Constructive Criticism by Ashleen O'Gaea

When it comes to our writing, most of us are pretty clear about what "criticism" is.  It's the "constructive" part we're not so sure about.
"Constructive criticism" is anything that helps a writer get The Story out of her head and into the reader's head, intact.
If you know the writer's goals, constructive criticism is about letting the writer know when s/he's achieved her goals and where she needs to put in a little more work.  For example, a member of my critique group told me that the segment I'd offered didn't seem to move the story forward or develop the 'tagonists.  (She was quite tactful: what she said was, "Chapter Seven keeps me too long away from the characters.")
The other members of the group didn't have that problem, so it'd have been easy to say it was just the one reader, and defensively ignore her.  But a) grown-ups don't get to do that, not for more than five minutes; and b) I've found a way to evaluate such criticisms helpfully.  How?  I pretend they're my own idea. 
When I did that, I saw that my colleague was absolutely right.  My solution was to switch the order of two chapters, and rewrite the tangential one as a conversation that not only reveals more of the main characters' relationships but also adds to the slowly building tension and lets the reader worry about who is involved, how deeply, and in what.  (I've only just e-mailed the revision to the group, so I haven't heard back yet, but I think the story's improved by the changes.)

If you're not sure what the author's intentions are -- how the story's going to unfold in the next volume isn't always part of what we share when we're sending Chapters One, Two, and Three -- you can still share how the work's coming across to you: "In these segments, I think I'm reading about a young man's coming of age and reconciling his natural urge to explore beyond his own realm with his duty to marry for the sake of the alliances the kingdom needs to strengthen," you might say.  If the story's meant to be about something else, then the author can consider putting more hints at the other thing in.

Whether you're giving or receiving, may all your criticism be constructive.

-- 
www.AshleenOGaea.com
www.PentagramConsulting.net

A Victory Over a Diabolus ex Machina

The last time I posted a blog to my website, I found a new diabolus ex machina.*  Several words were underlined, and proved to be LWAs -- links without [my] authorization!  When my cursor rolled over them, up popped odd little ads.  They were nothing I wanted there, looking like part of my post.  Clicking on the X in the corner of the ad made it go away -- until my cursor rolled over the keyword again.  Grrrr.

But I'm a silver-lining kind of gal, so I stopped growling and figured it out.  To make the LWAs go away, I had to edit my post, and replace those keywords.  A bother?  Yes.  An exercise in vocabulary?  Also yes.  Is there an easier way to eliminate LWAs?  Maybe, but I'm pretty sure I was a Luddite in at least one past life, and I'm still residually Luddish.  But, I just checked, and those LWAs stayed gone, so I'm content to have gotten rid of them by editing my blog.

Editing your blogs is a good idea even if no LWAs show up.  There are plenty of other diaboli ex machina.  You want to double-check spelling, even after Spell Check gives you the go-ahead.  If you're blogging mad, you might not want to, but probably should, wait 24 hours before hitting "publish," because it's not always easier to apologize than to ask permission.  If you're being funny, you need to, well, make sure you're being funny and not just dorking out.  (Why yes, I do speak from experience on that point.)  And you want to be on the alert for any programatical curves your hard- or software might be throwing at you for the first time.

In the meantime, I'm savoring my victory over one of the diaboli ex machina.

* As those of you who do will note, I don't know Latin.  I'm making it up.  But a) as a writer, I think it's my duty to make up words, and b) I think you know what I mean.

~Ashleen O'Gaea ~

-- 
www.AshleenOGaea.com
www.PentagramConsulting.net

Where Do I Begin?

Every writer has asked themselves that question.
Even in song:
Where do I begin
To tell the story of how great a love can be?
The sweet love story that is older than the sea
The simple truth about the love she brings to me.
Where do I start?*

Okay, so I'm dating myself, but the question is as relevant now as it was in 1970 when Erich Segal's Love Story was published and made into that sappy movie with Ryan O'Neal and Ali McGraw. (Though the lyrics to the song were at least more sensible than the insipid "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. Of course your heart will go on; if it doesn't, you're dead. Can't wail about going on then, can you? )

Sorry, I digress. The point here is, Where do you begin as a fledgling writer? The very basic beginning is turning your computer on and opening a Word document. Sounds simple enough, right?

But, you may ask, how do I know how to lay it out? Do I start with Chapter One at the top of the page? What's a title page supposed to look like? How big are the margins? How do I set them? What font am I supposed to use, and how big? Can I use a fancy one for each character? What if I want to put a letter in the story? How do I set it apart? What do you mean by "cut and paste"?  What are submission guidelines? What does "rtf" mean and why should I have to use it?

Not so simple after all... To those of us who have grown accustomed to computer lingo, this all seems elementary, but there are folks who honestly are so intimidated by technical terms used in some of the submission guidelines, they never get their story idea out of their cranium.

We are here to help. At our April 14th Seminar, "Writing: From Start to Finesse," Gecko Gals Ink authors will help those stuck at the very beginning. We'll split the morning session class into sections: one to go over those basic set-up steps first thing and help you get started on the road to publication, the other for those further along in their writing. We'll demystify those terms you find confusing and show you how to simplify and conquer your fear of formatting.

If you have already written your story, the other section of the morning session is for you. Our experienced authors will help you condense and concentrate your story idea into a log line--a one-sentence description of the main gist of your tale. It's harder than you'd think: you've just taken 100,000 words to tell an enticing story, how can you enticingly describe it in less than twenty? A log line is invaluable in selling your book; not only to agents or publishers but to potential readers everywhere you go.

Of course, we'll cover more than formatting and log lines, but those subjects are for another blog post.

So if you've always had a special story to tell but didn't know where to begin, or you have your story written but you don't know what to do next, seriously consider attending our "Writing: From Start to Finesse" seminar at the Sheraton Hotel and Suites on Grant Road in Tucson on April 14th. At the very least you'll meet other writers and enjoy a lovely lunch.

Beats cleaning house, doesn't it?

For more information, go to our Seminar Page HERE.

~Jude Johnson

Author

Cactus Cymry; (nonfiction) Open Books Press

Dragon & Hawk; Out of Forgotten Ashes (fiction) Champagne Books

Website: Jude-johnson.com

* "(Where Do I Begin?) Love Story"  published in 1970, with music by Francis Lai and lyrics by Carl Sigman. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%28Where_Do_I_Begin%29_Love_Story]

Tucson's Festival of Books

 

It's almost March and time for Tucson's FOURTH Festival of Books at the University of Arizona--a celebration of writing, reading, bookstores and publishing. GECKO GALS INK will have our very own booth at the Festival this year: Booth #134, on the west end of the Festival, nearest Old Main. 

We are marked with the pink dot above.^   As you can see, we are situated right along the north sidewalk, next to the U of A Bookstore and near a Souvenir booth. 

Guest Authors signing at our booth so far include mystery author Carol O'Mahoney, Ret. Detective Michael Orozco, and Fantasy Novelist Meagan Poetschlag. We will have a full schedule after March 1st. 

Of course, Gecko Gal Authors Carol Costa, Mary Ann Hutchison, Ashleen O'Gaea, and yours truly will be there, and all of our books will be available for purchase. In addition, we will have special Registration Forms for our upcoming Seminar, "Writing: From Start to Finesse" to be held on Saturday, April 14th at the Sheraton Tucson Hotel & Suites, 5151 E. Grant Rd. Those who register at the Festival will receive a 10% discount. 

Please stop by and say hello, peruse our books and those of our guests, and Celebrate Reading! 

FROM STAGE TO SCREEN by Carol Costa

The New York production of my first full-length play prompted a local newspaper columnist to contact me and write an article on me. The article caught the attention of two women who wanted to start a playwrights’ support group here in Tucson.  We met and organized a group we called Playwrights in Production. 

On Sunday afternoons we would meet and read each others plays and then discuss them. During this time, I wrote a number of other plays both full-length and one acts.

I also took over the small community theater at my church and began directing one or two productions a year in addition to writing comedy skits for the musical/variety shows

sponsored by the church choir.

One of my full-length plays won an award and was produced at a historic theater in Michigan. It was then produced in New York city with a musical score written by the famous composer, Bernie Wayne. Some of my one acts were also being produced in

regional theaters around the country. I was a having a great time, but I wasn’t making

much money.

Then, I attended a mystery writers conference in California and heard one of the members speak about how much money could be made from screenplays. So, still liking to jump on passing bandwagons, I wrote some screenplays. At that time, in order for any production company to consider your scripts. you had to have a WGA agent (an agent who is sanctioned by the Writers Guild of America, the union for screenwriters).  I tried to get a WGA agent to represent me, but they weren’t interested in a writer from Arizona.

So, I contacted the Writers Guild of America, found out what you had to do to be sanctioned by them and formed my own WGA agency, Star Literary Service. Because I have a very distinctive voice, I didn’t want to call around and pitch my own scripts. Instead, I coerced my sister, Marilyn, who was between jobs at the time to be my agent. We had no idea what we were doing and tried some pretty outrageous stunts. Some day I’ll write a book about Star Literary Service and the fun we had running it.

We had other clients, besides me, and made some good contacts in the movie industry. We took meetings and learned as we went along with the help of some very nice producers who thought we were amusing. While we never got a movie made, we did get some scripts optioned and stayed afloat for several years.

When I had an opportunity to have my award-winning play produced in West Hollywood, I took it. Our plan was to invite all our producer friends to the show and get to know them better. It was a good plan and might have worked if the Northridge earthquake hadn’t struck and put the area in chaos. The show went on despite the fact that people were too busy digging out of the rubble to come to the theater. Shortly after I returned to Arizona, we closed the agency.

With the agency closed, I decided to write novels again. This time I wrote what I liked to read, mysteries.  Soon, I attracted a New York book agent. She took me on because of a mystery novel I sent her with a female protagonist called, Dana Sloan.  I had created the character a few years earlier for an anthology series called, The Women Sleuth Anthologies.

Never content to sit back and wait for others to make deals for me, I continued to market my plays and other unsold books, like those two romance novels. And that’s when I started the period in my career I like to call, “I’ve got one of those!”.

I saw a market listing for Avalon books. This publisher was looking for romance novels with heroines who had careers. Both of the heroine’s in my novels had careers so I sent Avalon a proposal for the first novel. Avalon came back and asked to see the entire manuscript. Great except for one small problem. When I wrote that novel everyone wanted sex scenes in the stories and I had several in both my romances.

Avalon Books did not publish anything with premarital sex in it.

Back to the computer with the first book I had renamed, Labor of Love, to take out

the sex and replace it with something sweet and innocent. I was working on this

at our condo in San Diego when my youngest son who lives in that area stopped by.

Of course he wanted to know what I was doing. I told him and he was stunned.

For days afterwards, he kept saying he couldn’t believe his mother wrote explicit sex scenes. I told him that he should remember that he and his siblings didn’t fall off a turnip truck.

Avalon eventually published both of my “cleaned-up” romance novels and that opened the door to other book sales.