Editors Aren't Your Enemy, Writers
Write Better Now Roundup
I often tell a story of when I was on a small writing panel with one of the living great writers of children’s literature and how I gasped when she told people attending that she never lets her edit actually edit her.
“Not a single word,” she said.
There was no collaboration for her. No editing. Every one of her words stayed put.
And I said, “Oh, I like it that there’s an entire team helping me make the best story I possibly can for kids. I love edits.”
She glared.
The audience gasped. But I stand by that. I do not think I a literary god or any kind of god and I love input that helps me make my story better. I love editors having my back.
However, I think my ability to be contrary to actual literary gods hasn’t helped me schmooze. I’m okay with that.
Writer’s Digest has a piece by Joanne Ramos back in 2019 where she talks about her big three steps in writing.
Her first step is committing to writing the story.
Her second step? It’s “Seek Community and Critique.”
She writes:
“An acquaintance suggested that I enroll in a writing class—an obvious idea that hadn’t been obvious to me. In my mind, writing was a journey taken solo. Luckily, the options in New York for a would-be writer seeking instruction are plentiful. I did my research and settled on the Ditmas Writing Workshop, because I liked how the teacher, Rachel Sherman, described her classes, and I liked the subjects she chose to tackle in her own work.
“She’ll understand what I’m trying to do, I believed, another leap of faith.
“It turned out that she did. By the time the workshop started, I had written the first three chapters of what would become The Farm, my first novel. Rachel understood what I was attempting. Her critiques of my submissions were smart, and her suggestions of books to read were helpful. What I didn’t expect from the class, though, turned out to be just as important: a community of writers who took their work, and mine, seriously.
“I didn’t always agree with the feedback from my fellow classmates, but the act of leaving my children at home each Tuesday and taking the subway to Brooklyn to discuss writing with writers was crucial. I learned to read my classmates’ work and mine with a critical eye—and in doing so, began to better understand what worked in a narrative and what didn’t, and why. I learned to share my work and accept criticism with an open mind—not always easy. Perhaps most importantly, I learned that my commitment to my book was real; that I was going to see it through to the end.”
Here’s the thing: Writing is communication. It requires a writer and a reader and we shouldn’t be afraid of that communication aspect or of fine-tuning our words, sentences, paragraphs or plots, or just someone telling us to lay off the em-dashes.
Collaboration and community came be beautiful, gorgeous things. We don’t have to guard each word and offer to fight over a comma. Our readers deserve better than that even if we’re a literary god. Or as Robert Lee Brewer says in another Writer’s Digest piece, thinking you know it all is a bit of a mistake a lot of us writers make.
WRITING PROMPTS
This one is from writers.com
PLACE TO SUBMIT
Zoetic Press: Food
This press wants poetry, fiction, essays, and art. Its upcoming deadline is for the food theme. It also publishes translations.
“Food touches every single person on the planet, and can be one of the most fraught relationships a person can have. We’re not looking for recipes, or stories in which food is incidental. We want to read about how food joins people, divides people, shapes those with too much and those with not enough. Who grows food? Who hauls it around? Who cooks it? How is working professionally with food different than cooking at home? There are so many aspects of this necessity of life, and we want to hear them – especially the unexpected, the complicated, the life-changing.”
Deadline: 31 January 2023, or until filled
Length: Up to 3,000 words for prose; up to 3 pages for poetry
Pay: $0.01/word for prose, $10 for poetry
Details here.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
This past week, and the week before, we talked a bit about creating mood or atmosphere in your story. You should check them out!
