Michael Bracken sent me this link to an essay by Camille Gooderham Campbell. Ms. Campbell is an editor at Everyday Fiction. http://www.everydayfiction.com/flashfictionblog/professional-writers-%E2%80%94-how-an-editor-can-tell/ Writers often wonder what makes them a professional writer and not a hobbyist and this essay pretty well sums it up. If you act in a professional manner, you're a professional, at least in the eyes of the editor you're submitting to. Of course, if you're not making a living at it, that puts another spin on the discussion.
Michael also has an interesting piece up on his own blog about writing crap that's well worth a read. I must admit that I hadn't looked at "writing crap drafts" in quite that way before. http://crimefictionwriter.blogspot.com/2010/03/whats-that-smell.html
Over at the Mysterious Matters blog there's a post about what makes readers of mystery fiction, at least the author of the post, cringe. There's some excellent points to consider while you're writing. http://mysteriousmatters.typepad.com/mysterious_matters_myster/2010/03/cringe.html
"The Batman Fallacy" by A. Lee Martinez http://bordersblog.com/scifi/2010/03/18/uncategorized/the-batman-fallacy/ While this post explores comic book superheroes, the points about real life and fantasy can also be applied to crime fiction. You've got to admit that some of the crime fiction heroes out there feel like they've donned the cape of superhuman powers.
3 comments:
"Writing Crap" eh? Lol.
I haven't seen an issue yet but there's (yet another) Batman reboot in a new DC comic set within a non-super-powered universe. Doc Savage shares the billing.
I love MB's blog posts, but everybody is different. Some people need to get the crap down first - it's like fertilizer for great ideas. Other people are more fastidious. To each his own.
As a writer, you'd have thought I could have phrased that better, wouldn't you, Charles. :)
I think it's more newbies that write those crappy first drafts, Anton, because we have no idea what we're trying to say. Michael's been at it so long he knows exactly where he's going when he starts and more or less how to get there. I dream of those days!
He's right about using the computers, though, I find myself editing more and more as I'm getting that first draft down. Since I write in bits and pieces through the day, I always start at the beginning and edit until I get where I've left off, so my first draft is fairly clean. Of course the ending usually finds me back at the beginning making things clearer for the reader, dropping in clues, and deleting the parts that don't fit any more.
Post a Comment