Day 6 NaBloPoMo at yeah write guest blogger: Jamie Miles
A few years ago while in the throes of a midlife crisis, I wasn’t sleeping. In the middle of the night when all was quiet, I would steal to the computer and write.
My novel.
I wrote and wrote. One hundred ninety-one pages worth. I joined a writing critique group at a local university and read from this story. People laughed. I was hooked.
And so waiting to be discovered.
I signed up for a writer’s conference for my amazing midlife revelation story to be read by an agent. One who would swoop me up in her arms and whisper all the wonderful things any baby writer stuck in a midlife cliche wanted to hear.
I went to the critique.
I don’t remember much other than she slammed my erratic use of verb tenses. Or was it my roving POV? She ended our tete-a-tete by saying my character was likable enough and sure, she would look at it when I wrote a bit more.
Pooh.
Pooh? More like pry me off the industrial carpet of the university lecture room filed with a mile high pile of Clydesdale excrement.
But I kept writing. Why?
Even in the face of what seemed like a right hook of rejection, I loved laboring over a story. Grappling with words. And with more study and practice, I would improve. Or so I hoped.
After that disappointing meeting with the agent, I attended a novel writing workshop where the instructor spoke of how a novel builds toward its climax. She asked if our story climbed upward? Was there tension? Conflict?
I realized I didn’t know doggie poo about writing a novel. No wonder the agent’s reaction to my first attempt was so meh.
Because it was MEH.
Then as now, I need to get the meh out of my writing.
There are so many books on our craft—from the nuts-and-bolts types to inspirational more personal ones such as Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird and Stephen King’s On Writing. Both are wonderful not only because of the enormity of their talent but the strength of their voice.
Other favorites of mine are Stein on Writing for fiction and Zinsser’s On Writing Well for non-fiction. I have bought at least three copies of each over the last eight years to replace ones that have been left behind in a doctor’s office, hotel room or under a lounge by a pool.
See. I’m a messy reader.
“Does your first sentence trigger curiosity to make the reader want to continue?” p. 36
“A terrific ending will never be experienced by readers put off by a poor beginning.” p. 31
“Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader, not the fact that’s it raining, but the feeling of being rained upon,” quoting E. L. Doctorow p. 8
And my personal favorite: “Boredom is the greatest enemy of the of both reader and writer.” p. 25.
So out with the meh in my writing or at least I’ll die trying. Hopefully a very dramatic, utterly take-the-reader-by-surprise demise.
What are some of your favorite books for writers?
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I loved this. “Meh” is such a perfect word for this context. I love Stephen King’s “On Writing” as well as “Bird by Bird.”
My favorite craft book is Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft by Burroway and Stuckey-French. For me, the best thing has been gleaning something from each small writing class or critique or beta reader I can — there’s always something. It’s wonderful! As for getting the MEH out of writing… a litle different meaning for me with My Engineer Husband 😉
I know Julia. I always think of your MEH. I haven’t heard of your book. I’m overjoyed at another manual to mark-up.
Rejection feels terrible. But it’s supposed to build backbone. It should only inflame us write better. Write more. Practice, practice, practice. Just as Malcolm Gladwell described in The Outliers.
I have to say that all the writing in that book nearly gave me a heart attack. But, some of my most favorite authors are messy readers– so it must be a positive character trait. 😀
I love the anti-boredom mantra, too! 😀
Ha. I started writing in books once when I was reading on an airplane and didn’t have paper. Then I figure what better place to take notes? It greatly decreases the chances that they get separated from the book.
Saul Bellow said, “I discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, “To hell with you.” Well, he’s Saul Bellow so he can say that. Maybe we should too, and keep learning and writing just as you did!
Rosanna — there is one part of Stephen King’s book where he describes all the rejections he was getting from publications to his story stories. The gist of it was — he would be aggravated when one was accepted because that meant he had to write another story. I’m sure he meant most of that in jest but how wonderful to have such an understanding that rejection is part of the process. Not to be feared but to propel us forward.
Interesting. There are a lot of things that matter when we write fiction- POV, tenses, sentence structure, voice, narration, etc. I haven’t glossed over any book for writers as such. But you have encouraged me to do so. Thanks for sharing your experiences. 🙂
-HA
Well, I still remember our grammar workbook from first grade. It was paperback and orange with some boy’s face on it. It is an understatement to say I feared opening that book. The “rules” frightened me. What if I messed up? Within the last few years, I’ve read over Elements of Style a few times in my spare moments. Which makes me think I haven’t seen that book in a while. Wonder where I left it?