Archive for September, 2011
How to get the joy back into writing
Posted by victoriacollins1 in Featherfoot on September 20, 2011
I got some great advice over the weekend. Lately I just don’t love what I’m writing. I wanted this final redraft of the novel to flow easily and be a joy… I’m trying to meet a Sept 30 deadline for a residency application but the word count is stagnating.
I try to do a bit every other day… I’m scheduling it around full time work, a second job, language classes (am learning Arabic), blogging and a life… and I’m managing…
but I’m writing bland shite.
I’ve lost the joy.
The advice? “You’re treating it like a chore instead of a treat!”
All this scheduling makes it feel like all the other obligations and stresses. The writing is the thing you do because you WANT to, to relax and express yourself. Treat it as the escape from the other “To do”s.
Oooohhh I get it! That feels much better…. this week’s aim: swap wine for writing, and stop scheduling it. Watch this space to see how I go.
What do YOU do to get around this? Anyone else got handy tips? Love to hear ‘em…
Enjoy feeling lost – your hand knows what to write!
Posted by victoriacollins1 in Featherfoot on September 8, 2011
I had an inspiring comic book artist address my Thinking Creatively class this week. One of the most valuable things he said was that his creative process (from idea to story) allows a lot of room to lose the way, and surprise himself with solutions. I loved that he was so comfortable with being lost.
He said he rarely plots ahead, but simply startings drawing the next frame and waits to see what happens. As he put it: those times when your hand knows what to do even though your head doesn’t.
Some of the most invigorating moments are those in which you surprise even yourself – when you start to feel like the thing you’re creating is no longer “you” but bigger than you. I think we’ve all experienced the exhilaration of seeing phrases / characters / scenes jump onto the page with little struggle to tease them out – that feeling of being connected directly to some kind of source you can’t define.
A script writer friend offered a simple writing exercise, to assist finding this headspace:
Go outside or to a populated place life a cafe, and begin stream-of-consciousness writing, describing everything you see, hear, feel, taste, smell. Write about all those sensory details around you. Don’t life pen from paper, for as long as you can. Don’t bother with punctuation or spelling or that editor in your head. Just write, until you’re not thinking what you’re writing. After a rest period, or later that night, look back at your writing and see what gems are in there.
(Thanks to Dan Vukovjlak and Simon Weaving for this post’s inspirations)
Oops, I’m not the writer I was told I was
Posted by victoriacollins1 in Featherfoot on September 6, 2011
At risk of coming off as mulitple-personality and basically lost, I’ve abandoned pitching my book as YA and starting identifying as adult.
YA was never my intention. I went that way because an agent told me that’s how they read my MS, and because I hadn’t yet learned agents are human and susceptible to personal points of view, I changed myself to suit them.
Back in June I posted “Where is the line between YA and adult fiction?” (link: http://wp.me/p1AW0D-2C)
Since then I got another, another rejection and with nothing to lose decided to pose the question: “Did you read this MS as YA or adult?”
The response: “A 21 year old main character would not be YA, and I actually read this query as an adult novel. YA novels are those that speak to high school-aged teenagers and offer their perspective. I know “college-aged” protagonists always cause writers grief, but until there’s a new sub-genre of YA, yours would have to be considered adult. It won’t harm your manuscript, by the way. If an agent feels the tone and subject would work better as a YA, then they might ask you to shift the age to 17. But it wouldn’t change the integrity of the writing at all.”
Cool. Phew! I can go back to being who I thought I was. My understanding is also that YA needs to focus on those angsty things that YA age people go through. I love that writing can help with this stuff, but those themes are not the theme of this MS. Am going back to being true to me and the MS (and hope I don’t get asked to rewrite the MC’s age… awkward!)
A great rejection – and a little bit ouchy
Posted by victoriacollins1 in Featherfoot on September 1, 2011
Had to share the most recent rejection letter – it’s a goodie.
If anything (besides my own gut) is going to validate my recent banging-on about rewriting the MS in a new voice, it’s my recent rejection letter. It’s a great rejection in this regard, and I’m actually a smidgeon relieved. Here ’tis in the main (names removed):
“I love the idea and there’s much to admire but unfortunately we both felt the narrative wasn’t quite strong enough. I would be interested to see whatever you write next though.” (Note: “both” means agent + reader)
Woohoo! They love my idea!
This agent also agreed to consider reading my rewrite – “if it is quite substantial”… ouch. Positive, yes, but maybe they politely underestimated the damage when they said it wasn’t “quite” strong enough!
No worries. Deep breath. I knew that already. 
