Top 10 Reasons You Need An Editor

Yes, these examples are real. They have been taken from books available for purchase as e-books and in hard copy. No, they are not intended to mock or point the finger (hence no author names / book titles). They are just examples of how easy it is to get lost in our own stories, in our own heads, and lose sight of how our words may be perceived by others.

So, without further ado, I give you...

THE TOP TEN REASONS YOU NEED AN EDITOR

#10. Contradictions:

"...My tongue clove to the roof of my mouth, but I managed the one word, "Immortality!""


#9. Questionable Functionality:

"...He leafed through the papers with one hand, as with the other he continued to crunch toast and marmalade."


#8. Cringe-worthy Metaphors

"The Gulf Stream was rocking the boat in the cleavage of its D-cup bosomy swells."


#7. Befuddled Similes

"...No, affinity wasn't quite the right word, it felt more like they were two north poles of a bipolar magnet, each vigorously, automatically repelled by the other."


#6. ???

"We are between the wild throat of certainty and the mad zitidar of fact - we can escape neither..."


#5. Detachable Body Parts:

"...He gently removed her glasses, and his hard chest rubbed against her breasts as he leaned over to put them on the table next to his gun."


#4. Purple Prose (with a side of Number 8)

"When he was yet a million miles away the bright ring of fire that marked its portal filled the sky in front of him, flexing and twisting like the devil's anus in spasms of immortal agony..."


#3. Over-Selling

"Nothing short of a machine gun could have stopped Gog in his first outburst! He was finally subdued with tear gas."


#2. Achieving the Impossible

"He held his left hand out in front of his face; palm down and with his index finger raised six-inches above his head."


#1. Body Dysmorphic Disorder

"Like a man in wonderland, Gordon Drew watched them for a while, then he went further up the main street and finally turned into a small teashop."


Your Turn: Have you ever caught yourself phrasing in a way that communicated a completely different image to what you intended? Give us examples! Let's share the wealth of our own slips. I'll go first:

In a book where the hero / heroine used eye-contact to indicate trust and solidarity, I once wrote:

"He gave her his eyes and didn't let them drop."

*Facepalm*

DRAFT QUERY #3 - Can You Help This Author?

Here's the third in a series of posts wherein we're going to do our best to help some authors hone their query letters before submitting.

 

The goal here is to help writers find the 'hook' in their story - NOT to give categorical advice on what agents will and won't accept. After all, agents are as individual as you and me.

 

With that in mind, here's the draft query as written. Following that, I'll offer some comments, then leave it open to you guys to offer yours!

Dear Agent,

Ross Chambers is used to dodging bullets.  He's not used to being the bad guy.

Granted, good and bad is all a matter of opinion, but considering every cop in the country has been ordered to shoot on sight, he's not going to argue.  But if he did, he would point out that the real bad guys are people like Robespierre, and Torquemada, and Hitler--all of whom want him dead.

But not as much as Dr. Lorraine Field, his former boss and the director of Hourglass, an underground organization supposedly dedicated to "Protecting the Present by Preserving the Past," as its motto goes.  She wants to feed his heart to Aztec gods and strap his corpse to the hull of the Titanic.  To her, Ross is a terrorist, hell-bent on reshaping history into something unrecognizable.  His daring adventures through time pose a threat to modern society, or so she tells her agents.

Bullshit.  As far as he's concerned, helping a few blokes escape the gulags is not going to cause World War III.  At least, the chances are slim.  Almost as slim as his chance of survival, which considering his reputation as the Most Wanted Man of All Time, hovers at just a little above zero.  But, as long as he can travel through history, he might as well make himself useful.

Besides, altering the past is the only way to save the woman he loves.

At 105,000 words, [TITLE REDACTED] is a completed novel that blends action/adventure and historical fiction.  Please feel free to check out my website at [REDACTED].

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

[NAME REDACTED]


MY COMMENTS (In italics)

Dear Agent,

Ross Chambers is used to dodging bullets. He's not used to being the bad guy.

A good start, I thought.


Granted, good and bad is all a matter of opinion, but considering every cop in the country has been ordered to shoot on sight, he's not going to argue. But if he did, he would point out that the real bad guys are people like Robespierre, and Torquemada, and Hitler--all of whom want him dead.

I found this confusing because I wasn't yet clear on the time-travel element. It felt a little too much like you were trying to establish voice, rather than the hook.


But not as much as Dr. Lorraine Field, his former boss and the director of Hourglass, an underground organization supposedly dedicated to "Protecting the Present by Preserving the Past," as its motto goes. She wants to feed his heart to Aztec gods and strap his corpse to the hull of the Titanic. To her, Ross is a terrorist, hell-bent on reshaping history into something unrecognizable. His daring adventures through time pose a threat to modern society, or so she tells her agents.

This felt to me like more of where your story is. See comments below.


Bullshit. As far as he's concerned, helping a few blokes escape the gulags is not going to cause World War III. At least, the chances are slim. Almost as slim as his chance of survival, which considering his reputation as the Most Wanted Man of All Time, hovers at just a little above zero. But, as long as he can travel through history, he might as well make himself useful.

It feels like there's a little bit of overkill on the 'he's not going to make it through this' rhetoric. I believed you the first time you said it, so now I want to know WHY?

Besides, altering the past is the only way to save the woman he loves.

This came out of the blue for me because there's been no love interest mentioned before. It's always a useful hook, but I think you need to establish the relationship before throwing this into the mix. It would only take one sentence early-on to do that.

At 105,000 words, [TITLE REDACTED] is a completed novel that blends action/adventure and historical fiction. Please feel free to check out my website at [REDACTED].

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

[NAME REDACTED]

OVERVIEW:

Okay, so once again I felt like there was a good book in here, but it got buried underneath a lot of unnecessary padding. It also felt a little like the plot-nuggets were revealed backwards.

I think the things you want to focus on are:

- World building: Ross Chambers travels through time, but he's a future-day hero and he's in love.
- Set-Up: This is currently lacking from your query. Tell the agent exactly WHAT Ross does - what kind of 'adventures' does he get into and why?
- Conflict: His former boss wants him dead because she claims he's changing the fabric of history. Ross disagrees, but doesn't have the power to defend himself.
- What's at Stake: Ross's life and the life of the woman he loves. (Are there any time-travel related consquences also involved?)

Your voice is strong in the query, but seems a little forced. I think if you can communicate the who, what, where and why a little more clearly, you can trust your voice to come through on its own.

Your Turn: What do you think this author could do to make the query stronger? Give any feedback you think might be helpful to the author – but please keep in mind that we’re here to help. Offer constructive feedback – if you don’t like something, explain why. And if you think something else is needed, offer suggestions that might help. Any needlessly derogative or personal comments will be deleted.

DRAFT QUERY #1 - Can You Help This Author?

This is the first in a series of posts wherein we're going to do our best to help some authors hone their query letters before submitting.

The goal here is to help writers find the 'hook' in their story - NOT to give categorical advice on what agents will and won't accept. After all, agents are as individual as you and me.

With that in mind, here's the draft query as written. Following that, I'll offer some comments, then leave it open to you guys to offer yours!

Dear (agent name)

I am a fan of (author name), and had the pleasure of meeting him at a local author fair. When I learned you represent him I thought you might consider my YA thriller, [BOOK TITLE REDACTED] complete at 70,000 words.

A year after a serial killer nearly took her life sixteen-year-old Sloan Woodrow still has scars, both physical and emotional. Her father decides to move Sloan and her twin brother  Finch from California to Minnesota for a new start. Though she hates the snow, and the creepy old house they move into, she fosters hope of recovery for her fractured family. Things start to look up as she makes friends, and Finch becomes captain of the hockey team. But all of that changes when the twins throw a party in their father’s absence. The night of the party, a girl from their school goes missing. Strange things start to happen around the house, and Sloan can’t get the image of the girl out of her head even though they have never met. Sloan thinks the haunting may have something to do with the Ouija board they found in the house and played that fateful night. One by one the people that played the game die in mysterious and gruesome ways. Sloan and her brother are next. Sloan thinks that if she can just solve the mystery of the girl’s disappearance, the vengeful ghost can finally rest in peace. But as she digs deeper into the case, she realizes the real evil may not be the ghost haunting her after all, but the one person she has always been closest to.

I’ve been a finalist and semi-finalist in several writing contests. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

(Author name and info)

MY COMMENTS:

All my comments will be italicized. Please understand that I’m offering feedback based on what I know of what Agent’s say they want, etc. I am NOT an agent. My goal is to help you find the ‘hook’ in your query. Take any advice here with a grain of salt.

Dear (agent name)

I am a fan of (author name), and had the pleasure of meeting him at a local author fair. When I learned you represent him I thought you might consider my YA thriller, [TITLE REDACTED] complete at 70,000 words.

From what I gather, Agents are generally appreciative of learning the reason they got on your list – or having an indication you actually know who they are. But I think this could be improved by adding why you think they would be interested in your book. Is it similar-but-different to one of the author’s works? If so, which one? And how is it different enough to ensure the agent won’t have a conflict of interest in representing both?

A year after a serial killer nearly took her life [COMMA] sixteen-year-old Sloan Woodrow still has scars, both physical and emotional. Her father decides to move Sloan and her twin brother  Finch from California to Minnesota for a new start. Though she hates the snow, and the creepy old house they move into, she fosters hope of recovery for her fractured family. Things start to look up as she makes friends, and Finch becomes captain of the hockey team. But all of that changes when the twins throw a party in their father’s absence.

[NEW PARAGRAPH] You’ve got a big block of text here. I think it’s easier for readers to keep track when you give some ‘breathing’ space. In my opinion the above detail isn’t really necessary, but that’s a very subjective piece of advice.

The night of the party, a girl from their school goes missing. Strange things start to happen around the house, and Sloan can’t get the image of the girl out of her head even though they have never met. Sloan thinks the haunting may have something to do with the Ouija board they found in the house and played that fateful night.

The following paragraph is the part that really hooked me:

One by one the people that played the game die in mysterious and gruesome ways. Sloan and her brother are next. Sloan thinks that if she can just solve the mystery of the girl’s disappearance, the vengeful ghost can finally rest in peace. But as she digs deeper into the case, she realizes the real evil may not be the ghost haunting her after all,  

But here’s where I felt like I could guess the entire plot-twist, so that dampened my enthusiasm:

but the one person she has always been closest to.

I’ve been a finalist and semi-finalist in several writing contests.

I think unless you’re going to name the contests, it would be better to leave this out.  After all, I won writing competitions in high school. A statement like this could cover that. Get specific or delete, in my opinion.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

(Author name and info) 

* * * OVERVIEW * * * 

Okay, so I suspect this is a book I’d actually like to read. Let me show you which parts of your letter appealed to me:

- Sloan Woodrow was almost killed by a serial killer a year ago.

- They move into an old house where Sloan finds a Ouija board.

- The twins have a party unbeknownst to their Dad, during which someone dies.

- Then, one by one, the people that played the Ouija board are murdered, until only Sloan and her brother are left.

Now, that’s what hooks me. In my opinion (and it is just MY opinion) cut all extraneous detail and leave that for the story-weaving. Just tell the agent what’s at stake (that Sloan has experience in life threatening situations, that people around her are dying, and that it gets down to where Sloan and her brother are the only survivors. Sloan HAS to figure out who’s doing this or die). Leave the rest for discovery in the book.

Oh, and as a final comment: The unknown girl disappearing and visions and hauntings are nice supernatural theories to keep the reader engaged. But the way you’ve written this query, it’s pretty clear they’re just red-herrings. My advice: either don’t make such a big deal of those aspects in the query, or leave the blurb ending open for WHO COULD BE DOING THIS? Right now, it seems pretty clear to me that Sloan’s brother is the killer (or maybe her Dad?) which dilutes tension.

Your Turn: What do you think? Do you agree with my comments / disagree? Give any feedback you can that you think might be helpful to the author – but please keep in mind that we’re here to help, not harm. The idea is to give constructive feedback – if you don’t like something, explain why. And if you think something else is needed, offer suggestions that might help. Any needlessly derogative or personal comments will be deleted.

The Best Three Minutes You'll Ever Spend Learning About Writing

Have you floundered your way through a first draft? Shuffled through critiques? Flailed in distress at all the work you had to do? Have you reached such limits of despair your limbs spasmed with fatigue?

It's important for you to know: You are not alone. These people know how you feel.

I think we can agree, the takeaway here is that no matter how sad your skirt, no matter how gender-confusing your haircut, no matter how many surgeries you had to remove the polyester burns -- one day your moment in the spotlight will arrive.

Make sure you don't wish it hadn't.

Your Turn: Do you know the Awkward Turtle? Do you use it? Then join me in 'turtling' that couple who hump across the stage together in the middle of this fiasco. TOMORROW: David Hasselhoff's master class in being... well, you decide:

Last Chance to Get Your Query Critiqued and A CELEBRATION!

First things first: You have until midnight tomorrow (Tuesday, May 1st) to get your draft query in for submission to the site. So far I have five that I think are worth putting up for review. I'll take as many as five more.

Just send your draft query to me via email at aimeelsalter (at) gmail.com. Put "Draft Query" and the title of your book in the subject line. Try to remember to leave personal information blank (but I'll take it out for you if you don't).

Now for the fun part:

You guys hit 500 strong over the weekend.

*Woot!*

*Huzzah!* 

*Throws confetti*

Because I think you're awesome for sticking around, I'm going to give one of those 500 someones a prize. It will be drawn randomly from all the people following www.aimeelsalter.com. So if you aren't a follower, click the "Join this Site" button over on the right hand menu now!

Then tell me: Which prize would you want? (Answer this question to improve your chances of winning the prize you actually want).


That's all for today. Come back later this week to help the first Queryer with their draft letter! (And thanks again for following, guys. Really).

Aimee

Your Chance to Have Your Query Letter Critiqued

Readers at Seeking the Write Life are notoriously generous with their advice. So I was thinking, what if we did a little query critiquing? That way, authors with a WIP getting close to submissible standard could get a head-start on their query letters.

To make the game fair, we'll do it anonymously on the site - your query will go up with any personal information redacted. I'll ask submitting authors NOT to promote their own submissions. We'll focus on the blurb portion of the query - does it hook us? Is it clear and easy to understand? Does it make us want to read more?

We'll let contributing authors know what we think works and doesn't, then they can resubmit their edited queries if they so choose.

In a few weeks, the top five revised queries will then go head to head for a prize I'm still in the process of nailing down.

Sound good? Well, if you want your query letter to be considered for posting on the site, read on:

1. Sometime before 11:59pm NEXT TUESDAY, May 1st, send a draft query to me via email at aimeelsalter (at) gmail.com. Put "Draft Query" and the title of your book in the subject line. (First come is NOT first served - take the time to revise and ready your letter).

2. Try to remember to leave personal information blank (but I'll take it out for you if you don't).

3. Remember that submission doesn't guarantee it will be posted on the site. It will depend how many submissions I get, and how brightly they shine.

4. Keep checking back to see if your submission goes up, and to offer feedback to others!

5. Bribes readily accepted. (Just sayin').

NOTE: The better your query is, the more chance it will be posted for feedback. If you're taking your first stab at query writing, check out www.queryshark.blogspot.com and also the query tips below before you submit.

Tips for a great query: (These are just a few. For full version of this list, see top literary agent Rachelle Gardner's blog post "How to Write a Query Letter")

It starts with a few sentences designed to make me want to read your book. To figure out how to do this, read the back-cover-copy or flap copy of your favorite books. The goal is not to give a detailed synopsis, but instead to write something interesting and informative enough that I want to read more.

No longer than the equivalent of one typewritten page, about 3 to 6 paragraphs.

Include the genre and word count. If you don’t know about genres, please do some research and learn prior to querying. Include your final word count, making sure it’s appropriate for your genre.

Author bio (fiction): If you have traditionally published fiction before, tell a bit about your publishing history. If not, don’t worry about this part of the letter, just say you’re a first-time novelist. If you like, you can indicate that you’re a blogger and you’are active on Twitter and Facebook (so the agent sees you’re aware of the importance of social networking for authors).

Let me know what’s available if I should request more. Note that unpublished novelists must have a completed manuscript before querying.

Give Yourself Permission

I've been talking with a writer friend recently about fears - fears that we don't know what we're doing. Fears that we'll never get that scene, that character, that BOOK right. Fears that despite all the time and energy, we'll never reach our goals.

After sobbing on each other's shoulders for a while, we've come to the following conclusion: There isn't a lot of point at looking ahead in the process. That's just scary. Wherever we are the journey from WIP to book, what we need to do is give ourselves permission to keep going, even when we're scared.

In light of that, I've written my ten rules for Permission. I'm going to keep these close at hand to remind myself exactly what I have permission to do at each stage:

1. When you're drafting, give yourself permission to get lost on a tangent for a couple thousand words. Who knows where it will end up?

2. When you're reading for the first time, give yourself permission to focus on the story. Only tick the typos when you notice them.

3. When you're revising, give yourself permission to get that scene on paper - even if it isn't perfect. Consider this a skeleton draft. If you get the bones in place, you can make the flesh look pretty later.

4. When you're reading / revising again, give yourself permission to like something.

5. When you're reading critique notes, give yourself permission to hate them - just as long as you don't throw them (or the very generous reader) into the proverbial fire.

6. When you're reading through your critique notes again, give yourself permission to cry and admit they might be right - but it still sucks.

7. When you're revising again, give yourself permission to try out some of the stuff you've been thinking about, but not sure you can pull off.

8. Give yourself permission to repeat steps 4-7 as many times as necessary.

9. When you're re-reading, give yourself permission to take the time it takes to knock out all those favorite words, overused metaphors, misspellings, etc, etc, etc.

10. When you're getting ready to submit, DON'T give yourself permission for anything except perfection. You won't attain it, but you have my permission to try.

Your Turn: Those are my permissions. What are yours?

Are You Two-Faced Online...By Accident?

No matter what kind of publishing we're pursuing, we all hear the
mantra "build your platform!"

Unfortunately, I think a lot of authors new to the idea of building a
business often mistake blog or twitter followers for a "platform". But
the truth is, the numbers on your page aren't necessarily an accurate
gauge of the reach of your brand.

I've had the opportunity to run my own business in the past - after I
worked for a guru in branding and business development. The following
are three simple mistakes I see a lot of authors making:

1. Two-faced Branding

If your blog URL is www.writerdreams.blogspot.com, your twitter
account is @snazzywriter and your facebook page is Aurora Beguiling,
you make it a lot harder for people to find you.

I think the common misconception is that if another writer finds you
on twitter they automatically look for your links to your blog and
facebook, etc. But the truth is that people's online habits vary
greatly. Most will happen across your blog and twitter separately. And
if they don't go looking for you on facebook directly they may never
get linked to your account. If they follow your blog, they may link to
it via blogger or Google, so unless you make a marked impression right
out of the gate, they probably won't remember that "Aurora Beguiling"
is the same person as "@snazzywriter".

The good news is, the solution is simple: Choose one name and one
picture and use them across the board. Make your URL, your twitter @
and your facebook name the same. When you use a photograph on one, use
the same or a visibly similar shot on others. Make it easy for people
to recognize you when they find you by accident and they'll start
noticing you more and looking for you.

2. Two-faced Audience

A huge misonception in author circles seems to be that having 15,000
followers on Twitter equates to several thousand books sold. This
couldn't be further from the truth IF you make and take a random
following.

See, most people on Twitter are after the same thing : more followers.
You can hit the airwaves and gain hundreds of followers a week if you
get out there enough. But what good does it do you as an author to
have 5,000 business accounts, 3,000 Gleeks, and 4,000 rabid dog
lovers following you? In terms of books sales I can guarantee you that
following will garner you next to zero dollars in the bank. What you
need as an unestablished author is a lot of book lovers following you
- especially those who are solid fans of your genre.

The solution here is simple, but vastly more time consuming: you've
got to get selective about who you follow and who follows you. The
best way to do that is to choose a theme and stick to it. Only follow
writers, readers and publishing professionals. Then make sure the vast
majority of what you put out there applies to that audience. When
you're following back, only follow those with an interest in writing
or books. Don't clog up your own airwaves with motivational speakers
and fitness fanatics. Stay focussed. Get into conversations with
people who might have an interest innbuying your book one day, and
improve your odds by connecting with people who state that in their
twitter account bios.

As a writer your theme is books, writing, reading, etc. Of course
there's room for personal connection and stories too, but beware of
point number three below. Your goal has to be to make your name
synonymous in followers minds with whatever you're going to want them
to buy in the end. Nothing (and I do mean, nothing) else.
3. Me-faced Themes

Okay, here's the biggie. Please don't shoot the messenger.

Very few people are interested in you (or me) as a person. It sucks,
but its true. Accept it and move on.

Most people will only keep coming back to our blog / twitter /
facebook accounts if they get something out of it FOR THEMSELVES.
People are inherently selfish, especially with their time. If they
don't know you or your work, or if you haven't achieved something they
wish they had, they don't care.

If, however, you can find a way to make your own journey benefit
others you've got a much better chance of repeat business in terms of
blog views, retweets, shares and likes, etc.

The solution here, quite frankly, is to stop assuming others are
interested in your life or feelings. That's not to say you should
never get personal - quite the contrary. Only that you need to find a
way to connect that benefits the other person.

For every blog post, tweet or status update,ask yourself one question:
What's in it for the reader? If the answer is consistently only
"getting to know me better" or "nothing" then you have a problem.

So how do you turn your daily life into social media interest from
potential buyers? I can't answer that for you directly, but I can give
you some clues.

First off, remember: humor is a payoff to just about anyone. If you
can break all the rules in a really funny way, you'll go far. But if
you can't, here are some guidelines.

DON'T: Spend a lot of time tweeting / blogging about how cute your cats are.

DO: Spend a lot of time tweeting / blogging about things you learned
about writing while trying to evade the advances of your overly
amorous cat who's currently in heat.

DON'T: Give a lot of airtime to your rejection letters and why they
were or weren't correct.

DO: Give a lot of airtime to analysing which parts of your query
letter worked (or didn't) in Mr. Snarlies Query Boot Camp.

DON'T: Spend all your tweet replies or blog comments telling other
people why they're wrong.

DO: Encourage other writers in whatever endeavors they are pursuing,
then use your own platform (blog or facebook) to express an opinion
and open dialogue on whatever topic is close to your heart. Invite
other people to tell you what they think. Or in other words, be the
kind of tweeter / blogger you wish everyone else was. Someone who's
interested.

Okay, I'm sure that's enough food for thought today. Go ahead and
comment with your thoughts. And yes, I do invite debate and dialogue
here at Seeking the Write Life. So if you disagree, go ahead and break
Don't #3 and tell me why. I am actually interested!

The Question of Revision - Do You Believe in Nature or Nurture?

The first time I stepped out of my insular writing cocoon and sought
wisdom from traditionally published authors and agents who blog, I ran
into the same piece of advice several times in an hour:

"Revise. Revise. And again I say, revise."

"Don't send me your first draft."

"I don't want to be the first person to see your book that isn't you."

"I don't care if your family and friends loved it. They would. I want
to know you've made it the very best it can be before you sent it to
me."

I knew the people who said these things were right. After all, I've
never played sport without being coached and attending practice. I've
never cooked a meal without following a recipe or using skills I
developed from following recipes in the past. I've never done anything
worthwhile that I can think of without research or rehearsal or
instruction.

So I revised. Again and again and again. And I'm happier with the
results on each of my books every time I take another pass.

But not everyone feels like me. I'm wondering why. Is it just
different processes? Different personalities? Different vocational
backgrounds?

I'd love to hear your opinion / approach to revisions. Do you revise?
If not, why not? And if so, what do you gain?

As I mentioned, I find revisions a really positive investment of my
time. But they're far from easy. If you haven't revised before and
you're considering taking the plunge, here's some things I've
discovered in three years of revising:

1. Sometimes I have made errors in revision that I've had to go back
and fix later (in yet another round of revision) which stinks. But
that doesn't mean the revision wasn't worth it. Sometimes I have to
try something to discover it doesn't work.

2. It takes a certain level of determination and patience to make
revising worthwhile. It can't be done flippantly or hurriedly, because
it will just have to be done again anyway when you rush past problems
that are too hard or too subtle.

3. Revising is a completely different skillset to drafting. Drafting
is an almost unadulterated creative process. Revision is very
analytical - not to mention, technical. I found I didn't become truly
effective at revisions until I'd been close-edited by my former agent.
I learnedly more in that process about "writing tight" and story
structure than in the rest of the three years combined.

Your Turn: Now, clearly I'm a fierce adherent to the revision process.
But I'll admit, it hurts when I have a new, fun story boiling away and
I'm still pecking at the first one. So, I'm interested - how do you
approach revising? When do you choose for or against and why? And how
you balance having more than one inspiration process on the go at a
time?

"Going There" in Fiction (aka What Bradley Cooper Taught Me About Writing)

Research for my latest WIP has taken me deep into the psyche and world of famous actors. It started with uncovering celebrity norms and exploring experiences with fame. But the deeper I got, the more I got sidetracked by actors discussing the breakdown of story, emotion, and character development.


You might be surprised to learn how many famous actors commonly considered garden variety comedians or just "pretty faces" have undertaken years of acting training. And make no mistake, these people take that education very seriously.


The actors I researched all discussed the process of really inhabiting a character. I couldn't get over the correlation between an actor's and a writer's process. Things like:


- Knowing or creating backstory.

- Understanding what a character wants in any given scene.

- Being responsive to the stimulus offered by other characters, rather than just waiting for their turn to speak or move.


Sound familiar?


Regardless of the approach they took, a dozen different actors raised the same issue: Until they stopped judging themselves and gave themselves (and other people) the freedom to see them get it wrong, they weren't capable of their best work.


The thing that really dropped my jaw, though, was when I heard Bradley Cooper talk about how his Basic Techniques professor at The Actor's Studio in New York, created for him "the place I feel safest in the world... In my whole life, I never really felt relaxed until I worked with her." All because she encouraged him to get real and let go - and promised no judgement of the result.


Then I heard Ralph Fiennes talk about being given the freedom to fail.


Edward Norton talked at length about needing to be able to do it wrong, to find out what was right.


The list goes on.


I started to see that all of us creative, story-teller types share this hang up with being seen to fail. But these guys who were at the top of their games had all observed one thing:


Other people can help you learn that you need to fail sometimes in order to win. But no one else is inside your head. Until you stop judging yourself, put your pride aside and let yourself admit to being wrong sometimes, there will always be a part of you holding back. Your work won't completely "Go There" because you're working out of a basis of fear, instead of "What happens if I try this....?"


So today I want to challenge myself (and you) to ask if you're strong enough to get it wrong, then keep going until you get it right. Because I have a hunch the key to being the best writers we can be starts there.


Your Turn: In what ways do you hold back in your writing out of fear? What would help you gain the courage to Go There?