This morning I went over to the wonderful Genreality website and read two posts that were really good for me. First of all Lyn Viehl wrote about a person's choice to tear down other writers vs. mentoring and passing on hope and wisdom. It doesn't really apply to me right now but it was great to see an established writer tell other established writers that mentoring is important. It made me feel hopeful just to read it.
In my opinion, even if the wonderful breakfast that I had with Marjorie M. Liu (whose blog is here) is the only personal interaction that I have with established authors, then I consider myself blessed. For the most part I think of reading a really good book two or more times to be a kind of silent mentoring. The first read is for my entertainment. If I want to read it again in a relatively short period of time then it must have some quality that sets it apart and I look for it and absorb. Lately I have been reading all of Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson novels again. I just can't get over her writing. For many writers they seem to feel that in order to be "real" or have "heart" that they need to be graphic and shocking. Shocking happens in Mercy's world, she is raped, but even that is handled in a way that makes you feel all of the gut wrenching stuff without needing to take a shower because you were offered too much. Even sex is handled expertly. By the time her characters end up in bed, in book four for Mercy, you are glad that the scene is not explicit because you care for the characters enough to want them to have a bit of unspoken intimacy. You respect them.
I find that her writing and the writing of Marjorie is so educational but also incredibly intimidating. How in the world will I ever write that well? Answer - by writing. Most authors have years of notebooks and computer files full of stories and poems. Not me. I loved writing in high school but then I was in college and working and whatnot. There has always been a running newsfeed of stories in my head but I haven't taken the time to write them down. I was too busy and if I sat down it was to read, not write. So now I am still transitioning to being an author/reader instead of just a reader. I feel like it's comparable to becoming a teacher/student instead of just sitting passively in class.
The good part of spending so many years reading without putting it to paper is that I have sat under so many great teachers that my first efforts are much better for it. I write in novel format because my brain has been trained to do so. My issues so far are expanding on dialogue and rounding out the world. I have a stage with main characters and they say what they need, they even have real personality. What I need to work on are adding minor characters, maybe a subplot and adding more texture to the environment without wandering or having boring spots.
Maybe that's why I was drawn to Patricia Briggs, she has that stuff down cold. Someday I'll get to meet her and tell her what she taught me. Hopefully by then, I'll be a full fledged author and not just a fangirl with dreams. : )
One last thing, I only covered one blog post here. There was another post that rocked and I will go into it next time, so tune in again!
No comments:
Post a Comment