The Synopsis: My Nemesis

I like to think that somewhere, there exists a support group for people like me. People who would rather peel off their fingernails one-by-one than work on writing a synopsis. Or perhaps, I'm just being melodramatic.

I don't know what it is. I appreciate the function the synopsis serves. I admire a finely constructed summary that encapsulates the driving points of a novel. But I absolutely hate having to write one for myself.

Maybe the problem is I'm too much of a "write as you go" sort. I'll have a general outline in mind, but it's not until I put pen to paper that the story really fleshes out in my mind. When "in the zone," I've topped out at 15,000 words in a day. So why is it taking me weeks to come up with a synopsis that doesn't make me want to puke when I read over it?

Anyone with synopsis-writing coping mechanisms? Some jewels of wisdom for the journey? Commiseration, perhaps?

What part of the process do you find most difficult?

Writing Wisdom Wednesday: Mechanics Matter

As writers, we have a lot to think about.

Crafting beautiful imagery.

Creating believable characters.

Spinning dramatic storylines.

Maintaining an authentic voice.

And the list goes on.

One of the most important elements of creating notable fiction (and nonfiction) is utilizing proper mechanics.

Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most frequently overlooked pieces of the writing puzzle.

Now, someone out there is laughing at me. (Probably my sister…stop it Meg!) And that’s because my turbulent relationship with the comma is fairly well documented. Pull any essay from my Freshman year of college and you’ll wonder why I didn’t drop out of the English program and become an accounting major instead (I’m even worse at Math, unfortunately).

The day I got back the first essay of my college career, I was confused by the big letter at the top of the page.

D.

Contrary to my first thought, it didn’t stand for Delightful.

Then, as though I wasn’t devastated enough, my professor informed me that the paper “should have been an A. But your mechanics were awful.” I’ll admit it…they were atrocious. However, it does take a special kind of skill to make 28 mechanical errors in about 3 pages.

I’d like to say that I learned from my (grammatical) mistakes immediately, but that would be a lie.

I went from acing high-school papers to being thisclose to failing. And I had as many excuses as I had misplaced commas.

I was taught to put a comma wherever you would take a breath if you said the sentence aloud. And I’m an asthmatic. So I take breaths A LOT.

Okay, maybe I can’t punctuate to save my life. But the content is sound. And that makes it okay. Content’s the point, right?

It’s a stylistic decision. “Once you know the rules you can break them.” Isn’t that what they say? Well, that’s just how I roll.

But that was the problem. I didn’t know the rules at all. And all the superb content in the world wasn’t going to get me an A on a paper as long as I was incapable of mastering the fundamentals of the craft.

The same applies to writing fiction. So, since I love lists almost as much as I love comma splices, I’ve compiled a couple of grammatical DON’TS.

1) Don’t underestimate the value of proper grammar. I’ve often heard about managers who will discard the application of a highly qualified candidate based on errors in the cover letter. I’m assuming for some, at least, the publishing industry has similar standards. The competition for aspiring writers is stiff. Don’t let something as fixable as bad mechanics kill your chances.

2) Don’t assume that whatever you have to say is so brilliant that your creativity and artistry will outshine your lack of technical precision. Improper punctuation can render the most powerful and moving prose confusing and nonsensical.

3) Don’t trust that Word’s Spelling/Grammar check can do the do the job for you. While I’d probably get sued if I said that the Grammar check is designed to exponentially increase the number of errors in your document, I will—from personal experience—suggest that you not hinge your story’s grammatical success or failure on the recommendations of a computer.

4) Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you don’t have to employ proper mechanics because “that’s an editor’s job.” If I hadn’t learned how to properly insert a comma, it’s unlikely my manuscript would have even been considered for publication. While I’ve never been an editor, so I can’t speak with certainty, but I would imagine that lack of attention to the technical business of writing comes off as laziness or ignorance. Besides, editors are extremely busy people (something I didn’t fully appreciate until I saw the publishing process from start to finish). Editors probably don’t mind clearing out the occasional slip up or typo, but their time is too limited to worry about teaching writers how to write.

I’m sure there are more points to make about the importance of grammar. But frankly, I’ve rambled on longer than I intended. In closing, however, I will assure you that it’s not impossible to become a Grammar Superstar. Is learning about it fun? No, not really. Can employing it be a pain? Absolutely. Will you find grammatical errors in this post? Perhaps if you look closely.

But if you do, remember, the mistakes are intentional. Again, that’s just how I roll.

Checking in on the Go...

We've now got a mobile template for this site!

So now, you can check in and see what's happening from your cell without having to deal with pages being too large to load, font being too small, etc.

Yay for technology.

And tune in tomorrow (from your phone if you like!) for Writing Wisdom Wednesday on Friday (running behind this week...surprise, surprise...)

What's on the playlist Friday

Another song that I enjoy listening to while I work--especially in the sentimental, drippy-emotional scenes!

Writing Wisdom Wednesday: Finding your voice

“A writer's voice is not character alone, it is not style alone; it is far more.
A writer's voice, like the stroke of an artist's brush,
is the thumbprint of her whole person,
her idea, wit, humor, passions, rhythms."--Patricia Lee Gauch

After I graduated with my B.A. in English, I was at a loss for what to do with myself. I knew I wanted to write, but that was accompanied by a restless sense of not knowing what the next move should be. So, approaching the dilemma from a scholarly angle, I decided I would go get my MFA in creative writing.

So I picked out my top school and began to prep the required application materials. After writing my first piece of short fiction, a piece I knew would swing wide the doors to this prestigious program, I sent it to my former advisor (and now VBFF).

I was shocked at her response.

“Umm, Mandy…what was that?”

At first, I assumed she was in awe of my fiction-writing ability. While she had been my professor for numerous writing courses, Cheryl had only read my creative non-fiction. Perhaps she was dazzled by the brilliance of my work.

Yeah…that wasn’t it. At all.

The piece was a disaster. It was pretentious, abstract, and…awful. I had written what I thought would be impressive to the admissions board. I stifled my own voice for the sake of adopting someone else’s.

A while back, I wrote about the importance of being yourself as a writer. So to build on that concept, today, I’m going to give four practical tips to help you find your writing voice. Now, as a preface, let me say that there is no foolproof way of finding/developing your voice...so these tips are just things I think will aid you in the journey to discovering who you are as a writer.

1) Read.

Read everything you can get your hands on. The best writers are usually avid readers. Read your favorite authors; figure out what it is about their way of writing that entertains you. Read some authors you can’t stand. Try to pinpoint what you would do differently to make the story they’re telling more appealing to you. Use this as a way to strength your own writing.

A word of caution here: The point of this part of the process is not to find someone whose style you can copy. Readers can tell if your voice is authentic or is a pale imitation of someone else’s.

2) Analyze your personality traits.

Are you witty? Serious? Talkative? Introverted?

If you’re not certain, ask your friends how they would describe you.

This step may seem silly, or unnecessary, but understanding your personality is an important step to finding your voice. The way you are in real life is going to manifest in your writing. For example, my talkative nature tends to crop up in my writing as wordiness. I never use only three words when I can describe something in twenty. So I know I'll never write like Hemingway, who never uses more than like 5 words in a sentence.

3) Read what you’ve already written.

Go through previous stories, essays, etc. that you’ve written. If you’re new to the writing world and are trying to find your voice, go through anything you can get your hands on, journal entries, even old emails. Also, pay attention to how you verbalize information…how you relay a story to a friend.

This step is important because it gives you the opportunity to read how you write when you’re not worried about how it’s going to be perceived by an audience (or an admissions board!). Perhaps you’ll realize that you’re incapable of using words with less than four syllables. Maybe you’ll discover that you tend to address any issue with a healthy dose of sarcasm. Whatever it is, the traits you’ll find are your best tools to building your own authentic voice.

4) Write.

Always the most important part of being a writer!

To quote the cliché, “Practice makes perfect.” And practicing writing makes for a polished voice as well. So, write, write, write. And when you’re sick of writing, do it some more!

There's my advice (for what it's worth) on finding your voice. And I have to say, I never did apply to that school. Instead, I worked on fiction that I loved, that was me. And while I may not have an MFA, I have to say, I'm not disappointed at how everything ended up!

So what about you? Any struggles finding your voice? Any tips on getting there?

Quote for the day

“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night.

You can only see as far as your headlights,

but you can make the whole trip that way.”

E.L. Doctorow

Marcus' book is up on Amazon

Yay!

For those who have been waiting for Marcus' story, I have good news!

The book is up for pre-order on Amazon now. (That always makes it seem "official" to me!)

So, if you've a mind to, check out the link below...

Engaging the Earl

Happy day!