Very Short Story

Not exactly a post on editing, but rather an example of extreme editing. I've been joking that my new goal is to write a story in 140 characters or less. Well, here's someone who's actually done it -- repeatedly. His name is Sean Hill, and in the spirit of Twitter, here's a shortened link to his page:

http://bit.ly/176TC0

For the rest of us, it's www.twitter.com/veryshortstory

Some really good, dark, humor in his pieces...

Ink-saving type face and other articles and events

Dave Fiske passed along this article on which fonts use the most and least ink. A good read for those looking to save ink and money.

Writer's Digest (WD) blog ponders the age-old question of "How Do You Make Time to Write?".

The Book Page explores Facebook for Authors: Public vs. Private.


Katie shared a link to WD's interview with Sue Grafton.

Kay Hafner passed along info on some upcoming events (click on any for more details)

-The Adirondack Center for Writing's Memoir Workshop (On May 5)

-Annual WD contests(Deadline May 14)

-2010 The Writer short story contest (Deadline May 31)


Kay also passed along a few blogs she found interesting:
-Jane Espenson
-The Write Soul
-MFA Confidential

Third Thursday Preview

This Thursday marks the GFWG's 12th anniversary. No idea what Kay has planned, but I'm pushing for cake. It's quite a milestone in a small community like Glens Falls, something even the larger and artistic Saratoga can't maintain. We should be proud of ourselves. We should also be proud that our production remains very strong three months after reformatting our submission policy. I had trouble keeping up with all the reading. There's likely to be a flood of red ink to make government accountants jealous.

We'll be reviewing the latest chapter admissions from Zack, Katie, and Billy, shorts from Bill and Ann Marie, a reworked memoir from Jerri Lynn, new essays from Sandy, and a YA start from Brian.

Kay will be leading our discussion on critiquing basics following recaps of the Empire State Book Festival and the Jon Katz seminar. We'll also see how Zack's email experiment went during its trial run.

We'll be back in the big room, since we need the space to hold all our paperwork. Hope to see you all there for a full meeting. It might not wrap until halfway through our social!

Details: 7-9pm, Holden Room, Crandall Library

Empire State Book Festival

Kay and I made the trek to Albany for the first Empire State Book Festival. A full-day event, stretching from 10am-5:30pm, the festival offered seminars for aspiring and professional writers, plus the chance to buy books, and meet and greet authors and publishers.

Gregory Maguire gave a solid and entertaining opening address, and then Kay and I were off to our various conferences, she focusing on murder-mystery, me on children's books. Without going into steep detail, we both reached the same conclusion on our own -- these seminars were for early-stage writers, those just dabbling in the written word and in need of direction. Which is not to say I wasn't impressed by individual presenters, and even ran into a few friends and friends of friends who were on various panels. I was particularly impressed by the way in which Kyra Teis of Star Bright Books controlled a room full of, well, rambunctious children eager to be entertained. Which is an example of what I generally walked away with at this conference -- no real knowledge or insight into the publishing world, but maybe a pointer or two, a reference source here or there, a chance to study not the process of writing but the process of presenting.

I am sure the professional side of the festival helped many writers find direction, even answered a few of their questions. It's just that Kay and I have been at this game for awhile, and had either experienced, read, or heard much of the advice elsewhere. There was also a political element to all of it -- that is the way in which authors failed to answer questions directly but rather related it to their books. I'm all for moving product and have been guilty of this trick on occasion, but it was often obvious what was happening.

Still, with all that said, I made a contact at one of the houses, an opportunity to submit, which I will be doing later this week. Hey, I understand how to push my product, too!

Evolving Theories on Writing

Evolution might seem like a strictly scientific theory, but if scientists are right, then we have evolved to love fiction. Yes, you read that right. Storytelling is a part of us, an essential ingredient to being human. After all, no other species wants to deal with anything other than reality.

On the surface, it would seem humans have nothing to gain from spinning a few yarns, but the same could be said of stargazing or deep-sea diving. We're curious by nature, interesting in good and moving stories.

With all that waxing poetic aside, studies show that certain elements of prose hold our attention. Keep these things in mind when you're writing your masterwork:

1. Readers have trouble following more than three emotional states simultaneously. Four is difficult, five nearly impossible. On the flip side, two is generally considered boring, although as any writer will tell you, tension between characters can really move a story along. Still, people respond most positively to three characters in a scene, each with their own motives and emotions.
2. Readers like when characters misinterpret another character's intentions or statements. They like enjoy watching characters misread signals while they themselves are in the know. This form of literary voyeurism or knowledgeable oneupsmanship might explain omniscient narrators or the desire for first-person narrators to say, "If I only knew then what I know now..."
3. Readers like a point of view that presents the author's omniscience through a character's viewpoint. That is, when we, the readers, are inside a character's head but in a scene controlled by the author. Similar to Number Two in many ways. Jane Austen introduced this approach, but others have certainly mastered it.
4. Readers like morality in their tales, even altruism. One character must have moral certitude, or the story must contain an ending that justifies his moral struggles. Think of it as immorality meets the immovable object.

Good points to subtly present in an outline before committing them to the written page. Solid writing will always engage a reader, but so, apparently, will certain tricks that evoke a visceral reaction at a very deep, biological level.

P.S. As regards point Number One--scientists also believe that people can naturally count to four. Even many animals can keep track of four objects, and yet, intelligent, well-read individuals can't keep track of our emotions at the same time. In other words, maybe reading and writing really is harder than math and science. (I have included this postscript to make Kay feel better about her math skills...)

The iPad and self-publishers

Last week, I pointed out an article from The Atlantic which wondered why (traditional) publishers thought the new iPad would save publishing. Yesterday, NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday ran a segment (here) exploring how Apple's new device could help self-publishers.

First Thursday Review

A packed house, made more cramped by the tiny Crandall Room, covered topics and manuscripts as diverse as our membership.

In reverse order:

We critiqued works from Zack (sci-fi novel), Jerri Lynn (memoir), Sandy (dramatic non-fiction), and Cynthia (memoir essay).

We launched Zack's email experiment in which he will forward copies of his latest chapter of The Dead Machine to members. Those making general comments on his ms ("I like the ending," "this character seems flat," "great dialogue," etc.) can make them on a separate sheet of paper. Those suggesting substantial changes can print out a copy and return it to Zack all marked up.

We changed next meeting's topic from More Common Editing Mistakes to Critiquing Basics. Kay will have suggestions from her research, but if you have been in other groups or have experienced other approaches, please contribute.

And now the best for last, a recap of our opening discussion on overcoming a writer's fears.

Among those listed:

1. Research is more fun than writing. It's great learning new things, and the writing suffers.
2. Digging deep -- hiding emotions and unscrupulous behavior from ourselves.
3. Revealing too much -- hiding emotions and unscrupulous behavior from others
4. Can't commit -- the work seems overwhelming, a novel too daunting to undertake.
5. Pre-conceived notions -- approaching the writing with a particular viewpoint draped in the author's personality -- don't want to be too negative, too positive, etc.
6. Afraid to Cut -- being too committed to what we've written, not improving the text, letting the story getting bogged down in details and tangents
7. I'm not a writer.

Maybe that last one says it all, the six above contributing to the 7th below. But overcoming those fears can lead to a correction of that final conclusion -- from "I'm not a writer" to "I can do this" to "I must do this" to "I'm a writer." Hopefully putting these fears on the table will clear them from our psyches. A clean mind leads to a cluttered page.

Well, I hope!

See you in two weeks in our regular digs.

Will the iPad save publishing?

This piece from The Atlantic wonders "Why Do Publishers Think the iPad Will Save Media? It dovetails nicely with some of John's recent observations.