Re: [bookclub] Prose style in 'Losing Your Grip'

[emayer00@epix.net (Eric Mayer)]

On Thu, 03 Feb 2000 02:38:55 GMT, J.D. Berry <jdberry@my-deja.com>
wrote:


>Did said talents go to workshops?  I'm not being a wise-guy, I want to
>know!  I'm certain they worked diligently on their crafts.  Is writing
>something that someone else can help you improve?
>
My opinion -- only to some extent. My wife Mary and I have been
co-writing fiction and I think I have learned from talking about
stories and writing techniques with her in the context of actually
working together on stories. I believe we also learned a lot by going
over our initial manuscript of our first novel with our editor and in
some instances taking her suggestions to try and make things work
better. However, this was all in the context of actual writing and
with the idea of producing something for publication. What I was
learning was making something more publishable. Even that is a matter
of opinion but an editor who has had some experience of how readers
generally tend to react at least has some empirical basis to advise
introducing characters one at a time rather than en masse, for
example. But as to being helped by anybody who has general aesthetic
opinions -- and who doesn't? -- I don't think that's going to work.

>I'm paraphrasing Adam Cadre quoting someone else whose name eludes me
>for the moment, but that the first million words most authors write are
>crap.  So does that mean one has to learn for oneself?
>
My next opinion, I think so. I don't have much talent. It's taken me a
looong time to learn by endless writing. You can pick up occassional
pointers, maybe get some advice on glaring mistakes, but mostly you
just keep writing. Things like writing workshops can be valuable, I
think, mostly for forcing one to actually write rather than just
thinking about it.

>Eric Mayer told me that some people praised his recent book,
>others hated it.  And I'm sure this happens to all authors.  Where
>and how do you get better through others' criticisms when such things
>are so largely subjective?
>

You have to try and profit from the criticisms you feel are legitimate
and totally ignore the criticism that you don't find useful. Of
course, you also have to hope you choose the right stuff to pay
attention to and the right stuff to ignore! One way to sort it out is
to consider the source of the criticism and the attitude of the
critic. If the critic hates bestsellers on principal and you're aiming
for a bestseller, then the advice isn't going to be of much value. But
if the critic seems to have similar ideas as you about what writing is
about then the criticism might be useful.

--
Eric Mayer 
Web Site: <http://home.epix.net/~maywrite>

"The map is not the territory." -- Alfred Korzybski