Aspiring Authors
Jan. 28th, 2011 12:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keiramarcosBack in the fall, I was invited to guest lecture with a local university writing class. That offer eventually morphed into 3 lecture spots with three different classes of students. Though after my first one, I noticed that some, if not all of the kids from that first class, snuck into the other two lectures.
Today was the 300 level course. For the first two 100 level courses, I talked about craft in general and had a really frank discussion about the use of language in modern fiction. Then we talked about writing for market and determining what kind of writer you are. I had a lot of fun with those two classes.
For the 300 level course, I prepared a mini-seminar on plot. I called it PLOT WORKS. lol. Regardless, on the plotting front I'm a little lazy with my hobby writing but I invest a huge amount of time into plotting and research for my professional projects. It's just what you do when you do it for a living--at least that's what I DO when I do it for a living. Every writer has their own process.
Anyways, I presented for the first hour of the class and then the second hour of the class was for Q&A and there was this big discussion about developing the writing process for young writers and if there comes a time when it's too late to change how you approach a project. I consider myself a somewhat fluid writer -- I am a plotter by nature but I can write by the seat of my pants.
They had a lot of great and intelligent questions to ask me and then I was grilled quite thoroughly by two of the professors in the English dept of the university (not the one that invited me). I think I made an enemy for life when I answered this question:
"When did you start considering yourself a professional writer?"
My response: "When I realized that there was very little I wouldn't write for money." She sputtered but I continued. "Because I began to understand at that point that being a writer was a calling but being a published author was a J.O.B. The difference between those two circumstances is absolutely huge."
I had a good time and the Dean of the English Department told me he had a great time listening to me obliterate people's expectations and crush the dreams of several hundred aspiring authors with REALITY. He was funny as hell. Pack Mule had a great time, too.
Today was the 300 level course. For the first two 100 level courses, I talked about craft in general and had a really frank discussion about the use of language in modern fiction. Then we talked about writing for market and determining what kind of writer you are. I had a lot of fun with those two classes.
For the 300 level course, I prepared a mini-seminar on plot. I called it PLOT WORKS. lol. Regardless, on the plotting front I'm a little lazy with my hobby writing but I invest a huge amount of time into plotting and research for my professional projects. It's just what you do when you do it for a living--at least that's what I DO when I do it for a living. Every writer has their own process.
Anyways, I presented for the first hour of the class and then the second hour of the class was for Q&A and there was this big discussion about developing the writing process for young writers and if there comes a time when it's too late to change how you approach a project. I consider myself a somewhat fluid writer -- I am a plotter by nature but I can write by the seat of my pants.
They had a lot of great and intelligent questions to ask me and then I was grilled quite thoroughly by two of the professors in the English dept of the university (not the one that invited me). I think I made an enemy for life when I answered this question:
"When did you start considering yourself a professional writer?"
My response: "When I realized that there was very little I wouldn't write for money." She sputtered but I continued. "Because I began to understand at that point that being a writer was a calling but being a published author was a J.O.B. The difference between those two circumstances is absolutely huge."
I had a good time and the Dean of the English Department told me he had a great time listening to me obliterate people's expectations and crush the dreams of several hundred aspiring authors with REALITY. He was funny as hell. Pack Mule had a great time, too.
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Date: 2011-01-28 07:06 pm (UTC)I'll look at over and see if I can't make it something more organic in written form.
Most of the talks evolved into Q&A about writing.
Maybe we could do one of those on Different Roads?
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Date: 2011-01-28 08:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-28 08:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-28 08:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-29 07:34 am (UTC)I love it when you talk about your craft.
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Date: 2011-01-28 07:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-28 07:58 pm (UTC)She said, "Right." Hung up her phone and turned off the ring tone. "Great Death Glare you got there."
I couldn't even be mad at her. lol.
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Date: 2011-01-28 08:08 pm (UTC)I never thought about professional writing as a job, but it definitely is. It makes me realize just how lucky we are that you share your talents with us for fun.
I'd love to read your lectures. And I think it's a hoot that no matter where you go, you manage to piss someone off. Now that's talent! ;-)
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Date: 2011-01-28 08:27 pm (UTC)It really is a gift or perhaps a curse depending on POV.
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Date: 2011-01-28 08:14 pm (UTC)I need to plot out the scene and motivations before I jump in
and yeah, writer and JOB, great definitions
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Date: 2011-01-28 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-28 08:31 pm (UTC)Yep, just about any job to get paid. That's why we see actors in commercials and why some writers end up pandering to their audiences. We all need to make money somehow.
I think that's why your fanfiction is so good. Because you write it because you eant to (or need to - lol) and you can tell the love you have for it through your words!
Wish I could have seen your lectures!
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Date: 2011-01-28 08:32 pm (UTC)b) when i was out one evening with friends we saw one of our old, like all grey wrinkly and in tweed jacket, prof sitting in a beergarten - no one else there, he was slumped back, mouth wide open - a friend of mine asked "Is he dead?" and 2 of them checked on him, he was just really pissed - eww
c) when your profs drink more booze than any of the students during a field trip and are still fresher than any of them the next morning - just scary!
So reality check early on, that professional authors need to sell their books seems pretty reasonable to me.
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Date: 2011-01-28 08:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-28 08:56 pm (UTC)When I go to the grocery store and see all of those pop fiction book stacked between the office supplies and cat litter I cringe...these writers churn out books on a regular basis and in my opinion, they are garbage. I would hate to have to write like that...sure, they have money from their efforts but to be honest, but the plots are obvious and the characters weak. I would rather write quality and stay off the grocery store shelves.
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Date: 2011-01-28 09:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-29 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-28 10:42 pm (UTC)Kath's first time answer: Hell, NO!
Children, en masse, are cruel, loud, brainless and give a new meaning to 'survival of the fittest' and 'pack of wolves'. I like individuals but I have no illusions about how kids behave in a group bigger than four. Doesn't mean that I can't teach^^
I applaud every PROFFESSIONAL who points out reality to students. it's so rare.
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Date: 2011-01-28 10:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-28 11:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-29 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-29 01:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-29 01:42 am (UTC)Huh, a treat I found, some porn, different fandom but so well written, grins:
http://hermette.livejournal.com/246432.html
-SB
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Date: 2011-01-29 07:23 am (UTC)Because I began to understand at that point that being a writer was a calling but being a published author was a J.O.B. The difference between those two circumstances is absolutely huge."
*throws my pom poms for you*
You totally win at life.
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Date: 2011-01-29 02:01 pm (UTC)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9fc-crEFDw
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Date: 2011-01-29 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-29 07:02 pm (UTC)A great deal of what he wrote has since been not so much contradicted by the experiences of others as modified considerably (I gather one can be eccentric on one but not more than one of the realities) but it all boils down to the difference between reader and writer, and I'm pretty much a reader. ;)
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Date: 2011-01-29 08:55 pm (UTC)Me I am like but genre fiction sales! The next 'great literature cannon' peice, not so much, unless you're Maya Angalou. Cause honestly, I doubt many editors/publishers would turn down her pieces. And genre fiction is like candy sometimes you just want something easy and good.
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Date: 2011-01-29 08:59 pm (UTC)And put it on his desk when he isn't looking.
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Date: 2011-01-29 09:02 pm (UTC)It's all about the bottom line and publishing is a business. Having a name like Maya Angalou in your collection might sound good but if readers won't buy it because they are concerned about the shift in the scope of the author's work--it's a wasted effort and the money involved would be a little mind-fuck all on its own.
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Date: 2011-01-30 02:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-30 09:58 am (UTC)On average-- I plot for about a week or two for big fan fic projects whereas I can spend upwards of a month on a professional project just on the plot and then several weeks on research.
I've always taken my craft very, very seriously. It's driven writing partners batshit in the past.
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Date: 2011-01-31 02:06 am (UTC)I'd like to be able to consider myself a writer, but I always seem to stall out after 6,000 words or so. I've never quite been able to make the jump between short vignette and novel-length with multiple sub-plots. I have a couple of novel-sized ideas I've been slowly developing, but the actual plot work is kicking my ass (it's like trying to create a jigsaw puzzle from a plank of wood, in the dark and wearing gloves), and I didn't want to jump into the writing until I knew how many different plot threads I was trying to juggle and how they were going to interlink properly.
Secondary school English lessons were always about short stories and essays; I tried a correspondence course with a good pedigree (the Open University) that promised to teach the basis of all types of creative writing - and ended up being a series of completely separate short stories/individual chapters in different genres; I've tried reading various Writing Advice books and online essays. Almost all of them seemed to conflate the story concept with the plot, talked about the plot like it was the simplest thing in the world to construct, and didn't bother to give any clues as to how you construct it from the ground up! And all of them seemed to assume that you could throw a plot together within a day or so.
So it's really good to know that I shouldn't feel stupid to be taking so long - it does take time to fit all the plot elements together and make sure they're in the right place - and I am right to want to spend further time on research rather than just start writing and risk getting it laughably incorrect. Thanks!
Of course, this is no guarantee that my novel ideas will actually work or that I will write them in a competent way, but still, I am encouraged! ;D
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Date: 2011-01-31 11:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-31 12:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-01-31 12:30 pm (UTC)Approved and that's the tag. There are just 2 so far and questions are welcome. I love to discuss craft.
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Date: 2011-02-01 12:47 am (UTC)But if/when you get your writing published, let me know I love anything you write even when the pairing is not my thing at all...I'm sure your professional writing it's above the charts!
Bless you, Our Lady Goddess!