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The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Craft » Page 3

Craft

You Are Not Your Words

By Bob Hostetleron December 6, 2017
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Writers love words. That’s a good thing. But when we become attached to our own words, that’s a bad thing.

I see it often in meeting with writers and offering critiques at writers’ conferences. The writer will hand me a piece of his or her work, “to see what you think.” I’ll look it over, and identify several things to compliment about the piece. And then I’ll make a suggestion for improvement.

I always try to make sure that my positive remarks far outnumber any criticisms or suggestions. But often a writer will respond defensively:

“But that’s how it really happened.”

Or, “I used that word intentionally.”

Or, “I happen to like adjectives.”

You get the idea. When that happens, I’ll often make one more attempt at breaking through, taking a different tack. If that fails, however, I will steer the conversation elsewhere, because I realize I’m talking to a co-dependent writer—someone who identifies too strongly with his or her words.

But you are not your words.

If you plan to develop as a writer and aspire to regular publication, you must understand that.

Oh, I know that when you wrote that sentence or that page, you were thoroughly invested. You felt a rush of excitement, even love, as you poured out those words and phrases. You longed so much for others to feel the same connection you did as you wrote those wonderful things.

But you are not your words.

Some writers are devastated by critique, rejection, and editing, because their words feel like a part of them. If someone proposes changes, it feels like a personal attack. When others suggest that a word or sentence isn’t quite right, it sounds like judgment, even hate, against the writer.

But you are not your words.

Your words came from you. They were the product of your mind and heart. They cannot possibly be you; they are separate and distinct. You are the creator, they are the creation.

It may sound elementary, but it is a critical realization for the developing writer. Identifying too closely with your own words can turn the dream of creation into a nightmare of criticism. It can make the necessary and daily processes of a working writer—editing, revising, critique, and rejection—into a debilitating experience.

So, what is a co-dependent writer to do? I suggest four things:

  1. Give thanks. When you finish a devotion, poem, article, or chapter, pause to thank God for the blessing of having written it. That action itself can instill a separation in your mind and heart between you and the thing you’ve created.
  1. Give it a name and a number. Something like “[Title], first draft.” Or “second draft.” “Work in progress” works too. The point of this tiny exercise is to remind yourself that you don’t expect this piece of writing—even if you’ll soon be sending it to an editor—to be perfect. You may not want to go as far as William Shakespeare and his contemporaries, who called their works-in-progress “foul papers,” but you get the idea.
  2. Give it to God. Formally or informally, offer your piece to God. Surrender your ownership of it. If it belongs to Him, you may be able to make adjustments or suffer rejection a little easier, since it is thereafter His property, not yours.
  3. Give it away. Not permanently, perhaps (though some writers do designate a certain number or percentage of their works or income as a “tithe”). But by “give it away,” I mean let someone else hold it, read it, mark it up, and offer feedback. And don’t defend every word or try to explain why you did this or that; what matters is how readers respond to it. The most glorious sentence ever written is only as good as the reader’s appreciation, not the author’s. So, get enough emotional separation to let someone else read and critique it. The more you do this, the easier it will become.

And if you’re ever at a conference where you can show your work to an editor or agent, relax. I assure you, they’ve never met a “perfect” writer. Only—like you and me—developing writers.

 

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Category: Rejection, Reviews, The Writing LifeTag: Craft, Rejection, The Writing Life

Read It Twice!

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 30, 2017
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I read Gone with the Wind for the first time in the seventh grade. Then I reread it in the eighth grade. Daddy fussed at me for this. “Why are you reading the same book again? You should read something else.” I know he had a point, but I consumed it a second time, all the way to the ambiguous, 1,200-page end. Because. I. Wanted. To. By the way, the unsettling ending is probably one reason why I …

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Category: Craft, ReadingTag: Craft, Reading

Beyond the Hook: What Makes Your Reader Care?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon November 2, 2017
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Any book lover who’s made the hobby of reading a lifelong habit can name stories that kept him reading well past anything else – dinner, chores, bedtime… What makes this happen? The Problem Sympathetic characters can help as a start, but while they serve to draw in a reader, the story’s dilemma itself keeps the reader engaged. The reader can’t put the book down until the characters solve the …

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Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Characters, Craft

Beyond the Hook: Writing Sympathetic Characters

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 26, 2017
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The first page may be promising. The opening chapters may be engrossing. But a reader might still abandon your book if it doesn’t deliver. How can you keep your readers going? Sympathetic Characters Some writers are talented in creating sympathetic characters from page one. Perhaps Page one occurs during a fire, when the characters have lost everything. Or the heroine has been abandoned by a …

Read moreBeyond the Hook: Writing Sympathetic Characters
Category: Craft, Creativity, Editing, Romance, Romantic SuspenseTag: Characters, Craft, Reading

Six Books I’ve Already Recommended

By Bob Hostetleron August 16, 2017
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I have been a literary agent for a whole month now. I’m still waiting for my anniversary letter and gift from the Steve Laube Agency. I’m sure it’s on the way. I would say it has been a whirlwind so far, but that would be a cliché. And clichés are old hat. But I already feel blessed by the interactions I’ve had with clients, potential clients, editors, fellow agents, and others. And what is more …

Read moreSix Books I’ve Already Recommended
Category: Book Review, Craft, Writing CraftTag: Book Review, Craft, Writing Craft

Writing Cinematically: 10 Movie Techniques to Apply to Your Novel 

By Guest Bloggeron June 19, 2017
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Our guest blogger today is Deborah Raney. We have had the fun of working together since I first became an agent. It also happens that while at Bethany House I was one of the first to review the proposal which became her first novel, A Vow to Cherish, (the inspiration for the World Wide Pictures film of the same title) and launched Deb’s writing career. Twenty years and thirty-plus books later, …

Read moreWriting Cinematically: 10 Movie Techniques to Apply to Your Novel 
Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Cinematic Technique, Craft, Writing Craft

Time to Play!

By Karen Ballon May 31, 2017
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As I was considering what to write for this week’s blog, I realized I needed a break from all the seriousness of the last few weeks. Not that I don’t love the “conversations” and insights everyone has shared. But, at the core, I’m a golden-retriever kinda gal, and I gots to play! So today seemed perfect for a game I love: First Lines. SO! Get your play on, folks, and share your first line—and ONLY …

Read moreTime to Play!
Category: Craft, CreativityTag: Craft, Creativity, first lines

A Typo Hear, a Typo Their – Typo, Typo, Everywhere

By Steve Laubeon May 22, 2017
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Is it just me or am I starting to find typos more frequently than ever before? I’m not a copy-editor or a proofreader, so I don’t go looking for them. Unfortunately they find me. My wife finds them regularly in the sports section of our daily newspaper (The Arizona Republic owned by the same people who own USA Today). It is embarrassing. I suspect budget cuts eliminated an extra set of …

Read moreA Typo Hear, a Typo Their – Typo, Typo, Everywhere
Category: Craft, GrammarTag: Craft, Grammar

Contrived is a Four-Letter Word

By Karen Ballon February 8, 2017
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Few things irritate fiction readers more than a story peopled by characters who act and react without any apparent reason for what they’re doing and saying. No reason, that is, except to illustrate the author’s message. Or prove the author’s point. Well, you say, don’t we all have a message or point in what we write? Isn’t fiction about letting our characters take the readers on a journey of …

Read moreContrived is a Four-Letter Word
Category: CraftTag: Craft, fiction, Writing Craft

Exclamation Points!!! Avoid or Embrace?!

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon December 15, 2016
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I love using exclamation points! Don’t you? How about interrobang sentences?! Finally, I think we should bring those back, don’t you?! And not just in dialogue, but in narrative! Finally, shouldn’t readers just really ought to be able to keep up with run-on sentences, no matter how complex, or whether or not they stay on topic, and I wonder how many people could diagram a sentence that’s simple, …

Read moreExclamation Points!!! Avoid or Embrace?!
Category: Craft, Creativity, Grammar, HumorTag: Craft, Grammar, Humor
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