Category: Tips for Writers

Making the Great Novels into Your Own

*Today’s essay is from Fine Lines Senior Editor Stu Burns

Writers Read, Right?

A while back I read the first draft of a friend’s novel then punched out my critiques and advised her to read more novels. This would give her a sense of how she could finish her work and take it to a more mature conclusion. That was the diplomatic version. Privately, I was wondering if she had ever read a novel. As I typed, I looked at the reflection in my monitor’s glare and realized I was staring at a hypocrite.

reading quote

I was trying to write my own novel at the time, an entry in the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) creative project I’d floundered on the previous November. I am a voracious reader, but mostly of nonfiction; I will argue all night that the life of Moe Berg is more interesting than anything J.D. Salinger ever wrote. Novels had never been something I looked forward to. When I read them, it was out of obligation, either for school or after years of prodding.

If I was going to be able to write my own fiction, I had to read novels and like them. In other words, it was time I indulged in outright thievery. There is a much-abused quotation from T. S. Eliot:

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Writing Fast or Slow? It’s Personal

*Today’s Guest post is by senior Fine Lines editor and author Margie Lukas

I consider myself a slow writer.

WL_farthest-house_2For me, the deepest connections in Farthest House came over time. I worked on the novel for seven years, though the ideas had been swimming in the back of my mind for a few years even before I put a #2 pencil to yellow legal paper. Which doesn’t mean I did nothing else in that time. As it simmered, I worked on other writing projects.

Grace of Time

Writing slow gave me the time to think and rethink plot lines, discuss them with others and consider fully my objectives. I asked myself over and over, “Is there a better way? What does this achieve, and what might that achieve?”

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5 Things a Writer Should Never Do

*Today’s guest Blog is by author and Fine Lines editor Marcia Calhoun Forecki

There are plenty of blogs for writers which are positive. Bloggers giving advice on the six things every writer should know about combating writer’s block, seven things to jump start your creativity, or eight ways to end a sentence without using a preposition. And although no one likes a negative Nelly, today I’m taking that honor and talking about:

Five things a writer should never do.

  • Never plagiarize. That one is pretty obvious. If there’s a code for writers it has to be do your own work.

 

  • Never think you will remember a great idea or sentence in the morning. This does not happen. Between the time the idea comes to you at night while brushing your teeth before bed, or while tossing and turning before sleep, many things can happen. In one night alone, you can lead a brigade of dragons to save the kingdom’s supply of toilet paper, lunch with Mary Todd Lincoln and your high school band teacher, or even kiss your first true love while he turns into Mr. Peanut. Who could be expected to remember a sentence or even a great idea after all that action.

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My Top 5 Reasons Writing is Better than Sleeping

*Today’s Blog is by Fine Lines editor and contributor Rhonda Buckhold

Sleepless Nights

papersBeing diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), sleepless nights is a topic for which I am uniquely qualified. It is hard to shutdown an overactive brain. Many of my nights are spent writing, journaling, or list making. Writing is a great way to pass the time. These are my top 5 reasons that writing is better than sleeping.

Reasons From 5 to 1

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Magic & Creativity

Guest Blog on Magic & Creativity

*Guest Blog from magician Jeff Quinn

“Write a guest bJeff Quinn rslog,” they said. “It’ll be easy,” they said.

That’s more easily said than done. This is about the 7th revision I’ve made. I’ve scrapped several pages and started anew. Can any of you relate to that? When it comes to magic and creativity, I know what I do; I just have trouble explaining how I do it.

But I’ll try. I really, really want you to gain an insight on what I do and I hope it may in some way help you in your writing.

Magic Moments

I’m sure you’ve experienced the times when creativity just flows from your fingertips. You can do no wrong. It’s almost like the words are being sent from the heavens directly to your fingers. Those times are rare for me, but I relish them when they do happen. I’ve found these periods of genius usually occur after I’ve sacrificed seven pure white rabbits to the cackling spirit of the Great Houdini. (Dear PETA people: the previous sentence was a joke. I DO NOT and HAVE NOT ever sacrificed seven pure white rabbits. Three or four, maybe. But NEVER seven.

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Those Lowdown Rejection Blues

There you sit. The message in your hand or on your screen reads,

“Thank you for your submission, but it does not meet our current needs.”

How do you not feel the lowdown rejection blues. You worked hard on that story, novel or poem. You gave up precious sleep to write the drafts. You spent hours at your computer searching for just the right literary journal or publisher for your work. You waited weeks or months for a response, and when it comes it tells you nothing useable. It doesn’t tell you why the publisher didn’t want your work, or how to make it meet the publisher’s “current needs.” What are those needs? Don’t writers have needs, too?

You are in Good Company

Marcia ForeckiWe’ve all heard the statistics. Stephen King received dozens of rejections for Carrie. Margaret Mitchell received 38 rejections for Gone With the Wind. Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time was rejected by 26 publishers before it was accepted, and went on to win the 1963 Newberry Award. Nicholas Sparks was turned down 31 times for The Notebook. Anne Frank’s diary was turned down by 16 publishers.

The takeaway from this, of course, is that if you submit your writing for publication you will be rejected. It’s in the writer’s job description. Accept it. So, how do you handle those inevitable rejections? Here are three strategies that will help you get over the rejection blues.

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