"The thing about real life is, when you do something studpid, it usually costs you." (Intro: Cirque du Freak by Darren Shaw) Write what this inspires. Maybe you have a personal experience, maybe you want to write fiction or a poem. Let the quotation simmer for a minute and go where it takes you.
Grammar Girl Lesson 4
Lesson: Tough Love and Triage
You're a writer and you write. You create. You look at what you create as your children. It's all very emotional and it's all very normal. As a writer, you need to begin to develop a thicker skin. You need to be able to look critically at your creations and say, "This is good. This is not so good. This has no chance." Sometimes, you just have to cut something off and spend time where it will help.
I call this "triage." Just like in a medical emergency doctors and nurses assess who can be saved and who can't, you'll have to make those tough decisions about your writing. Something might have a great chance of going somewhere, so hang on to it. Another piece might be ok and has promise with some work. Compare those to the patient who can be saved, but will probably lose an arm. Then there are the Dead on Arrivals. These pieces aren't going anywhere and you know it. You only have so much time on this earth and relatively little of it will be spent actually writing, so don't waste your time on lost causes.
Once you're able to throw a few of your paper-children to the flames, you'll also need to learn to accept criticism of your work and to put that criticism to good use. No one here will intentionally hurt your feelings by saying something cruel. Criticism might sound like, "I don't think this conversation is relevant to the story. They're really not talking about anything important." Now you have work to do. Maybe you agree and will choose to take it out. Perhaps that conversation was intended to get your reader to understand the relationship between two characters, so you'll find another way to do that. Maybe the conversation really is important, but it's not coming through to your reader, so you need to set it up better or write a better payoff later on.
What you need to remember is that you are the author and you know the whole story. It's all in your head. So when you read your own work, you're automatically filling in those gaps in your own mind. Having someone else read and critique the work will help you to see the gaps. That's the point of conferencing and criticism.
Just avoid going into a conference with the idea that your paper-child is absolutely perfect. Be open and willing to listen to what others think. Be objective about your own work.
Writing Time:
Choose one of the stories we've started so far. This is the one you will focus on. Maybe you're planning on blending a few. Whatever. The key focus is working towards something that's strong writing, so weed out the poo and go for the gold. You can go back and edit what you already have, continue where you left off, or start from scratch.
During writing time, pay special attention to dialogue. Add some in if you don't have any. Be sure it sounds natural. Your characters should sound like real people and they should sound like your characters. A nurse from Chicago will speak differently than a teenager from Seattle.
Conferencing:
Get with two peers and have them read your piece and give you the following information:
- Is the conflict interesting or does it need to be spiced up?
- Do the characters act/speak in ways that make sense for them?
- Underline and comment on three things the author did well.
- Underline and comment on one thing the author can improve.
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