Making a Way and Other Overused Expressions

Most of us tend to overuse certain words and phrases. Sometimes we recognize the problem.  I often reply to comments with “I’m glad you found the post helpful/useful/valuable.” I know I’m repeating myself, but few blog visitors read comments and those that do probably read the comments on a single post rather than on multiple posts. So readers may not notice the repetition of an expression that I use a lot because, unlike many overused expressions, it says what I mean.

Often, however, we don’t even realize we are repeating ourselves. Someone else can pick up our overused expressions easier than we are ourselves—that’s one of many reasons having other people read your work can improve it. A couple of  advance readers of Dream or Destiny pointed out how often I used the word “rage,” often when it wasn’t a good description of the character’s emotions. I searched for the word and was amazed at how many times I’d used it. Replacing that repeated—and often inaccurate word—with a variety of other words made the book much stronger.

Lately, I’m seeing “making [a] way” overused in almost everything I read. Just as you may never have noticed blue cars before, as soon as you bring your own new blue car home, you see blue cars everywhere. Since I’ve been paying attention, I see “making [a] way” everywhere.

I first noticed it in a popular novel written by a best-selling author and published by a large, traditional publisher. It went something like this:

She made her way down the hall to the kitchen for dinner. After she ate, she made her way to the study to think about how hard it was for a single mother to make her way in the world. She had to make a way to earn more money. Her thinking didn’t produce any good ideas, so she made her way to the bedroom to get ready for bed.

Of course, this is what my husband Jack calls “embellished for effect.” However, “make a way,” “made her way,” or some variation appeared every few pages. The story was great, but I almost quit reading the book because the repetition of that phrase distracted me so much. How did the overuse of that phrase escape the editors?

After I finished the book, I started to edit a nonfiction book manuscript. I found the author “making his way” repeatedly. So I took a break from that job to do a sample edit for a client wanting a quote for editing a novel.

Yep, in the five pages I edited as a sample, I pointed out nearly a dozen repititions of “make  a way.”

Am I seeing blue cars (“making a way”)  just because I saw so many in that first novel or is everybody “making their” way time and again today?

Whether it’s “making our way” or “rage” or another overused expression, we strengthen our writing when we eliminate repetitions of the same word or phrase.

photo credit: Paul Beattie

I Love to Write Day and My Best Writing Advice

Do you love to write? So do I, and today is our day, I Love to Write Day. According to the official Web site: 

November 15, 2008 will mark the seventh I Love To Write Day, a grassroots effort to have people of all ages practice their writing skills. Created by Delaware author John Riddle, I Love To Write Day is an opportunity for people of all ages to write something: a poem, an essay, a letter to the editor, a short story, start a novel, finish a novel – the possibilities are endless!

This post is filed under Writing and Publishing Advice because I’m going to share the two best pieces of advice I can give to any aspiring writer:

1. Read, read, read!
2. Write, write, write!

Writers are readers first. Why would anyone want to write if they didn’t love reading? You’ll learn a lot about writing if you read a lot. Certainly read writing how-to books, but also read poetry, creative nonfiction, history, biography, fiction—a romantic mystery titled Dream or Destiny comes to mind. You will learn as much from observing other writers’ techniques as you will from reading about those techniques in how-to books.

At some point, though, you have to stop reading and start writing. I Love to Write Day is a perfect day to write. If you’re already writing—maybe you’re halfway through National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)—be sure to write today.

If you haven’t started, take the first step. Begin a journal. Get a jump-start with a writing prompt. Write a letter to a loved one. Compose a poem or start a book.

What did (or will you) write today?

Authors and Magical Thinking

In the last post, I talked about magical thinkers, people with a sense of entitlement who believe because they want something, they should have it and who expect someone or something else (God, the government, society …) to provide what they feel they deserve.

Now, I’m going to bring the subject back to writing. My comments are not meant to be negative and critical. They are meant to make us take a close look at ourselves.

Many writers (especially novelists and writers of literary fiction) I’ve met through the years are magical thinkers.

• They don’t listen to good advice about their writing. Their consider their writing “art,” and they don’t want to listen to anyone who doesn’t have their vision. Certainly, writers must be cautious of whose advice they accept, but I believe every writer can benefit from objective feedback from other writers, editors, and even avid readers.
• They don’t think good grammar and writing skills are important. Either they believe their story is so good that grammar doesn’t matter or they expect editors at the publishing house who buys their book will “fix” any problems like spelling and punctuation. They don’t understand that their book will never reach an editor if it’s poorly written.
• They think their book is finished when they reach the end. They see no reason to waste time editing, revising, and proofreading their work. They haven’t learned that “writing is rewriting.”
• They don’t follow publishers’ and agents’ guidelines. I’ve heard stories from agents and acquisitions editors about writers who went to extreme lengths to get an unsolicited manuscript to the editor or agent of their choice. One writer followed an editor into the restroom and slid her manuscript under the stall door! They don’t realize that stalking editors and agents will get attention, but not the kind of attention they want.
• They believe “everyone” is their market. Even the most popular books don’t appeal to everyone. The Harry Potter books have sold more copies than most of us can even imagine, but still only a fraction of the reading public has bought and read the books.
• They don’t market their work if it is published. After all, they’ve written the Great American Novel so the world should beat a path to their doorway. They don’t know that marketing by the author makes the difference between failure and success of a book.

At one time, I was listed as a provider of editing services on the Web site of one of the largest subsidy publishing companies. Although I received a number of queries, I never got a client because the authors who contacted me didn’t really believe their work needed editing. They expected me to tell them their words were golden, and when my sample edits actually suggested changes, they didn’t agree.

One writer sent me the first chapter of a novel that was so unbelievable I found myself thinking, That couldn’t happen! The book began with a secret agent during wartime approaching a foreign woman alone in a bar in a country at war and recruiting her as a spy. I suggested he might consider whether it was realistic that a woman would be alone in a bar in an enemy country during wartime and that a secret agent from a third country would openly approach and recruit her without any previous knowledge or contact. (Note, I didn’t tell him this was a bad plot. I didn’t tell him he should change his plot. I simply suggested he consider whether readers would suspend disbelief while reading the story.) He informed me the book was fiction – that meant is wasn’t true, so it didn’t matter if it was believable or not. He couldn’t understand that fiction isn’t true, but it does have to be believable. Even if the plot is not realistic, the reader has to suspend disbelief and believe it could happen.

As far as I know, this writer didn’t hire an editor. He paid a lot of money for a subsidy publisher to print hundreds or thousands of copies of books that few people will ever read. I suspect he didn’t try to market the book, either, expecting hordes of buyers to order a self-published novel, written by a first-time author with no input from anyone else. And faced with a garage full of unsold books and a huge dent in his wallet, he probably found someone else to blame. Magical thinkers never blame themselves for anything.

In a post titled Will Your Book Ever Be Published?, Daily Writing Tips talks about the book 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might. The post lists a few of the reasons your book might not be published … and many of those reasons are the result of magical thinking.

If you want to succeed as an author – whether your publisher is a huge New York conglomerate or yourself, you can’t be a magical thinker. You have to take responsibility; learn the craft of writing and the publishing industry; write, write, write … revise, revise, revise; then once you’re published, market, market, market. Then you just might experience real magic – a successful book!

Answers to a Writer’s Questions, Part 1: Getting Feedback on Your Writing

In this series, I am going to answer specific questions posed by a reader in a comment to The Value of Writers Groups. Although the questions are specific to one writer, many other writers probably have similar questions.

Patti McQuillen wrote:

I am the webmaster of Gaslight Writers, a writing group for adults in the Louisville, Kentucky area. I am also a beginning writer and would like to know the best way to proceed. I have some short stories in the works, yet do not know how to get them reviewed to see what changes are needed. I am letting members of the writing group read and offer feedback, yet I really hope to get the feedback of other published writers.

The name of the writers group caught my attention because I work with GASLight Publishing, LLC, owned by friends Ken and Grace Anne Schaefer. But Patti raised some good questions, and I would have answered them even if I didn’t like the name of the group so much.

Having fellow members of the writing group read and give feedback is a good first step. Here are a few more ideas to consider:

• Form a critique group of a few writers who meet regularly to read and critique each other’s work. For several years, three other writers came to my house once a week. We each brought three copies of a chapter of our current work-in-progress and distributed them to each of the other members. Then we talked about the chapters from the previous week. We went around the table and gave our feedback, and we returned the copy of the chapter with our comments. This worked because we all wanted honest feedback, and we trusted each other to give it. Each of us had different strengths, so together we gave a comprehensive evaluation of the work. If one person didn’t like something, the writer considered her suggestion and decided whether it had merit or not. If two people commented on the same thing, the writer considered the suggestions very carefully. And if all three pointed out the same concern, the writer knew she had to change it. It’s not easy to get the right group of people together – I’ve tried some other groups that didn’t work so well. Thomma Lyn at Tennessee Text Wrestling offers excellent advice on critique partners. Patti, you might suggest starting such a group to some of the other members of Gaslight Writers on a trial basis for a specified time period, maybe three months – long enough to get familiar with each other’s work and to become more confident in sharing, but with a finite evaluation point so you can dissolve the group if it’s not effective. Establishing some guidelines at the beginning will make success more likely: when and where you will meet, how you present work for critique (a copy for each member to read at home, reading aloud, etc.), and what you expect from the critiques. It doesn’t have to be only short-story writers in your case – members could either bring a short story or a chapter of a novel for critique.

• Look for an online critique group or partner. Writing World’s Critique and Discussion Groups page is a good place to start. Unfortunately, many of the links are no longer valid, but there are several sites to consider. The list of articles about critiquing at the top of page (though some of these are also obsolete) includes some good resources on how to critique as well as how to find or form a critique group. Writer’s Digest also offers a list of online critique groups, again with several dead links, and advice on finding the right online critique group. You can find more information – primarily aimed at children’s writers – at Writer’s Critique Groups: Where to Find Them, and there’s a link to another article on forming your own group. You can also join online writers communities and when you meet another writer that you think is a good candidate for a critique partner, ask her if the two of you can partner to read and critique each other’s work.

• Create a one-time (or periodic) critique exchange. One Christian agent recommends that before submitting to an agent, several writers get together and find people in their church to read their manuscripts and the manuscripts of the other writers in the group and give feedback. Obviously, this specifically applies to Christian books, but a similar approach could be taken in other genres as well – perhaps a reading group would be interested in reading an unpublished work and giving feedback. They might enjoy feeling like they are part of the process of getting the story or book published. While not published writers who can give you advice on specific techniques, readers can tell what they like as a readers. After all, a writer’s ultimate goal is to please readers. Patti, you might check with local libraries and bookstores to find out about reading groups and see if anyone is interested.

• Hire a professional editor or book doctor or offer to compensate a published author for a manuscript evaluation. Although I don’t recommend spending money for professional advice in the early stages of your writing career, at some point, you may want to invest in feedback from a professional. This can range from a simple manuscript evaluation pointing out the strengths and areas that need to be improved to a full edit. You may learn enough from having one story edited that you can improve all your stories.

I hope these suggestions help Patti and other beginning writers as well.

In the next post, I will answer Patti’s question about the children’s book CD she published.

Related Posts:
About Critique Groups
Beware of the Wrong Critique Groups
The Value of Writers Groups

Write What You Know or Know What You Write?

Professional —  and aspiring — writers often hear the advice, “Write what you know.” After all, an avid mystery reader is more likely to write a believable mystery novel than someone who reads only science-fiction, the resident of a small town in a Southern state will probably describe the lifestyle of Small Town, Southern US more accurately than a person who has never left the environs of a big city in the North, and an experienced pet-owner is apt to write a better article on how to keep your cat happy than an individual who has never owned an animal.

If you are writing a book or a magazine article, “Write what you know” may be excellent advice.

However, many people don’t have the luxury of choosing the topics of their writing. You may be a student assigned to write an essay on a specific subject or an employee told to write a speech for your boss. When you can’t “write what you know,” then you must “know what you write.”

And there’s no better way to “know what you write” than to follow the research tips the free report Finding the Information You Need — Research Tips for Your Family, Business, or Personal Pursuits. You can learn to find information in the library, on the Internet, and from less obvious places, such as other people.

“Write what you know” or “know what you write”? Either works — just don’t try to write what you don’t know!

Answers to a Young Writer’s Questions

A young writer wrote to me recently as part of a language arts career project. He’s interested in becoming a writer and asked me some specific questions.

 Here are the questions and my answers:

1. Where do you get most of your ideas on a book?

Ideas come from everywhere. My novel Stroke of Luck is based on my personal experiences, but my forthcoming novel Dream or Destiny was sparked by a television documentary about people who have psychic knowledge about crimes. Within each story, ideas for specific characters and events came from many places: people I’ve known or observed, situations that happened to me or someone I know, items in the media …

Most writers keep track of ideas as they occur to them. Many keep a writers journal that they carry with them all the time to jot down descriptions of people or places, thoughts that pop into their heads, events they see or conversations they hear, anything that might come in handy in a story or a book.

Other writers have an “idea drawer” or “idea box” to collect newspaper clippings, pictures, brochures, pamphlets, and other items they want to remember in addition to notes about their own ideas.

For nonfiction, I usually see a need – a problem people have, for example – and write something that will fill the need – the solution to the problem.

2. How long does it take to get a book published?

This question is impossible to answer. Several years ago, a romance writer was published for the first time after twelve years of writing and submitting manuscripts. She wondered how long it took most people to get published and discovered through researching new writers for the major romance publishers that, on average, first-time published authors had been writing for seven years and had seven completed manuscripts before making the first sale. Although she researched only romance writers and publishers, it is likely that this is typical.

Of course, some writers have their first book published very quickly, and the majority of writers who try to get a book published never succeed. Only about 10% of the manuscripts submitted to traditional publishers are accepted every year.

There are other ways of being published besides the major print publishers. Small presses (small publishing companies often specializing in a specific genre or a region of the country) may be more accepting of new writers, and electronic publishers (generally small companies specializing in e-books but sometimes also publishing trade paperbacks) offer additional opportunities to writers. In fact, electronic publishing is growing faster than print publishing.

Most writers have to submit their work to many publishers and get many rejections before having a manuscript accepted. A dedicated writer continues to believe in himself and write, write, write and submit, submit, submit – no matter how long or how many rejections it takes.

Once a manuscript is accepted by a publisher, it usually takes one to two years for it to actually be published.

3. How hard is it to get a book published?

Very, very difficult by the traditional publishing route. However, a writer can be published very quickly if he decides to self-publish. Self-publishing means the writer also becomes the publisher and hires editors, designers, artists, printers, whatever is needed to produce the book. Then he also is totally responsible for promotion. The writer arranges and pays for everything, but he also receives all the income.

Writers need to be wary of companies who claim to be “self-publishers” – companies that do all the work of publishing a book for a fee. Subsidy publishers can be legitimate businesses that do a quality job for a reasonable price, but many companies that publish books at the author’s expense are “vanity” presses. They are in business only to publish books that feed the author’s vanity but don’t really sell to customers. These companies will publish anything a writer will pay for, regardless of how well or badly it is written or whether or not there is a market. Writers who don’t want to go through the hard work – and often years – to be published traditionally may be easily scammed by someone who promises publication. A writer who pays for publication must research the company very carefully and make certain he is spending money wisely.

To improve your chances of getting published by a company that pays you, you need to work on your craft constantly. Some people say serious writers write every single day, whether that writing is entries in a personal journal, chapters in a novel, a blog … anything. I’ve heard a writer has to write a million words before he can expect to be a good writer – whether that exact number of words is valid or not, a writer does have to write a lot – just like musicians and athletes have to practice, practice, practice.

Another way to increase your odds of being published is to join a writers group, either in person or online. A good writers group will provide writing training, market information, and networking and critique opportunities. Having other writers read and critique your work, while you do the same for them, is invaluable and one of the best ways to grow as a writer.

You will find links to many resources for writers on my Resources for Writers page.

4. What type of college do you need to go to get a degree in writing?

I’m not qualified to answer this question because my college degree is in sociology with a minor in psychology. All the training I have had in writing has been through writers groups; conferences, seminars, and workshops; and self-study.