Words Worth

For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity.
William Wordsworth 

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I often think of what my words are worth. When I read guidelines, there it sits, a number for what my words are worth. Sometimes it says .01 cent a word, or .50 cents a word and on rare occasions I see 1.00 a word.

This is what my words are worth to the people accepting my work. To me they seem worth so much more that I fear releasing them into the unknown, but how can I make them worth more if I don’t send them out?

Having my poetry published is one of the stars that I reach for. Sure I’ve written a novel and some short stories, but it is my poetry that holds the key to my heart. Finding a publisher that accepts poetry is no small task, since in these economic times, poetry doesn’t sell. There it is again, a price for my words.

When I think about it, it is not only letting my work go, for a price, it is releasing my words for a cause. I’m a firm believer in the cause and effect theory, and it is because of my poetry, I can have an affect on many peoples lives.

I had a student in f2k this session. He said to me, “This isn’t what I intended the story to mean, so I missed my mark, I’ll have to try again.” I told him, point blank, “Let the people, reader, think for themselves. Allow them to walk away with whatever they want.”

I went on and told him about how my poetry isn’t always intended the way people receive it; they get something totally different then what I wrote and it is okay! I’m not going to change the wording to fit what they got out of it, I’m going to write and release it and whatever affect my poetry has, then I am willing to allow the reader to have an individual thought on the matter. Does that make sense?

Why make your words fit into one persons mind, when another reader might come along and get something totally different from the piece. Are you then going to try and change it for them too? And remember, with every change, you’re going to lose something and that is the intent behind what you meant. Is it worth it?

I don’t feel that it is worth it. This is just my opinion. It is not set in stone or anything, and this is a totally different aspect from revision and taking out or adding words. I had someone crit my poetry and when it came back, the meaning, the flow, the rhythm all were lost to taking a word out here and there. To me, it is not worth losing flow and rhythm, for perfect meter and stanza proportion.

To me...my words are worth more!

Chop Shop

Don't explain why it works; explain how you use it.
~Steven Brust

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When is it too much?

When is too much cutting during revision, too much? Yesterday we talked about how important revision is, whether a short story, a poem or a novel; whether it is fiction or non-fiction.  But is there a point where you chop it to pieces, then read your work and wonder, “Who wrote this?”

After you’ve cut out too many adverbs and adjectives, you’ll move on to the modifiers and prepositions and then your left with, gibberish? You can’t cut a piece to bits. You need to keep the voice that you, the writer of the work, intended.

Around the writing circles, questions are asked and sometimes I need more than a brief email to say, “Don’t cut the dickens out of it! A revision is fixing what is broke, not tearing a piece up only to try and put it back together again.”

We can not dismantle our work of art and then try to re-form it. That is like painting over an already dried painting. You’ll see right through. You’ll see something magical underneath but facing you is abstract nothingness at the surface.

This is why it is so important to have others read what you’ve written. Okay, lets say you’ve written your piece, have let it settled and came back to it to revise. Does it read the same? Did you keep the vein of your story? Did the voice come out as you intended?
If you answered yes to all three questions, you’re on the right track.

If you’ve answered no to one of the questions, then you may have chopped too much off. This is where a writing group comes in handy. You put it out there and LISTEN to their advice and critique! If they say, “You know, this story just didn’t work for me. There were some inconsistencies, and you lost the flow here, at such and such a place.” Then you as a writer have to rethink what they are picking up on. Like a mental telepathy, you need to weed out the good crit with the bad.

The next person might say, “I loved this story, you’re an awesome writer.” Now honestly, is that what you wanted to hear? You may have wanted that stroking of your ego, but guess what, it isn’t HELPING you find out what the last person meant! Sure you want to hear you’re great, loved it, but ask, what did you like? What worked for you?

Announce your uncertainties of where you think you might have missed the boat and ask if they picked up on that too. Now take all the crits you have gathered together, and think really hard on who was right and what works for YOU as a writer when revising your artwork.

Notice how I call writers artists all the time? That is what I think we are. We create masterpieces of fine art. We’re not butchers, so don’t chop your piece up until it is no longer the art that you intended, okay?

 

Writing on a Diet

Live your dream and write right, it's what we writer's do. Learn from your mistakes and move on. ~joni
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Well I don’t really need a diet, I’m thin by nature. But my words might need a little exercising. What I mean is, words are worth their weight in gold. If used wisely and correctly, every single word you use will compliment the other.

It’s like that nice little black purse complimenting the dress and heels. When we use one word for a sentence it will compliment the others and in this way our writing will take shape and form. It’s like building muscle mass within the words.

So how can we put our writing on a diet? I can go through many people’s writings, find too many if’s, and’s, and or’s; weighty words that have no use being in a sentence, too many adverbs or maybe the use of big words, that make you sound smart, but have no place in the story or the sentence.

We shape our sentences into paragraphs. If a paragraph is not solid it will appear as a floppy disc, just dangling in the wind. Firm up your writing with words that are strong and words that need to be in the sentence to carry it along. I strongly recommend having a thesaurus on hand. Let’s say you can’t think of a word, it has been alluding you to no end. Look us a similar word in the thesaurus and surely you’ll find a word in equal strength as the one you were looking for, or even a better word with muscle.

When you have a writing group behind you, it helps a lot because they can sometimes see things that you can’t. Lets say you’ve read your work, it is perfect to you, you post it in your workshop and someone says, “Hey, maybe lose this or that. Restructure this or that.” Their eyes are seeing something that maybe you did not see. That is why we have second drafts and third, fourth,etc., etc.

So I’m here to tell you to put your writing on a diet. No the first draft isn’t supposed to be perfect, it is supposed to be you, getting your story out on paper. Your second draft, you’re going to trim here and there, to make it appear exercised, so to speak. I would advise not posting a first draft for your workshop, because when they see all the mistakes and errors, or a weighted piece of work, they’re going to pick your work apart making you feel insufficient as a writer.

Why not post your best work and let them see you shine as a writer. So they pick it apart and see things that you didn’t. This is where you’re going to add, delete, walk away with a feeling of security and move on. Write Right, that’s what I always say.

Write,Read,Revise!

Write it, read it, revise it ….

Okay now we know that we WANT to be a writer, the passion has been fired up and we’re ready to roll, now what? Well your first step is to write something. What? Where do I get idea’s? That’s the easy part. All across the internet you can find writing prompts some good, some not so good, and some daggone awful!

Writing prompts are simple sentences or pictures that you look at and write, let’s say 500 words or less. You then expand on those five-hundred words that you wrote to make it either a fictional short story, if you’re lucky it may become a novel, or maybe even a non-fiction article idea will surface. Note that not all prompts will elucidate a creative writing tale. This is why you need the discipline to do many many exercises and prompts! (but you’re a writer, you can handle it.)

You’ve written the words now what? Well, you need to read them, OUT LOUD! I can’t emphasize this one enough! When you read your work out loud (it’s okay, no one will think you’re crazy) you will HEAR what is wrong in the sentence structure, the dialogue or the paragraph. Take note of what you’ve noticed. Is it clumsy? Is the dialogue not sounding believable enough? Is that comma giving you a problem?

I always use my MSWord to do my work with. On occasion when the computer isn’t available (usually for poetry) I actually use the old-time pen and paper. Either way I have a yellow highlighter within my reach. (MSWord has one or there is one in my hand.)

Now we’ve written our words, have them compiled into what looks like a possible story, now what do I do? It is time to let it rest (for a day at least) then we come back to it and revise it.

What is a revised piece of work? It is where you’ve gone over it with a fine-toothed comb, highlighted all the spots that are not working out for you and you fix them!

Please be diligent and check for spelling errors. Grammatical errors can be picked out by your group, but not taking the time to FIND your spelling errors (sorry MSWord won’t do the work for you) makes you appear to be either a hurried writer or a lazy writer.

It is helpful if you have a study group (there are many online writing study groups or at your local library.) Writer’s Village University is a wonderful source for my inspiration. You might find another one useful to you. Maybe you seek out in-depth student/instructor assistance? Maybe you desire a one-on-one mentor? Whichever you choose for the writer in YOU is what will work best for you.

Now get writing! Do your best and make it shine!

Within every writer is a magical world just waiting to be explored. Remember that Columbus didn’t discover America just by looking out at the sea! ~Joni