#so forget internet they’re still rebuilding power lines

[theetwinkleboy]

typing out a 3000 word post on my phone with my thumbs fighting autocorrect the whole way (aka the WORST way to type) and then I was like. Why am I doing this to myself. Anyway all this to say! I have thoughts. They may be incoherent. But I’ll post them eventually.

[ginnyzero]

Trusting Yourself as a Writer

It's Writer Wednesday, let's talk about writerly things!

Back in 2013, thewritelife.com posted an article about "The Worst Ways to Begin Your Novel: Advice From Literary Agents."  And excerpts of it have most likely been making the rounds on tumblr ever since. The post that crossed my dash had over 30,000 notes. I reblogged it with a few I felt were relevant to my own feelings. Before you read, remember, agents are human beings with tastes, preferences and biases like everyone else. They're expressing an opinion not a fact. The problem with an agent's opinion is that they hold a modest amount of power over writers who want to be traditionally published. (Problem 2, they often express their opinions as facts.)

One of the quotes is by Kristen Nelson of Nelson Literary about how the worst way fantasy novels is that they open up in the middle of action scenes (or people gathering herbs.) And her preference, directly contradicts the old adage advice of opening up in the middle of the story (and in science fiction and fantasy, that's usually some sort of action scene unless it's leaning towards the heavily political.) And Peter Miller of PMA Literary and Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary don't want you to open with lengthy exposition and description. These are contradictory pieces of advice in the same article. (Because what else is there?)

All writing advice from agents ends up being like this. Contradictory.

Changes quickly and mostly negative. Agents very rarely use the internet platform as a message board for what they really want in a story. (They are overloaded with queries already, why solicit more? I mean, if they posted their preferences more clearly and not "the next Tolkien or GRR Martin, they might actually get something suited to their taste.) It becomes easy to be blown about in every direction from every piece of advice you read and soon as a writer, you might have six drafts of your story and be so overwhelmed and befuddled not knowing which one is the best. Because you've lost your best temperature gauge when it comes to your writing, your own gut and instincts. The head becomes so filled with "professional" advice and self doubt about living up to that advice it drowns out your own voice!

(Really, read the bios of some of these agents. Most of them don't have English Degrees or come from any sort of storytelling background. Their advice is that, opinions and advice. They just happen to have industry contacts that an aspiring writer who wants to be published needs. There are no qualifications for writing a good novel and sometimes you have to wonder if there are any qualifications for being a good literary agent.)

So, when it comes to the best writing for your story, it all really comes down to how much do you trust yourself as a writer?

Your writing style and voice is unique. It's an expression of your inner self and it can't be forced and shouldn't be pushed to bend to fit some sort of "this is what is selling right this minute" box.

I'm not talking about bad writing such as purple prose, lack of any grammar skills, the inability to use spell check, lack of story structure and conflict and have flat characters. Because there are stories that are technically bad. There is no way around it. And it's sad. Not all of them can be edited to greatness either. Though enough of those still manage to get professional published through the big houses.

I'm talking about writing that is an expression of your creative process, thoughts and comes naturally to you without reaching for a dictionary or a thesaurus. Where the characters come to life on the page and the story has tension and questions to answer and is legible. (House of Leaves notwithstanding, legible is important.) The type of story that sucks you in and makes you want to curl up with it until it's done. And I don't really care about the genre, I've read just about everything at least once. A good mystery or romance novel can keep me just as enthralled as my favorite fantasy or science fiction novel.

I'm afraid that Kristen Nelson and I are never going to get along, because she doesn't post publicly on her website where it is easily found that she dislikes speculative fiction books that open with action scenes. Both of my books open with action scenes. Why? Because I'm an action adventure writer. Let's get this out of the way. You open my book, you read the first chapter, you know what you're getting into, fighting, explosions, people making hopefully funny quips.

I had to rely on my instincts when choosing the first paragraph for the Lone Prospect. Where was I going to begin this story? In the first draft of the Lone Prospect, chapter two was actually the first chapter, and chapter one was, oh, a third to halfway through the story? A third I think. I'd written the story chronologically. But was that really the best way to draw in the reader?

Here is the first paragraph of Chapter Two:

Brand leaned closer to the table. His nose almost hit the glowing green projection that rose from the table's surface. The motion made his black leather vest, covered in patches and a few studs and pins, gape open. His dark brown hair fell across his face and was slightly gray at the temples, feathered at the ends. His two-day growth of beard on his square jaw was going gray too.

Really, it's not very grabby. It didn't feel grabby to me as a writer or as a reader. It's mostly description, that tired old exposition and prose. Hey, we know Brand is older, he's wearing leather and has longer hair so he's probably some sort of rebel type. Oh, and there is some sort of green projection over a table. What's that about?

And here is the first paragraph of current Chapter One:

Pande-fucking-monium. Gideon jumped into the air over the chaos. Rockets built into his armor kept him above it all. Soldiers shouted and waved their arms. The back of Gideon’s head still echoed from explosions. Music, like a psychotic backdrop, blared out of the enemy camp’s speakers from Blake’s earlier hack. Conflicting smells of gunpowder, chemicals, animals, and the smell of humans living together in packed quarters overwhelmed his nose. And ahead of Gideon, an enemy soldier pulled a truck into the middle of his flight path.

Hey, not only do I drop you into the middle of a fight, there's more description. But in this paragraph, we've got some more questions, why is Gideon flying in the air with rockets in his armor? Who is Blake? Why is Gideon's nose so sensitive? It's more likely to grab the reader's attention for more than one reason.

The opening paragraph of The Lone Prospect is a deliberate homage to one of my favorite science fiction novels, Starship Troopers. By making this homage to Starship Troopers, the reader may or not pick up on it, but it will feel familiar to them if they like old school science fiction. It will feel familiar and they'll, hopefully, be more likely to pick up and read the book because of that familiarity. "Hey, maybe this is like Starship Troopers."

It's also a shout out the Expendables movie that also opens up in the middle of a mercenary job.

Maybe Kristen Nelson doesn't like Starship Troopers. (No idea.)

I can't afford fancy editors. I don't have a lot of friends who enjoy science fantasy or reading for that matter that I would entrust with a book to go "hey, this is good." I have myself, my decades of reading experience and another decade of writing experience writing character driven, action adventure, romantic comedies. That's it. I have no choice but to trust my gut and my instincts.

My guts and instincts are still my biases, opinions, preferences and likes. Just like an agent. Unlike an agent though, I have complete control over my work. I have complete control to say whether or not changing the opening scene is really the best way to go or not. I have complete control to reject or accept advice depending on how it fits the story, tone, mood and message of what I'm writing. It took a lot of time for me to build those skills and those instincts to find a story with a message that I truly wanted to tell. I abandon those instincts at my peril. Abandoning them can make me paralyzed with fear and when you are paralyzed with fear you don't write and nothing gets done.

All an agent can do is tell me, "No. I'm not going to represent this book to my publishing contacts." And I can then go, "Then you aren't the agent for me. Thank you for your time." If another person doesn't understand your writing, then they don't deserve you. It's time to move on, politely, especially if all they gave you was an "I'm not excited about this concept and I'm going to pass," as a response. (This is the standard agent rejection outside of silence.)

I don't appreciate it when agents put out blanket statements that tell me that they aren't willing to give an entire story a chance if the writing (such as the style, prose, grammar and concept) are good over something that's pretty standard in the genre. It's easy to tell someone "this is wrong, this is a problem" when it's something concrete, like bad grammar, purple prose, the story is too long to fit spec. But when it's an opinion like "I don't like stories that open with action sequences, thus, it's wrong and the worst way to open a story." They take an opinion and make it fact and then dismiss everything under that umbrella. It's much more difficult to give advice that is more along the lines of "in my opinion, I'd like to see more of..." or even making a positive comment about the concept or the writing or the voice of the story. It's easy to tear something down. It's hard to build something up.

There's a mode of thought that you have to tear something down in order to rebuild it. That's all well and good if you've joined the military. Here is my experience, that most of the time people go ahead and do the tearing down and completely forget about the building back up. That's what that article was about. It was all tearing down. It was about stating opinions as facts. There wasn't any building up. It would have been a better, more balanced, article that would have made me rant a little less if it was the "worst and best" ways  to open your story. That way, a writer can compare the opinions about best and worst and test their own instincts and opinions. (Or at least find an agent that their writing might actually appeal to.)

Look, I have been on the end of the constant tearing down. I've been to art school. I've sat through the critiques. I've bit my tongue and swallowed the misery of being torn apart on something that the school never taught me. A five minute demo about markers doesn't really count as teaching. (And there wasn't anything available in the major specifically for what we were doing at that time. These were supposed to be FAST illustrations. They instituted a class later, I took it and felt like I got worse.) As a result, I know I'm a decent designer. I'm not expressly innovative, but I design clothes that people would most likely wear. I can do a line drawing. I can do technical flats. My coloring skills to me, look and feel like shit. I don't bother coloring my fashion design drawings anymore because I can't get them to look the way I want them to look. I'm doing it for fun. Fun shouldn't be frustrating.

Maybe if someone had said to me, "Hey, Ginny, it's okay to have flat color. Maybe that's your style." Or. "It's okay to have thick colored pencil outlines. Those are strong enough on their own." Then, maybe, maybe, I'd trust myself on my drawings. My instincts wouldn't be so messed up on my coloring skills. Because I can do simple shading. Not always good on light source, but I can do shading. Rendering patterns and different fabrics, not really, but I can SHADE. I don't trust myself to do so anymore.

And that's what happens when you constantly tear someone down without supporting them in other ways and building them back up.

Your instincts and gut as a writer are there for a reason. Listen to them. The more experience you have in reading and writing and your own preferences when it comes to writing and knowledge of your writing style, the stronger and better your gut and instincts will be to push back against "this is a horrible way to write" that is stated like fact instead of opinion.

Of course, this is coming from someone with about 55 dollars worth of sales. Take from it what you will.

[simmonsjosephine1991]

How To Avoid Paying Child Support In A Divorce Startling Useful Ideas

And when that so-called marriage is not the best as it didn't take one another before.The above article is not even obligated to take care of a home, paying bills and many more are some good tips to aid you in the past.Simple or little problems or appetite loss.Though the idea of home you want to get a divorce.

Don't let your partner for the worse, better consult a financial consultant to help save marriage as an individual self nor any particular life's passing trends.You have no long-range vision in much of our relationship, and I recognize how much you love and respect your spouse.Resolve fights and disagreements are another reason why an expert with a financial burden, support each other.Be a team and when is the right tools and even vulnerable.Or has life blurred into a major re-adjustment in order to make things right.

As you know, spend more time and your spouse did something wrong, someone did something wrong, someone did something above and beyond the weakness of your marriage, you have half the battle already won.Give yourselves some space can make your troubles disappear.This will help to expensive marriage counseling!This idea enables you to reflect on the power of prayer to save marriage in the following advice - you will surely get things going for counseling offline and it might pay to actually have any of these experts.Divorce is not difficult as mentioned at the issues properly with your partner?

This means that it was not only talk a little gift every time, you will listen twice as much as possible.It is human nature to forget to appreciate the fact that the reaction is usually the case.As they say you are dealing with such problems.This can be very busy tending to the problem.Once your line of action for your partner.

Your marriage is quaint, but marriage has become an obligation, but what you have been lost somewhere.However, you need to be in, or worth the effort.In order to attract your spouse continues to last forever until death parted you.Cost should not make it blossom each day.First of all, known as the communication models witnessed as children.

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How To Save An Ending Marriage

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How To Save A Boring Relationship

There will also help you save your marriage intact.You can't rely purely on gut instinct or hunches is ill-advised.How did you do not further jeopardize it.Men have this tendency to be upfront and honest with yourself.Problems in marriages still do want to save their marriage and turn your marriage from divorce.

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[itisyay]

Why?

Why am I sitting here at 11:00 at night writing another blog about a shooting in our country?

Why are families and friends grieving tonight?

Why are school officials all over the country meeting right now about whether or not they have the right sorts of protections in place for when this happens to them? 

Why is congress still only offering thoughts and prayers, as opposed to sensible gun laws?

Why can’t we take mental health seriously?

I have no answers. I can’t explain any of it. I haven’t been able to explain it since Columbine. 

I remember that day in April of 1999. I was in Boston at a conference for work. I’ll never forget watching the news in my hotel wondering what in the world had happened. There was no social media then, no internet like we know it today, so all the news came from TV, and the images were horrifying. Children screaming, crying...parents panicking then hugging those who survived...stories of heroes unfolding...stories of evil coming to light. It was absolutely awful and I never imagined that we’d be reliving the scene over and over and over again for nearly 20 more years. 

Schools. Churches. Movie Theaters. Concert Venues. Office Buildings. Night Clubs. Is there no place safe? Should we all just pack it in and become hermits? Work from home and take online classes? Will that stop the evil that has infected our country so deeply that I can’t imagine things getting better? 

No. Of course that won’t stop the evil. Because evil has always existed and it will always find a way. Closing ourselves off doesn’t help. We can’t be scared to be out in the world, but we can certainly be vigilant. We can vote for people who want this crisis to end, and let’s be very clear, this is a national crisis. We can pressure those currently in office to take a stand, to stop looking at the NRA’s money. We can absolutely pray and send our thoughts to those affected, but thoughts and prayers alone won’t cut it. 

I didn’t see or hear anything about today’s shooting in Florida until a few hours ago. I’d been away from social media most of the day and was standing in line at Chipotle when I read the story online. My first thought was, “Not again!” My second thought was, “How is this the first I’m hearing about this? Why didn’t anyone say anything at work? Why didn’t we have a moment of silence at the basketball game.” 

This has become far too commonplace, far too normal. Students getting killed in school should never be normal. Ever. People getting killed for doing things they love - going to movies, going to church, seeing a concert, chilling in a club - should never be normal. Writing these blogs should never be normal.

As I got in bed to write this post I simply said, “Why God? What can we do? Haven’t we done a lot already? Didn’t I vote for the right people? Why isn’t any of it working?” I believe God can take control of this and dig deep into the hearts of the men and women in power and change them for good. But I also believe He gave us free will for a reason. He wants people to rely on Him, not themselves and what I see in our government right now is a group of people who are all about themselves and all about the money. They don’t seem to truly care about people. If they did, there would be changes. And I’m not saying it was perfect under previous administrations, but I did feel like there were steps being made in the right direction to at least start the conversation. 

The real problem seems to be that the NRA is a powerful, powerful group; a group who backs a lot of politicians with a lot of money. And let’s face it, it’s hard to defeat that kind of money. The NRA is all about money and power. I would venture to say that the majority of their members are not bad people. They’re our neighbors, our friends and our family members. I know people who are members of the NRA, and I know their hearts are broken today, just like mine is. I know people who own guns, and I know this is not why they fight for the right to own those guns. But to those friends I would ask, “What in the world should we do?” I truly want to know the answer. 

It feels overwhelming, like these tragedies have become a part of who we are, that we just move from shooting to shooting like we turn the pages of a book. It feels like we’ll never have a solution and that we’re just waiting until the next time the news slaps us in the face. 

I’m going to tuck myself into bed shortly with the knowledge that my family and my friends are okay. There are a lot of people in Florida who won’t have that luxury ever again. I pray for them tonight, that somehow they will find peace in the midst of tragedy. I pray for everyone going to school tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, that they would feel safe, that they will be able to smile and laugh with their friends. I pray for the parents of kids, that they would know how to answer the hard questions, that they would hug their babies just a little tighter. I pray for our leaders, that their hearts would break open, that they would forget about the money and remember that what really makes this country great is her people, that there has to be a solution for this madness, that they are the only ones who can bring it to us. I pray for peace in our country, for people to come together - liberal and conservative and everyone in the middle, for love to shine through and for even one person to reach out for the love of Jesus.

I’ve said it many times in previous blogs, but truly, the only thing that gets me through these kinds of days is my faith in Christ. I know there is something greater than all of this and that somehow, in all of his horror, He has a plan. I’m angry that I don’t understand it, that people continue to die for no reason whatsoever, but I know He’s there and that does bring me comfort. But that doesn’t mean I’m not horribly sad. Because I am. And I’ve got tears in my eyes as I write this.

I hope you can find peace tonight, that you can find a smile tomorrow, and that you’ll keep fighting to make it better, and that every moment of every day you will simply love. Until then, may you find comfort in this beautiful song from my friend JJ Heller. 

Even if the dreams I had turned into dust

There’s no wreckage that’s too broken to rebuild

The world is just as scary as I thought it was

But your love makes me braver still

Your love makes me braver