writing – Page 21 – Linda Nelson

Everybody has their favorite genre to read and write. It is a given fact. Some will prefer either fiction to nonfiction and so on. But almost every written work has one thing in common.

Is it considered an untouchable truth?

Now why would I want to speak about untouchable truths?

Yesterday was our first Monadnock Writers’ Group meeting of the year. Our speaker was Mary Johnson. Her published work – An Unquenchable Thirst. It is a memoir about her life as a Missionary of Charity, and a story of her search for love, service, and an authentic life.

So when she spoke at our meeting yesterday her topic was about Untouchable Truths. What’s the big deal?

Well this is the topic that churns around why books can make the banned book list. When a story that is written tells about a subject matter that the public, or some groups of individuals in general don’t want anyone to know about.

This can happen in fiction as well as non-fiction. This can happen if someone has found the story offensive even in some silly way.

Per the Huffington post:

Recent Banned Book list top 10:

1. Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

3. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

4. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

5. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

6. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

7. Looking for Alaska by John Green

8. Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz

9. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

10. Beloved by Toni Morrison

The majority of these titles were banned due to offensive language or subject matter. They all also share another thing in common, they are undoubtedly fantastic stories. “Society defends Untouchable Truths” and people respond.

Why? They may find it painful, against conventional wisdom, fearful, uncomfortable, exposure, success, or the fact that you say what you mean.

Mary went on to say that if you feel any fear when writing a story, then it does need to come out. As long as you are not doing it to seek revenge against someone. Then it becomes malicious, and you are looking at a legal matter.

She went on to touch base about how difficult it can be to write such subject matter, especially when it is a memoir. And she also talked about not only the writing difficulties involved with such works but also the publishing aspects and legality.

It was all pretty interesting.

ROW80 Check-In:

Last Wednesday was the end of round 3 of our Round of Words in 80 Days Challenge. Technically I don’t have to post a check in for today, but since I am practicing writing discipline this year I will post how I only edited a couple of chapter this week of Witch Book.

I don’t think it is because the story is that badly edited. I believe Witch Book is one of my better early works, or so the reviews of it seemed to say. It has to be more about the fact that I am trying to make note as to the story plots and such so I can remember where I left off in the story line. I don’t want to send Aaron accidentally off with the Book of Hestate. (LOL) Though that could make the story line different…

Maybe by the next Check In, which is on Wednesday, I will have worked through a couple more chapters and close in on beginning the next book in the series.

In the meantime, my daughter has requested me to make my 3 year old granddaughter a new sweater. She even picked out the crochet pattern for me to follow. It looks fairly easy and I have been thinking about doing something like it for quite some time.

If the pattern works for me, I will post a picture, when it is completed, for all to see.

How is your writing going for this week? I would love to hear.

Do you like to do other craft projects, as well?

I have a crochet pattern I have been looking all over for. I haven’t found it yet. It is for a large crocheted chicken or duck Easter basket. The original pattern is done in some sort of chenille loops, but I have also seen the basket done in crochet with regular Red Heart yarn. Someone was selling them at a local chicken swap a few Easters ago. The baskets were adorable.

Banned Books Week 2013 (Photos) (examiner.com)
Top 10 Challenged Books of 2012 (rulibrary.typepad.com)

Now that we are three weeks into September I have noticed how I have not been posting as much as of late. I have decided to try and actively change this. And, thanks to Kait and her ROW80 Challenge, I believe I’m ready to get my butt into gear and stick with her posting schedule. My focus this year will be on writing discipline.

So, now that I have you all here I have to tell you about a newbie writer who recently attended their first critique session. I heard how she was not fully prepared for what she was about to walk into. Supposedly this session turned out to be a horrific experience for her. What a shame, critique sessions are meant to be a writer’s tool. The feedback one gets from such a group is priceless.

Maybe some people think that just because they are college graduates the first book they write will be perfect.

I don’t know about that unless you are some kind of genius who has the imagination of a schizophrenic. The writing process just does not happen that way.

We all think our stories are great when they are coming straight out of the box. Pride can get in our way in the beginning. The best writers have replaced their pride with a deeper understanding as to how great stories are created.

You may call it collaboration when a critique group is used, but when you bounce a story idea off someone else’s mind and they tell you what they understand your story to say is two different things.

I saw this with Along Came Neil. This book took part in my first critique session. One chapter, mind you, can change the whole course of your story. Just one chapter is all it takes to rid yourself of anything that comes across as back story, or that unnecessary prologue. – who reads prologues anymore anyway?

So to that newbie writer – my heart plays that sad, sad song for you 😦 , but what are you going to do about your manuscript? Do you give up that easily? Why did what they say hurt so much? Could they possibly be onto something?

If I were you, I wouldn’t give up. Listen to what they said. Critique groups are there to try and give you a view of your story from a reader’s angle. Use it as for what it is, your very first review. If you reacted to the critique group that way, how will you take your first one star rating? Believe me, we all get them at one time or another.

Which leads us to another topic for a future date: Revisions and editing…

ROW80 Check-In:

Revisions – for the past two months I have been working on Revisions of all my previously published works. I’m kind of on a roll with only one book left to go.

Since Along Came Neil came out during the beginning of July I decided to revise the whole series, which does have its benefits, like fixing proofing errors, and story gaps. This is a good thing. By starting at the beginning of the series, this helped me make sure that the story remained on track, right to the end. Along Came Neil brought a lot of closure to the story. I can either continue the series or let it end. I feel confident that I did achieve a decent ending. Now all I can do is wait for my readers to tell me what they think about the story.

In the meantime, I moved on to my fantasy series. I actually had no choice but to go over the story once again if I’m to start working on the next book in this series. I don’t keep a time line. (I should – shouldn’t I?)

So by doing a revision of the fantasy series I am not only raising the quality of the story but I am regaining where I was at with the story.

I have about thirteen chapters left to go. Maybe I will be done by this weekend so I can start coming up with my next plot.

So while I regroup my fantasy series I hope, even if you have had a terrible critique group experience you will keep your Manuscript Marching Onward. The parade only stops if you stop marching.

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