combative to yours it was unintentional and I have a tendency to speak bluntly at times.
Mod
I've got that same problem. I've been debating why I really dislike reading het sex scenes in detail and I just don't know other than yes, it makes me uncomfortable. And I agree, I think it is mostly due to the degree of descriptions as well as word choice. Your spoiler is one of those words that turns me off.
But M/M in detail? Yep. I'll read it. For the most part I prefer romance, erotic romance, and very rarely plain erotica, and that is so rare it's not even funny. I'm currently reading The Administration Series by Manna Francis, which always seems to be on the edge of erotic romance, but always tips back into plain erotica by the end of each story. That's the only thing I'm reading/have read, that I can think of which counts toward erotica.
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Oh my gosh, YES! Movies are disappointing not only because they mainly focus on the M/F relationship, but there's only ever M/F kissing or sex on screen. This is probably one of the many reasons I haven't been to the movie theater in an entire year. Though I am looking forward to seeing The Hobbit when that comes out. Hah. What does that say about me and movies? lol.
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Well like I said having a son, the movies I'm watching are different. All I know is I go..."
I'm not a big fan of the original princess movies. Never was a girl to dress in pink and expect prince charming to pick me up. But there are a few Disney movies I like just for the music, or the general plot. Lion King, Beauty and the Beast are two of them. Toy Story and some of the newer ones geared more toward boys are just that much better, even without the singing.
I have yet to watch Spirited Away, but I'm thinking I should borrow it sometime. It seems to be a very popular movie, around here anyway.
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When I was young I saw the animated Robin Hood and for a long time thought Robin really was just an animated fox. It wasn't until my early teen years that I realized the truth of the whole thing. I do sometimes wish someone had told me the other version while I was watching Disney.
The first version of Beauty and the Beast i saw was the one with John Savage as the Beast. I liked it, but when I went to rewatch it again 20+ years later, I discovered just how horrible it was. Never mind the fact that John Savage was one of the bad guys from the TV show Dark Angel. The idea of him singing to a girl and constantly asking her only one question: do you love me? terrified me. lol. It's a wonder that movie didn't scar me as a child.
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This refrain has been rolling through my mind for months. It's crippling."
Not even really published yet, and yeah, I've been going through this since the beginning of the summer. It sucks. But even knowing it's a common thing for all writers to go through, doesn't seem to help.
Jordan wrote: "When I was young I saw the animated Robin Hood and for a long time thought Robin really was just an animated fox. It wasn't until my early teen years that I realized the truth of the whole thing. I do sometimes wish someone had told me the other version while I was watching Disney. "*snort* You'd think someone would have said something!
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This refrain has been rolling through my mind for months. It's crippling..."
That's the difference between brain and gut. You can know something intellectually but it doesn't always make a difference if you don't feel the truth of it.
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I had a visceral hatred for Lion King when it cam..."
I love that version. It really is magical.
Josh wrote: "Jordan wrote: "K.Z. wrote: "Josh wrote: "So I keep circling back to...can I still write? Intellectually I know I can. But...can I really?"This refrain has been rolling through my mind for months...."
Writers can't not write. Right? Your refrain sounds like that little demon who sits on the shoulder opposite the angel. I think writers all have that fear of being no good, but your stuff is beyond good. It touches me. I laugh and cry along with your characters. It's one thing to plot out a story, but to convey deep emotion on the page is a gift. Don't let the demon cripple you. :)
Mod
Jordan wrote: "But even knowing it's a common thing for all writers to go through, doesn't seem to help."For me, it doesn't and it does. It doesn't stop the feelings from happening, but it does remind me to keep going and have a little faith in myself, because this kind of doubt is not unique to me. Really, that's all you can do: Just keep writing. Don't compare yourself to anyone--even yourself. Just be true to your characters and keep true to your own vision. No one else can write like you.
It's a daily pep-talk.
The most important part, I've found, is to just write. It's a lot easier to worry about whether you can write or not when you don't actually have your fingers moving across the keyboard. I guess that's true about anything.
I just watched a part of a documentary about Pixar the other day. The studio was floored by the success of "Toy Story" and had no idea how to repeat the performance. Still, "A Bug's Life" turned out (I think) GREAT. And then "Toy Story 2" was set to come out straight to home video--and was bad enough that the studio told Disney it couldn't deliver. Disney called B.S. and told them they couldn't back out, and that the film would be released in theaters. Pixar basically scrapped most of that movie and started over again--on a severe time limit. And it was a huge success. (I liked it even better than the first.)
It was reaffirming to hear that story. The creative process is not a linear one. It's really all over the place, and no two projects are the same. I don't think you can really recreate success; you really just start at ground zero all over again. There's this mountain to climb and you don't know how you climbed the last one, and somehow it's even more daunting this time because you remember having climbed the other one but still don't quite know how you managed it. But here it is, and up you go!
Lou wrote: "And then, there's Harper Lee, who wrote an instant classic and nothing else. I envy her though, because if you write something like To Kill A Mockingbird, you don't need write anything else ever."You know, I was thinking the same thing, except for Salinger. (Although, I see now that he published short stories and novellas besides The Catcher in the Rye. I guess for Harper Lee, Mockingbird really was just it. Wow!)
When I was younger, the thrill, adrenalin of accomplishment/achievement kept me focused and on point. Now, for whatever reason, my focused concentration is different and not as reliable. I've had to find new motivations, tools, habits to keep me on path.
It's nice now...worth the effort. I feel more comfortable in myself. Bon Courage, you'll get there!
Speaking of documentaries, there is a fantastic look at Disney's comeback in the 1980's with the infusion of Broadway talent in "Waking Sleeping Beauty". Very interesting.
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Yeah, you'd think. Right? But no. no one said anything to me. It came as a great shock when I found out. *slaps palm on forehead*
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Josh, how about a little bit of both? A question and a challenge.
I know we've talked on this thread before about the value of publishing with a real publisher before going the self-pub route, but more and more, I'm feeling like not doing it. If/when I ever get something publishable that is. Both Noble and Silver aren't helping, even though I know good publishers are out there. Nightmares like those can definitely do a lot of damage.
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For me, it doesn't and it does. It doesn't stop the feelings from happening, but it does r..."
Thanks for that awesome pep talk Christine! I needed that.
And yes, you're absolutely right, you don't have time to second guess yourself when your fingers are flying over the keyboard. But when they're not... that's when that little devil on your shoulder starts poking and prodding the non-creative side of your brain. I DO need to get writing so I can stop thinking about it.
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I spent my week tagging old songs from my mix tapes from when I was a teenager and as I did so, I sometimes would read the bios of the singers or the groups, and I was amazed at how many of them only had one major hit song. I guess I just expected them to have a lot of hits, if they'd had one, you know?
And then there were other songs where I was surprised to learn who the singer was, because they happened to be one of my favorites, but I somehow never knew they did this other song I also loved.
Oddness. I know.
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I've had..."
A few years ago when I was still writing fanfic regularly, I was also taking Tae Kwon Do classes. Those are fantastic for getting me motivated. I'd go to class, then find a sub shop for dinner and write over a sandwich until they closed. But then I got a full time job, and it was like having to choose between writing and TKD classes in my off time. Having to be a people person 8 hours a day, 5-6 days a week, when I'm not naturally a people person, makes me want to hibernate with the bears when I get off work, so I left TKD. I miss it horribly, but I was wasting my money by not going to classes.
Now that I have so much vacation stacked up, I'm thinking of going back to TKD, just for the month. Not for stress relief for the job, but just to jump start my writing again. I need to do something about my writing because I can't live with not writing. You know?
Anyway, there is a craptastic book that's yelling at me to finish it... actually, it's the two cops that have just been held up at gunpoint that want me to get on with it. Maybe I should. :-)
Jordan wrote: "Now that I have so much vacation stacked up, I'm thinking of going back to TKD, just for the month..."TKD sounds fun and just the thing for you. I've always wanted to try a Martial Arts. It's tough to make space for everything though. Best wishes for your writing Jordan!!!
Lou wrote: "Beauty and the Beast for me will always be the 1941 French version, which I saw as a teenager. And I didn't even know at the time that the director, Jean Cocteau, and his leading man, Jean Marais were lovers. ..."I saw that version in my twenties at an old movie theatre. I've seen it several times since. It's an incredible movie.
Mod
Yes, that's the film that I mentioned that was the first version of Beauty and the Beast my daughters saw. They haven't watched it in years and years but still have some vivid memories of some of the visuals. I once wrote a poem referencing it...
Karen wrote: "Pender wrote: "Lou wrote: "Beauty and the Beast for me will always be the 1941 French version, which I saw as a teenager. And I didn't even know at the time that the director, Jean Cocteau, and his..."My father took me to this when I was maybe 8yo? I still remember scenes from it. Has any one read Beauty by Robin McKinley? I enjoyed it and have recommended it to the few tween girls I've been around. They've all loved it too. =D
Films/Plays are fun things to share with friends, but also across generations. Great shared experiences and histories. =D
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TKD sounds fun and just the thing for you. I've always wanted to try a Martia..."
I too enjoy your stories about TKD, Jordan. :) It sounds so relaxing and I can well imagine how inspirational can a thing like that be to a writer. A few years ago I used to take BodyCombat classes (Les Mills) before I got too busy working all the time. I absolutely loved all that kicking and hitting! What a great way to release stress after a hard day at work... :)
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But wouldn't you WANT to write something else?
I guess it's possible that some writers have only one story in them, but Lee wrote before Mocking Bird and she apparently tried to write after as well. So while I can't imagine anything more gratifying then writing an American classic practically right out of the gate, I wonder if she was completely satisfied with the way things worked out.
Did she continue to write for her own amusement? I wonder.
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For me, it doesn't and it does. It doesn't stop the feelings from happening, but it does r..."
Very true.
Josh wrote: "You have my sympathy, Missy. Piracy is rampant, unfortunately. In some cases it's genuine ignorance, sometimes it's cheapness, but in most cases it's anti-social behavior from slobs who've never created anything in their lives so can't identify with your outrage. These are weirdos who live on line and spend all their time socializing with other weirdos who regard ripping off artists as some kind of sacred duty."This reply is to a post from August 2010. Rather than start asking my own questions, thought I'd read back through all of the old pages and see if they've already been answered! (Some of them have--and also, I'm finding answers to questions I didn't know I had till other people asked them. Ha!)
Re: piracy, I have a friend who's a futurist and Libertarian who believes that all intellectual work should be freely distributed and available to everyone. I believe in free-conomics to a certain extent (hey--some people do really good at giving their stuff away for free and making money off of donations and swag...and I think that's swell), but I get into hot debates with him about this. I mean, this is the man who is a computer tech and complains everyone and their second cousin believes he should fix their crud for free, because they can't understand that this is his career and his time is valuable. Please--save me! What does that mean for me as an artist? That my time is NOT valuable?
I can understand--to a certain point--his argument: that, like it or not, if it can be put into digital form, it's just so easy to mass-distribute it without cost that it should just...belong to everyone. OK, I didn't exactly explain that very well. But then, it's a pretty piss-poor line of reasoning. I told him I might as well give up writing. He says that artists in the future will make money on their performance of their work--a performance, of course, being unique. But once someone records the performance and makes that widely available...I mean, what is left to sell?
The thing that cools me down a little about piracy is the fact that, with physical books, people loan and resell their books all the time. These are "lost sales" for the author, but this behavior is not frowned upon. In fact, hey, it means more readers and more potential future sales. With ebooks, there is no reselling used books and really almost no loaning--which I think is, I don't know, sad. I've had to physically loan my Kindle to a friend to loan the books inside (Kindle loans were enabled, but the loaning turned into a nightmare--another story).
Anyway, I can run myself in circles thinking and talking about piracy and intellectual property rights. There's really no easy answer to any of it (like, if you put up protections against piracy and hacking that are too strong, you'll be making it tough for the person who BOUGHT it to use it--like PC games that use the Steam client, argh!). But gosh DARN, my friend gets my riled up with his line of argument and by implying that my time is basically worthless.
One thing is for sure: We're living in a fast-changing world, and I don't think anyone's value as a creator or worker is assured for the long run. Honestly, sometimes I think it's smart that I'm placing more focus on cultivating my writing craft, because my day job is nursing...and how long until medical science is so advanced, healthcare providers are basically obsolete? (I write science fiction--I read and think about these things all the time.)
OK! I'll stop writing now--I promise! See, no
Mod
The key is to pick publishers that are both established and have a reputation for quality products.
Established is not as important as a reputation for quality -- because publishers are springing up everywhere and some of them are (from what we see) doing it right (Riptide, Entangled, etc.) and some of them are clearly doing it wrong (Noble, Silver, etc.)
The proof is in the pudding, as they say, so the main thing to look for is quality work -- which pretty much gets down to the editing. The content editing and the copy and line editing. Plenty of epubs have figured out that investing in beautiful cover art pays off, but you can't judge a book by its cover.
Boy, I am full of cliches this a.m.
Oddly enough the publishers that turn out the best work seem to be the ones with the most reputable business practices. There is a definite correlation, though I don't know why.
Jordan wrote: "Thanks for that awesome pep talk Christine! I needed that. "Yay! Thank you. It was certainly therapeutic to write. ^_^;;
For me, writing 1k words a day helps--even if I think they're completely horrible. (Later, my crit partner assures me they're not; we really can be our own worst critics.)
Josh wrote: "Did she continue to write for her own amusement? I wonder."I wonder this for a lot of authors!
Do you ever write for your own amusement, with no goal for publishing? (Pardon me if you've recently answered this already.)
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I wonder this for a lot of authors!
Do you ever write for your own amusement, with no goal for publishing? (Pardon me if y..."
Oh yes. I have lots of things that are just for my amusement. Things I consider too morbid or kinky or just too private. The SO is under orders to burn that stuff if I die first. Of course, chances are good I'll kill him one of these days, so I'll probably be stuck burning it myself.
Josh - I think if a company is built by people who focus on quality, they'll put the same care and attention towards everything (website, customer service, a good newsletter...). I'm very impressed with Entangled. And i live to tell the tale how I ignored early warning signs about Noble.
Josh wrote: "Christine wrote: "Josh wrote: "Did she continue to write for her own amusement? I wonder."I wonder this for a lot of authors!
Do you ever write for your own amusement, with no goal for publishin..."
Which reminds me of an interview I once saw with a rather elderly couple who were asked if they had ever considered divorce. The answer was divorce no, but murder, yes :)
Mod
Ouch. What I will say about that is that I've made bad publishing deals that ended up doing me good. And perhaps that will be the case for you as well, Aleks.
This is not to excuse the publisher, just to reassure that you can make mistakes and still have a very successful writing career.
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I wonder this for a lot of authors!
Do you ever write for your own amusement, with no goal ..."
:-D
Josh - Well, yesterday I hired a lawyer (commonly known as Passive Guy, running the Passive Voice Blog) to punch Noble's CEO, Jean Gombart, in my name. :) Considering what I now know, I wouldn't publish with any other publisher but Riptide. (Carina and Samhain might be in the running for het stuff, should I ever get to write that bisexual, female-centered romance.) It's basically that or self-publishing for me at this stage.
Josh wrote: "Of course, chances are good I'll kill him one of these days, so I'll probably be stuck burning it myself."TRAGEDY!
All of that great literature--gone!!
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TRAGEDY!
All of that great literature--gone!!"
:-D Probably not so much of the great literature.
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Considering what I now know, I wouldn't ..."
Frankly, I think a few successful lawsuits would rein in some of the most flagrant violations in this genre. What most of these publishers are counting on is the fact that the vast vast majority of authors cannot afford to sue.
Aleksandr wrote: "And i live to tell the tale how I ignored early warning signs about Noble."Sadness. I have a friend who is published with Noble. :(
A good resource for authors wondering about publishers is http://hipiers.com/publishing.html
Piers Anthony keeps an updated list there of the "scoop" on electronic publishers. Authors can send anonymous feedback on their experience with publishers (whether good, bad, or indifferent). Really, it is an invaluable resource--regularly updated, anonymous, balanced (Anthony reports what he hears, but also exercises good judgment and does some of his own investigating, too). The page is a gem. :)
I hope you punch Noble a good one, Aleks.
I have a question that's more of a Goodreads question than anything else so hope its okay to post here.I've published a book in both e-version and print and it has done extremely well in that it has received dozens of terrific reviews and won lots of recognition in many ways like awards, blog articles, representing NZ literature at Frankfurt Book Fair etc. So it is a worthy book. But it still isn't listed on a single Goodreads Listopia list. How do I swing this? I believe authors are not allowed to nominate their own books for lists. Is this correct?
My book Ripple would fit into the Metaphysical Fiction list, Literary Fiction, Fantasy, and many others but nobody has listed her there.
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I wonder those things too. I just can't NOT write. Even when things don't seem to be going well, I'm always thinking of some new story or other, if not taking notes.
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That makes perfect sense to me, about the correlation. And well, everything you said makes sense...
Now I need to find some pudding. You mentioned it and I'm hungry. lol.
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Yay! Thank you. It was certainly therapeutic to write. ^_^;;
For me, writing 1k words a day helps--even if I think they..."
At least 500 words a day would be good. I can write that easily in 15 minutes if I have my sand timer going.
btw, sand timers are great for getting stuff like writing done when you're crunched for time. And good, upbeat music too, just make sure you can't sing to it or you'll get distracted. lol.
Yesterday I banged out 4,500 words! Today, 3K! Let's see if I can keep this up. I've got 8K to write by Friday. So we're getting there. Woot.
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
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Now... you guys guess what the first sentence sho..."
Nice try, Pender :) but no...
This student wasn't very good in English, and had literally translated from Dutch (writing the report in Dutch first).
So... He hot from distinguished John, should have been, his (first)name is John.
The big mistakes he made was looking up hot in the dictionary, and then translating the Noun instead of the verb (because in Dutch 'heet' means both 'is called' (verb) and 'hot' (noun))
The other big mistake is 'distinguished', and again, because he chose the wrong translation. In Dutch both distinguished and firstname are 'voornaam' (even if a different syllable is emphasised when speaking)
The rest is a matter of using a Dutch syntax in English and are a result of his below average translating skills.
I never had to read the whole report. She just showed me that one example.
Although I did find one myself. One student had written a report on Harry Potter, and made it painfully obvious she'd read it in Dutch instead of English, because she used the Dutch translation of the name Hermione (ouch! and busted! even if her English wasn't too bad.)