For those of you who are wondering, "Wallflower" is my third novel. I write paranormal/fantasy fiction, but I'm not comfortable with such a broad label. One of my stories has to do with fairies, but the protagonist is human. Other than that, my stories are about magical things happening to ordinary people. Often there are love stories tied in there, which gives them the romance aspect. As many writers can empathize, I feel hopelessly stuck between genres.
Now, on to my point...I learned a lot at the Willamette writers conference this last weekend, but it seems that I came home with more questions than when I arrived. As a newbie writer, I'm fortunate enough to recognize my weaknesses on the page. I hoped to solve some of those problems at the conference.
That didn't happen.
Don't get me wrong, I learned plenty. For instance, I learned that although cordial and polite, agents and editors could care less about helping you solve your petty issues. They simply slide their business card across the table and say "Don't give up."
I learned that you need to have money to make money as I had to sell a piece of my soul just to make it to the conference.
AND
I learned that if I wanted to solve my writing problems, I needed to fork out more illusive and largely nonexistent funds to take creative writing courses and such.
If you're like me, (and chances are you're as strapped for cash as I am,) you can't afford things like this. So I'm winging it; flying by the seat of my britches as it were.
When it comes to my writing, my biggest areas of concern are punctuation (never had a knack for that) and descriptive prose.
I can't put to words what my imagination sees, not like the pros do. How many ways can someone gasp or pant? How creative can you get when describing a surprised expression? I can't seem to get over that hump, but I'm trying. I'm doing a lot of comparative reading and I purchased a book by Rebecca McClanahan called Word Painting. Hopefully that will help.
Now, having spilled my guts, I'd like to know what your writing hang-up is. Past or present, what roadblock did you face in your writing life? And if you were able to overcome it, please tell us how.
Thanks for reading today.
Well I'm sifting through your blog, and thank the dear heavens I am not the only one sitting here pondering these things! But you've got gumshin and guts, and honey that goes a long way. I'll kindly scoot your guts to the side and spill mine out beside them. While I got outstanding marks in English class growing up, I'm finding now, being much older, that English class was a LONG time ago. I find myself staring at the screen "Is a comma supposed to go there, or semicolon?" And all I can say to that, is thank you Google, you're a good friend to me. Aside from that, I have the reverse problem as you. I can paint you a beautiful picture of the scene, wrap you up in every detail, 'a story tellers eyes' I have been told to have. But when it comes time for dialogue, my characters just stand there and stare at me. Looking at me with a stupid look of impatience as they wait for me to tell them what to say. In moments of wanting to tear my hair out, I ask stupid questions like how much dialogue do you need to still create something beautiful? Thus, there are my guts. Just as doubtful, yet just as persistent.
ReplyDelete