I've been doing some research - I can't call it a poll or even in-depth research - on how readers, critiquers (if thats not a word it should be), contest judges and possibly instructors weigh various aspects of writing. I have surmised that the things rated most important are basic grammar and spelling. Almost no one will even read a story (book, essay, blog) that is hard to read simply because it is poorly written in terms of proper punctuation, paragraphs, and sentence structure.
This could be seen as slightly unfair, because someone's lack of rudimentary english skills doesn't mean they don't have a great story to tell or fabulously developed characters, etc. The good news is that proper writing can be learned. While some people say -and others disagree - that various writing skills can be learned, grammer and spelling have set rules. And if, for whatever reason, a writer who may be gifted in other areas of writing cannot master them, there are editors and mentors and critique buddies.
There is no excuse to have a piece of work that is written badly, even if you have to rely on someone else for help with things like punctuation and paragraph format. If you have a great story, facinating characters, unique setting, enticing premise, whatever, it is worth learning how to write correctly or have someone, friend or professional, correct your work.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Master Jack
This year's (Cafe Doom) contest judging experience has, once again, given me new perspective and things to think about. I have entered contests often over the years and while they are run and judged differently, many of them return judges sheets to the entrant. These are usually broken down into aspects of the work and ranked on a scale of 1-5, with comments from the reader about why they gave each part the score it recieved. Maybe the next time I participate in contest judging I will use such a method. It would make the process much less overwhelming.
One of the things I saw in the nearly 60 stories I read over a week's time was how many stories were strong in one area and weak in others. We all have more ability in some aspects of our writing than others, but in many of these stories, the discrepancy was pronounced. And it's disappointing for the reader when a story with a great plot and characters is ruined by poor grammer or less than cohesive writing style. Or a story with amazing premise or imagery is overshadowed by flat characters or unrealistic dialogue.
There are few novels and stories that are awesome in all respects, but many writers are competent in most areas and stellar in others. A good writer rarely has a weakness bad enough in any aspect of their writing to negatively affect the entire work.
So, I've been wondering, in the context of "Jack of all trades and master of none", are certain writing skills more important than others? Which weaknesses are more likely to detract from a really good piece of writing? How strong does any one ability have to be to overcome flaws in other areas?
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
Note: This post was partially inspired by a book I am reading, "The Name of the Wind", by Patrick Rothfuss, who as far as I can tell is skilled in many, possibly all, aspects of novel writing.
One of the things I saw in the nearly 60 stories I read over a week's time was how many stories were strong in one area and weak in others. We all have more ability in some aspects of our writing than others, but in many of these stories, the discrepancy was pronounced. And it's disappointing for the reader when a story with a great plot and characters is ruined by poor grammer or less than cohesive writing style. Or a story with amazing premise or imagery is overshadowed by flat characters or unrealistic dialogue.
There are few novels and stories that are awesome in all respects, but many writers are competent in most areas and stellar in others. A good writer rarely has a weakness bad enough in any aspect of their writing to negatively affect the entire work.
So, I've been wondering, in the context of "Jack of all trades and master of none", are certain writing skills more important than others? Which weaknesses are more likely to detract from a really good piece of writing? How strong does any one ability have to be to overcome flaws in other areas?
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
Note: This post was partially inspired by a book I am reading, "The Name of the Wind", by Patrick Rothfuss, who as far as I can tell is skilled in many, possibly all, aspects of novel writing.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Once Again I'm Amazed...
...at how subjective writing critique can be. The judging I was participating in for the Cafe Doom 7th Annual Horror contest finished up today. I had all good intentions of critiquing and writing comments about each story as many of the readers/judges do. I'm less daunted by the work involved than by the overwhelming confusion.
I guess I shouldn't read what others said about stories before submitting my own comments. Here's what I don't understand: several people wrote exactly what I thought about some stories. The same people wrote things like, "This story grabs your attention at the very beginning and the ending is an unexpected twist" about a story that I would have said, "Starts slow and the reader knows by the second sentence exactly how the story will go and how it will end." How can two people have the same thoughts and feelings about some stories and completely opposite opinions of others?
The whole experience makes me wonder how helpful the comments are to the writers. This is where we remind ourselves that the way to benefit from critique is to listen to everything, consider it carefully and choose to act on it or not, remembering that if several people say the same thing, there's probably some merit to what is said.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
I guess I shouldn't read what others said about stories before submitting my own comments. Here's what I don't understand: several people wrote exactly what I thought about some stories. The same people wrote things like, "This story grabs your attention at the very beginning and the ending is an unexpected twist" about a story that I would have said, "Starts slow and the reader knows by the second sentence exactly how the story will go and how it will end." How can two people have the same thoughts and feelings about some stories and completely opposite opinions of others?
The whole experience makes me wonder how helpful the comments are to the writers. This is where we remind ourselves that the way to benefit from critique is to listen to everything, consider it carefully and choose to act on it or not, remembering that if several people say the same thing, there's probably some merit to what is said.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Please Forward My Calls...
to mywritingloft.blogspot.
I am taking a few sick days. I could blog about useless, trivial things but I endevour to be encouraging and offer helpful information and insights. Not feeling up to that so I am directing readers to my friend Karen's blog. She is doing a series of 366 lessons on writing. Inspirational, educational and entertaining. Very much worth checking out.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
I am taking a few sick days. I could blog about useless, trivial things but I endevour to be encouraging and offer helpful information and insights. Not feeling up to that so I am directing readers to my friend Karen's blog. She is doing a series of 366 lessons on writing. Inspirational, educational and entertaining. Very much worth checking out.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
As If I Have Time For A New Favorite Author
I have found another author whose books I'm afraid I will have to read all of. His was one of the random books I picked up and started reading and from page one I was hooked. This particular novel is called Orpheus Rising by Bateman. His first name is Colin, but apparently he's going by Bateman now - according to him - as a marketing ploy.
I can't begin to explain what the book is about or even what kind of book it is other than fiction, but it's certainly not what I would call literary - which is a kind of fiction I've never been able to develop a fondness for. But I loved the the main characters immediately and I think I'm more a fan of character driven story's than plot driven. I'm also of the opinion that an author who can create fabulous characters is going to be talented enough to come up with a plot worthy of them.
I checked out Bateman's website and I think I really like him as a person as well. He's funny, which is always a plus, but also straight-forward and down-to-earth, traits I also admire (and not just because those words contain hyphens, a bit of punctuation that I am quite fond of - as well as parentheses). According to his website some of the authors who's books he likes to read are some I like as well.
Now while I'm trying to spend more time working on my own writing I'm going to be drawn to finding more of his books and spending precious time reading them. However, we writers are often told that reading great books, especially the kind we like to write, is one of the best ways to improve your own writing. So I'm going with that.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
I can't begin to explain what the book is about or even what kind of book it is other than fiction, but it's certainly not what I would call literary - which is a kind of fiction I've never been able to develop a fondness for. But I loved the the main characters immediately and I think I'm more a fan of character driven story's than plot driven. I'm also of the opinion that an author who can create fabulous characters is going to be talented enough to come up with a plot worthy of them.
I checked out Bateman's website and I think I really like him as a person as well. He's funny, which is always a plus, but also straight-forward and down-to-earth, traits I also admire (and not just because those words contain hyphens, a bit of punctuation that I am quite fond of - as well as parentheses). According to his website some of the authors who's books he likes to read are some I like as well.
Now while I'm trying to spend more time working on my own writing I'm going to be drawn to finding more of his books and spending precious time reading them. However, we writers are often told that reading great books, especially the kind we like to write, is one of the best ways to improve your own writing. So I'm going with that.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Miscellaneous Randomness
To start with, how many people can spell that title without having to look it up? The reason I can fits under this heading. I have a horse with that name.
His mother's name was Random. Her registered name was P.S. Pretty Chick - ugh! - and I gave her the show name Perfectly Random. She was a mostly white Paint mare with chestnut only on the top of her head covering both ears and both eyes, which were blue. Very random-looking. Anyway, I chose to name her colt Miscellaneous, but the Paint Horse registry gives you three name choices (limited to 22 characters including spaces) and then they pick one. I chose Miscelleaneous, Random Miscellanea, and RandomlyMiscellaneous and they of course picked my third choice. (This could be tied into my posts on character names. Registered and show names and "barn names" of horses are their own special world. Aforementioned colt's barn name is Turner.)
Where was I going with this? Randomness. Right.
Writers and their blogs are supposed to share helpful information about writing and where to find more info and advice. I often mention my writer's group, Living Writer's Collective(.blogspot.com) and our director keeps our blog updated with useful insights, links (including the websites and blogs of various members, who are writers of every ilk) and what we have covered and learned during our meetings. Our director also has her own website, also filled with helpful fun stuff: mywritingloft.blogspot.
Our group has a closed fb page where we share writing tips, encouragement and inspiration among ourselves. Recenly a member posted an article about the 10 Types Of Writers Block And How To Overcome Them. She posted a link, but I don't know how to do that. She got it off a site called io9, which, when I checked it out, has all kinds of unique and weird stuff. Worth visiting.
Another member posted an article about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which is November. If you want to start/write a novel or just practice for when you do, it's a fun way to go.
For Christmas my sister got me a book called the Daily Writer. As you might guess it has daily topics about writing in no apparent order, and offers suggestions and excercises. Some of it is helpful to me and it has other stuff that is interesting and thought provoking. I will choose some of my favorite pages to share in future blogs.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
His mother's name was Random. Her registered name was P.S. Pretty Chick - ugh! - and I gave her the show name Perfectly Random. She was a mostly white Paint mare with chestnut only on the top of her head covering both ears and both eyes, which were blue. Very random-looking. Anyway, I chose to name her colt Miscellaneous, but the Paint Horse registry gives you three name choices (limited to 22 characters including spaces) and then they pick one. I chose Miscelleaneous, Random Miscellanea, and RandomlyMiscellaneous and they of course picked my third choice. (This could be tied into my posts on character names. Registered and show names and "barn names" of horses are their own special world. Aforementioned colt's barn name is Turner.)
Where was I going with this? Randomness. Right.
Writers and their blogs are supposed to share helpful information about writing and where to find more info and advice. I often mention my writer's group, Living Writer's Collective(.blogspot.com) and our director keeps our blog updated with useful insights, links (including the websites and blogs of various members, who are writers of every ilk) and what we have covered and learned during our meetings. Our director also has her own website, also filled with helpful fun stuff: mywritingloft.blogspot.
Our group has a closed fb page where we share writing tips, encouragement and inspiration among ourselves. Recenly a member posted an article about the 10 Types Of Writers Block And How To Overcome Them. She posted a link, but I don't know how to do that. She got it off a site called io9, which, when I checked it out, has all kinds of unique and weird stuff. Worth visiting.
Another member posted an article about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which is November. If you want to start/write a novel or just practice for when you do, it's a fun way to go.
For Christmas my sister got me a book called the Daily Writer. As you might guess it has daily topics about writing in no apparent order, and offers suggestions and excercises. Some of it is helpful to me and it has other stuff that is interesting and thought provoking. I will choose some of my favorite pages to share in future blogs.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Time Out
I have been very good about keeping to my book revision (average of 1 chapter a day) and blogging (twice weekly, Tuesday and Thursday) schedule, but I'm going to have to deviate for a week or so. I have once again entered the Cafe Doom short story contest.
I entered it last year and it was fun so I did again this year. Cafe Doom is a Sci-fi/Fantasy publication that specializes in horror. The guidelines for the contest were that stories had to be unpublished (including online), under 3,000 words and could be of any sub/cross genre of horror as long as they were scary. I could only find a few previously unpublished stories in my arsenal that were under 3,000 words - and none of my stuff is really scary. So my story really isn't qualified, but I entered anyway.
This is why it's fun: The judging is done by the entrants. All contest entries will be posted on the website and everyone who entered is required to read every story and chose their 3 favorites (1st, 2nd and 3rd place). Last year there were 60 stories ranging from 3-12 pages and they were all unique. I mentioned this experience in a previous blog, Rejection Disclaimer.
Last year my story only got 1 third place vote, but that didn't bother me at all. There were some that didn't get any and most of the stories were incredible in some way. Even the ones I hated had some spectacular features.
Another great thing about this contest was that at least half the entrants/judges gave some kind of critique of most stories. Whether they liked or hated it they made comments to help the author. Sometimes only a sentence, sometimes several paragraphs, but most critiques were well-done and unbiased.
I was not able to critique the stories. I was too overwhelmed by the whole experience, but I did say what I loved about the 3 I chose - and choosing only 3 was hard, especially trying to place them! But it was such a fun experience that I want to try again. I will take notes and try to offer useful opinions for at least some of the stories. (And it would be nice if my story gets more than 1 pathetic vote, but I don't see how it can do worse than last year's story, which I realized was totally outclassed.)
We only have a week, starting November 1, to read and critique however many entries there are. Hopefully, the experience will give me some new insights to share in a future post.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
I entered it last year and it was fun so I did again this year. Cafe Doom is a Sci-fi/Fantasy publication that specializes in horror. The guidelines for the contest were that stories had to be unpublished (including online), under 3,000 words and could be of any sub/cross genre of horror as long as they were scary. I could only find a few previously unpublished stories in my arsenal that were under 3,000 words - and none of my stuff is really scary. So my story really isn't qualified, but I entered anyway.
This is why it's fun: The judging is done by the entrants. All contest entries will be posted on the website and everyone who entered is required to read every story and chose their 3 favorites (1st, 2nd and 3rd place). Last year there were 60 stories ranging from 3-12 pages and they were all unique. I mentioned this experience in a previous blog, Rejection Disclaimer.
Last year my story only got 1 third place vote, but that didn't bother me at all. There were some that didn't get any and most of the stories were incredible in some way. Even the ones I hated had some spectacular features.
Another great thing about this contest was that at least half the entrants/judges gave some kind of critique of most stories. Whether they liked or hated it they made comments to help the author. Sometimes only a sentence, sometimes several paragraphs, but most critiques were well-done and unbiased.
I was not able to critique the stories. I was too overwhelmed by the whole experience, but I did say what I loved about the 3 I chose - and choosing only 3 was hard, especially trying to place them! But it was such a fun experience that I want to try again. I will take notes and try to offer useful opinions for at least some of the stories. (And it would be nice if my story gets more than 1 pathetic vote, but I don't see how it can do worse than last year's story, which I realized was totally outclassed.)
We only have a week, starting November 1, to read and critique however many entries there are. Hopefully, the experience will give me some new insights to share in a future post.
www.jennifermballard.com
www.daylightsend.weebly.com
www.trustindarkness.weebly.com
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