Choosing a Perspective

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I've been blogging about techniques to make any piece of writing more literary.  One critical strategy to begin with is choosing your perspectival character.  Once, there was no perspectival character.  Narratives stood aloof from their writing and displayed everyone equally, venturing into various minds.  This kind of third person omniscient was commonly accepted as the way to go.  Now, it really doesn't fly with readers and can get fairly confusing.  I watched the sequel to Fantastic Beasts and where to Find Them, and it didn't work for me.  I'm not the only one it didn't work for, and much of that could be that the narrative doesn't pick a perspectival character.  We follow several storylines with several characters, and none of them seem to be THE main character.  It gets confusing and frustrating.  Some movies and books can pull it off, but it's usually best to choose a protagonist or two main characters, someone(s) the reader can see as their avatar in the world of the story. 

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If you already have your main character, it's a matter of choosing how to tell the story, in first-person or third-person.  First-person gives an immediacy, an emergency, and a passion that can be a bit lacking with third-person limited.  You, the reader, ARE this person doing these amazing things.   For a popular example, read Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series.  We see the world through Percy's eyes, with all the intensity that entails. You're feeling the rush of the air, smelling the breath of the monster on your face.  On the other hand, writing in this perspective can feel somewhat limiting.  What if you want to show someone else's perspective?  What if you want to show this scene through the warrior's view and the next through the monster's?  There more flexibility in third person, and it can still feel urgent, immediate, and intense.  Just refer to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series for a very popular example.  It's really a matter of taste.  Try both.  Which works for you in this story? 

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However, if you don't know who your perspectival character is--or which one to use FOR THIS SCENE if you decide to use third-person and switch back and forth--look at what is happening or will happen in the scene or story.  For whom is there the most emotional impact?  Is it more intensely emotional to be a sick child being held by her mother, to be the mother holding her child knowing she can do nothing, or to be the woman's husband, watching them both suffer?  Possibly someone else?  Who has the most to lose?  Whether to use first- or third-person is a decision best made before you start because it can be really sticky and complicated switching later.  However, which character should tell which scenes is a decision to make as you go alone and that can be switched at any time.  Play with it.  Don't feel locked in until it's published. 

Building a Network

My blogging, of late, has been on literary writing, though this one is about writing, in general.  A couple of webinars I heard recently emphasized the importance of creating a writer's network.  One by The Write Practice talked about building a cohort of supports and writers with whom you can share your contacts and who can help you along the way.  It always seemed somewhat important to have a support network of fellow writers, but I never knew how important it was. 

A network, from what I understand now, is everything when it comes to the success of a writer.  A writer cannot succeed alone.   I have been building my writer's network for a while.  A good friend of mine has started self-publishing her books.  She helped me figure out the world of blogging.  I have friends in my writer's group and social network, who have been helping me polish my writing.  My sister sent me the contact of a publisher recently, one who could very well be the key to my future.   I have two children and a husband, all of whom are writers, all of whom help me create, polish, and refine. I have been building a network on Twitter and FaceBook for a while.  However, it seems that this is just the beginning if I am to succeed. 

If you haven't, start your writer's network now.  See other writers not as competition but as the keys to your success.  They can support you as you support them.  You can share with each other tricks, connections, and skills that will help both of you become more than you ever could alone.  Start your writer's network now. 

Referencing Disability in Literature

I've been blogging about literary writing.  One aspect of literary writing is tackling important and current issues.  One thing that sets literary works apart from their less literary counterparts is their ability to take a close and meaningful look at themes that are important to contemporary audiences, in particular, and to humanity, in general. 

Modern readers can open a window to various time periods by reading the literature of that time.  If one wants to know what issues concerned Shakespeare and his contemporaries, one need only to read his works.  He dealt with corruption, revenge, loyalty, royalty, ambition, love, madness, idealism, deceit, war, and so many more themes.  Many a reader has explored such themes to understand his world as well as human nature, in general.  Mark Twain explores themes of slavery vs. freedom, nature, and conscience.  If one wants to explore civil rights issues that concerned Harper Lee and others as she entered the sixties, one need only read works like To Kill a Mockingbird.  Orwell, in writings like 1984, Animal Farm, and others, helps readers explore contemporary fears of totalitarianism, technology, psychological manipulation, and other, similar themes.  These works continue in their meaning because they explore concerns with continued relevance. 

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In order to write in a literary fashion, a writer needs to explore meaningful themes within one's writing.  One modern theme to which some writers have turned is disability.  There was a time those with disabilities were mocked, derided, and destroyed within reality and in literature.  The mad woman in Rochester's attic within Jane Eyre was locked away then self-destructed.  A contemporary writer recreated her story in Wide Sargasso Sea, showing the same story through her eyes in a way that is eye-opening and much more subtle and complex.  Modern writers increasingly tackle disability as a reality for minor, major, and even main characters.  Disability is a major theme in law, in pop culture, and throughout society as more and more people step forward to share the challenges and joys faced by those with various disabilities in factual and fictional sources.  For instance, The Fault in our Stars tells the realistic love story of two youths dying of cancer. The novel was turned into a movie and gained a wider audience.  The Percy Jackson series is modern fantasy and shows youths dealing with ADHD and dyslexia.  Temple Grandin writes multiple factual books on her experience to help others understand.  Disability has becoming an increasingly common theme throughout modern literature and culture, in general. 

One caution is that anyone writing about a disability should do adequate research to do the disability justice.  Temple Grandin, herself, points out she originally assumed all people dealing with a similar kind of autism would experience things as she did, but she discovered hers was only one perspective on that disability.  Writers dealing in a shallow or unresearched way with disabilities will throw those who understand the disability out of the narrative.  It will be clear to experts in the field that they didn't do their homework. 

As with many other important themes, disability should be handled with respect and understanding.  When done right, it can increase value and meaning of your work for modern readers and beyond. 

Useful Ambiguity

[Which is Bingo?]

I've been blogging about ways to make any piece in any genre more literary.  One useful tool is ambiguity.  Some writers think erroneously that it helps to keep the identity of the character a mystery for as long as possible.  Such writers start by introducing a character through pronouns, keeping the narrator as vague as possible for as long as possible.  Events and characters can also be confusing to a reader when presented in an ambiguous fashion.  For example, we're told in the famous children's song "There was a farmer had a dog, and Bingo was his name-o."  Upon further reflection, the reader might question whether it's the dog or the farmer who answers to the name Bingo.  Either interpretation may be accurate.  This is not useful ambiguity (unless there's a specific reason to do so, as in the plot or character development requires it).  Generally, a writer should be clear in who is doing what and when.  However, there are exceptions.

[The joke.] 

Useful ambiguity involves the deliberate confusion of events or character in order to create humor and/or to deepen plot or character.  As the joke goes, "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.  Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."  This joke takes advantage of its own ambiguity to turn the apparent meaning on its ear.  "Outside" appears to mean "apart from," though the punchline belies this interpretation.  Movies like "Ocean's 11" deliberately confuse both the antagonist in the story and, by extension, the audience as a clever plot device.  The reader/audience believes what seems to have happened on the screen or in the book then is pleasantly surprised when they, like the antagonist in the story, finds out what really happens. 

[Ambiguous symbolism in the woods.]

Authors of literary works often keep their symbols deliberately vague and ambiguous, so every reader can make their own interpretation.  In Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, various readers may interpret Hester Prynne's red letter badge on several levels and in several ways throughout the text.  It starts as a mark to show the world she's an adulteress and ends up representing various things to various characters and readers, often shifting within the same book, from sin to hard work to charity to righteousness to sacredness to grace and beyond.  The woods in a fairy tale, in Hawthorne's novel, or anywhere else it appears as freedom, evil, danger, darkness, escape, loss, confusion, or any one of countless things, often in the same work.  When the reader doesn't spell out what a symbol, character, or event means, the reader can interpret it in a way that works for them, in a way that brings depth and meaning.  Yellow can symbolize fear, positivity, illness, joy, or any range of other things, based on context.  This kind of ambiguity can really make a symbol work on more than one level. 

                                                                              

Ambiguity, as with other literary devices, should be a carefully used part of the craft.  If the color yellow is used with no particular suggestion of something deeper, it's not ambiguous or even meaningful.  It's just a color.  If it's used in a way that merely confuses the reader, hinting at something that no reader can interpret, that's ambiguity that is not useful.  If ambiguity is uses with intent and depth, it enhances the reading.  If it's used unintentionally or in a way that is confusing or not useful, it just makes a mess.  Go and find ambiguity in your own writing.  This is often most doable with the help of an outside mind.  Once you find (or create) your own ambiguity, determine if it brings greater meaning and depth to your work or if it simply confuses and frustrates.  Best of luck. 

Getting Your Writing Out

I've been blogging about writing in a more literary fashion.  This is more about the other end of things, when you have already edited it yourself, taken it to a writers' group and edited it using the feedback, possibly paid a freelance editor to give you feedback, which you've employed, and you're ready for exposure.  There are many ways, more than I could detail here, to get exposure for your stuff.  

A lot of people are happy with getting readership through general writer's websites or specifically teen writers' websites like Wattpad or Inkitt or even a blog site like this one.  Some view these as websites as enough, especially for those who work with fanfiction, while others view them as a place to get further feedback toward publishing their writing elsewhere.  One concern about this is some publishers won't accept work that has received any kind of general exposure.  It's something to research before any decisions are made.  

Another option is self-publication, through Amazon or some other route.  Many modern writers ignore mainstream publishers and both start and end here.  Some mainstream publishers will even search among the successfully self-published works to offer a contract.  A lot of writers start to get a following by publishing short stories or other short works, offering them for free, then sell their later pieces for a small fee.  This route will require a lot of research to know how to self-publicize and get a readership.  A lot of writers go the hybrid route, following more than one path to getting a readership.  

If you decide to publish with a regular publisher, the first step is still to research.  Writer's Market, either the book form or the website, is a great resource.  It does cost money up front, but many find it well worth the cost, especially the access and ease given by a year's subscription to the website.  Writer's Market lists information for those seeking publication in one of just about every genre, along with publishers' and agents' contact information, guidelines, and instructions.  If you don't want to go with a publication like that, you can simply use Google to find lists of publishers and agents in any genre imaginable.  

There are many routes to sharing your works with others.  It depends on what you're seeking.  Any which way you go, I recommend you start by researching and getting a feel for the market, publishers, and expectations.  I wish you the best.  

Your Writer's Platform

I've been blogging about how to write in a more literary fashion.  Last time, I mentioned I would soon talk about starting a writer's platform.  A lot of publishers today are looking for you to already have a writer's platform in place.  This includes as much social media as you can manage (a FaceBook page, Instagram, Twitter, a WebPage, Linkdin, etc.)  Basically, you'll want to show the publisher you have a following, that you have a ready readership that can help a good writer show they're a worthy investment to a publisher.  It also helps you advertise to your following when you have something published.  

I started blogging about thing that meant something to me about three years ago.  I am a mother to an angel, a mother of fur babies, and a writer, so I started a free blog on blogger about child loss, this one about writing, and one from the point of view of my daughter's cat.  They have a modest number of readers every week, enough to make it worth doing.  On a writer's blog, it helps to have a theme or niche.  I started just writing about how I write, then it evolved to a specific kind of writing.  Play to your strengths.  Read other blogs to get an idea how they work.  I go to Pixabay.com for free images and use a lot of images to make my blogs more visually attractive and engaging.  It really is ideal to write in a blog once or twice a week, though I don't generally have time for more than once every other week for any but my cat blog.  

I started on Twitter a few years ago.  I started small, just reaching out to other writers, small publishers, and others, basically those eager to follow anyone who would follow them.  If possible, it helps to have more followers than you follow.  It would be good to start posting meaningful tidbits, links to your blog posts, etc, so your followers know you're worth following.  Make sure your profile is complete.  I have had roughly 15,000 views of just this writer's blog alone.  

Having a full Linkdin profile is critical to any professional, especially someone who is self-employed.  Employers and publishers can all check this profile to get a sense of who you are and what you can do.  

It's also a good idea to have a strong and regularly-updated website.  People can find your blog via your webpage and your social media through your links on  They can also get to know you as a person and a professional.  FaceBook pages can help fill in the gaps and make for easy postng. 

All of this (unless you choose to make an expensive web domain not in the name of Wix, Weebly, etc.) is free.  It can be time-consuming at first, but it can help you jump-start your writing like nothing else.  I wish you the best as you pursue your dreams to writing and publishing success.  

 

Setting Writing Goals

I've been blogging about how to write in a more literary fashion, though this post is more general.  'Tis the season most people set goals for the next year.  Many of us forget about them soon after, but a goal not written, as they say, is just a dream.  If you write your goals where you can see them and refer to them often, you're more likely to keep them.

A lot of people have heard about SMART goals, goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.  SMART goals can help one achieve many things in life, but they may be particularly useful for writers.  For instance, if you simply want to get around to writing and just never find the time, sit down and write a goal right now, something alone the lines of "I will write poetry every day at 9 am for 30 minutes/5 pages/whatever for the entire year."  This goal specifically names what you'll write, is measurable, achievable (most days), relevant to a poet's career, and time-bound.

Say, you have a pile of writing already but need to edit, as I do.  Then, you may set the goal to edit your short stories for an hour every day at 10 pm for a month or until they are done.  If you need help with editing but don't have a writers' group yet, you may write that you will find a writers' group that works online by the end of the month by researching and talking to fellow writers.  Alternatively, you may set a goal to create your own writers' group by the end of the month then set out a plan to do it.

You may have a pile of writing you have already vetted through a writers' group and have already edited.  You may set goals to create a writers' platform (including a webpage, an email, a blog, a FaceBook page, a Twitter account, and any other social media platforms you can find).  Research how to do that and set a goal.  It's always a good idea for any beginning writer.  Then, you can tell an editor/publisher/agent you have a platform and a following.  In a blog soon, I'll be writing about how I went about doing this.  It would also be a good idea to set SMART goals about actually sending your materials out to agents or publishers as well, something along the lines of "I will send one short story per week out to a publisher."  I will also talk about this process as well.

Whatever your aim, you can focus better, know exactly what your plan is, and follow that plan through SMART or other kinds of goals.  But it's not a goal until you write it down.  Don't overwhelm yourself with too many goals, or you'll just get frustrated and walk away.  Go ahead and set 1-3 right now as a next step to achieving your dreams.