August question of the month

GOOD CRITICISM VERSES BAD — How can you tell the difference?
Like most writers I welcome constructive criticism designed to improve my writing and make my stories come alive. I belong to a critique group that has helped my writing enormously. However, I frankly resent snide comments offered by jealous people who wish they’d written the story but didn’t and comfort themselves by tearing it apart?
How can we writers tell the difference? And how should we handle unwelcome hurtful comments so they do not make us feel bad. First accept that there are people who wish you well and others who want to hurt you. Then ask yourself, did you request the advice or is it uninvited? Is the person offering the criticism another writer or a want-to-be writer? What is the intention of the person offering the advice? If the advice is useful, use it. If it is just mean spirited nastiness take a lesson from my daughter Egypt.
She is a professional dancer, standup comedian, actress and film maker who has lived and performed in both New York and Los Angeles. Egypt was home for a visit several years ago when the Alvin Ailey Dancers were performing at the local college. She’d studied dance with Alvin Ailey in New York and wanted to go to the ballet and say ”hello” to some of her old friends. She dressed appropriately for a night at the ballet. She is very photogenic and looked beautiful in fancy hairdo, black dress, heels and shawl.
During intermission a young woman, wearing worn sweat shirt, pants and old sneakers sauntered up, bumped into her with her shoulder and taunted, “You’re kinda overdressed aren’t you, Honey?”
Egypt fixed the woman with a cold, haughty and distasteful stare as if she had just stepped in something disgusting and said. “You have no idea who you are talking to, Do you?”
The woman’s posture sagged instantly and crumbled in upon itself. She was visibly ashamed of herself and mumbled, “No.” She slunk off to a corner where I am sure she felt bad for the rest of the evening.
“Wow. How did you do that?” I asked. “If somebody had said that to me I would have been embarrassed and felt awkward all night thinking maybe I was overdressed.”
“Well she doesn’t know who she is talking to. For all she knows I could be a member of the dance troupe. She has no business talking to someone she doesn’t know like that. She’s the one who should feel bad for being rude, not me. I’ll bet she never does that again.” My daughter said.
I agree — that woman will think twice before she approaches another stranger with an unsolicited comment founded in jealousy.
So how do we as writers recognize comments motivated by jealousy and ignore them or turn them back on the person with the bad intentions so that he or she thinks twice before acting ignorant to someone else. I’ve always found that if an unsolicited comment pushes an emotional button, makes me feel small, hurts my feelings or seems to put me down it probably is motivated by less than good intentions. Although I am not always successful I try to ignore the mean comments because above all a writer has to believe in his/her own writing and constant suppressive criticism can wear away at one’s self esteem and the writing suffers.

Patricia Marcantonio, first place winner in the Reel Women of the West Script Contest

Patricia Marcantonio won first place in the Reel Women of the West Script Contest. Pat also won second place in the contest, which is a first for the Boise-based organization. As first place winner, Reel Women of the West organized a reading of Marcantonio’s award winning screenplay, “Christmas Wrappings” as part of the True West Cinema Film Festival Aug. 9 in Boise. Congratulations, Pat!

July’s Question of the Month - Dealing with Rejection

Rejection.
No other word in a writer’s vocabulary hurts as much. Go ahead. I’ll admit it if you will.
The other day I received news from my agent of a rejection on a manuscript of which I was very proud. And so it was apropos and timely that rejection would be the topic of this month’s column. After the obligatory chest beating and depression over the rejection, I began to ponder why that word hurts like hell.
First of all, rejection can be valuable. Too many rejections on one project, especially if those doing the rejection are saying the same thing, may tell you that a rewrite is in order. But I also decided that there might be other words worse than “rejection” to writers.
“Quit” is one of those worse words, especially when spurred on by the word “rejection.” Not writing anymore because a few people turned you down for publication is a great sin in my writer’s book. Don’t let anyone ever tell you are not good enough. You may not be great, but you can become better if you work at it. And somewhere, somehow you can be published, even if you do it yourself.
It is understandable if you are thrown into a funk at rejection, and I was for a few days. I began questioning myself. “I will never sell again,” I told myself in a whiny voice deep in my head. And that leads me to another worse word.
“Doubt.”
I remember I once had a job where a supervisor didn’t particularly like me, though I didn’t know why. Although I was a hard worker and did a good job, his dislike made me doubt myself. I went through tough times during that doubt phase, then I realized that I have to believe in me. I had to believe in what I was doing. I had to please myself first. Now that doesn’t mean I didn’t listen to criticism that would make me better, but I was not going to pay attention to the destructive doubters because as a writer we deal with self-doubt enough and don’t need any special help.
So back to rejection.
I’ll be honest, each time I do receive a rejection, I do want to quit writing and take up tatting or weaving and I do doubt myself. But I get over it and end up back at the computer. Because if I didn’t write, I would feel much, much worse.
So when it comes down to it, “rejection” is just a word. Erase it. Delete it. Replace it with “write.”
Patricia Marcantonio

In Remembrance

Remembering Bill Studebaker
Several years ago, I took a writing course from Bill. He was intelligent, tough and made me try harder. I always remember him saying to try to do something toward your writing each day, even if it was something small and I’ve always tried to keep to that to varying degrees of success.
In that class he also encouraged students to form critique groups to review each other’s writing, and from there I met Bonnie Dodge, who was to become my very good friend and critique partner. For that I am truly grateful, that is that we connected because of Bill.
As a human being, we may all hope to have a place in the hearts of the people we loved when we pass on. As a writer, we may hope that our words will live on. For Bill, I believe that he accomplished both.
Patricia Marcantonio

In that class, Bill said he did something that pertained to writing everyday, even if it was just lick a stamp. I keep that in mind and try to do something related to writing everyday, even if it is to just read a book.
Bonnie Dodge

June’s Question of the Month

How do I find my writer’s voice?

In March, we talked about writer’s voice, and I’d like to continue that discussion, focusing on how to find your own writer’s voice.
The best way to find your writer’s voice is simply to write. Write a lot; write every day. Keep a journal, and a copy of the letters you send to friends and family. Write e-mails, and then study them for clues to your own writer’s voice. If you blog, study your blog. How do you sound on the page? Is your style quirky and upbeat, or is it more philosophical? Is it funny, sarcastic, thought provoking?
As you study what you have written, you will notice that you use certain phrases or words instinctively, phrases and words that sound like YOU when you are talking. You may also notice that your writing has a natural rhythm. It may be short and choppy, or long and rambling, but it will be the voice you hear in your head as you relate your stories.
You may discover that you have more than one writing voice. The letter you send to your ailing grandmother will probably sound different from the one you send to your sister. Your grandmother probably doesn’t give a hoot about the Moschino heels you found in Las Vegas ON SALE, but your sister is going to want to know every detail, including if there are any more left at sale price. As you fill in the details, you unconsciously write to your audience, telling your sister or your grandmother the things you think they will find interesting.
My writer’s voice is different for each kind of writing I do. If I am writing a column for Life in This Magic Valley, my voice is folksy, funny, and filled with words and subjects that appeal to my audience. Since it is a humor column, I will relate in a funny way the advantages and disadvantages of living on ten acres in Southern Idaho where water is scarce and always an issue. The voice in these columns is light, funny, and easy-going.
When I write essays, my voice is usually darker, more philosophical as I ponder the central themes of my essay. Generally, my essays raise as many questions as they answer, so my essay voice is more thoughtful, pondering, not quite as funny or sassy as my column voice.
The voice I use to write novels is usually a combination of my column and essay voices. My voice may be light or dark, depending on the story I am trying to tell and the audience I am hoping to reach. I am always mindful of how I sound, hoping that I sound like I am telling a story to my mother or a good friend. I want it to be entertaining as well as enlightening.
The only way to discover your writer’s voice is by writing. Tell your internal editor and critic to go out for coffee, then sit down and write. Then write some more and listen to the words, the rhythm of your own language. In all that un-edited writing, you will find your own writer’s voice.
Bonnie Dodge

May’s Question of the Month

Who needs an editor, anyway?

It’s an easy attitude to adopt faced with the persnickety comments people feel compelled to dish out when reading your stuff. But finding a discerning eye to look over your work is as important as research and story development.

I’ve worked with some difficult editors during my journalism career. I sat behind a guy who repeatedly banged his phone on his desk to vent his frustration with the incompetent living among us. Despite his prickly personality, I preferred his critical eye to editors who wanted to breeze through and get on with editing the next article.

The editor to avoid is a nitpicker who seemingly comes up with criticism just to have something to say. If you find yourself in that kind of relationship, bolt if you can. If you’re stuck, put helpful comments to use and otherwise picture yourself surrounded by a giant bubble that repels all the baloney.

Editors are a built-in function of a print shop. If you’re on your own out there working on a Pulitzer, look for other writers who want to network.

My Other Bunch buddies, Bonnie, Dixie, Pat, and I formed a critique group. Pat gets the credit for rounding up our foursome. We attempt to meet monthly to talk about writing and critique one another’s essays and fiction. We solve dilemmas such as how to get a character from point A to point B. We offer objective feedback, even though sometimes it may be hard to hear.

I’m not sure how long we have been meeting. It’s got to be at least ten years and several books later. We have watched each other grow as writers – and as friends. It’s a great way to share a love of reading and writing and develop our craft, not to mention get our manuscripts that much further along before submitting them for publication. My work still is in the developmental stages as I have many excuses I can bore you with, but I’ve got big plans.

Even if it’s your grandma, find someone to read your stuff. Take the helpful comments to heart and use the rest for a baloney sandwich.

-Jennifer Sandmann

April’s Question of the Month

How do I get published?
This discussion was started last month by Patricia Santos-Marcantonio concerning publishing one’s writing. I want to continue the topic. You’ve written an exciting story, chose the perfect words to tell the tale, polished the manuscript until it shines, now you need a publisher.
There are several avenues available if you have a book-length manuscript.
1. You can locate an agent and have the agent sell your writing to a publisher and help market the book for you. Finding a good agent can be as difficult as finding a good publisher. Start your agent search at writers’ retreats, writing seminars, or ask other writers you know for recommendations. Agents can be found on-line, in writing magazines, writer’s market books and publications as well as word of mouth. Just remember — there are a lot of dishonest people out there wanting to separate you from your money. If a potential agent asks for money up front before he does anything for you, keep looking.
2. You can mail your manuscript to potential publishers yourself. Get a good writer’s market book or go online for potential markets and look the listings over thoroughly, match your subject matter and writing style to the proper market and send the manuscript to the current editor. Expect that it is going to take a long time to find a home for your manuscript. You will send hundreds of copies to hundreds of potential markets before one will show interest. And several will show interest before one will finally commit to publishing your story. Keep many copies of the manuscript moving at all times. I like to keep at least two dozen (24) copies of a book-length manuscript circulating. When one copy comes back in the mail I send it out to another potential publisher. Don’t worry about “what if one publisher accepts it while it is also being offered to another at the same time.” We should all be so lucky. If that happens, drop a polite letter to all the places where the manuscript has been sent and not yet accepted or rejected and inform them that the manuscript is no longer available. Even with return postage some publishing houses do not bother to tell you that they do not want your manuscript, they just toss it in the garbage. Keep a record or log of where and when you sent the manuscript and when it was rejected or interest shown, what sort of interest was shown and what you did about the interest shown. Also note any comments the publisher may have made along with the rejection slip.
3. You can publish your manuscript on-line. Google “on-line publishing” and some 56,000,000 sites are listed. Online publishing sites like www.authorhouse.com, www.xlibris.com, and www.infinitypublishing.com to name a few charge the author a set up fee for setting up the manuscript, proofreading and editing the text and for entering the copy into their publishing files. They will work with the author to create a book cover if needed. Customers then buy books from the web site and the author gets a royalty for each book sold. The author can usually buy books at bulk or wholesale rates so he/she may have copies available for sale to friends, at art and craft shows or at trade shows. Book stores, libraries, book clubs, etc. can also order books from the web site and retail customers can request a local book store order a copy of the book for him/her.
Another type of on-line publisher allows the author to set up the manuscript on-line using the publisher’s tools and if the author’s editing and proofreading is perfect he will then have a letter perfect book available for others to purchase on-line. www.lulu.com is an example of this type of on-line publisher. The ultimate customer pays the printing costs of the book when he orders it. The books are available to the author, customers, bookstores, libraries etc. through this type web site. Then there is the type web sites where manuscripts are published and read wholly on-line. Many magazines have printed copy and separate on-line versions.
4. You can self publish your book. Self publishing no longer has the bad reputation it once had. Lots of authors self publish and sell a lot of books. Some authors in an effort to avoid the self published stigma create a publishing company, name it something different than their own name, and publish and sell books that they write. If they find it a successful enough venture they might even publish books written by other author friends and branch out from there. Remember the biggest publishing company in the world started with a first book at some time in the past. If you decide to publish your own book you will have to locate a printer, get your own ISBN number and file your own copyright forms. But then you do not have to share profits with anybody else, they are all yours.
5. If you publish your book overseas with a foreign publishing house, you will find the results of this arrangement are mixed and there is the potential for many problems. Publishers overseas are a long ways away so it is impossible to know if they are trying to sell your books or not and authors often complain about never seeing royalties from sales of the book with foreign publishing houses. There is the problem of distribution rights, and the cost of shipping books to the United states from a foreign country can make the eventual retail price of the books prohibitive.
6. If you have a shorter manuscript: feature story, fiction, travelogue, tale of adventure, or whatever look to regional publications. Smaller newspapers, magazines or other local publications are always looking for local interest stories to fill their pages and many buy from freelance writers. Try places like your local weekly or daily newspaper, regional monthly or bimonthly publications or talk to local authors you may know.
7. You can also create your own web site and blog like we did right here on www.otherbunch.wordpress.com. You are free to write and publish whatever you wish on your own web site.
Good luck in finding a happy home for your words.

Dixie Thomas Reale

March’s Question of the Month

How do I get published?
That is a question someone asked recently, and it is a very good question and one that most every writer will ask themselves at one time or another.
Lots of books, articles and Web sites have been devoted to answering that question and that is a good place to start to find some answers.
So, how do you get published?
Here are my suggestions based upon my own experiences.
Write the best manuscript you can and believe in it.
Tell a unique story with a unique voice.
Grow skin as thick as cement for rejections.
Never stop learning how to improve your writing.
Be tenacious, but not obnoxious.
Learn about the publishing business.
Even with that, it’s also a matter of luck and opportunity, market and more.
But to me, the first question writers should ask themselves is WHY do I want to get published?
Do you want to be the next John Grisham or Danielle Steele?
Do you want to make lots of money?
Or do you simply want to be a storyteller and share your stories with others?
For me, it is the latter. First and foremost, I want to share what I have written, to communicate with others so they can feel what I felt when I wrote those words, to give them a look through the eyes of someone else, to move readers, to entertain them.
Yeah, it would be way cool to sell as many books as John or Danielle, but when I sit down to write, I’m not thinking about getting published or how much I would earn from my books if they are published. I’m thinking how I can tell the best story I can.
Personally, if I try to guess what publishers will buy, I will make myself loco.
Telling stories as best as I can is my best reward.
Of course, I still dream of that big publishing house paying me a big advance for my manuscript, then selling lots and lots of books.
But if I can’t get published by the big houses or smaller university presses, and I really want to see my words in print, I will find a way, either through self publishing, or even putting my words on the Internet as I do now.
How do I get published? Good question, but search your writer’s heart for the answer to the other question. Why do I want get published?

Patricia Marcantonio

February’s Question of the Month

What is a writer’s voice?

Often at writers’ conferences you hear agents and editors say, “I’m looking for an author with a distinctive voice who can tell a good story.” In today’s competitive market, having a great story isn’t good enough. You also must have a strong, distinctive voice if you hope to be published. What, then, is a writer’s voice?

When I think of writer’s voice, I think of the way an author’s voice sounds when I read it, how the words sound on the page. It’s the way an author puts words together to tell a story. I like to think of it as the author’s specific fingerprint, that thing that makes his work different from another writer’s. It’s an individual writing style that combines syntax, diction and punctuation. It can often include themes, character development and dialogue.

For example, if you read a story written by Patricia Santos Marcantonio, you will find the diction simple, filled with Latino words that attack the senses. You will also find a bit of humor, as evidenced in the opening of her short story, Red Ridin’ in the Hood.

“Inside the cardboard box, Mamá packed a tin of chicken soup, heavy on cilantro, along with a jar of peppermint tea, peppers from our garden, and a hunk of white goat cheese that smelled like Uncle Jose’s feet.”

Marcantonio’s use of words like cilantro and a hunk of white goat cheese combined with subtle humor makes up her unique writer’s voice and is one of the things that draws readers into her stories.

Another writer with a distinct voice is Earnest Hemingway. His style is simple and direct with unadorned prose, as shown in this excerpt from Islands in the Stream.

“Thomas Hudson didn’t know what the man expected to happen when he got up on the dock. No one said anything and there were all those black faces around him and he took a swing at Roger and Roger hit him in the mouth with a left and his mouth started to bleed.”

Often called a man’s man, or a man’s writer, Hemingway’s prose is sparse, to the point, and often centers around hunting or fishing. Notice the lack of adjectives and adverbs, how simple the text is.

William Faulkner, a southern writer, also has a unique voice, as shown in this excerpt from Requiem for a Nun.

“The courthouse is less old than the town, which began somewhere under the turn of the century as a Chickasaw agency trading-post and so continued for almost thirty years before it discovered, not that it lacked a depository for its records and certainly not that it needed one, but that only by creating or anyway decreeing one, could it cope with a situation which otherwise was going to cost somebody money;”

Faulkner’s style is described as stream-of-consciousness, which means that the prose flows with the character’s own inner monologue. Note seventy-one words and not one period.

Another example of writer’s voice is this excerpt from Lynda Barry’s novel, Cruddy.

“Once upon a cruddy time on a cruddy street on the side of a cruddy hill in the cruddiest part of a crudded-out town in a cruddy state, country, world, solar system, universe.”

Barry begins in a fairy-tale way but blasts the fairy-tale fast with her continued use of the title word, cruddy.

Each of the above authors has chosen certain words and styles to tell their stories. Each voice is unique and shows the author’s personality. Each voice sounds different from everyone else’s.

A distinct writing voice is as important as a compelling story. It is a powerful tool for connecting with readers. It is a sound that sticks in their heads, that thing that grabs readers and keeps them turning pages.
Bonnie Dodge

January’s Question of the Month

How important is it to be honest?

Sometimes I think honesty makes the difference in writing that connects with a reader.

I don’t mean Honest Abe, cannot-tell-a-lie honesty.

I’m talking about the confessions of a writer, whether sunshine floods the closet or layers of character traits and subplots dress the truth.

A jazzed up plot is exciting. A fancy vocabulary is impressive. But as it says in Pooh’s Little Instruction Book, “It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like, ‘What about lunch?’”

Honest writers change the world one reader at a time.

Take my friend Dixie Reale for example. In a recent blog post she describes how the death of her brother, who had Down Syndrome, opened the lid on a box of painful family memories. The effect was powerful. I was moved to consider how hidden parts of my life shape me.

I’m not saying that honest writing need be a confessional, but I am suggesting that embracing our personal flaws in addition to the parts of ourselves we want people to see allows us to extend the same gesture to others with less criticism and envy for their quirks and qualities. And I think that understanding in part helps design dynamic fictional characters or write essays that connect with readers.

If this is all too scary a prospect, consider that writing fiction can be a safe way to go about it.

Sometimes I think the fear of letting people see the raw me holds back my writing. My internal editor may be to thank in cases where it’s appropriate to be prudent, but it nags at me a lot of the time. Writing fiction is a good remedy for the fear of overexposure. Writers have license to conjure up allegories, metaphors, and social commentaries disguised as plots and made-up characters.

So go ahead, begin self exploration through your writing, and see if it makes a difference in the work you want published. No one needs to read the experiment but you, unless that nagging internal editor won’t let you keep it under wraps.

Jennifer Sandmann