Resolutions for the Writer
Victoria
Grossack
It’s the New Year, the traditional time for making resolutions (although
you can make resolutions at any point in the year). Some are common enough:
lose weight; exercise more; clean out the garage; organize your papers
better for taxes. These are all important. But what about a few New Year
Resolutions pertaining to you and your writing?
Before you start making resolutions, I think it’s wise to review two
important points, and to look at them realistically:
(1) Where do you want to go as a writer?
(2) And where are you now?
Where Do You Want to Go as a Writer?
You may want to have success on a par with J K Rowling, Stephen King, or
some of the authors who have appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show. These
dreams are all well and good, for of the many, many people who want to
become mega bestselling authors, some people make it, right? Why not you?
I don’t want to rain on your parade. I’m not raining on your parade.
There’s no reason that you should not have these dreams. I have my own
writing dreams and ambitions and goals, and I assure you that the word
“modest” does not describe them.
However, there’s your overall, long-term goal, and then there are your
goals for this year, this month, this day, the next fifteen minutes. Your
long-term goal may be to make the bestseller list. However, there are
several significant goals that need to be reached along the way. Here’s one
road-map with big landmarks on it:
(1) Write a book;
(2) Make that book good;
(3) Submit for publication;
(4) Acceptance and publication;
(5) Sell lots of books
I would suggest that these points, even though they should guide
you, are not fine enough. And in this column we’re going to focus on the
first two items above. What do you need to do to (1) write a book and to (2)
make that book good?
Notice the emphasis on you. You’re the one writing this book; you’re the
one who has to write well. So let’s consider where you are now.
Where Are You Now?
In plotting a course to success, you need to know, not only where you
want to go but where you are now. So I want you to work through an
assessment of your writing abilities. Determine where you are strong and
where you are weak. Here are some questions you could ask yourself:
Writing that book:
(1) Do you have something you want to write? Something specific or is it
a vague idea? Although you don’t need to know everything, you should have a
sense of the beginning, the middle, and the end.
(2) Do you have the time to write? The energy? The discipline? The
physical stamina? The peace and quiet?
(3) Are you familiar with the genre? Amazingly, some people expect to be
able to write romances when they have read very few themselves, or to write
science fiction without ever reading science fiction novels. Ideas striking
these people as new and original will, alas, often have been done many times
over. It’s much easier to learn this by reading than to go through the
trouble of writing.
(4) Have you practiced by writing smaller pieces, such as journals, short
stories, essays, and so on? Many people start writing a thousand-page novel
without having tried anything smaller. Would you enter a marathon without
running around the block a few times first?
(5) Do you suffer from writer’s block? If you do, do you know why you
suffer from it and can you do something about it?
Making that book better:
(1) Can you admit that your writing isn’t perfect? Until you’re able to
distance yourself a little from your own words, you’re not going to be able
to improve them.
(2) How are you with respect to the following areas?
Grammar
Vocabulary
Word choice in your writing
Character development
Plot
Dialogue
Description
Romance
Tension
Clarity
Mystery Endings
With respect to the list the above, you will benefit if you can get
feedback from other people. I’ve always assumed that writers who make, for
example, mistakes in grammar, don’t realize that they’re making these
errors, because I can’t fathom why they would make them knowingly.
(3) How are you about writing your first draft? Does it come easily or do
you have trouble putting things down on paper? If it’s easy some of the time
and difficult other times, do you know why?
(4) How are you with editing? Is editing something you avoid or that you
enjoy? Can you be objective about what you write? Can you see what works and
what doesn’t? Do you find it easy, for example, to refine your phrases and
sentences but you have trouble revising the plot?
Invest in Your Writing
Once you’ve determined where your strengths and weaknesses lie, you
should capitalize on your strengths and try to shore up your weaknesses. For
example, if you are good at dialogue and terrible at description, you might
want to consider writing plays. If you are good at choosing words but not so
good at developing plot, then perhaps poetry is right for you.
Although it’s wise to build on your strengths, you shouldn’t ignore your
weaknesses. So, once you go through the list above thoroughly, and determine
where you are, develop strategies for tackling them. Search for online
articles devoted to your issue (Fiction Fix has many articles in the
archives). Buy or borrow a book that addresses your weakness. Don’t just
read it; work through it. I think buying the book is better than borrowing,
for it allows you to write in the margins and to look things up later when
you need them. Furthermore, often the points made in a writing book need
time to simmer and develop, so it helps if the book is on your shelf.
One way to take a great leap forward is to get feedback from other
people. You need to find the right other people. Few of your friends will be
able to help you; you need readers and writers who can see problems and give
you feedback. Try taking a class or joining local writing groups or finding
a critique group. You can also do many of these things on-line. On-line
groups can be amazingly helpful (they can also be a waste of time, so make
sure what you find is right for you). On-line classes can also be helpful.
Now, I expect that many of you out there, although you might be willing
to invest your time, cling tightly to your wallets. This should all be for
free, right? Some wariness is justifiable. There are frauds and fakes out
there, as well as questionable practices. Even with respect to the stuff
that’s legitimate, there’s no guarantee that a particular course is right
for you, at your level. If you’re not sure, you could ask for references.
Let me plug the courses offered here at Coffeehouse for Writers. Most
of my students seem to appreciate mine. I’ve also audited a couple of the
other instructors’ courses and I know they have a lot to offer.
If your writing is worth something to you, don’t you think it’s worth
spending something on? Why should you expect your writing to improve without
investing in it?
Widen Your Horizons
Give back a bit. If you can, critique the work of other writers. Not only
does this help them, it helps you. If you can learn to be objective about
the words of others, then you will probably improve in your ability to be
clear about your own.
Read other writers! And not simply in your preferred genre. Many years
ago, I realized I was reading too many authors over and over, and not
expanding my horizons. I decided to try a new-to-me author for each letter
of the alphabet. (For X, I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which was in
fact ghosted by Alex Haley, but I bent the rules a bit.) Not all the new
authors were hits with me, but a few became favorites and the exercise was
entertaining.
Get Started
Now that you’ve read this article, I recommend printing it out and going
through it with a pen and deciding on your writing goals for 2008. Don’t
limit yourself to the questions and issues in the article; if others are
more important to you, then consider them. Write down your goals, and come
up with a plan. And then, take concrete steps to achieve your goals.
May 2008 be a great writing year for you!
Want to use this article, you have questions or comments? Write to me at
grossackva at yahoo dot com.
December Article Feedback
In my December 2007 column I wrote about “Your Computer and Your
Creativity” – but I neglected to mention one important feature of some word
processors – the ability to “Track Changes.” This is an especially helpful
tool for collaborators in the final stages of polishing their work.
Thanks, Edward Curley, for reminding me of this feature!
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