Five Things - October 7, 2024

Welcome to my blog titled ‘Five Things’ where you can expect just that - five random musings or reflections from the previous week or so. For a photo gallery of our life on the road, our pets, and miscellaneous things I find interesting, you can also follow me on Instagram @tabithalord.

So here are this week’s five things…

1. In class, we’re starting a section on mysteries and thrillers. While I’m quite comfortable writing thrillers with twisty plots and high stakes, I have to admit, I don’t know much about mysteries. I don’t really read them, and I’ve never written one. That’ll change by next month since our next creative writing assignment is a mystery, so wish me luck!

2. It’s October already! When we started this journey, I wondered if the fall would still be my most productive writing time, and I’m pleased to report that I’m writing all the time! Much of this can be attributed to school, where I have no choice but to make content, workshop it, and move on to the next thing. It’s a fast pace, but writing faster was one of my goals for 2024. I’m also trying to find a home for whatever I create in class, whether that’s a podcast, anthology, or expanding the work.

3. When I’m starting a new writing project, I’m totally stressed out until I have the infrastructure worked out in my mind. Before I know where a story is heading, including the major plot points and character arcs, I spin. For me, the heavy lifting happens in the planning. Last week, I had to write a synopsis for a novel I haven’t written yet. A synopsis, for those wondering, is a two page summary of the entire book, complete with the ending. Most writers would rather have a tooth pulled than write a synopsis. Anyway, since I loved the premise for my short story ‘Run, Harry, Run,’ which I wrote for my last workshop, I wondered if it would make a good full-length novel. Once I worked through this synopsis exercise, I decided that yes, it will, so I’m adding it to the pile of projects on my list for this school year! If you’d like to read the opening scene, you can check it out on my alter-ego’s blog post here: Short Fiction Fun!

4. We’re still in Nashville. All our repairs were finished, and we got our brand new windshield, but just as we were about to head out of town, no hot water! That should be fixed by today, and then we’ll continue our westward trek. If all goes according to plan, we’ll be in Albuquerque by Saturday.

5. “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not get bent out of shape.” – Cate Price

Monday Musings 11-7-22

I spent this weekend signing books at RI Comic Con, likely my last one in RI for a while. I’m always exhausted on the Monday following a Con, and this Monday is no exception, but it’s always worth it!

I love interacting with readers, aspiring writers, and fans. I especially love moderating panels and facilitating discussions on some of my favorite topics like world-building and character development. This year, we had several people stop by to tell us they always look forward to the panels we host. Super gratifying!

Character development, in the context of storytelling, is a great discussion topic, and our panel titled “A Hero, an Anti-hero, and a Villain Walk into a Bar” generated quite a lively conversation. If you missed the panel but are interested in the topic, here’s a post I wrote for another blog that captures some of the main points:

The Intersection of Plot and Character Development

It’s fun to explore the various aspects of creating a character’s backstory, defining and developing the hero, the anti-hero, and the villain, and considering the places where plot and character development intersect. Really, this last part is where the good stuff happens!

Developing your character’s backstory helps bring authenticity and depth to them. It helps explain why they are the way they are, and how they got to this point. But, your character doesn’t remain stagnant throughout their adventure. All the heartbreak, strife, love affairs, battles, and mistakes have an impact. They emerge on the other side of their grand tale a changed person. 

An Abridged Hero’s Journey

Think of it this way – a character’s essential character, and their backstory, informs the plot. Then, as the story moves forward, the plot pushes the character’s development. We can use a Cliff Notes version of The Hero’s Journey as an example. We meet the hero of the story just as they are ready to leave home on some sort of quest, adventure, or journey. Their life experience and personality up to this point helps determine how they respond to this call to action. Are they reluctant, over-eager, clueless, or jaded? Why?

Once the adventure begins, the character will meet challenges and have experiences that will further shape them. Their responses are initially influenced by their past and by their personality, but during the course of their journey, growth happens and change occurs. When the character returns ‘home,’ they have been altered by revelations, relationships, loss, and any other meaningful experience we choose to throw into their path.

Agency  

In the intersection of plot and character development, we can explore agency. Agency, in this context, is defined as the capacity of the character to act independently and make their own free choices. Rather than reacting, our character is acting.

Let’s use Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games as an example. When we meet Katniss, she volunteers to take her sister’s place as Tribute for the games. While this could be considered ‘acting’ in a way, I’d argue that based on her relationship with her sister, her personality, and all her life experience to this point, Katniss really couldn’t have reacted any other way.

However, by the end of the first book, after all the drama and trauma she’s faced, Katniss stands up to the game-makers and refuses to play. When she and Peeta decide they would rather both die than kill each other, there is real agency in the moment, and it’s a very powerful moment because of this.

The Cost is Real

Science fiction and fantasy writers tend to deal with grand adventures, epic battles, and not-so-subtle heroes and villains. We write big! Sometimes, this can be at the expense of character development. In order to bring more depth to this part of our narrative, an area we can focus on is showing the fallout of trauma on our characters.

If we’ve subjected them to loss, torture, or war, there should be an appropriate emotional impact. We may want our characters to be larger than life, but if we don’t at least acknowledge their pain and suffering, we’ve missed an opportunity to give them depth. If we rush them through a recovery after a devastating injury, or don’t give them any baggage after years of war, we are presenting a one-dimensional view of them. The hero, displaying only heroic qualities, is boring. It’s the struggle that our readers are after.

Plot and character development are inextricably linked in our storytelling. We can create a well-formed character, with a compelling backstory and personality, and use plot action to push their continued growth and evolution. 

The weekend was long but wonderful. If you stopped by my table to buy a book or simply to say hello, thank you. It really means a lot to me. As Ray and I wind down our time in RI and look toward our next great adventure, I’m so grateful to have met all of you and for the great memories!

IN OTHER NEWS:

Save the date! - The RI Author Expo is coming soon! On Saturday, December 3rd, meet your favorite local authors at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick. Signed books make great holiday gifts! More info coming soon…

Monday Musings 8-1-22

It’s August already! I just finished my first book event of the summer season at Tampa Bay Comic Con and sold out my inventory by noon on Sunday! People seemed really excited to be there, and a good time was had by all.

At these events, I’m often presenting on panels or programs. In Tampa, both the panelists and the audience had a productive conversation about World-Building, a topic near and dear to science fiction and fantasy writers.

Since I am now trying to take a day or two off to recover from the Con, here’s a blog post I wrote on World-Building, which covers many of the topics we discussed on the panel. For the readers here who are also writers, I hope it’s useful!

As a science fiction writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about the worlds my characters inhabit. It’s part of the fun of writing in this genre! Solid world building is essential to the story. When it’s done well, readers become immersed in the tale, but when it’s done poorly, they notice. Here are some tips to help you create believable worlds in unbelievable settings:

Rules and Consistency:

If you are writing fantasy, you’ll likely have magic in your story, and in sci-fi, some super-cool technology. Here are some things to consider when building these elements into your world:

• Know how the magic and technology works, who can wield it, and what it can do. Equally as important, understand its limits, or the cost of using it. Do only some people have access to it? What are the repercussions if that’s the case?

• Consider its impact on people and society. Once you’ve introduced magic or futuristic technology into your world, it is now quite different from our world. You’ll need to think through the effects it will have on the people and the culture.

• Death must be real, or only reversed with dire cost. No amount of magic or fancy technology should easily combat death, because if death has no meaning, the stakes for your characters aren’t high enough.

• Be consistent with applying the rules. Readers will catch it if you aren’t!

Physical Geography and Climate:

You should have a good sense of the physical world you’ve created for your characters to navigate. Here are a few suggestions:

• Create a map, even if this map is just for your own reference.

• Think through how geography informs society. Does a mountain range serve as protection from a neighboring army? Do coastal cultures use the waterways for trading?

• Understand the climate. How do people have to adapt to their climate? How does the climate in different regions impact how society functions in those areas? Does it affect food production, clothing needs, travel conditions?

Social and Economic Constructs: 

Unless your character has crash landed on an uninhabited world, you’ll need to think about culture and society. Here are some things to consider:

• How does the government function? Who holds power? Who are the disenfranchised? Are there different forms of government in different regions?

• Does religion play a role in the society? If so, how? What are the tenants of that faith? Are there consequences for non-believers? Are there different interpretations of the same religion?

• How important is an origin story to your culture? Is that origin story based on real history or mythology?

• What does the infrastructure look like? People communicate, travel, use water, eat. How are these things managed?

 By thinking through the physical terrain you’ve created and the important pieces of culture, science, or magic that exist there, you will have created a consistent, believably unbelievable world in which readers can experience the story alongside your characters.

IN OTHER NEWS…

Here’s a list of my upcoming events in case you’re in the area. Come by and say hello!

• Boston Fan Expo - August 12-14

• World Con Chicago - September 1-5

• The Big E - September 30

Monday Musings 5-2-22

I’ve just finished two major manuscripts. One is a speculative fiction novel and the other a romantic suspense tale under my pen name, Maggie Clare. Completing a manuscript draft is a major accomplishment, no doubt, but it’s also not the end of the writing journey for any project if the author wants to publish. The next stop is editing, and I’m in the thick editing right now with both books.

I’ll admit, I had no idea about the scope or intensity of the editing process when I finished my first manuscript. I knew I’d need to pay attention to spell-check and let a few people read it to catch any mistakes, but I didn’t understand that the book I’d saved as Final Draft, would eventually be sent off to the publisher titled Final Draft #12 – no, really, this is the one. For those of you wondering what all the fuss is about editing, here’s an insider’s view on the process.

Essentially, there are three types of editing and most manuscripts need some version of all three.

• Developmental editing: Think of developmental edits as big picture edits. A developmental edit identifies plot holes, character issues, places where the writing drags, or where something doesn’t make sense. I often work through several rounds of developmental edits before I feel like the story is just right.

• Copy editing: A copy edit will assure consistency throughout the manuscript. For example, if a character has brown eyes in the first chapter but blue in the fifth, or if I set a scene up in the middle of the night but mention the broiling heat of the sun, a copyeditor will catch this. A copyeditor will also identify overused words or phrases, correct grammar mistakes, and essentially polish the manuscript.

• Proofreading: A proofreader will give the manuscript a final look before publishing to find typos and small mistakes.

That's a brief outline of the types of editing a manuscript needs, but it doesn't capture the emotional challenge inherent in the process. Writers are artists. Our work is personal. The editing process opens up our beloved creation to criticism, and that criticism often feels personal even when it isn't. So, how do we navigate the emotional storm of editing? For me, three things have helped.

• Trust: I only have a few beta readers who read early versions of my manuscript, but these few are invaluable to me. I trust their judgement. I know they appreciate my writing style, but they're also willing to call me out when my bad habits show up or something isn't working. I also trust my editor. She connects with my work, really appreciates it, while also giving it a thorough, spot-on critique.

• Distance: When I finish a manuscript, I am so invested it the story, and so exhausted from getting it out on the page, that I have no perspective. I have to put it away and work on something else while my editor has it. This gives me the space I need to objectively work through the editing process later.

• Practice: The first time I realized that a developmental edit might mean I had to change entire plot-lines, re-work a character arc, or cut 15K words, I was overwhelmed. But having been through the process a few times now, I know I will find a way. And I know my book will be much, much better for it.

I’ll admit, sometimes editing feels like trudging through the mud, but I want to give my readers the best version of my story, and that means working through the process. I’ll let you know when I crawl out on the other side!

“So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.” - Dr. Seuss

“Writing without revising is the literary equivalent of waltzing gaily out of the house in your underwear.” - Patricia Fuller

“The first draft is black and white. Editing gives the story color.” - Emma Hill

Monday Musings 2-7-22

I am editing again. Most days, if you ask me which is easier drafting or editing, I’ll say editing. The framework of the story is already there, and I know I’ve got something worth keeping. But, editing is a lot of work, and I still have moments when I want to toss the whole thing. I’m at the point right now where I’m not sure if I’m making anything better, if I’ve cut too much, or if I’ve lost the plot entirely.

The funny thing is, I’m good at editing. My agent loves that I can take constructive criticism without a fuss. My previous editor raved at how much improvement I made from one manuscript draft to the next. I teach workshops on editing. At this point in my writing career, I know how to navigate the process and not let self-doubt drag me down a rabbit hole. So, what’s my problem today?

Fatigue. I’m just plain old sick of the story. Tired of working on it. I want to spend time on something shiny and new. But I can’t. I have to finish this thing first. Blah.

This book has been percolating in my imagination for years. When I finished my science fiction trilogy, it’s the project I knew I wanted to develop next. I was so excited about it. It’s a solid concept with interesting characters and an intense plot. I know it deserves to become the best version of itself, and I have to finish the work to get it there.

I’ve learned a few things from finishing my previous projects. I know I have to create a schedule and stick to it. I know I have to work through the moments when I feel stuck. I know the only way to the other side is straight through. Most importantly, I know my enthusiasm will return because the story really is good, and the last version of it will be the best.

Okay, self-talk over. It’s time for me to quit whining, and, like the Nike commercials advise, just do it!

“Keep going, because you did not come this far just to come this far.”

IN OTHER NEWS…

I’ll be at Boskone February 18-20 at the Westin Boston Seaport. My weekend is jam packed and I’m really excited about the panels and programs. Here’s my schedule:

• VIRTUAL: Apocalypse Now and Then: Pandemic-Inspired SF/F/H Format: Panel
  18 Feb 2022, Friday 19:00 - 19:50, Marina III (Westin)

• Lurking in the Id, or How to Write a Really Scary Monster Format: Panel
  18 Feb 2022, Friday 20:00 - 20:50, Marina II (Westin)

• Group Reading (Fantasy): Mike Allen, Tabitha Lord Format: Reading
  19 Feb 2022, Saturday 11:30 - 12:20, Griffin (Westin)

• Worldbuilding — Mind Your Myths and Backstory Format: Panel
  19 Feb 2022, Saturday 13:00 - 13:50, Burroughs (Westin)

• Anatomy of a Relationship: Writing Characters Who Display Healthy Human Connections Format: Panel
  19 Feb 2022, Saturday 15:00 - 15:50, Harbor II (Westin)

Hope to see you there!

Monday Musings 12-7-20

This past Saturday the local writer’s group I belong to hosted our first Virtual Author Expo. Usually, we have a fantastic in-person event where readers can buy signed books for holiday gifts or simply meet an author whose work they enjoy. Obviously, this sort of gathering was out so we opted to create an on-line event. The day was filled with Zoom author meet-and-greets, and panels and presentations on all sorts of topics. We had no idea what to expect and were pleasantly surprised by the robust attendance. Even when we’re able to have our live event again, we may add this virtual event to the year’s line-up.

One of the panels on which I participated focused on writing a series. Later, I had a chat with my mom, an avid reader, about things that turn readers off, and one of them was when an author didn’t deliver a satisfying ending to a particular book in a series. It’s one thing to purposefully leave off on a cliff-hanger and pick up the story thread immediately in the following book (this is not a favorite technique of mine, but it’s one I’m willing to tolerate as a reader as long as I’m satisfied by the end of the series). It’s another thing to leave too much unresolved, leave your readers wanting, and not provide a complete enough story for a particular book in that series.

So, if you’re considering writing a series, here are some pointers and tips to keep your readers engaged for the long haul.

When we think about a book series, a couple of different types come to mind. There’s the series featuring the same main cast of characters but with a different plot for each. Murder mysteries are a good example. I’m a fan of Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware series. In each new installment, I look forward to catching up with Alex and his cop friend Milo. I also know that they’ll be working a new case, most likely unrelated to the last. It’s what I expect from this kind of series.

Then, there are series that require more than one book to complete the overall story arc. Harry Potter and the Hunger Games are favorites of mine and good examples of this kind of series. Each book is a novel in its own right, but each segment carries us toward the completion of the story. I’m going to focus these pointers on stories with arcs that take several books to complete.

1. Be sure you know the ending.

When your plot stretches across several books, it’s important to have a plan for the finale. Complications are good. Intrigue and suspense are good. Not having any idea for a resolution is not good. That’s not to say your ending can’t evolve as your story unfolds. In the course of your writing, things will change. You may find a more exiting way to bring about the demise of the villain, save the kingdom, or settle on a new planet. But, I think it’s important to have an idea of where you’re going before you get started. Without a road map, you may wander aimlessly for hundreds of thousands of words.

2. Know when it’s time to end.

After spending so much time with them, you’ve probably fallen in love with your characters and with the world you’ve created. It’s tempting to keep going, even after the story ends. Maybe there’s room to do this. You could fast-forward years into the future and create another conflict in your world. You could focus on minor characters from the first series and give them an adventure of their own. Possibilities exist, but be sure you have a fresh tale to tell. Don’t hang on and keep writing beyond the natural life of the story.

3. Don’t lose the thread of minor plot-lines.

You’ll likely have several minor plot-lines over the course of the series. It’s important to keep track so you’ve can bring them all to a satisfying conclusion. If you’ve chosen to leave something open, it should be a conscious decision that serves the story, not because you’ve forgotten something.

4. Maintain consistency with your world-building and in the details.

The rules of magic you’ve created, or the advanced technology you’ve described in your worlds, should remain consistent throughout. Important details, whether they’re about a character’s quirks, or the geography of a planet, should remain consistent. Readers notice when they aren’t.

5. Show character development.

Your characters will be faced with danger, endure loss, fall in love, overcome challenges, etc. Their adventures will have an effect on them, and it’s important to show this impact to the reader. Knowing where and how the action of the story will conclude is important. I would suggest that it is equally important to know how your characters will fare in the end. Will they be bruised but still standing, traumatized but healing, wiser or jaded? Your characters are the heart of your story. Show how they’ve changed in response to their experiences.

Starting a new series is exciting. As readers, we look forward to prolonging our time with interesting characters and spending more time on an epic adventure. Writing a series is just as much fun. If you decide to commit to a series, use the ideas above to help chart your course.

In other news…

YOU CAN ORDER SIGNED COPIES OF MY BOOKS!

Signed books make great holiday gifts. You can now order personalized copies of all books in the HORIZON series directly from my website. Click here to place your order: SIGNED BOOKS BY TABITHA LORD.

Monday Musings 7-13-20

Once in a while, my muse takes a vacation. When this happens, I might stare at the keyboard and panic, or distract myself by playing around on Twitter, or clean my sock drawer, or sort the laundry, or make a snack. You get the idea! Whatever the case, it’s disconcerting when the words won’t flow. I’m sure we all feel uninspired sometimes, whether it’s with our art or our day job.

I have some strategies that help me through these sluggish spots, when real life stressors are taking a toll on my creativity, or when I’m just plain stuck in a plot tangle. I use different strategies depending on the issue. So, my creative friends, here’s some of my best advice to break through a block if your muse in on vacation.

If it’s just one bad day…

Work somewhere else. Mixing up locations might be the jolt your mind needs to kick back into gear. If I’m particularly distracted by the stack of bills that need attention, or the pile laundry growing exponentially in the bathroom, I’ll take myself out to the porch or back deck. 

Take a walk to clear your head. A little breathing space might be just what you need. Give your brain time to relax or switch focus, even if it’s only for thirty minutes. When you return to your work, it will be with a fresh perspective.

Participate in a writing sprint. Don’t worry about writing perfect words, just write. Forcing yourself to write when you aren’t feeling particularly creative may sound counter-intuitive, but it also might break the log-jam. Even if you can’t keep all your messy prose, there may be something worth salvaging.  

When I’m struggling with this particular project…

Talk it out. If I’m struggling with a plot tangle, or I haven’t worked out certain big issues with my story, I’ll schedule a time to talk with my good friend and fellow writer. She’ll ask the right questions or give me a new perspective on my project, and we’ll laugh and commiserate together.

Write out of order. Usually, I have a few pivotal scenes from my story that anchor things. They’re mostly high-intensity moments or big reveals and I’m always excited when I get to write one of them. If I’m really struggling with my manuscript, I might give myself permission to write a juicy scene, even if I haven’t reached that moment in the plot yet. If nothing else, I have a bit of fun, and often, this is enough to get the words flowing again.

If you’re thinking about your story, you are working on it. I’m a loose outliner, meaning before I sit down to write a new story, I have a good bit of it planned out. I still leave plenty of space for the creative process to unfold while writing, but I like to have a roadmap. I consider this mapping part of the process. Sometimes, in the middle of the story, I have to stop and outline further before I can dive back into writing. When I’m thinking through my story like this, I am making progress, even if I don’t hit a word count for that day.

Plan tomorrow’s writing before you end today’s. This is my favorite trick for keeping my writing on track. If I leave off with a few notes on where I’m going for my next writing session, I can dive in relatively pain-free the next time I sit at my keyboard. It’s worth finishing up a few minutes ahead of schedule to add in this planning time.

Things are tough in my life right now…

Self-care comes first. You may not feel motivated to do kind things for yourself, but this is when you need to the most. Self-care doesn’t necessarily mean heading to the spa for a week, although that’s certainly nice! It may mean a fifteen minute daily walk with your dog, or a cup of tea on the porch in the early morning. Whatever you need to do to keep your head above water, do it guilt-free.

Remember why you love writing. Writing can be the catharsis you need during a rough patch. Worry less about hitting a word count and remember why you started writing in the first place. Maybe you can use your writing time to journal, or maybe you just want to escape into the world you’ve created for a little while. This may not be the time for aggressive deadlines or new projects.

Lower your expectations. If you can do a little work each day on your project, you’ll still make forward progress, even if it is slower than you’d like. Maybe just opening the document, reading through a chapter, and writing a few notes is all you can manage. That’s okay. Life hits everyone hard at some point, and sometimes all we can do is get to the other side.

Whether it’s one bad day, or something more, we can still make realistic forward progress on our project if we have a few tried and true tools in our shed when we need them.

Monday Musings 10-7-19

Last week on the writing blog I manage, I asked each of my authors to share their personal top five writing tips. Advice is a funny thing. We all come from different backgrounds and we’re all at different points in our careers. For me, some bits of advice had no meaning until I’d actually worked in the industry for a while. Others were helpful straight out of the gate.

When pulling my top five together, I realized once again that these reflections likely transcend the writer’s world and may be universally helpful, especially if we’re moving into a new career. So, feel free free to replace “writer” with any number of other occupations!

Finish what you start. 

When new writers ask me for one piece of advice, this is usually it. Why? Because an unfinished manuscript will never become a book. Every writer will experience a lack of momentum, a conundrum about a plot twist, or a crippling moment of insecurity sometime during the writing process. The shiny newness of writing the first few chapters will eventually wear off, and we’ll have to power through the tough days to hit the finish line. I believe it’s worth powering through even if it’s only for the sake of getting to the end. We may have to rewrite, or even trash, some of our manuscripts, but until the whole story is out, we won’t know what we’ve got.

Patience, young Padawan.

Whether you’ve dreamed of sitting down at your writing desk and cranking out a finished manuscript by month’s end, or you thought the moment your story went live, thousands of readers would flock to read it, you will come to realize that everything in the writing and publishing world takes time. Like a construction project, your writing project will probably take more time and require more resources than you thought. We’re in this for the long game.

Kill your darlings? Yikes!

Wait, kill who? This alarming bit of advice made me quite nervous when I first heard it. Would I be required to kill off a beloved main character even if they were supposed to live happily ever after? Probably not. What I’ve come understand from this little nugget is that we have to be willing to sacrifice good bits of writing in our manuscript if they don’t serve the story. I’ve had to scrap entire well-written scenes because when I started editing, I realized the story was stronger without them. The idea here is not to become so attached to a piece of your own writing that you aren’t willing to change or discard it for the sake of telling your story better.   

Recognize the things you can and can’t control.

You can’t control reader response. Not everyone will love our stories, and that’s okay. We don’t love every story we read. Variety is the spice of life after all! Let this go. We also can’t control book sales. There are many things we can do to impact our book’s visibility and accessibility, but ultimately, we have no direct control over this. We can’t force people to read our book. We can control our work ethic, professional behavior, and commitment to our craft. We will have more satisfaction and less frustration as artists if we keep our focus on the things we can impact.

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

I’ll end here with a sports metaphor that my son has posted on his bedroom wall. We’re storytellers. Likely we have some talent at it if we’re in this line of work, just like a good athlete probably has some natural talent. But at the end of the day, if we don’t work to improve our skill, commit time and energy to our projects, and meet our deadlines, we really won’t have much of a career. 

SAVE THE DATE:

I’ll be at the Tapped Apple Winery, with my friend and fellow author Mike Squatrito on Thursday, October 17 at 6:30 pm for a reading, Q&A, signing, and more. This place makes amazing hard cider and apple wine. Come spend a couple of hours with us!

Monday Musings 9-23-19

As a writer, obtaining useful feedback on my work before it’s published is a crucial part of the process. It’s also a difficult one. Any artist in any field wants their work to be well-received, and we’re particularly vulnerable when we put it out there. But, to improve our craft, we have to figure this part out.

I’ve come up with some strategies for managing feedback. Just like the article I wrote on working through writer’s block, I think these tips might be helpful to folks outside the writer’s world too.

Ask for what you need.

When I’m looking for feedback on a manuscript, I give my beta readers (those peeps willing to read my document and take the time to share their responses) specific instructions. For example, I want to know if they’re confused at any point, if they find themselves flipping pages from boredom, if they’re responding to characters the way I intend. Asking for the type of feedback I need helps direct the process. If not, it can become somewhat of a free-for-all because everyone has personal preferences.

Trust the experts.

If I’ve hired a reputable free-lance editor, or I’m working with the publisher’s professional editor, I listen to them. They’re job is to make my story stronger. Ninety-nine percent of the time I pay attention when my editor says something needs work. On the rare occasion I disagree, we talk about it.

Pay attention to the things you hear more than once.

If I hear a similar thread in the criticism, I pay attention. With my first novel, enough readers complained that everything worked out too easily for my characters. I recognized the truth in this. I’m uncomfortable making my characters too uncomfortable. In my next novel, I focused on creating more tension for them, and I backed them into some really difficult corners. That book had more emotional depth, a more interesting plot, and got better reviews overall.

Don’t ignore your instincts.

This is still our story and we should be true to it. Even so, if enough people have a problem with a certain section, it’s worth asking why. Is there a way to address their concerns without changing the vision? For example, I had one of my main characters commit an ethically challenging act of violence. In his mind, it was the only way to assure the mission’s success and his team’s safety. The end justified the means for him in this case. It bothered some of my readers because he’s set up as a heroic figure. I believed this scene illustrated one of the terrible costs of war – the fact that good people sometimes have to make terrible decisions. Instead of changing his decision, I added more scenes showing fallout from that choice, mostly the cost to his mental health.

Do ignore the nasty.

Or better yet, find a way to laugh about it. One reader said that my first book was as boring as a bowl of tepid oatmeal. My story may be a lot of things, but it’s a multiple award-winning space opera with battles, spaceships, and evil villains. It’s not boring. I know this. Still, I fixated on that comment for a while, alternating between anger and self-doubt. Now, I joke that I’m going to have t-shirts printed with my worst reviews. Have some perspective. A couple of nasty comments aren’t going to make or break your writing career.

Criticism is hard, but necessary! At the end of the day, I hope every subsequent book I write is better than the last.

And on another note…

I’ll be at the Greenwich Hotel this Wednesday, September 25th, 6:30-8:00 pm for LIVELY LITERATI!

It's sci-fi/fantasy night at the Greenwich Hotel! Join us for a 'lively' evening of literature featuring Tabitha Lord and Mike Squatrito. Our host Guy Natelli will ask embarrassing questions, we'll read from our newest releases, and there will be time for an open mic. FREE ADMISSION, but sadly, no Romulan Ale! Hope to see you there!

Monday Musings 3-4-19

Last week I spent a couple of hours presenting the Horizon series to an interested third party. It was so much fun to talk about the story arc I’d created, my beloved characters and how they’d developed over time, and the major themes I was interested in exploring through my writing.

When I finished, he asked me whether I’d considered making different choices around particular plot points, or taking any of the action in a different direction. Essentially, he wanted to know how I decided which choices were the right ones for my story. From that conversation, I wrote a blog post titled Have You Lost the Plot? While the post focuses on writing craft, and how to make sure a manuscript doesn’t veer too far from the intended story, I realized I could have easily been talking about life.

Living intentionally is a bit like working on a manuscript. As we craft the narrative of our own lives, we have to have a vision for our story. We have to make choices that support this vision. And, we have to allow room for the unexpected plot twists that will inevitably take us by surprise.

When I feel like I’ve lost the plot, so to speak, it usually means I need to adjust my choices so they better support the story I want to tell.