Everybody's a Critic - And You Can Be One Too!

My writing production this weekend primarily consisted of one literary magazine review for Becky Tuch's excellent website, The Review Review. In this review, and in previous reviews like this one, I dare to declaim to established authors about their publications (publications in magazines, let me say, that I would kidnap the editor's small children to be published in) things such as "... ultimately lacking in lasting meaning" and "...it could have been so much more." (I said some nice things, too, but nice doesn't make the headlines.)

What, other than my usual self-destructive impulses, gives me the right to say such things?

Well, because I read those writers' stories and thought about them. And then I thought about why I thought about them the way I did.

We don't all enjoy all of the stories that are published every year. This was brought home particularly well to me in the salon Ron MacLean hosted at Grub Street about the Best American Short Stories: 2009 anthology. Before each week's discussion we individually rated the night's stories as "Loved It, Hated It, or Indifferent." I don't recall a single story that didn't have at least one check mark in both the Loved It and Hated It categories. Then we spent the rest of each salon having the participants articulate Why or Why Not they felt the way they did, and reacting to each other's opinions.

The best gift you can give a fellow writer, in a workshop or in a review, is constructive criticism. But do realize that no matter how insightful you are, it's only your one opinion, and other readers may beg to differ. Note the importance of the word "constructive" there -- what I find most helpful is the explication of what is, and what isn't, working, in the story. Don't just say, "that's great" -- what was great about it? Give an example. Worse, don't say "it didn't work for me." (A.K.A. "I thought it sucked.") Tell them specifically what didn't work for you, and why, and how that element could have worked for you.

Otherwise you're just being a dick.

Which means if I really only said the story was "... ultimately lacking in lasting meaning," I'd just be being a dick.

What I actually said was: "The wandering point of view of this story gives the reader a fascinating and believable long-lens view of the gym, but makes it difficult to focus on what is happening on the floor and in the locker rooms beyond the external events – events rich in aberrant behavior, but ultimately lacking in lasting meaning." I hope that helps explain why the story in question didn't one hundred percent work for me.

It's easier to do this with someone else's work than your own, but once you get in the habit, it helps you to bring it home when you need it.

So go forth and be a critic -- but only to help.

My Story Sucks, and Here's Why

Today I gave up on "Goth Lolita." For now, at least, I'm done with it -- another false start added to the compost heap, hopefully one day to fertilize something better. After coming to that conclusion, I spent the rest of tonight's writing revising a short-short that started as a class exercise. That's the story I'll be taking to my writing group this weekend.

If I wasn't blogging about my writing - both successes and, more frequently, failures - I'd probably say to myself something like, "that sucks," or the slightly more explanatory "when the story bores the author, it's time to move on to something else" and, well, move on to something else. But for the audience at home, let's take a closer look, shall we?

Here's a list of questions that might shine a light into the darkness of your own suckage, and how I answered them about my story.

Does the opening sentence suck?

"Trent Delver was playing blackjack to kill time between shows when a dark-haired older woman in an elaborately old-fashioned black velvet and lace outfit, and a younger, similarly dressed woman with lipstick-red hair sat down at the table."

Not the suckiest first line I've written, but not great either. Awkward construction, passive voice, a noteable lack of emotion or tension, okay, it sucks. At least it introduces all the main characters, gives us a place, and hints at Trent's job.

What actually happens in the story (story fragment, in this case)?

Trent Delver, the POV character, meets Mimi/Amelia and her mother, Jennifer, at a blackjack table in Vegas. All wear bizarre clothes, described extensively - Trent because he's a piano player / singer between sets, the women because Mimi has a J-pop band and they like Japanese Loligoth fashion. Trent invites them to his performance, they invite him to their video shoot. At the performance Mimi warns Trent that her mother will try and seduce him in order to help Mimi's career. At the video shoot in the Valley of Fire, its hot and weird and Jennifer directs. That night Mimi is the one who tries to seduce Trent. (To Be Continued - Not.)

What do you see on the surface story that sucks here?

Trent's name (I know it's actually just his stage name, but it still sucks - it's a bad porn star's name). Jennifer's name (boring). Too much time spent on clothes, no explanation for the facination with Japan of these American women. Sounds like a bad male fantasy (oooo, they're both trying to seduce him!).

Should the story start where it starts?

Eh, probably not. The blackjack table is a red herring; gambling isn't important to this story. Better to start at Trent's show.

What does the POV character want, and what is opposing him?

This question stopped me cold. Trent doesn't want anything in the story. Mimi and Jennifer both want something from him but he's not opposing either one of them. That SO sucks. Which leads me to...

Is this the right POV character?

Probably not. Either Mimi or her mother would be better choices. They both want something in the worst way, and both are opposed by someone (each other).

Man, this story... sucks. I better stop while I'm behind.

Note to self: Write Less Sucky.

Thanks for Reading,

Stephen

Pressure Cooking Your Characters

Hmmm. "Goth Lolita" keeps getting longer, and I've got some witty dialogue and motivation and physical action, but in all this movement the main POV character seems like he's only along for the ride. (Both figuratively, and literally as well. He's about to be picked up in a van. Do I really need a van scene?). Sure, the other characters want something from him (oh look, motivation!), but I'm only getting a sense of detached amusement from him in return. I have no idea what he wants for himself, and what he's like at the core.

"Detached amusement" may indeed be the state in which I spend much of my day, but then, I wouldn't make a very interesting character in this story either.

Time to push this character and see what's under that detachment. He's a smooth guy, and things have been going smoothly so far. But smooth surfaces don't cut.

A wise woman once told me if your main character's not breaking a sweat, it's time to turn up the heat. Bring on the trouble, then make that trouble worse. Put them under pressure, ask them to choose between two bad alternatives. If you love your characters (and we all do), yes, it's going to be hard to see them hurt. But have no mercy. Kick them while they're down.

Time to turn up the heat, and tighten the lid on the pressure cooker.

Building Momentum, One Page at a Time

After quadrupling yesterday's meager production, today the new draft is up to 541 words and is about to move to a second scene to start the third page. I still have no idea what the story is 'about', although there are hints starting to appear. (Sex. An overbearing mother. Music.)

I used to ALWAYS know what my stories were about, plot and characters and meaning and all. I had to know those things, in fact, before I could start writing. And sadly enough, most of those stories turned out to be predictable to the reader as well, which usually meant they were pretty bad. It's only been in the last half a dozen years or so that I've stopped imposing structure on my work from the get-go. Nowadays I end up producing a lot more false starts, but when a story finally does take off I find not knowing where it's going keeps at least my own interest up (and hopefully the eventual reader's), and definitely gets me to more interesting destinations than did the trips where I followed my highlighted guidebook.

Here's to hoping "Goth Lolita" (and already I'm thinking that title may change) ends up... well, somewhere. I'm definitely still in the discovery phase.

To Be Continued.

103 Words More Than Yesterday

Total writing production this evening - 103 words of fiction.

Don't laugh. That's 103 words more than I've written in a while, and it took me an hour to get them out. But in those 103 words I've introduced three main characters, brought them together at a blackjack table (hey, when things are going slow, write what you know), and left myself with a lot of questions to answer. That's a good thing.

Oh, and I've got a title. "Gothic Lolita."

It's a start. Of what, I don't know yet. But it's a start.

To Be Continued.

"So, did you give up on the Blog, or what?"

I checked into my Blogger Dashboard (to edit the blogs I'm subscribed to) today and happened to notice this line:

19 Posts, last published on Apr 18, 2010

Gee, and it seems like only yesterday I was at Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace Conference (that would have been in early May), where a member of my writing group asked me, "So, did you give up on the Blog, or what?" Now it's July.

Time flies when you're writing regularly. Time flies even faster when you're NOT writing regularly.

For the past two weeks I've been in a writer's ditch, a writer's drought, a slump, a block, a... well, a whatever you want to call it. That is, I haven't been writing. In fact, I've been finding excuses not to write, to be precise.

(By the way, the only good thing about actively avoiding writing is that if one of your favorite not-writing excuses is 'I'll just go the gym and clear my head first' you end up getting some cardio out of your angst.)

But now I'm sore (from the gym) and tired (of my own avoidance behavior). I have a review that's overdue, a writer's group meeting coming up, and almost no submissions in circulation. Rather than dwell on the many character flaws that brought me here, I'm going to do something about them. Re-opening this Blog editor window and typing the words you're reading is the first step.

A three-day weekend starts tomorrow. If I don't have some new writing by the end of it, you'll hear it from me here. Feel free to boo and hiss if that happens, or send encouraging words to prevent it from happening.

New writing from me coming up. And Blogging Doesn't Count.

Happy Independence Day, Everyone.