Broadening My Reading and Writing Horizons

I've trying to read outside my comfort zone.  As my profile will tell you, I am a fan of romance and women's fiction with a happy ending.  I like spicy but not over the top.  Because I use reading as an escape, I often pick the authors I know I'll like.  My time is limited and I want to make the most of it.

Every time I read an agent or editor interview, the advice often is to read more to become a better writer.  So, this summer, I decided to set a goal to read outside my comfort zone.  The first attempt was really good.  I enjoyed the author very well.  With the second, I'm really struggling.  Here's why.  I dare to say sometimes I think there can be too much show in your showing versus telling.  I'm a fan of good word usage as much as the next person, but I'm struggling with the whole idea of when is it merely showing and when is it purple prose.  Wikipedia gives the definition of purple prose as the following:

"Purple prose is written prose that is so extravagant, ornate, or flowery as to break the flow and draw excessive attention to itself. Purple prose is sensually evocative beyond the requirements of its context. It may also employ certain rhetorical effects such as exaggerated sentiment or pathos in an attempt to manipulate a reader's response."

I recently started a book I'd seen recommended by various publications.  While I think the idea and story could be good, I can't get past the prose.  I find myself focused more on figuring out what the words mean versus getting lost in the story.  I pride myself on having a decent vocabulary and I'm fairly intelligent (I know, but you'll just have to take my word for it;-)).  Still, this writing is a bit over my head and I can't enjoy it.  

Not only can I not enjoy it, it makes me feel defeated.  This is a well regarded book.  It brings out my self-critical side.  I'll never write like that.  Is there still a place for me out there in the fiction world?  Only time will tell.  In the meantime, I'll keep writing.

BTW, I think I'm getting close to submission time.  I'll keep you posted.  Probably another reason why I feel the self doubt monster creeping back in.  Go away, I say! :-)

The World of Self-Publishing

I don't know this world from personal experience, mind you.  I've just been reading a lot about it.  What I've seen so far makes my head hurt.  I'm one of those people who grew up at the time when computers were just bursting onto the scene.  I think I've moved along with the times quite nicely and usually have no problems adapting to a new computer or program.  Still, I rarely know technical terms and when they're thrown at me in quick succession, my eyes glaze over.  Which is exactly what just happened.

There are a couple of good and recent articles on Writer's Digest about self-publishing.  You're given all the ins and outs of how it's done including how to format, cover art, etc.  I started reading thinking, maybe I can do this, but left with a headache.

Maybe I'm too old for this (and I'm not that old-I promise!).  This is exactly why I've been pursuing the old-fashioned, tried and true agent route.  Because I need help!  I don't want to do this all by myself!  At least not yet;-)  I know doing everything electronically is the way of the future.  I get that and I'll figure it out when I need to.  Just like I'm figuring out this whole blogging thing.  I'm getting there;-)

Now, excuse me while I go down a couple of ibuprofen and get out my notebook.  I'm taking a break from technology for a couple of hours.

Unpopular Writing Advice-Maybe

Okay, I'm not one to necessarily listen to, but hear me out.  I'm not an expert, not published (as I've said before).  I'm really a nobody.  However, I've been doing this a while and if my trials and tribulations can help you, then I'm doing my job.

My possibly unpopular advice is this:  Maybe you shouldn't try to submit that first finished manuscript.  There, I said it.  Now, here's why.  I tried to.  So proud that I'd actually finished a 75,000 word manuscript, I submitted to all the big agents out there.  What happened next?  Crickets.  Nothing.  Nada.  I know getting picked up by a big name agent is a shot in the dark, like playing the lottery, etc.  Still, I didn't really understand.  Now, I do.

Four years in, I've recently gone back and read some of my other pieces.  I have to admit they're pretty terrible.  Accomplishments, every one of them but not quite there yet.  At the time, I thought they were great.  I thought they were just right.  I was wrong.  I read some advice once but unfortunately can't remember where.  I'm sure it was an agent blog as those are the ones I visit the most.  The advice was to put a work aside for a while, move on to something else for a time and then come back to it.  You will be able to look at your own work with fresh eyes.  Boy was this advice right on.  I can so clearly see it now.

One of these works really disappoints me because I still love the idea.  I guess I just need to scrap some of the writing, take the idea and try again.  Sigh.  The good news was another I took a second look at really appealed to me.  One of my most recent manuscripts.  I think it's actually pretty good upon second glance.  My plan is to polish it up and submit.

Back to my original statement though.  Those early manuscripts of mine were just not good enough.  I couldn't see it then but I can now.  I'm definitely getting better.  Big plus!  However, maybe we need to look upon that first as a start.  A beginning of a wonderful writing life.  It might not be ready but another will be.  Of course, there are always exceptions.  I'm sure there are many authors out there who published their first and, at the time, only manuscript to great success.  Alas, that person isn't me but I'll keep chugging along slowly up that ginormous hill to a successful writing life.

A Writing Rut

I'm in a rut.  A writing rut.  I'm finished with the beginning to end of a story and I'm ready to re-read and polish.  The problem is I can see lots of things wrong with it already.  In a way, this is good.  Right?  (Please say yes.)  If I can pick out what's not good about my own writing that means I'm getting better, wiser.

I hope this is the case because it's really frustrating.  It's frustrating to toil on something for months and then see so many things wrong with it.

A lot of people have said to me they can't believe I wrote a 70,000 word novel.  These same people say they would never be able to stick with something that long.  They talk about how difficult it would be.  For me, writing the first draft is easy (in a sense).  I'm telling my story.  I'm excited to get all the ideas in my head out.  It carries a certain thrill with it.  It's the next part I struggle with.  Making it better, critiquing myself, and somehow not feeling overwhelmed or defeated in the process.

As I wrote in one of my most recent entries, I suck at this part.  I need to get through this.  I need to be dedicated.  I need to finish, damn it!

Okay, I feel better already.  Time to tackle the first chapter.

Prologues: Good or Bad?

I'll readily admit I don't know the answer to this question.  I don't have a negative experience with them.  In fact, I've seen them used well.  The times where I've enjoyed them seem to be as a hooks into exciting parts to come later.  Sometimes, they reveal an occurrence from a different time or place that set certain events into motion.  I like this as well.

Oddly, the prologue seems to be one of the most hotly debated writing topics out there.  People seem to despise them.  A rather strong reaction it seems to me, but I'm not a literary critic, agent or anyone else of importance in the writing world.  Critic's, agents and editors read hundreds upon hundreds of books with the intent of picking them apart and deciding their worth.  I can imagine certain conventions or tricks get really old.  Apparently, the prologue is one of them.

Why do I bring this up?  I've been flirting with one in one of my latest novels.  The one I've written is funny (at least I think so;-D).  It shows one of the MC's in a precarious position.  She has just made a life altering choice.  As I'm writing this, I realize one important thing.  I'm kind of revealing an important decision she deliberates through most of the book.  Do I want that decision revealed so quickly?  I'll have to think about that.  Still, I like the idea of starting with such a funny and important scene.  I feel like it draws a reader in.

Then, what's the problem?  After reading so many articles, blog entries, etc., I doubt myself.  It would seem some people don't even read the prologue.  Worse, agents seem to get turned off at even seeing that word at the top of the first page.  If the idea is to make a good impression, I don't want to make a huge blunder right from the get-go.

I'm almost talking myself out of doing it just as I write this.  Does it really matter what I think?  I guess it should.  It is my work of course.  But, part of writing is hoping someone else might enjoy it someday.

Something to think about along with everything else about writing;-)