Really?

By Amy MacKinnon

A lot of people have emailed lately asking that I read their query letters, first three chapters, or entire 400 page, single-spaced YA manuscripts. In one instance, a person asked I read the first three chapters of three different novels and their accompanying query letters--and then choose which she should submit. I know some, most are strangers, but so far I've agreed to read one and only because he's a good friend. I won't do it again.

It's not that I've deigned to read his work, it's not that at all, but how am I qualified to yay or nay another's writing? Here are some of my favorite books and a sample of their Amazon reader reviews. What do I know?

"The ending is stupid, unsatisfying and has all the melodrama of a soap opera...My heart WAS filled with gratitude however that my copy was from the library so I could simply dump it in the return slot." The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Interesting tidbit. This book is currently #2 for literature, is an Oprah pick, and of its 473 reviews, 141 are either one or two stars with an overall rating of 3 1/2 stars.

Here's another:

"...insipid mainstream pap, which is clearly enriching its author. Do yourself a favor: try Jose Saramago, Oscar Hijuelos or Gabriel Garcia Marquez, instead of this uninspired, banal, vapid, intellectual dead-end. Sorry, but this is one of the worst novels I've ever read." Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

One of my favorite books ever has an overall rating of 3 1/2 stars and of the 582 reviews, 137 are either one or two stars. Really?

Another:

"Talk about a labor of bore! This book was horrific...If you're in jail, by all means, indulge yourself." Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

This is my favorite book ever. It too has earned an overall rating of 3 1/2 stars, and of the 1,507 reviews, 355 are one or two stars. Sniff.

"Okay, I didn't really care for this book. It seemed dull and pointless, not to mention the plot was very vague. From what I could understand, it just seemed totally random. Not to mention it's hard to understand!" The Adventures of Hucklebery Finn by Mark Twain

Don't tell Jon Clinch. Definitely don't tell him it has 54 one or two stars, with an overall rating of just FOUR stars.

One more:

"...if I didn't know better I would say that it was written by a 10th grader who has done too much glue." The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Huh.

You see? I am not in touch with mainstream American tastes. I can't predict what will appeal to the masses. In fact, it's pretty much a given that if I do fall madly in love with your book, it will be slaughtered by reviewers.

If you're curious to know what's #1 on both the New York Times' and Amazon fiction best seller list, here's an Amazon review:

"I find that to be the best part of this author, that when he has you crying, laughing, or ready to spit nails, he has the power to make you believe that anything is possible- that fate and destiny are not myths, after all. (Insert sigh here), Another great read from a true gem." The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks

Only 21 reviews so far for this new release; five stars overall rating, with no one or two stars.

Insert sigh here indeed.

One Week

Posted by Lisa Marnell

In one week, I will hit send. My writers' group will, thankfully, critique my full WIP. I have a handful of details to sift through, but by next Monday, it will be in their inbox.

This makes me feel:

But it also makes me:

One thing I can promise is I won't be like this (at all):
Most of all, I'll feel:

because I am so lucky to have Amy, Hannah, and Lynne to help me produce my strongest work!

A Group Grows Up

by Hannah Roveto

What does a writers' group offer to writers who are not just starting out? How is someone who has a full WIP or even experience in the wild world of publishing supposed to use a writers' group?

A friend of mine with two books on shelves recently formed a group with two other published authors and even among the three of them, the questions arose: What do we need from each other? What are the rules and boundaries? One of the writers has a full manuscript and her first need is for a reading and critique, while my friend is in the development stages, turning a script she wrote into a novel. She asked for my thoughts, which was hugely flattering.

I outlined our group's process as established early on, noting that as we evolved, the rules have become somewhat flexible. We meet regularly, not necessarily every two weeks. We don't turn out pages "just because," and still keep the pressure on ourselves to push forward. We do read full manuscripts and here is our process for that:

* Readers follow a piece's progress in chunks. However, as we near the end (Amy or Lynne's brilliant idea) the author holds back the last three or so chapters and rewrites/completes the entire manuscript. The work is delivered as a fresh story with an ending the readers have never seen.

* A complete manuscript is usually the sole work reviewed in a meeting. Pages are delivered in advance, packaged in gray copy center boxes that to us signify excitement and accomplishment. We read and comment on the entire book, from threads to plausibility to line edits.

The value of those comments is in their service to the author, which is more significant than it sounds. As Lynne once wrote, honesty is in the details, but those details can only be processed by the author, something we all recognize fully. The author can feel free to use readers outside the group. And while the author considers any reader's critique as a flag marking something worth review, critique is recognized by the writer -- and the readers -- as opinion. Our role is to point out details that work and don't work, where the strengths are and where challenges might lie. We hope to help make the foundation strong; what the author does with our thoughts is her prerogative. We trust each other enough to know the advice is good, and we take what is needed as a gift, with deep appreciation.

In fact, The Writers Group members have never seen the final manuscripts delivered by our sisters-in-writing to an agent. (A draft once, but no finals.) We have seen only predecessors. What stayed and what went, what was deleted or added by the author -- and in turn, the agent and editor -- is a surprise. Really. And on that note, is everyone ready for a fabulous book being released on the twelfth called Tethered? I'm dying to read it!

Five Remembrances

By Amy MacKinnon

I've written in this space before about the Five Remembrances of Buddha:

The Five Remembrances
1. I am of the nature to grow old. I cannot escape growing old.
2. I am of the nature to have ill-health. I cannot escape having ill-health.
3. I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.
4. All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.
5. I inherit the results of my actions in body, speech and mind. My actions are the ground on which I stand.

Though I'm not a person of faith, these aphorisms appeal to my sense of perspective on the world. To some, they may appear bleak. To me, they are a way of coping with the inevitable. Acceptance is a powerful thing.

How does it all apply to this writing life of ours? When we dream of the possibilites of having our words appear in print, we may include buckets of money, best-seller status, glowing reviews in the New York Times, scads of charming notes from readers, and, if we are so bold, a place on a certain talk show host's nightstand and then her bookclub.

And so you should dream. Dream beyond all reason, but be prepared to balance out the glory with the guts of this business. Prepare yourself so you don't succumb to either the glory or the guts of this business. Seek balance. Know that you're never as good as the sycophants claim, nor are you ever as dim as the critics proclaim.

As many wonderful experiences as I've had over the past ten months, and I know just how blessed I am, I am prepared for the downside of putting myself out there. One week before publication and already people are wondering about the details of my personal life, how they measure up to the trauma of my protagonist Clara Marsh. Others will criticize the writing, the subject matter, the overall quality. I am now fair game. For someone who's spent most of her life hiding among the shadows, I expect some days the naysayers will engulf me. This is the price we pay.

So here are my Five Remembrances for Publication

1) I am of the nature to become irrelevant. I cannot escape being irrelevant.
2) I am in the business of being harshly critiqued. I will be cruelly critiqued.
3) I am of the nature to fail miserably. There will be times when I will fail.
4) My words are of the nature to be misinterpreted by those who cannot understand their intent. There is no way to prevent this.
5) I inherit the results of my actions in body, speech and mind. My actions are the ground on which I stand.

You'll notice I didn't change a word of the fifth one. No need. From this point forth, that's all I can control.

------

A big thank you to blog friend and dear, dear reader Larramie. Your post on Tethered is the most magnificent review a writer could ever dream of. I count it among the dearest gifts I've yet received.

Happy launch day, Kristy Kiernan! You know her as the author of Catching Genius, but her second novel, Matters of Faith, is out today and you will love it. It's already an IndieBound pick for September. If you haven't pre-ordered it, I urge you to run out to your local indepedent bookstore today and grab one for yourself and another for your best friend.

Readers

By Amy MacKinnon

Have you heard about Book Browse? It's a web site for people who love books and want to share their thoughts -- good and bad -- with other devoted readers. People who sign-up for the program can request a free galley and then write a review of it. That's quite a bit of power in this brave, new world where publishers are beginning to focus much of their publicity budgets on Internet marketing. Pay attention, writers.

So while my publicist and marketing director were thrilled to report last week that Tethered was the most requested galley in Book Browse history, I was a little wary. What would people be saying -- for all the world to read -- about my book?

It used to be that word-of-mouth was all done over the back fence or at the local coffee shop, dropping of the kids at school or picking up a book at the library. I tend to believe, and I could be completely wrong, that professional reviews don't inspire the average reader to plunk down their money for a book, nor do ads. Maybe seeing it on the front table at Borders, Barnes & Noble, or especially a favorite indie might inspire interest, but a trusted friend's suggestion is gold, isn't it? Publishers can't buy that kind buzz.

That's what's so interesting about Book Browse. They're corralling a network of readers into an online community in order to get real feedback. This is the wave of the future. The administrators of Book Browse won't accept pitches from publishers for their book selections, though they do accept advertising, they select what books they'll offer to their readers. The want to remain independent of anyone's influence.

Well, some reviews from real, live readers are starting to trickle into the site. While I've no interest in professional reviews, I care deeply what readers have to say. They are the ones who matter.

Tethered Chosen for Borders' Original Voices Program

By Amy MacKinnon

While I was on vacation last week, my publisher called with good news. She said she couldn't wait, it was too fantastic and it was. Tethered was chosen by Borders as one of their August picks for their Original Voices Program!

Naturally, I checked out what they're featuring for June. But what does this mean? Lots of good things it turns out. As I understand it, my novel will be among the five other novels selected for the program among all the novels scheduled for release in August -- not just debuts -- to be prominently displayed on the front table of every Borders in the nation courtesy of Borders. It will also appear with a written endorsement, courtesy of Borders. And it will certainly help build that all important buzz. Again, courtesy of Borders.

Now that's all well and great and I'm more grateful than I can duly express here, but it's not the best part. What moved me to tears was the review the buyer wrote about Tethered on the Borders web site. She didn't have to do it, it was enough that she nominated me. Going this extra mile took time and effort. And what she wrote...well, she got the book. She read it the way I'd always hoped someone out there might. So thank you Deanna P. From the bottom of my soul, thank you.



EXPERT REVIEW
:
5 out of 5
An Original Voice for Mystery! June 9, 2008 By Deanna P, Mystery Buyer from Borders Home Office (read all my reviews)
"Original Voices is a Borders program that highlights fresh, compelling, innovative and ambitious works from new and emerging talents. TETHERED by Amy MacKinnon is a perfect example of a book that belongs in this program, bringing together unforgettable characters and a well-plotted mystery with language that is rich and full.Clara Marsh is an undertaker, a mortician who helps prepare the dead for their final viewing with extraordinary care and compassion. She works surrounded by death, but imparts a last bit of life as she sends each person onto their final journey with secretly-placed fresh flowers in their caskets. Morning glories (affection upon departure) for an old woman who was much loved. Marigolds (cruelty in love) for the man who abused his wife.Clara’s days are structured and constant. She clings to her loneliness just to make it through each day, keeping even those that care about her most at arm’s length. Until the day she discovers a sad little girl named Trecie playing in the funeral home. Until Detective Mike Sullivan starts asking her questions again about the still unsolved death of another little girl that was nicknamed Precious Doe. Until the day that it seems that these two little girls are linked and that the clock may be ticking to save Trecie from a similar fate. MacKinnon has created a wonderfully flawed and human heroine in Clara Marsh, who must face the demons and ghosts of her own past in order to help Trecie. Given her occupation, it is inevitable that the mysteries of death and what come next are examined. Clara is privy to the beliefs of so many different kinds of people because of her job, but she herself is unable to believe. While she does her job, she sees what tethers our bodies to life, but it will take solving the mystery of Precious Doe and Trecie for her to truly understand what it is that tethers our souls to this earth and to one another. Highly recommended and not to be missed, TETHERED will keep you thinking well past the last page."

What Matters?

Posted by Lisa Marnell

Tonight, our writers’ group is meeting. As it happens, only my pages will be critiqued. The rest of the time will be spent catching up with each other, personally and professionally. I so look forward to their feedback. I am nervous to get feedback – Yes - but I intend to persevere until my novel is as good as I can make it. I will listen carefully to the positives (what works), and the negatives (what doesn’t).

Here are some rules I tell myself to live by when my work is critiqued:

1- I swallow my pride, and listen.
What others say about your work, matters. What you feel as they speak doesn’t.

2- It’s not personal, it’s business.
Feedback is what counts. You, a writer, need to understand how your work is perceived. It doesn’t matter if you poured your soul into this scene. It doesn’t. It may HAVE to be changed.

3- Don’t sweat the small stuff.
If someone makes a mistake with a minor character’s name, it doesn’t matter. If they are not convinced a major character may act the way she does, it matters.

4- Insist group members don’t hold back.
Each of us in the writers’ group asks for honesty. Lay it on me, I try to convey to Amy, Hannah and Lynne. I worry that if they are worrying about me, they may offer sugar-coated criticism. I don’t want that. I want the truth.

5- Be thankful.
If you are in a writers’ group that helps you improve your “product”, then you are lucky.

Recently, I’ve had more acquaintances and friends ask me for details about my two YA WIP novels. Some have offered to read my work. I’m so reluctant to hand them chapters because I know their feedback will throw me. If they like it, I may become too relaxed; would I let up on that drive I feel each day. If they don’t like parts, what then? Perhaps they’re not the right audience. Perhaps my work isn’t their style. I am loathe to change parts that “passed” writers’ group.

I have come to accept that feedback is not easy. I allow myself to feel proud when I submit pages. You should, too. The road to success is not easy.

To quote a wise writer I know, adore, and respect: "Writing a novel is hard work. Who knew?"

What is crucial is to remind yourself that some things matter, some don't.

Out There

By Amy MacKinnon

I wonder if it's too late.

Galleys have gone out for review, been sent to booksellers for ordering, to friends and family to read. I want to pull them all back, re-pack them in their cardboard boxes and hide them away from curious minds. People will talk. They'll have opinions and thoughts -- not all of them positive -- about the story, the writing, me. Soon, very soon, the book and I will be judged.

Not everyone will be kind, though some will fall to the other extreme. I won't know everyone's motives. Reviews on Amazon and other sites will be precipitated by friendship, animosity, or true conviction. I won't always be able to tell the difference. Labels of mediocrity will sting worst of all. I despise average.

It's never bothered me to be judged by the way I look, my actions, gender, politics, my parenting, address, or religion. I don't generally care. I've been regarded as fat, ugly, poor, stupid, and cruel, all of which have been true at different points in my life. That's fine, I can accept those critiques just fine. I have been laid bare in my most primal state before a room filled with curious residents and not blinked. Childbirth is humbling that way. But to have my book reviewed publicly will be the most disconcerting experience of all.

I want to be the person who walks into the wind upright and steadfast. I want to be Teflon. I want to be above the fray of the naysayers and uglies. I want to be fierce. And I am. Much like Achilles on the battlefield, I am strong and sure for the most part, but this book of mine is my sweet, soft heel.

So how to cope?

The Life Cycle of a Writer

by Hannah Roveto

The woman leaned over the table and said, "Do you think being in a writers' group has made a difference?"

"Yes." I nodded. And for the first time, I thought of the length of the journey this group has traveled.

Certainly, in a relatively short time, this group has accomplished a great deal. Yet the benchmarks you can see (agented! published!) exist because of benchmarks we have reached that you cannot.

When we are young in our writing, we play more. We try things that flop, we throw things out there that cannot stick, darlings that must be cut in time. Yet those ideas show up later, fuller and stronger, and it was worth every minute spent on them to learn and to experiment without fear.

We begin to learn how things Should Be. What Expectations for a proper Character, Plot, Setting, Voice. We dive down more fully into each of these areas, maturing like awkward teens. First the feet grow, then the legs. The body stretches. The voice hits an awkward register, then mellows.

At last, at last, all the elements are stronger, fully developed, into a writerly adulthood. The challenge then is to find and maintain, a continual balance between a seriousness of effort, playfulness in spirit, and a belief in what we have to offer the world.

In the past few years, all of us have been through this writers' life cycle. Without doubt, the group has been patient as my skills developed. Whatever I thought I knew of fiction when this group started -- from classes, past efforts, and reading like a fiend -- I was far more of an adolescent in this process than I suspected at the time!

While our process has been about the goal of publication, without doubt, it has also been about meeting a bar -- one continually raised the more we see of the world of agents and publication. Having this group critique my work -- and allow me to learn from their work and experience as well -- has without a doubt shepherded me through my writer's adolescence in a way that will make the next cycle of writerhood far richer.

Journals

Posted by Lynne Griffin

I have a thing for journals. I love quality stationery, mechanical pencils and pens that glide across the page. Right now if you were to go into my office closet or peek in a desk drawer, you'd find more cloth bound books and brightly colored pads of paper than I'll need for some time. These are my tools, and I can't write without them.

The stationery is for charming notes, the pens and pencils to enhance the writing experience. The journals are my most versatile tool used to capture the journey toward completing a novel. I don't use my journal in the traditional sense, a daily entry highlighting the day's activities and feelings associated with my life. I keep one for each book I write and in each I keep tidbits of ideas for my work-in-progress. In it I have vital information that will never find its way directly into the novel, but details that are essential to a tight, well-crafted work.

Here are a few of things I write down.

• Each character's age and the month of their birthday, along with their relationships with other characters. (For example, I don't want a character to be an older sister at the beginning of the novel, and later claim she's the younger of the two.)

• The names of all my minor characters and where they fit into the story (Boy can these people get lost in the shuffle.)

• The book's timeline (If it's Tuesday in Chapter one, what day is it in Chapter twenty? I fear I'll write a story where it's always Friday. Keep in mind, readers love to find these glitches in a novel, but they remove the reader from the story and thus interrupt flow.)

• Page counts of chapters (While it's fine to have chapters of varying length, I like to know how my story's structure is falling into place. Later I can decide to combine or expand certain chapters to fit the overall structure.)

• Lists of resources--print, web, and people-- that I can go to for story details (Authenticity of details is a post in and of itself)

• Interviews completed (For my work-in-progress, I've completed several interviews that have added incredible information I'm using to inform plot, character and setting. I don't know when I need this info until I'm writing and suddenly I need it, and I want to have it handy.)

• Notes related to revisions that will need to be layered into a subsequent draft (While I revise the writing from the day before each morning before I write again, I don't go back to the beginning, even if something is revealed to me in say the middle of the novel. I capture the notes in my journal and then in revision I'll know to add details or make changes. For example, a minor character in my work-in-progress had children in chapter three, but by chapter twenty-eight it was clear it was better if he didn't. Note to self--remove his children from chapter three)

The most significant use of my journal is during writers' group. During critique of my pages, sitting quiet, unable to speak, I write. I write down the positive things Amy, Lisa and Hannah say, as well as the constructive feedback. I do this for many reasons. For practical reasons, I have to know what's working and what's not. If I don't have the feedback to review later, I won't recall specifically what was discussed. I might think I'll remember, but likely I'll miss something. It also provides me with the ability to review the notes for themes. Is one character inconsistently relating to another character? Do a number of chapter beginnings overdue exposition? Is a particular subplot missing the mark in places? Taking accountability for the things that consistently emerge, absolutely makes for a stronger novel. Thanks to my journal, I won't miss any of these.

The process of capturing feedback is in itself a means of making positive change. Remember I'm a teacher, and teachers know that the act of writing down what you need to change is the first step toward embracing the change. The process of writing it down raises awareness and centers new thinking in a place of conscious thought. And it doesn't hurt to have the details that made your writers' group gasp, cry, or smile written down either. The positive feedback is a source of comfort on days when the writing is hard.

So how do you capture the nuances and tidbits for pulling together a strong work? We've written a number of entries about the art of writing, but I strongly believe in the science of it too. Work habits can either enhance or interfere with the process of writing a novel. Care to share some of the habits that work for you?

Show up

Posted by Lisa Marnell

Between 7:30 and 8:00 o'clock each night (almost without fail), I show up for my shift. I’m lucky; I don’t leave home to go to work – not for this job. I’m not lucky; I’ve been at this particular employment for four years and I haven’t gotten a single paycheck. I work anywhere from one hour to three hours. I don’t keep a time card. No one asks me if I filled my quota for my week – I always do; I show up to work.

Woody Allen, of course, said the famous line: “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

For a writer, for me, I hope this is true. In fact, to be honest, I believe this to be true.

In two recent newspaper articles written about us, about our writer’s group, I was asked the same question: “Lisa, do you think you’ll get published?” That question, more than any other, made me balk. It was hard to answer because it came out of left field. Perhaps my answer sounds vain to you, or to the reporter originally asking it, but it’s a no-brainer for me. The answer is simple.

The answer is (gulp) “Yes.”

I am not foolishly optimistic, my answer comes from looking at facts: editors and agents are desperate for a good story, and I am working hard in order to produce one.

When we first started this blog, in the fall of 2006, we mainly posted entries about the manner in which a good writer’s group functions. We’ve drifted from this. Now we post more about current events or the lives we live as writers. We share stories of inspiration, and we post author interviews. But the reason we started this blog was because we knew we had a good thing going and we wanted to share our excitement and our insight with the world.

A good writer’s group has been invaluable to me. It’s what gives me confidence.

Woody Allen has it right: success is about showing up. I show up. I learn. I write poorly some days and better the next.

Keep on keeping on: show up, and up, and up. Climb your ladder one rung at a time and reach the sky. It may not be as far away as it looks.

Success is showing up. Success is a choice. It helps me to believe this. Perhaps it will help you.

Just Show Up

By Amy MacKinnon

Before writing fiction, I was an essayist. I was also a reporter, but I much preferred writing essays and I still seek them out. The good ones take the personal, make it universal, and somehow imbue it with a profound observation on the human condition.

Yesterday, Jezebel posted one that is all of those things. Allegedly written by an anonymous runway model, Tatiana, it's everything an essay should be. Study it for lessons in clarity and story arc, how to give an unflinching account without a hint of sentimentality.

But as a writer, as someone who's faced with rejection and criticism, conflicting advice and conditional approval, withering reviews and fickle attention, read it for the next to last graf too. Remove all references to modeling and instead insert writing:

"But there is one way in which this industry has taught me to take less of an obsessive interest in how I measure up, appearance-wise. The feedback you receive as a model is breathtaking in its contradictions, vehemence, and beside-the-point meanderings. My shoulders, too broad for one client, will be criticized for their narrowness by another. I have been told I have too many freckles, and also too few. I've been too pale, too tan, too old, too young, too brown, too red, too blonde. I'm too tall or too short. My feet are too big or not big enough. At first, this was unsettling, and kind of withering, but it soon became white noise — when a casting agent shares advice with me ("Tie your hair back for castings!" "Walk more smoothly!" "Work out so you have some arm muscle!") I thank him or her politely and do precisely nothing — because I know the next will want to see unfettered hair, a cocky swagger of a walk, and arms that aren't as "bulky" with muscle as mine. It all cancels out, and I'm left with the conclusion that the client will cast whomever they will cast and they'll know it as soon as the right model walks in the door and nothing in my power will change that. The best I can do is show up."

Familiar? There is a cacophony of opinion about what constitutes good writing, good storytelling, a good book --there is nothing harmonious about public/private/professional opinion. With few exceptions it should all be white noise.

What you must do, all you can do, is write for the story. Write what compels you, what consumes your every thought. Don't worry about producing ten pages every day or even writing every day. Write because you want to, because you have to. Write because you love to write. Do that, and you'll become the person you want to be. Really. Because no matter what, your shoulders will be too narrow, too wide; your sprinkle of freckles will be too dense, too sparse; your arms too muscular, too flabby. I don't mean to imply that a worthy critiquer doesn't exist, I give as the best example my writers' group. What I do mean to say is it's crucial to be selective about whom you choose to listen to and when. No voice should be louder than your own.

And on those days when the voices overtake you, when there's another rejection in your email and you're certain you're no writer at all, remember: the best you can do is show up.

Pondering Criticism

by Hannah Roveto

From a letter by Shelby Foote to Walker Percy:

"I think a writer's mistakes are infinitely more interesting than any editor's "corrections" (and mind you, a critic is only an editor-once-removed) -- I think no one can have the view of the book the writer himself has, the CREATIVE view... It sometimes happens that certain scenes have no evident function; the critic says, Take this out. But these very scenes work in some way to bring out the total effect, heighten the contiguous scenes, and give the whole book its peculiar individuality. Yet any smart editor would have cut them -- I'm not talking about a dummy, I mean really smart: the speed of the book would have been picked up, the reading would go better... but don't you see? It wouldn't be the same book. A man must learn from his mistakes (even granting he was wrong) -- from MAKING them, not from being saved from them."

Foote goes on to say each book has its own problems, but still, "A man must write for himself, and then he must accept the penalties -- including the possibility of damnation."

I've reread this letter several times in the past two days, thinking of it in light of our last group meeting. The first chunk of my revisions were read (positive reaction!) and we also discussed reviews. (Three votes to "read once," one vote to ignore altogether.)

Shelby Foote is onto something. The weight criticism is given must come from the writer, and nowhere else. Commentary must be screened in light of how much we trust and respect the reviewer (so pick people you trust on your journey!), and its usefulness in identifying mistakes. If in our heart of hearts what lies on the page is something we have to go forward with, then we've made our choice; no matter the reaction, it was the right choice.

My mother is an artist, a jeweler, and even pieces made as recently as a year ago are sometimes melted down. She has learned a new technique. She has changed, improved, and those pieces reflect a lesser benchmark. Some pieces she believed in, that others said weren't right for their shows, have gone on to be in museums and in gorgeous coffee table books. Some pieces she has "outgrown" but saved get rave reviews. She doesn't agree with them, either, any longer. What I see in her is that she is never her review, and she is not even her work. The work reflects a side of her at one particular point in time. She knows this, deep in her heart, and continues to learn and to evolve. As Shelby Foote notes, "Life is long and the individual facets of Art are fleeting, except of course in the long view: which no writer ever takes, being a peculiar sort of fool, and therefore wise."

Reviews

By Amy MacKinnon

I love newspapers, always have. So it probably comes as no surprise that Sunday mornings are my favorites, the day when papers are at their thickest. I pour myself a bowl of Starbucks, settle in first with the hardcopies and then I wander over to my computer to read the others online. The headlines, local news, features, advice columns, oh and the essays. My favorite pages are the book reviews.

I've been reading book reviews almost as long as I've been reading books. In an earlier freelance incarnation, I was hired to write reviews. The first book I was assigned was a memoir by a local writer. I didn't love it. In fact, I found myself judging some of the choices the author made in the course of the story (adultery) and not necessarily the story arc, the evolution of her personal growth, the writing--not that I was dazzled by those aspects either. However, as a writer myself, it was inconceivable that I could crush in black and white someone who had spent years laying bare her soul. I apologized to my editor, explained I lacked the appropriate perspective, and vowed never to review a book.

Last night at Writers' Group, they reminded me that soon my own book would be sent off to be reviewed. It caused me some distress to consider that. I won't read them, I said. But you might learn something from them, said one. They might make you feel fantastic, said another. You're going to get some good ones and some bad, said yet another. (Actually, by this point I was feeling too ill to know who was speaking so the same person may have said all of this and more, but you get the gist.)

There are many reasons for my not wanting to read reviews of my novel. Some are practical. Many years ago, I did a story for the Boston Globe about an art exhibition and the curator said something I've never forgotten: not everyone is qualified to judge art. This provoked a series of questions from me, essentially about the subjectivity of art and the entitlement of individual perspective. He said that most people are not entitled to an opinion since they hadn't the breadth of knowledge about art in general or specifically. I've tussled with this over the years and only lately have I come to understand that he didn't intend it as a slight to the masses, but that he may have been absolutely right.

Weeks ago, I read a review of Castle Freeman's Go With Me. In it, Ron Charles references no fewer than three other works for comparison sake; he understands the inspiration behind this twenty-first century fable. Having that breadth of knowledge allowed him to better understand the layering effect Mr. Freeman used in crafting his novel. Another person might have read it and thought the styling was overly simplistic or some such. This is what the NBCC means when it states reviewing is and of itself an art form that should not to be taken lightly. Based on that review, I bought the book and felt I had an overall better sense of the story, which I highly recommend by the way-- for what it's worth.

So perhaps I should listen to my friends, read the reviews as they come in. Learn from the respectable ones and somehow try to let go of the anonymous negative critiques.

I don't know. What will you do when it's your turn?

And Then He Said

by Hannah Roveto

Funny, the reaction you get when your name appears in the paper. It's not like this was the first time; I'm somewhat active around town and I used to be a corporate spokesperson. The story on the Writers' Group was, however, the most personal story with my name attached. Funny, too, the reaction to the reactions.

People know I'm a writer. I don't usually get into the fiction thing because then there are so many questions I don't want to answer, don't know if I should answer. Do I tell them about the plot? Where I am? And the dreaded, "when will I be able to buy it?" Ummm...

Have to admit, however, when the only people who mentioned the story in the paper were my mother (to whom I'd emailed it), my husband and one neighbor, I was a little disappointed. The next day went to a show by comedienne Loretta LaRoche, where all of a sudden, everyone was mentioning it. I wanted to hug them all.

"So cool!" they said.

"No pressure now," I laughed back. "I'm the slow one on this curve. But I have a whole manuscript; I'm just finishing revisions. I'm close."

"You'll do it," they answered.

The third day I was sitting on the sidelines as large numbers of children ran around after a soccer ball. "Nice story," said one man.

"Thank you," I said, and I went into my slow-on-the-curve routine.

He was trying to be nice, I know. He smiled and said, "Well, that's the great thing about writing. As long as you're doing it, you're a writer. The publishing thing, well..."

I smiled back. And I promised myself to never, ever (after here, today) to get into the slow-on-the-curve routine again. From now on I say, simply, "thank you, I'm really excited."

The difference between writing and publishing is exactly why I found a writers' group. I had a lot to learn about writing and about getting something ready to be taken seriously. The manuscript on my screen behind this screen is the result of a lot of hard work and learning, and honest criticism and epiphanies. No matter where you are in the process, or whether you use a group, never damn your own hard work with faint praise. You know if you're serious. You know it's coming along. Just smile and write. And write. And write.

In Honor of SCBWI Writer's Intensive

Posted by Lisa Marnell

Last year I went to SCBWI (Society for Book Writers and Illustrators) New York City conference. This year I didn't. It was held this past weekend. Though it would have been delightful, real life got in the way as it does.

In 2007, I participated in a writer's intensive on the day before it started. It's frightening, this experience: complete strangers critique two pages of one's writing. In honor of that process, I am tossing my work out onto this blog; I swore I'd never do this. But you, blog readers, are hardly strangers. Here goes ... the start of a novel, not YA. Constructive feedback, in the spirit of our writer's group, is very welcome.

The Harmonica Lady switches street corners, but she doesn’t stop playing. In, out, in, out. White puffs of breath float away in the cold air, the same as her notes do. Her tune is the predictable rhythm of a child dragging the instrument back and forth over her lips; there’s nothing remotely musical about her playing today.

Some days there seems to be.

The woman hobbles across Prince Authur Street, not checking for cars (even she knows the street is cordoned off: pedestrians only). In front of the liquor store, she drops her harmonica a moment and mutters half in French, half in English, mixing in broken and forgotten Italian from her childhood, maybe.

It is a day for change; the Harmonica Lady has ditched the worn army blanket she wrapped tight around her shoulders since snow fell in November. A new shawl, a light blue as soft as the veins at the old woman’s temples, has taken its place. It’s either a gift from some do gooder – not me, I learned my lesson two weeks ago - or a lucky trash find.

The Harmonica Lady was actually a selling point when I considered this apartment. The second floor walkup is a renovated brownstone. Expensive? Sure. But a pied a terre in this part of Montreal? The real estate agent with her chain smoking, hard sell monologue was stuck on the word charming: Cet apartement est charmant, n’est pas? Et regarde la femme, elle est charmante.

...

Uncomfortable Places

Posted by Lisa MarnellThe writer in me is trapped between the ages of seven and seventeen. That time of my life represents such emotion, delight, frustration, discovery. It’s so real to me, I can’t help but love reading (and writing) YA and middle grade fiction.

Something bothers me, though. There’s a book I read when I was thirteen. Its topic was mental illness. I realize that now. At the time I just knew it frightened me. The writing and issues were powerful, too powerful for me at that particular time in my life. It affected me profoundly, but not in a good way. A friend recommended it. When I started it, I couldn’t put it down. Years beyond reading it, there were times when that book surfaced in my mind; it wasn't a help to me, ever. To this day, its title gives me chills.

As an adult, I’m particular about what books I read. Recently I read and loved Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher. On Lynne’s recommendation, I picked up Atonement by Ian McEwan. I want to write books of quality. Books I would love to read.

My work in progress has potential, but it has to address teen issues as well. The problem is that I make my characters' lives too cushy; I’m a wimp at heart. I keep extra blankets at the foot of my bed in case I get chilly at night. When I play ice hockey, I have a weakness: I back off when it comes to digging at the puck along the boards. I might get hurt, right?

The question I struggle with now is how do I balance timely teen issues without crossing the line where subject material is too inappropriate – gosh, can you tell I’m a mom? My writers group all had brilliant advice when we met over the weekend. I'm so grateful to them. They said, more or less: Give us more (than you do) and reel it in if it’s too much. Oh, how I need to toss that fishing line and see where it takes me. I’m in for the long haul: writing takes patience, and there’s no where I gotta be (no deadline).

Fiction has to be real, timely, exciting. But I have to love my product. It must be something I would want to read.

The bar stays high. Good thing I’m stubborn! If only I were more patient.

Get Back!

by Hannah

The dilemma was this: As I waited for comments on Novel One, I took more than a step into the world of Novel Two. This was not a good thing to do. Then again... well, let me explain.

There didn't seem to be a conflict even as the Group shared reactions to Novel One; despite their concerns that they'd overloaded me, I was excited. They liked a great deal about the revision, yet wanted more. There were more layers to be revealed, opportunities to go deeper, richer yet, they said, and I agreed. I left the meeting in good spirits despite the work ahead.

When I got home, I started to think through the changes. I could add that character I'd debated from my female protagonist’s background. I can kill off someone, maybe two? ("Kill, kill, kill!” as said by Arlo Guthrie in Alice’s Restaurant reverberated in my head.) I could expand my main character in a particular way. There was only one hurdle, plot-wise, that needed to be gotten around in order to make these things happen. I let my mind go blank…

and in stepped Novel Two characters, who’d been pushing into my thoughts for some months, only to be told to remain on the doorstep. Until recently. With the draft on the Group’s laps, I’d welcomed them inside, chatted with them, one by one and sometimes as a group. They showed me flashes of moments and story arcs, dutifully transcribed on 3x5 cards.

Suddenly, so close to getting Novel One pushed to the Next Level, I found myself uninterested in it. The main character annoyed me, no longer dashing and intriguing. Why had I ever wanted to get to know him at all? Clearly, if I felt this way, readers would, too. Well, so what, then, if I moved on to Novel Two? These new people were so engaging. Tempting.

I became frustrated, impatient. Why had I spent so much time investing in this character, this story? What about it all would make me so willing to give up on it with the end in sight?

Epiphany moment.

I pushed the Novel Two gang out the front door to consider this. Why was the story not clicking for me, right now? What did I need from the story, from the characters? What would make me fall in love with them all over again, to reinvest myself in their lives? In the answer came the solution to the hurdle.

Despite their banging on the windows, their complaints about the drop in temperature outside, the Novel Two folks will need to amuse themselves without my attentions for a while longer. It will be worth their wait, I know, given everything I have learned from Novel One. It certainly will be worth my wait, and I don't think I'll be waiting all that long.

You Know It When You Read It

by Hannah

My brother is working on fiction in his spare time. He is thinking a lot recently about what makes fiction believable, based on comments by his own writers’ group, mentioning setting in particular. I haven’t any easy answers to that myself, and have been mulling it over now as well. Description alone, in trying to establish setting, is insufficient.

One long-ago morning, a friend of mine and her mother, her roomie and I ended up in a poverty-stricken section of Philadelphia escorted by the police in search of the remains of a stolen car. Crumbling brick townhouses, weed-infested empty lots. We found the skeletal remains of the mom’s car, and what confirmed it was hers I don’t remember. There were no doors, no hood, no wheels, two seats removed. As we stood there, a slight man wearing jeans and an oversized shirt came out the side door of a nearby building. The cop watched him a moment, then went to talk with him. Before we knew it, there were five more squad cars, a van, dogs, all coordinated to arrest a drug dealer inside who, it turned out, received a large shipment the previous night. The gathering neighbors were both suspicious of and amused by the four white women plunked down in the middle of this crime scene. Three children even came over to chat us up and check us out, asking if we were detectives “like Charlie’s Angels.” (Bless their hearts!)

How’s that for good material? Every line is true. So when I needed to put two characters into a scene that (a) revealed something in terms of how each related to their status in the world, (b) had a city setting, and (c) added action, I transposed fact to fiction. How could I not?

The Group’s reaction? Didn’t fly, didn’t even hop. Even the setting, alone, didn’t wow them enough to suggest changes to the other elements in order to keep the setting. No, the whole thing was a yawn. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the story, a thoroughly invented scene in a completely fictitious bar hit the mark dead-on. Not only did they like how the plot and character were revealed, they made comments on how much they enjoyed the setting itself.

It seems in the odd alchemy of fiction, believability is not earned element by element, but in how the pieces join to a whole. The story knows how it wants or needs to be told, and if you don't do it all in the right measure, it doesn't work. The setting has to be described, and the characters need to reveal themselves just so, and the plot must push forward, and so on. Or not? Your thoughts?

Majoring in Minors

By Amy

My favorite part of writing fiction -- well, one of my favorites, there are many -- is discovering minor characters. When they introduce themselves, I need to know them wholly: feel the texture of their hair, smell the layers of cigarette smoke dulling their nylon windbreakers, understand what it means when they dance in place or are stilled by the grace of death. A minor character's life needs to be bigger than the short turn each has on the page.

The great Michael Lowenthal (really, he's that good, read his books) did a workshop at Grub Street's Muse and the Marketplace conference this past May and spoke to this very issue. If I had Michael's eloquence, I could explain it better, how to make what could easily and certainly should be a two-dimensional character three-full-D. Lynne was there, she'll probably remember the short story he gave as an example (was it a Flannery O'Connor?) that included a large woman, a woman whose bulk and personality filled a doctor's waiting room. She was lush with ego, the characters around her wilted under her disdain -- in a few carefully chosen words. Michael's examples truly did astonish.

The fleshing out of minor characters is crucial because they're able to reveal much about a protagonist. William H. Macy believes a good actor reacts to other actors. I believe a good character reacts to other characters. After all, in life don't we find much of our behavior to be a reaction to those around us? Minor characters reveal to readers both how our protagonists are perceived by the world and how our protagonists perceive their worlds to be. Only a fully-formed minor character can execute both duties well.

I didn't know this when I set out to write my book. It wasn't until it was my turn to have a passage critiqued by Lisa, Hannah, and Lynne that they said they fell in love with a character who appeared for two brief pages. To me, he was only a means to an end. They assumed he would have a recurring role. That night, they set the bar much higher for me. Every one of the people who appeared in my book needed to have a backstory that was hinted at, a presence that was tangible. Though it meant revising, it hardly seemed a challenge it was so much fun.

Writing this now, processing what the other three women of my group have taught me, I suppose it's somehow misleading to use the term "minor character." For the truth of the story, each needs to fill the proverbial waiting room.