Bethany McShurley spells out the reasons a book could use multiple editors.
Category Archives: Writing
James Patterson’s MasterClass on Writing
A new opportunity to study with experts and professionals launched this week. Masterclass.com is a video-based instructional site that will allow you to study with professionals like James Patterson, Dustin Hoffman, and Serena Williams at your own pace on any device you own.
Patterson’s class on writing comes with notes, assigned reading, interactive exercises, and the outline of his bestselling novels from 2007, Honeymoon. For $90, you get twenty-two lessons and access to the class and course materials for as long as the website exists.
As I said, the site is new this week, so there are only three courses available now with two more announced. If you take a Master Class now or in the future, I’d love to hear about your experience.
How Important Are a Writer’s Connections?
The Blunt Instrument answers questions about the necessity of an MFA and how well-networked a writer must be to succeed. Among other things, he says,
Writing and reading and doing the rest of the administrative work required to get published take up a lot of time, most of which is uncompensated, especially at first.
You can do all of this (find a community, carve out dedicated writing time, etc.) without getting an MFA, but an MFA is a structured system that makes these things easier to achieve in a short time period. In my opinion, that’s what you’re paying for, more than the largely useless degree.
A Gap Between Taste and Creative Work?
Terry Teachout reflects on some writing advice from Ira Glass that has passed around the Internet for years. Here’s a part of it, if you’ve seen it before. “But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, your taste is still killer, and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you.”
The bottom line is to write through the discouraging junk until you gain the skill to write with the excellence your taste has always wanted.
Teachout says he didn’t have problem as such, because he didn’t start writing creatively until he had spent many years writing professionally.
All this leads me to believe that Ira Glass’ observations about the relationship between taste and creative inhibition are the answer to the question of why so few drama critics try to write plays. If you’re a competent critic, then you’re painfully conscious of the yawning gap between “good” and “pretty good.” That knowledge can’t help but be inhibiting—especially when you earn your living by sitting in public judgment on the creative work of other writers. . . .
For the moral of my story is that while it’s important to be realistic, both about your own abilities and, more generally, the larger prospects for success in the world of art, it can be just as important not to let yourself be overwhelmed by that realism.
People Don’t Write Books
Author Jonathan Rogers was passed up by Senior Ms. America in last April’s Music City Half-Marathon. It proved transformative.
Here in my forties I have gained wisdom from running that I never gained from books. To wit: I have learned never to ask, “Can I run 13.1 miles?” (the answer is probably no) but only to ask “Can I run to the next telephone pole” (the answer is probably yes). To apply this principle to my line of work, people don’t write books: they write sentences.
Writing is Hard
The author of Making Nice, Matt Sumell, talks about why writing is hard, how autobiographic his fiction is, and the fact he almost dropped out of his MFA program many times.
Every story is different, and every story comes with its own specific difficulties, so every story also comes with its own specific anxiety and panic until it’s done. Only—as they say—it’s never done, just abandoned. Cycle through that for a few years, a couple decades, and maybe you’ll develop a base level of frustration. Maybe you’ll get depressed. Maybe you’ll chuck a chair, or a candle, or punch a wall. If you’re like me, maybe you’ll punch a wall and then get mad at your pants when your swollen hand doesn’t slip into the pocket easily.
My Writing and Editing Continues at a Steady Pace
A year ago I announced my transition into freelance writing and editing, and I remain thankful for the opportunities the Lord has given me. I’ve had a year’s worth of strong, interesting challenges, mostly in the area of writing small group studies for various churches. Those opportunities have come through the good people of Docent Research Group, who have been serving pastors and ministry leaders for many years. I couldn’t ask for a better team.
The Lord has also given me projects through Christian Editing Services, a network of professionals who can take a writer’s manuscript from rough draft to published in a timely manner. Their service listing is comprehensive, from academic editing to writing website copy, illustration to book trailers. I always look forward to receiving a new message from my CES editor in chief.
Last year, I mentioned my connections to a couple websites. I have much less of a connection with them now, but I guess I haven’t ruled them out completely. My largest project from the year came to me through independent channels. I was asked to edit a pastor’s devotional commentary and help usher it through publishing channels. That book is being published this month through Lulu.com. I’ll link to it when the sale page is up. Do join me in prayer that it finds a healthy readership.
Maybe I have something deep broken in me, because I feel both called to this work and completely inadequate for it. Even writing this simple post, I ask myself what I think I have to say and criticize every word I type. But pushing those thoughts aside, I enjoy putting words together and helping writers reach readers. I intend to do more of it over the coming year, if the Lord provides the work. More than ever before, I rely on our Lord for wisdom and daily bread. He has been generous with me, for which I am deeply thankful.
Strunk & White Approaches 55
Geoffrey K. Pullum of the University of Edinburgh hates the popularity of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style. He doesn’t believe the frequently recommended little book deserves it.
Following the platitudinous style recommendations of Elements would make your writing better if you knew how to follow them, but that is not true of the grammar stipulations.
“Use the active voice” is a typical section head. And the section in question opens with an attempt to discredit passive clauses that is either grammatically misguided or disingenuous.
We are told that the active clause “I will always remember my first trip to Boston” sounds much better than the corresponding passive “My first visit to Boston will always be remembered by me.” It sure does. But that’s because a passive is always a stylistic train wreck when the subject refers to something newer and less established in the discourse than the agent (the noun phrase that follows “by”).
For me to report that I paid my bill by saying “The bill was paid by me,” with no stress on “me,” would sound inane. (I’m the utterer, and the utterer always counts as familiar and well established in the discourse.) But that is no argument against passives generally. “The bill was paid by an anonymous benefactor” sounds perfectly natural. Strunk and White are denigrating the passive by presenting an invented example of it deliberately designed to sound inept.
Of course, many writing teachers and word lovers like the book. NPR talked to Barbara Wallraff about why she’s a fan.
“There’s a certain Zen quality to some of [the book’s rules], like, ‘Be clear,'” Wallraff tells NPR’s Renee Montagne. Continue reading Strunk & White Approaches 55
Taking a Break from Contracts
History author Susan Wise Bauer talks about taking a break from writing under deadline–well, behind deadline–for a few years.
“So about a year ago, I promised myself that when I hit my last big deadline, I wouldn’t sign another contract immediately. Instead, I decided to take six months and just write. Go down to my office and work on anything that struck my fancy. Read, reflect, experiment, let my horizons expand.”
A few weeks into this hiatus, she entered ‘fish mode’, and you’ll never guess what happened next. It completely blew my mind. I was weeping by the end of her story. Ok, I’m not saying what you might easily conclude I’m trying to say. All I’m saying is click the link to her post to see what ‘fish mode’ is and how Bauer feels it.
That’s all I’m saying. Really.
Oh, and I should also say that Bauer is the excellent author of several history books, such as The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade. Her newest book is The Story of Science: From the Writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang Theory.
Are You Ready to Write a Book?
Stephen Altrogge, Barnabas Piper, and Ted Kluck have recorded 29 episodes of their Happy Rant Podcasts, talking about stuff, junk, and things, to be specific. Here they chat about when one is ready to write a book and buying your way onto the bestseller list. They introduce proven schemes to move your book forward and reach readers you wouldn’t have reached with the subject or quality of your writing. If your book is mediocre, these guys are willing to take your money and move your book. Some may call this selling out. The Happy Rant crew calls it selling up. The bottomline is giving them your money. I’m sure it works. I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure it works.