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The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Writing Craft » Craft » Page 15

Craft

In Praise of Slow Writing

By Steve Laubeon August 29, 2016
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It seems counter-intuitive that an agent would suggest that writers slow down. After all, isn’t the volume of output one of the keys to an author’s success? There is a measure of truth in that, but today I’d like to explore the concept of Slow Writing.

Think of it as a leisurely walk in the woods as a child. I remember strolling through sticks and leaves exploring the forest surroundings. I would watch a bug crawl up a tree and listen to the birds calling out their warnings as I approached. If too close, a startled squirrel would skitter away. And after a turn finding a new running stream after a rain. I was fascinated as the water carved a new path in the ground seeking to find the end of its gravity-laden journey.

But if I simply ran as fast as I could through those trees I would miss every single one of those memories.

Recently I watched the blur of fingers across the laptop keys by the man next to me on the plane and wondered how he did it. Or the skittering twitch of that person typing with one hand on their phone, juggling a bag and a coffee mug in the other. In some ways writing has become a substitute for the spoken word and we are trying to “talk” as fast as we can to “get it done.”

And the loss is ours.

Consider

In the near future I would encourage you to think like a poet. A great teacher and editor, Roger Palms of Decision magazine, once told me that the best article writers he worked with were poets. Because they knew the importance of a single word.

Consider the perfect word for your next sentence. Is it laden with eloquence? Is it burdened by meaning? Will it shake its reader?

Roll the words around on your tongue. Let them move. Let them breathe.

Craft

It is a struggle to use those slow words as they take shape. There is a famous story of a friend asking novelist James Joyce if he’d had a good day writing. “Yes,” Joyce replied happily. How much had he written? “Three sentences,” Joyce told him.

Craft takes time. There are days where 10,000 words will flow from your fingers. Other days will be excruciating. But in the end a better piece of writing will appear.

Read these lines from the opening page of Tosca Lee’s novel Havah where she describes the first moment of the life of Eve, right after being created by God in the Garden of Eden. And then ask, are these the right words, at the right time, in the right place?:

Wake!

I opened my eyes again upon the milling blue, saw it spliced by the flight of a bird, chevron in the sky.

This time, the voice came not to my ear, but directly to my stirring mind: Wake!

There was amusement in it.

I knew nothing of where or what I was, did not understand the polyphony around me or the wide expanse like a blue eternity before me.

But I woke and knew I was alive.

Create

Slow writing is a discipline of waiting. A discipline of silence. A discipline of thoughtfulness.

Releasing the temptation of Task (with a capital “T”) fills us with guilt in the beginning because we aren’t “doing” anything. Ridding ourselves of the need to succeed today, now, this instant, may clear out our minds of dark clouds. It may be in that widening space that the words can begin to flow again.

Let’s see what a few days of Slow Writing can do for you.

 

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Category: Career, Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Writing Craft

Choosing a Good Title For Your Book

By Dan Balowon August 23, 2016
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Placing a good title on a book is not as simple as one might think. In fact, some prominent books have had rather circuitous journeys to their final title. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice started out as First Impressions. Tolstoy’s All’s Well That Ends Well released to some yawns until it was re-titled and published as War and Peace. On the Road to West Egg; Under the Red, White, and Blue; …

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Category: Book Proposals, Branding, Craft, Get Published, Marketing, Pitching, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Titles, Writing Craft

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon August 18, 2016
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This blog entry is prompted by a response to a recent post, “What’s Wrong with my Book?” A reader commented about portraying characters consuming alcoholic beverages. She didn’t want to change an historical fact that alcohol was a beverage of choice in past times thanks to foul water supplies and the like. She felt it would be wrong to write otherwise. I certainly agree! Still, I err …

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Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Alcohol, Craft, Writing Craft

You Say Tomato, I Hear Guacamole, Parte Dos (Part 2)

By Dan Balowon August 9, 2016
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A while ago I made a weak attempt at humor with my post about hearing something different than was spoken to me. Today is part two on a similar theme, getting serious this time about understanding something different than was actually communicated. Through this process you might get a glimpse into the heart and mind of non-Christian and even some Christian readers as well. To be blunt, Christians …

Read moreYou Say Tomato, I Hear Guacamole, Parte Dos (Part 2)
Category: Christian, Communication, CraftTag: Christian, Communication

Five Dollar Words

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon July 28, 2016
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“Don’t use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.” – Mark Twain One of my daughters is an Arts and Visual Technology major, so of course she has to read articles about art. Here are a few sentences from an eight-page article, “Modernist Painting” by Clement Greenburg. The footnotes inform us that this article was both published and broadcast on the radio. I identify Modernism …

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Category: Art, Craft, Creativity, Writing CraftTag: Craft, words, Writing Craft

What’s Wrong with my Book?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon July 14, 2016
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As you can imagine, we see hundreds of proposals and manuscripts each month. And, as you can also imagine, we must decline most. However, there are a few mistakes you can avoid to help your submission rise above others: Not beginning the story in the right place. All too often, an author will tell us about the main characters’ backgrounds before getting to the crux of the story, where the …

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Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Editing, Get Published, RejectionTag: book proposals, Get Published

Inspiration or Perspiration?

By Steve Laubeon June 27, 2016
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Thomas Edison was to have said that “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Apparently he made 1,000 failed attempts to invent the light bulb. After accomplishing it he was asked about all the previous failures. Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.” The exercise of writing can be somewhat similar. If you …

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Category: Career, Craft, Creativity, Editing, The Writing LifeTag: perseverance, The Writing Life

Show Off Your Emotions!

By Karen Ballon June 22, 2016
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You’ve heard it over and over: Show, don’t tell. Well, I agree with that sentiment when it comes to important emotional scenes. Fiction, nonfiction, doesn’t matter. If you want to stir your readers, learn to show powerful emotions. As I thought about this blog, though, I figured you all don’t need yet another how to. Instead, I want to challenge you to share the most powerful emotion you felt this …

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Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Emotions, show don't tell, Writing Craft

The Right Number of Words

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon May 26, 2016
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More times than I’d like, my office must send out letters advising aspiring authors that their manuscripts are too short or too long. Much of the time, the author is talented but hasn’t investigated the market well enough to know if the word count is right. Submitting a project that’s simply the wrong word count wastes everyone’s time – including yours. If we mention that your book is the wrong …

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Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Get Published, Rejection, Writing CraftTag: book proposals, Get Published, word count

Writing to Men

By Dan Balowon May 24, 2016
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In Christian publishing, since most readers are women, Christian books for men are treated as a niche market. Women are the primary market worthy of the most focus, and men are an afterthought if they are thought of at all. Publishing is a business and it doesn’t make sense to publish foolishly. Some publishers don’t publish books where the only market is a man. As a result, many authors write for …

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Category: Book Business, Branding, Craft, Creativity, The Publishing Life, Trends, Writing CraftTag: Book Business, Men, The Publishing Life
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