Okay, get that music out of your head. Or maybe you shouldn't. Here we are in the middle of
National Novel Writing Month and many of you are fighting off writer's-block Weltschmerz with nothing but the faint, desultory clack of your own keyboards. I'm here to help.
I know a secret. I know where you can find a vorpal blade against the encroaching ennui that would snuff your writing desire, how you can gain the fabled Chalice of Blessed Copyeditting Assistance, how you can break through the bounds of ordinary writing and turn writing a novel into... well, it's still going to be a long and painful slog. But it can be better. Trust me.
I've written and sold 32 novels... or was it 34 novels... 35? Thirty-something anyway. I've had my books optioned for film, I've had some turned into a TV series, and I've even won an award—the kind of big, pointy trophy that would make a good murder weapon on an episode of Columbo. I'm not saying that I became rich and famous. I'm not, and I'm... also not.
However, I acquired an intermediate-sized heap of filthy lucre, had some truly amazing moments meeting those people who had checked both boxes on the fame register, and even basked in the warm glow of the occasional good review. Absolutely none of that would have happened without the Certified Best Writers Group on the Planet.
And now, I'm ready to reveal the secret of how you can build your own super-team. Your own Guardians of Grammar. Your own League of... well, you know. Just come on inside and I'll explain.
The Alternate Historians, of which I'm lucky enough to be a part, may not be the most famous writers group that ever existed. However, I'll lay our track record against any of them.
We started with a handful of people who had sold a grand total of one book between them, and not only have we managed to stay together for over 25 years, but in that time the group has sold over 100 novels. Over 100. Add to that dozens of short stories, and comic books, and graphic novels, and... we've stayed busy. For a group that topped out at seven people, and whose membership has been stable since 1994, we've been pretty phenomenally successful in the face of an increasingly chaotic publishing industry.
Like any story in publishing, the Alternate Historians story includes a lot of luck (good and bad) and sweat-equity that could fill a sixth Great Lake. But it also includes a lot of clues on how to form a group that's genuinely helpful.
Start with people who like what you write
By that I don't mean you can only build a writer's group out of your own fan club. That would be hard to do when you're just starting out, and it wouldn't be particularly effective. Mom and your best friend from grade school might both be cheerful first-readers, but they're not exactly your best source of honest critique.
No. I mean, work with people who are comfortable working in the genre where you intend to write. If you're writing mystery novels, and your group consists of people who either A) think mystery novels are beneath their ivory-honed literary skills or B) think Miss Marple is a brand of syrup, you're unlikely to get the kind of insight you need. If someone in your group says to you "well, I suppose it's okay, if you like that sort of thing" one of you is in the wrong group.
If you're writing science fiction, you don't have to be in a group composed of science fiction writers, but you have to be in a group of science fiction readers, or at the very least among people who don't roll their eyes at that "robot and space ship stuff." Same goes for fantasy. And for romance. And YA.
In Alternate Historians, we're lucky enough to have people who are readers of almost every genre. Which is good, because someone in the group writes in nearly every genre.
Save the creativity for your writing
That's not to say you shouldn't have fun at your meetings. Maybe you want to have a Johnny Cash impersonator serenade an author who just sold a western or build a cake in the shape of the Temple of the Sun to celebrate the sale of a book about the Mayans (both of these things happened at AH meetings). But where you shouldn't get creative is in how you handle reviewing material. Print out your book. Hand a copy to everyone. Give them a month to read through it, read through it again, and mark it up. Then get together and go through it, page by bloody red-pen saturated page.
Be prepared to spend long hours. Don't read aloud from your work. Don't ask people to provide spontaneous reviews of works you've shoved in their hands minutes before. Don't dump 100k words in their laps a couple of days before the meeting and pout because no one has made it through. Suck it up, do it right, give it time.
The people in your writers group may be your friends, but they're also your fellow professionals. Give them the same respect and consideration you would give the agents, editors, and publishers you want to work with.
Don't be cheerleaders
Let mom, kid, spouse, or favorite aunt be the cheering section. That doesn't mean you can't be upbeat and encouraging, but part of being a professional writers group is bringing your A game to reviews. If you have a problem with a work, don't hold back. Explain the issue. Raise your voice, and do it while you're in front of the group.
One big advantage of raising issues in front of others is that your feedback will be better. "This kind of bugged me" won't fly. Instead you should be down at the level of "this action doesn't seem consistent with what you've told me about that character" or "I don't think this works with how you defined the rules of your world" or even "why is this smart character suddenly acting so dumb?" By putting your concerns in front of everyone, the writer gets the chance to see if all the heads are nodding, or whether its something that only upset one reader. Often, something that prickled just one reader still needs to be changed, especially if you understand their point. But if you get something where everyone or nearly everyone is telling you you need to make a change, listen to them.
At AH, we call this "the bother factor." If the bother factor on something tops 50%, it's likely you need to make a change, no matter how much you love the little snippet that everyone is complaining about.
Don't be sharks
This is the flip side of being a cheerleader. Don't be one of those people who finds problems just so they can complain. Don't judge your contribution to a review by how many issues you raise. Don't raise your esteem by looking down on someone else's work. If you really like a book, and the only thing you have to contribute is "good work" and maybe a few red-circled typos, don't worry about it. If you hate a book, be prepared to explain why. In detail, and in a way that helps the author fix the issues.
If you find that you're always raising issues about things that didn't worry anyone else... you might want to worry that you're having trouble with things that aren't actually on the page.
Share
Share ideas. Share news. Share what you've learned about editors and agents, and also what you've learned about your cousins and your job. Don't be afraid to make friends.
Oh, and share food. That may be the most important thing of all. If you're lucky enough to have cooks as good as some of the ones in AH (Deborah Millitello makes the finest cookies in all of literature, bar none) you won't have any trouble keeping attendance up.
Get together regularly, even if there's not much new material to discuss. Laugh. Eat. Talk about writing. Sell a bunch of books... and then talk about how the years are getting away from you.
And hey, buy a book now and again...
That's the whole secret: work hard, be friends, be honest with each other, and share food. Sounds trite, I know, but then, most truths do.
While you're in here, please take a look at these new books. For the first time in our twenty-five years together, the Alternate Historians have decided to see what life is like on the other side of the press. We've created our own little publishing house at Word Posse and our first three books are out.
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Pandora's Mirror by Marella Sands follows some ghost hunters who stir up far more than a few spooky noises and shadows. |
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The Naturalist by... er, that would be me, visits an early 19th century British outpost about to find something very strange in the rainforest. |
As the Word Posse motto goes, these are all
Freaking Awesome Books at Great Prices
so please, give one of them a try.
And finish your novel. November won't last forever.