Throw Out the Bones

Authors hear two bits of advice quite often:

1) Read widely--as in, multiple genres, not just that of your own writing.

2) Read in your genre. A lot. Everything you can get your hands on.

So which is it? I know, the answer is obvious. It's both. But when you hear these bits of advice they never seem to be paired together. More often than not, authors are told one or the other in blog posts or writing books, or simply comments by other authors. Yet, they must go hand-in-hand.

If you don't read your own genre, you won't know your competition well enough to at least keep up with them. You must keep up with current conventions as well as the history of story and style of your genre.

At the same time, if you limit yourself to reading only that genre, you may find yourself simply rewriting what's already out there (likely in overabundance). Reading outside your genre opens you up to new ideas and makes sure your writing doesn't get stale.

This translates over to finding critique partners, but it's not quite as evenly balanced on the critique side. Seeking critters outside your genre gives you fresh insight. But, here's the issue I've found--if they don't read my genre at all, they can't give me solid advice. Maybe they can help me straighten out an awkward sentence, or find typos, or let me know overall if they like what I'm writing.

But if they don't have a clue about common fantasy or horror elements, they will try to "correct" where there is no correction needed. I'm not saying their critique isn't useful, but as genre writers we must be knowledgeable about our domain, so that we know what advice to follow and what to ignore.

This goes for age labels as well. If someone has never read a single YA or teen novel, and you write YA, then I guarantee that critter will point things out to you from a solely adult-fiction-writer perspective. Again, not saying don't seek their critique, but be selective about what advice you follow.

A friend of mine once said to me after critiquing Finding Angel, "Keep the fish and throw out the bones." Great advice--but you have to be able to tell the difference first.

The "Me" Factor

I've written about 25,000 words of a novel that I started several months ago. The project has been very stop and go, as other things need tending, like art projects and short stories, and pretty much life in general. One of the things that has stopped my progress on this particular work is what might be called writer's block. I say "might" because I know it's not.

Early on in the writing of this novel, I was sending chapters to a crit partner of mine. Shawna has always been very honest with me about my writing, which is something I love about her. If a scene or whatever falls flat, she tells me. If my wording is wonky, she tells me. If I'm putting too much in or leaving too much out, she tells me. At one point, I had sent her a chapter and she told me it just wasn't working.

"Not powerful enough. It's missing something."

After some thought and a few emails back and forth, she finally figured out what was missing.

"You," she said. "Everything that makes your writing yours is what's missing."

I'd been focused on trying to write a story I thought would sell to a particular publisher that would be opening for submissions soon. I wanted very much to be taken by them, and I found myself holding back because this story has the potential to turn rather dark. I was trying to not let it because I didn't think the publisher would go for it.

And the story suffered.

When I went back and wrote as "me" it all started coming together.

A similar experience just happened this week. A local sci-fi/fantasy/horror convention is coming up, and they are taking submissions for designs for the official con t-shirt. I decided to give it a shot. The problem, again, came about when I tried figuring out what *they* would want. Everything I sketched was awful. I crumpled up page after page.

And then it hit me--do something I would like. Don't worry about them. If my design is meant to win, it will. If not, I've done the best I could, rather than a bad attempt at what they're looking for. Immediately, the design came together.

I have no idea yet if either of these projects will be selected, but I am satisfied to be putting my all into them. It turns tedious story-telling (or drawing) into a flow of creative energy when I let go of preconceptions and go with what is in my heart.

Do you ever find yourself stuck on a project because you get side-tracked by thinking more about the person on the receiving end?