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lagilmanMore client work this morning: reading a paranormal manuscript for copy, and giving editorial input to a mystery writer. We're discussing the fine and delicate art of taking a character from "sympathy for their plight" to "caring what happens to them." It's a hard thing to teach, because mainly you know it when you read it, and respond to it, rather than there being steps to identify. The best advice I can (and do) give is this: care about your characters, and other people will too. How do you care about them? That's where it gets tricky -- and it's something that can't entirely be taught, only discovered.
(that's the thing: much of this gig can be taught, or enhanced, but a lot of it is just waiting to have understanding/realization click inside you...and sometimes it never does.)
Working with first-time novelists on a developmental edit is a different creature than working with hardened professionals -- once a writer has been through the revisions process once, be it for a novel or a short story, they [we] begin to develop a sense of personal boundaries, learning to trust their own gut instinct as to what they will and won't do, what they want, and what they can bend on. Newbies mostly haven't developed that sense yet, so I have to temper my suggestions with reminders that I'm not the one writing the book -- they are. I'm merely giving them trained feedback on what's working or not working.
"Tell me how to do it" is often heard, with newbies. And I can't. If I did, I'd be the one writing their book, and it would then become my book. All I can [and should] do is poke and prod at where the story is weak, and then suggest ways to strengthen it. Doing anything more is (IMO) stepping over the boundaries from editor to co-writer.
Of course, when all you want is an answer, being told 'find it for yourself" can be damned frustrating. I do sympathize.
This is all fun, if time-consuming, stuff, lets me flex and stretch the mind in different ways, but I really want to get back to the writing part, myself. Yeah, I'm one of those weird folk who likes the act of writing more than I like the act of having written...
(that's the thing: much of this gig can be taught, or enhanced, but a lot of it is just waiting to have understanding/realization click inside you...and sometimes it never does.)
Working with first-time novelists on a developmental edit is a different creature than working with hardened professionals -- once a writer has been through the revisions process once, be it for a novel or a short story, they [we] begin to develop a sense of personal boundaries, learning to trust their own gut instinct as to what they will and won't do, what they want, and what they can bend on. Newbies mostly haven't developed that sense yet, so I have to temper my suggestions with reminders that I'm not the one writing the book -- they are. I'm merely giving them trained feedback on what's working or not working.
"Tell me how to do it" is often heard, with newbies. And I can't. If I did, I'd be the one writing their book, and it would then become my book. All I can [and should] do is poke and prod at where the story is weak, and then suggest ways to strengthen it. Doing anything more is (IMO) stepping over the boundaries from editor to co-writer.
Of course, when all you want is an answer, being told 'find it for yourself" can be damned frustrating. I do sympathize.
This is all fun, if time-consuming, stuff, lets me flex and stretch the mind in different ways, but I really want to get back to the writing part, myself. Yeah, I'm one of those weird folk who likes the act of writing more than I like the act of having written...
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Date: 2009-07-08 02:58 pm (UTC)