Facing It | Receiving the Advice

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I’ve touched upon this topic a little bit already in an earlier post, how there’s a fine line between going back over a chapter you’ve already written ten times over without letting yourself just write the story. But now I feel like I’ve gotten far enough along to where I actually need to start paying further attention to lengths of scenes and what’s actually considered “fluff” over what’s actually “necessary.”

A writer has a certain degree of artistic license. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And when it comes time for those edits it can be painful to cut any of it out. Especially if it’s a scene you’ve come to love. Advise is a tricky thing, because you want to learn from someone who’s more experienced than you and that’s why you asked them to beta read in the first place. At the same time you don’t want to just dismiss what they have to say because you don’t like it.

  1. Know that it’s okay to reject an opinion.
    You don’t have to accept everything someone says about your story. If you want to leave a bit in there, leave it in there. If the scene needs shortened or lengthened, do it. If it’s a section that reveals too much of your plot early on, maybe save it in another document to put it elsewhere in the story. I recently had to do that with one of the original scenes I wrote when The Firedamp Chronicles project began. In fact, I had to accept that it actually belongs in the fourth planned book rather than the first. So I have several documents of original scenes, imagery and terminology that I’ll work in as the WIP presses on. Don’t feel that you need to explain all your decisions to your beta readers either. If they’ve only read a couple of chapters and something they suggest (for or against) will make sense later on, don’t reveal all your secrets just yet! Let them discover it on their own.

    Don’t feel that you need to explain all your decisions to your beta readers either. If they’ve only read a couple of chapters and something they suggest (for or against) will make sense later on, don’t reveal all your secrets just yet!

  2. For the most part, they’re right, even if you don’t want to hear it.
    You’ve probably experienced this next topic at some point in your life whether it’s with writing or some other area – advise from family is the worst. The level of acceptance can be depend on the kind of relationship you have with them! (You love your family, for the most part, am I right?) But when it comes to any level of professional advise it can be more prudent to seek counsel elsewhere.

    In the early 2000s it was seen almost “weird” meeting strangers on the Internet. But over the past fifteen years with the rise of multiple social media platforms it’s much more socially acceptable. There’s still the fear of someone stealing your work or “catfishing” you, but there are still trustworthy folks out there whose aim isn’t to take advantage of you. Find a small group of people you trust, using whatever method of communication you trust, and let them know that they can trust you as well. That way, whether you beta read for them or they for you, you know their opinions will hold more weight and the advise pill will be easier to swallow.

There’s still the fear of someone stealing your work or “catfishing” you, but there are still trustworthy folks out there whose aim isn’t to take advantage of you.

So I guess the only question that remains is this: Have you found someone you can trust? I’d like to think I have, and I’d like to think that they can trust me. We all have a singular goal – to be a published author. If we hold each other up and support one another in our journeys rather than be cutthroat about it, then we can celebrate each others achievements and be genuinely happy for each other.

#WQOTD for all you more grammatically-minded folks: Should I have used “advice” or “advise” in this post? I just picked one form and stuck with it!

If we hold each other up and support one another in our journeys rather than be cutthroat about it, then we can celebrate each other’s achievements and be genuinely happy for each other.

For now, don’t worry about the edits, unless you’re already at that stage of course! Just remember that you asked for their help. They’re giving up time in their day to sit down to analyze and enjoy and believe in your story. So don’t be too harsh on your return. They’ll appreciate that you’re just willing to listen!

Don’t Worry. Just Write.

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Stardate 94269.84

If beginning the writing process has taught me anything it is that writing takes time. This has been a hard lesson to learn because I know that I never figured that out when I was a kid. I always wanted the story to magically finish itself or I would play it out in my head and never put it to paper. I am positive that I have written hundreds of stories but was never confident enough to actually write them down.

My uncle often brought books back from his travels. He tours the world as an author, gave workshops and attended them. When he came back he would say, “Now this [book] is really popular in England.” I don’t think that I even have to tell you what one of them was. You could probably figure out that it was the first two books from the Harry Potter series – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. One time he brought back A Wrinkle in Time introducing me to Madeline L’Engle. When I was in high school he brought back Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. But when I read the most was in my childhood. That was when I realized that words can be powerful.

One thing I always appreciated about my parents is that they let me read them. (At one point I also owned almost the entire Star Trek Voyager book series. I wish sometimes that I still did!) I grew up in a Christian household so I often heard of the debates on the series from other parents in church, at school and on the radio. While Harry Potter does, of course, have the “mystical” elements to it so did the entire Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. We viewed Harry Potter that also taught lessons as well being a well-written story. If you focused all your energy on one negative aspect, your mind can become closed to the other elements also in a story. That “negative aspect” was that some parents felt that the Harry Potter series greatly encourage kids to believe that they too were witches and wizards, poltergeists and goblins.

But is that not what good writing is supposed to do? A good show or film is supposed to do? Not discourage imagination but encourage it, as long as we know it is not real?

But is that not what good writing is supposed to do? A good show or film is supposed to do? Not discourage imagination but encourage it, as long as we know it is not real? That is why it is more than okay to take your time writing your first novel. You want your work to inspire, encourage and entertain. Every writer aims to have that ripple effect – the one where your breakout story will be latched onto by every reader the instant it is picked up. The one where your publisher cannot keep the bookstores’ shelving stocked because it is in such high demand. For most writers it is amongst their first thoughts with the initial keystrokes, ink on paper and pinned post it to a corkboard. The dream is in each word that is misspelled, scratched out and rewritten. The dream is in each scene or action sequence rephrased, completely deleted or moved to another chapter. The dream is in each step of the writing process and with each one of those the worry is there.

That brings me to the other point of my title – Don’t Worry. If you believe in your dream others will see it reflect in you. They will see the hours of hard work you put into it and books of research read. Writing is an art but it also takes time to hone and shape that art into something you know you can be proud of. Don’t doubt yourself because sometimes that is harder to pull yourself out of and you know you will never finish. Don’t worry about all that extra stuff and just WRITE. While networking, finding a publisher and putting yourself out there are all important things, don’t let all that extra stuff get in the way of what you initially started to do: WRITE. Write as though you are not aiming for publication but to begin and end a story. That’s the first step. The other steps will come later but for now work on your craft and don’t let others discourage you. You are your own greatest enemy.

You can do anything you set your mind to, regardless of if you are a seasoned writer or novice prose enthusiast.

The Dream that Star Trek Gave Me

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Stardate 94258.02

I began this journey when I was ten years old. At least, I believe I was around ten. It seems that most of my memories from childhood come from between the ages of seven and ten, and I probably blocked most of my middle school years from memory because that was not the greatest time for me. I hated school. I hated that I couldn’t just read all the time. Yes, I was that kid. The wallflower who would rather read than play during recess. The introvert who preferred to write but not show anyone what she had written. Back then the teachers were “concerned” because I never socialized. And when I did it was with a few people in a one-on-one situation. I was always “that kid” who believed everyone else around her was, well, childish. But apparently now being a writer is cool. I believe everyone can agree that Reading Rainbow and Levar Burton greatly encouraged my generation to read and write and dream. I may not have been the most social kid, but you really can have a balance between the two. As a preteen I never saw that as a possibility, but being in my 30s looking back on childhood, I almost wish that were the case.

I have a confession. I used to write fanfiction. Little did I know that what I would write actually had a name, but my life revolved around science fiction. I adored Star Trek. We would also watch X-Files with Robert Patrick, Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny. I distinctly remember hiding behind my dad’s armchair at some of the scenes, deeming them too obscure and gross for my eyes. Let’s face it, I did the same with The Dark Crystal and some Star Trek episodes. I distinctly remember greatly disliking “The Thaw” episode where takes place inside their minds. A program that was supposed to just entertain the crew placed in stasis became sentient, and I did not want them to kill off my favorite character played by Garrett Wang. It was only season 2! All that aside, I saw something in Star Trek that made me want to write. So I wrote. I wrote short stories, when I got older I joined communities that discussed and debated tech and trek, and made a few friends I still talk with to this day.

There are many themes presented in Star Trek, but I will leave just a few with you today. One: hope. Star Trek encompasses the very ideals that, as a human race, we need to constantly have hope. One of the greatest debates between those who like Star Wars and those who like Trek is that Trek is too “intellectual” to be good viewing. On the flip side there are those who say that Star Wars is just the dumbed down version of Star Trek. Now before I cause a rumble, there are good points to both. With the resurgence of JJ Abrams’ and Simon Pegg’s Trek in the 2000s, I am given hope that a new generation of kids are being inspired by the hope that this genre brings.

In second place comes the theme of dreaming. When Star Trek: The Original Series aired in 1969 the United States was in the midst of a space race with the rest of the world. Even our landing on the moon is a highly debated topic, but space travel was fresh in the minds of everyone, creating the perfect time for a show of Trek’s nature to air. While Lost in Space can be credited with being one of the first to hit airwaves along with Great Britain’s Doctor Who series, Star Trek rocketed (pun somewhat intended!) to popularity.

Fun fact: William Shatner was not the original Captain Kirk. They had aired one pilot episode with Jeffrey Hunter playing the role, so they re-aired the pilot with Shatner as the new Kirk. I wonder if Hunter regrets giving up that role… Just one of the many things a Trekkie such as myself contemplates!

Finally, Star Trek brings to mind the theme of equality. It was common sense when a show about alien races and exploring the stars was dreamt of. Why would they also not include the theme of everyone being on the same playing field. Just look at the original cast – DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, James Doohan – the cast that was put together by Gene Roddenberry reflected his dream of an equality. The first interracial on-screen kiss took place on Star Trek, and to this day every crew from The Next Generation to the 2009 Star Trek reboot has carried this them.

Hope. Dreams. Equality. All this, along with my own faith, helped shape the person I am today. You can’t have one without the other. As a quiet kid it encouraged my imagination and showed me that if they can do it, anyone can. For a while I gave up on my dream of being a published author, and even though I will be 31 next month it is never too late to pick right back up and conquer it. It may take a while with two jobs to accomplish now, but I hope you will join me on this journey as I work on my historical novel, The Girl Made of Coal. It is in its infancy stages, but as it grows I will have more to share! So for now I will leave you with this:

Keep Calm and Star Trek On!