Measuring
In my grandparents' cottage, my six cousins and I would be measured each summer, our ages and heights marked off in pen on the frame of a door. It was always fun to see how tall we were compared to the previous summer.
When I first attempted to write a novel, when I was 22, I can tell you there was a lot of back story and too much passive language. Dialogue? I had that nailed. I also knew the characters--and they were three-dimensional. I think the pacing was all right--except for that back story thing. So that was where I started. Over the years as an editor, I have seen writers start out much "shorter"--where their characters even needed basic development. But we all start somewhere.
Over time, I started "getting" some of the elements of novel writing, whether it be pacing, or fuller character development, motivation, etc. I crept up on that door frame of a writer's life.
And now . . . .?
I find that I'm at the point where it's elements like wordsmithing description---the sky over Moscow is not described the same as the sky over my house here. I'm working on the decisiveness of my word choices. Conflict . . . (I hate conflict in real life so sometimes I'm hard-pressed to stick it in my novels). And I can look back and see my measurements over the books and unfinished manuscripts I've written. I know I've come a long way. And I know I plan on growing some more.
So where do you measure today? And where do you see your progress?
17 comments:
Well I hope I've made it past the door knob but I'm not sure that I have.
Richmond:
ROFL! :-) Look at the agent contest at JRW. This year, yours was picked! That's AT LEAST doorknob level!
If I compare my present work in progress to previous ones, it looks much taller. If I compare it to published novels that I read, well, it loses a couple of feet. On the other hand, I recently read an excerpt from an e-book that made my unedited work in progress look like a NYT best seller. Just my opinion, of course, but I have to compliment myself every once in a while. :-)
Kath:
LOL! :-) Well . . . we measure ourselves against our own work, but most of us also measure against certain writers we love. Or loathe. LOL!
I think I've always had a pretty decent sense of pace and a knack for plotting, but I work much harder now to bring depth to the characters without slowing down the pace, to balance what I give and give up, I research details far more than I used to and, unfortunately, I struggle far more to stay enthusiastic about the work itself.
A couple of weeks ago I had convinced myself that the reader would need to know everything that happened in book #1 to understand what was going on in book #2. I knew better, but it was like I had lost some literary height somehow. I finally came to my senses and cut six pages of back story. Now I feel tall again. :)
Mark:
I think I always had a solid handle on characters--which for me is half the battle. But pacing is a newer thing for me--in chick lit, I do fine. It's pacing other things.
Jude;
Series are tricky that way. I think Vachss is a master at introducing recurring characters and a smattering of back story quickly.
E
I waver between thinking SCAR is the first book where I've been the closest to thinking I'm achieving what I hoped to thinking I still suckity-suck-suck-suck.
Starbucks:
Join that club, honeybun!
I came across my first novel recently and it made me cringe. The writing was horrible. So in a way, it's beautiful to see how far I've come. But also kinda crazy to think I actually queried it, lol.
I wonder if I'll look back on book #4 in the same way a few years from now. Probably.
In the WIP I'm focusing on, I'm feeling really good about the voice and plotting and hooking. I sorta wrote it knowing my editor would hate the idea (she hates vampires), and I wanted to draw her in anyway. I guess it worked, 'cause it blew her away, which is the second compliment I've gotten in ten years, LOL. I like it because even though it's in my genre, it's the largest step out of my genre I've ever successfully taken. (Which was the second reason I was surprised she wanted it.)
I don't know. I'm constantly pushing. If nothing else, I keep improving. That's about all I can say.
Nadine:
I have my first novel in hard copy here in my office. It's not terrible. I sold my second novel. But I see how I have gained complexity over the years!
Natasha:
That's awesome!!!
ack. Depends on the day. I think I do really well with character development overall... plotting isn't my favorite thing in the world, I kind of follow Twain's "Set two characters down on the page and let them run around for a while" line of thinking... but, umn, I'm not Twain, so it doesn't come out quite as brilliant.
I don't know. I can see growth, but I'm not where I want to be. The question is always whether I have it in me to acheive the thing in my head... but we won't know that until I've done it or failed... and if I fail, we won't be sure til I'm dead, because I can't see quitting before then.
Merry:
LOVE that idea from Twain 'cause that tends to be what I do.
I save everything so when I reread something I found in a drawer (or those boxes under my bed) I have the itch to take out the red pen! Its then that I see how far I've come.
But that only makes me realize how far I have to go. . .
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