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The Official Propaganda Organ of the Cincinnati Writers Project Marcia Eckstein, Editor-at-Home As Spring is a new start, let’s speak of beginnings. Opening lines. The aromas that entice the reader into your kitchen. You know how I love the one-liners. In this issue of RD, the quote boxes hold opening lines to poems, novels, short stories, and here’s the best part: every single one of them was written by a CWP author. Maybe the first sniff will inspire you to follow the scent, find the chef, and plant a big sloppy one on her mouth. It’s Spring. We’re supposed to act like this.
Mary Fitzpatrick I’m one of those weird people who loves winter. I enjoy the cold. I like gray tumbling skies, long dark nights, sleeping under layers of covers. Like any sane person, I hate sleet and ice, but snow makes me feel energetic and creative. I write more on one snowy Sunday afternoon than on a whole month of Sundays in July or August. I have reverse S.A.D. and get depressed the first day the temperature climbs back up over 60*F. I blame all that on my Northern European genes. Deep down inside I do get a thrill when I see the first hardy tips of my daffodils nosing through the ground the way they did last week. It is a miracle I look forward to every year. The re-greening of my garden each spring really ties me in to that whole spiral-of-life circle-of-the-seasons thing. If only the return of greens and flowers didn’t herald the onset of the horrid and oppressive heat of summer. (to say nothing of the pollen, Ed.) This year in the spirit of spring, CWP will take part in the Essex Studios Spring Art Walk on May 1st and 2nd. Marion Corbin Mayer of Creative Catalyst Studios is kindly offering her facility for a reading/signing event on Friday May 1st, at 7:30 pm. We will be selling copies of Not From Around Here, Are You? in her studio throughout the weekend. If you have a piece in the anthology and would like to do a reading please, let me know. Even if you aren’t in the anthology, please talk this up with your friends and plan on coming Friday to have fun and lend support. The Essex art walk is a fun way to support the local Arts scene. It is inexpensive, unless you fall in love with a painting that you just have to have. On a separate but related note - We only have 45 copies of Not From Around Here, Are You? and five copies of Someone Has To Die. Do you know someone who needs a copy? Do you know a shop that would be willing to take some books on consignment, or a venue that would like to host a reading event? If you do, let one of the CWP Board know. Lastly, The new anthology is available from both Lulu and Amazon, but, please, if you want a copy please contact me, or one of the other board members about buying one directly from CWP before you shop on-line. The next two pieces deal with the art of criticism. Tom's article addresses what it is and how to do it effectively, while Jim takes the point of view of the critiqued . . . the morning after. Ed. By Tom Groh I may not be the best person to write it, but here goes. Each Wednesday (and Thursday, Ed.) the Fiction Group meets to enjoy a sumptuous meal and share Constructive Critique. The cornerstone event of the group and its primary purpose is giving and receiving feedback. Some of us have a lot to say, others, sadly, have very little to offer. As a member of the critique group, you're expected to give a meaningful critique, something a fellow writer can use and can act upon to make her work better. How best to do that? Ah, there's the rub. The double negative is the cause of our angst: Constructive Critique. "Constructive" is pretty self-explanatory, it's an assembly of parts into a deliberate, intended whole. It's a bolstering, positive thing, a building up of something proud and affirming. And shoot, don't we all feel good about that! The second half of the expression is the more important of the two. "Critique" translates as the art of criticism. Leave it to the French to make an art of something which can be so offhandedly disapproving, cutting and vicious. Criticism is the scornful stepsister who points out our pimples, is it any wonder we shy away from her? A meaningful, constructive critique should be both: an assembly of opinions and suggestions intended to help the author improve the whole of her writing. If you can’t be critical, you're not looking hard enough, and you're not doing me (the writer) any favors. In a newly released, soon-to-be-best-selling anthology, I was described as "wielding the axe of merciless critique," a label I accept graciously in the spirit it was given. Lead by example, I always say. Do unto others. Woody knows how to give a good-natured critique, and I know how to receive one. The responsibility is two-sided. Think marriage, relationship, contractual agreement. As an example, I've submitted this article at 975 words, and by the time RD goes to print, our beloved, underpaid editor will have slashed it down to less words, different words, no doubt removing much of the beauty, spirit and emotion of my original words. I'm fine with that. Not only because I haven't yet figured out where Marcia lives or the best way to retaliate, but also because I appreciate the nature and benefits of having another objective pair of eyes ferret out my mistakes. There's a glut of instructional books and websites with experts advising us "how to" critique a story, a novel excerpt or a poem. They all make their points; do check them out, especially if you're looking to procrastinate from your writing in an obliquely productive way. Or simply follow these few condensed tips: 1) Be Honest. If something doesn't work, better the writer hear it sooner than later. The writer knows you are only offering your opinion. 2) Be Critical and Kind. Nobody's baby is ugly! Well, some are, but we don't put it in writing for the parents. Keep your comments objective. Writing is personal, critiques should not be. For example: "This is the fifth time in the opening paragraph you've dangled a participle, you block, you stone, you worse than senseless thing! Plus, you have ugly hair and bad skin." (To be clear, this was an example of bad critique.) 3) Look at the Big Picture. Comments on language, plot, pacing, characters will be more helpful than pointing out typos or crossing out commas. Though if there are so many mechanical errors you can't get into the story, address it. 4) Always Give Something Back. Written feedback in the form of notes, scribbles, smiley faces, arrows, tic-tac-toe, are a record the writer can refer back to later. Over and over, if need be. If nothing more, indicate you were bored by that particular scene. This shows respect to the writer who was brave enough to submit the piece in the first place. Oh, and if your notes are clear and legible, that's a nice bonus. 5) Try to Offer Specific Examples. Vague, innocuous comments are rarely helpful. "I'm not quite sure why, but I didn't like the two-headed gopher scene." Comments like these are a waste of the writer's time. (I beg to differ; at least a weak spot is identified. Ed.) 6) Grow a Thick Skin. Somebody will always find something they don't like. To have that pointed out is good for you and good for your writing, even if you ultimately dismiss the feedback. Writing is 95% re-writing. If you need to hear that you are brilliant, a master craftsman of sentences, a painter of dramatic scenes, and, "Oh, are you losing weight?” visit your mother or your therapist. That said, there should be a friendly, encouraging aspect to critiquing. We are each other's peers and confidants, we share common goals: the love of reading, writing, and goetta grilled cheese sandwiches. We are here to help each other and to be helped. A critique tendered charitably and in good humor is priceless. In lieu of that, I'll take the truth. I'll take it blunt, too. It's why I'm here. By James Montgomery Jackson I recently offered a piece of my soul to be examined in the harsh light of the CWP critique group. In CWP tradition, the first critique comes from my immediate left. Mary sets her timer for three minutes and off we go. For the next thirty minutes or so I will receive reactions, opinions, facts and misconceptions designed to help me strengthen my offering. As each person talks I jot down notes—key words or concepts to remind me of their larger critique. I answer the few direct questions as they are posed. I thank each person after they finish their critique. They have spent some portion of their life force reading my work and trying to help me make it better. If that is not worth my thanks, what is? That was then; this is now: the morning after. As I ponder the criticism I received, I realize that the feedback of some is more helpful than others. The least helpful comments, on the surface, can be the most positive. “I really liked this story. I wouldn’t change a thing.” Let’s face it folks, neither The New Yorker nor Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine is banging down my door begging for my submissions (or in AHMM’s case accepting my submissions). If I don’t change something, this story won’t sell. The second least helpful are the ones that begin, “I only had time to skim it,…”. I’ll discuss in a bit what you lose by only having time to skim, but sometimes that is the best you can do. If so, what should you look for in a first read through? Mark anything that stopped or slowed down your reading. Even if you can’t pin down why you paused, fact is, you spotted a problem. Mark it so when you do your careful read you can try to figure out what went wrong. I generally write plot-driven material for a commercial market. So, considering the first read through, did you follow the story from A to B to C, or did I unintentionally cross you up? Have I made assumptions you could not swallow? In a character-driven piece was something out-of-character? Did you enjoy the ride? Why? If all you can do is skim and provide answers to those specific questions, your critique will be helpful. But you cheat yourself if you only skim a piece. As the critiquer you can learn a lot about your own writing by making a real effort to understand what did or didn’t work and why in the piece you are reading. When you make that effort, you also learn more as you listen to others critique the work. You learn from things they pick up that you missed. You learn from differences of opinion. If there are five pieces to critique and you can’t do them all well, better to work on two or three than to whitewash all five. What are the gems I want to hear in a critique?
By Mary Fitzpatrick Context is a small Sci-Fi convention in Columbus Ohio where they run a full track of writing workshops that are geared to general genre writing. Since Context is a non-media con, the Klingons and Stormtroopers are at a minimum. Genre writers outside the SF/ Fantasy/Horror spectrum don’t have to worry about standing out too much. Some of the workshops are free with convention membership; some require registration or an additional fee, but the prices are reasonable. They’ve moved the date this year so as not to conflict OSU football. Workshop schedule and details can be found on their website. At Context 2008, I attended a workshop by a Seaton Hill University’s Masters in Popular fiction program candidate. He called his topic “bobble head” issues – common physical description mistakes new writers make in their work. New writers have been warned not to let their characters be cardboard cut-out talking heads. To avoid this, they insert phrases like “she nodded/smiled/grinned/winced cringed/sighed” to give character something to do. Even established writers fall into this lazy habit. This type of phrase can serve as a first draft placeholder, but it doesn’t tell your reader what your character is thinking or feeling. Nodding means different things in different cultures. People don’t really sigh all that often. What exactly does a grimace look like? These body language cues can be used sparingly to build an individual character’s quirks. Using them too often or using the same ones for all of your characters turns them into twitchy bobble-heads. Raised eyebrows, narrowed eyes, eyes widened are all bobble-isms. These actions are quick and subtle so, unless Character A is right in Character B’s face, B isn’t going to notice them. Also, your POV character can’t see his/her own face, ergo wouldn’t see the bobble. To show action to your POV character, tell how it feels from the inside. Watch out for floating or displaced eye phrases, e.g.,“He cast his eyes to the floor” (he threw them down?), “His eye’s shot a venomous look (with a squirt gun?)”, “Her eyes went to the bathroom”(because they just couldn’t wait any longer). New writers can become obsessed with their characters’ exact position or location. While the writer needs to have the staging in mind, unless it is an important plot point, you don’t need to remind your reader where a character is, or what exactly he/she is looking at. Most stage directions don’t move your plot forward. Phrases like “She looked and saw”, ”He turned to see”, “He raised his arm and opened the door”, are filler and can be cut or re-written in better language. Stomach-related bobble-isms are overdone. Don’t feed your characters just because you don’t know what else to do with them. A meal can be a great way to define a character, or a culture, but even so you don’t have to give it to your reader spoonful by spoonful. Eating to move from scene A to scene B is cheating. And, as long as we’re eating, don’t confuse intestinal workings for drama. Clenching guts, waves of nausea, puckering anuses, are overused. They stand for an emotion. When you use physical reaction too often you subtly undermine your characters by unconsciously implying they are not in control of their bodies, or, that purely physical reactions control their mental state. Rule of thumb with bobble-isms? They can be used correctly and in moderation. Too often or too many makes your writing less vivid. We salute the Few, the Proud In his third since 2002, Jeffrey Marks has received the nomination for the Agatha Award. His latest biography, Anthony Boucher: A Biobliography, was nominated for Best Non-Fiction mystery-related work by Malice Domestic. The awards are named after Agatha Christie, best-selling author of all time. Jeffrey received his first nomination for Who Was That Lady?, the biography of Craig Rice. In 2004 he was nominated for Atomic Renaissance: Women Mystery Writers of the 1940s/50s. The award will be announced the first week of May in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. Jeffrey has received the Helm Fellow from Indiana University for the Boucher work and hopes to win the Agatha and add to those honors. Check out Easy Money by Norm Maher, a Slick Crime Caper with Lust, Betrayals and a Killer Finale Set in Blue Ash. Synopsis on YouTube. You can congratulate Norm at zam@zoomtown.com Ryck Neube’s story "Intelligence" is in the March issue of Asimov's. Another Neube classic.
In no particular order SinC Into Great Writing! Sisters in Crime will sponsor a writing workshop October 14, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency in Indianapolis, IN, (the day before the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention begins). The SinC into Great Writing program features seminars by Donald Maass, Hallie Ephron, and Chris Roerden, with dinner keynote speaker Nancy Pickard: "My First Editor Got Fired and Other Tales of Survival in the Mystery Business". $50 for SinC members, $150 for nonmembers. Features: Writing the Breakout Novel with Donald Maass; Twisting a Mystery Plot: The Secret's in the Secrets with Hallie Ephron; Don’t Sabotage Your Submission with Chris Roerden. For questions email Beth Wasson at sistersincrime@juno.com. Deadline: September 22, 2009. Registration capped at 200. Discounted conference hotel rates are offered through the Bouchercon website. Outdoor writing retreat sponsored by Get Out! magazine May 15-17, 2009. Go to http://www.getoutzine.com for details. E-subscribe to Get Out! the magazine of outdoor adventure in the Ohio River region - it's free! Baen Books and The National Space Society, in their third annual Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest, are calling for short stories of under 8000 words focused on the near future of manned space exploration. Winners will be intelligent, entertaining stories on topics including Moon bases, Mars colonies, orbital habitats, space elevators, asteroid mining, artificial intelligence, nano-technology, realistic spacecraft, heroics, danger, sacrifice and adventure. Please no stories showing technology or space travel as evil or bad, nor Star Wars type galactic empires, UFO abductions or paranormal elements. Submissions accepted until April 1. GRAND PRIZE winner will be published in a future issue of Jim Baen's Universe (paid at their professional rate), receive a specially designed award, free entry to the 2009 International Space Development Conference and one year's membership in the National Space Society. Writer’s Conference at Penn, Oct. 2009 and the U. of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, Jun 20 – 27, 2009, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH. www.kenyonreview.org (control/click to follow link). Links, Blogs, Websites and other good stuff The following selection was culled from Writer's Digest List of 101 Best Websites: Brainyquote.com – fun ssa.gov/OACT/babynames – trying to name a character? urbandictionary.com – modern Nanowrimo.org – National Novel Writing Month (November) Book-in-a-week.com – Their motto: BIC HOK TAM. Butt in chair, hands on keyboard, typing away madly thestorystarter.com – need a kick start? absolutewrite.com – a lot here, navigate at your own risk. ed2010.com - for learning about the magazine side of publishing thewritingbridge.com – Application process. If you’re approved, you’re on probation and must keep up with the required critiques and submissions agentquery.com – Indispensible duotrope.com – handy for finding markets for short stories and poetry writersdigest.com - the online version of the popular print magazine has just enough to get you on your way. But you have to pay for a subscription to writersmarket.com, along with publishersmarketplace.com, another biggie in publishing, so if you’re just looking for agents, agentquery.com is free and has all you need jakonrath.blogspot.com – Newbie’s Guide To Publishing cbaybooks.blogspot.com –good glossary etreidliterary.blogspot.com nathanbransford.blogspot.com –agent site bookendsliteraryagency.blogspot.com – daily posting from Jessica Faust of Bookends Literary Agency pubrants.blogspot.com –agent Kristen Nelson, chatty, useful labels, interested in women’s’ fiction (and beyond) rejectionqueen.blogspot.com – if you want to feel better about your own rejections anotherrealm.com/prededitors - Preditors & Editors literarylawguide.com/resources.htm – the go-to source for copyrights QueryTracker.net – If you plan to send out lots of queries, or have more than one project sfwa.org/beware – Originating from the sci-fi crowd, this watchdog site is for all writers Read up on your fav author - armchairinterviews.com eighteenquestions.com noveljourneys.blogspot.com coolstuff4writers.com – Self-explanatory writesideout.com –Custom book covers, t-shirts, etc. Website for CWP http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CWP_Fiction/ Mary Fitzpatrick, President CWP http://maryfitz.typepad.com/my_weblog www.joedriscoll.org http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CWP_Fiction/?yguid=177017700 Bob Lewis, fiction writer http://iaintsorry.blogspot.com Amy Purcell, fiction, www.amypurcell.com/blog Kaza Kingsley, young adult, http://memorymogul.blogspot.com Chris Specht www.cspecht.com Madeline Izzo writers group website (group is in Pittsburgh) www.pittsburghwritersproject.org Very helpful website: www.agentquery.com for everything from a quick agent search, to formatting tips, to conferences and seminars all over the globe. Murmurs and asides overheard at Wednesday night fiction critique group. “Hal isn’t coming tonight. He just finished up a murder case and he’s dead.” “Vertigo sucks rocks - you can quote me on that.” |
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Last updated by Tgroh, September 24, 2009