A runner's advice to writers
A collection of delicious ideas about staying sane in the backstretch and more from the depths of my curation bucket.
Hey, y’all—
Before I was a writer or an editor, I was a ballet dancer, making me intimately familiar with processes that require years comprised of hour after hour of grueling training and pain. Even after that, when the pain of a particular line of writing work grew unbearable—persistent dawn and late-night interview callbacks from practicing physicians, the agony of copyediting a quick turnaround piece for a writer who clearly valued quantity over quality—I’d slide away to a new angle.
In retrospect, it was a pretty smart strategy. My tolerance is pretty high, and I learned a lot from each type of work. But there were definitely moments when I needed to draw on the physical, mental, and emotional endurance built up during my early years in the studio.
Even a single glance at the man in the photo accompanying this article is enough to evoke whatever marathon pain of writing we most hate, whether it’s outlining or revising to apply structure or running spell check. It only makes sense, then, that some of the mental strategies that keep marathoners ticking along will do the same for writers.
So join me in exploring a runner’s advice to writers, as we practice The Writes of Fiction.
5 tips from a writing coach who’s training for a marathon
“We’re in a volume game. Show up as often as you can. Don’t sweat it if you miss a session. Just get back to your writing chair, if at all possible, the next day. If not, shoot for the next day.
“AJ Harper says in her wonderful book, Write a Must-Read, that your first draft is just math. A typical nonfiction manuscript is 50,000 words, so your first draft should be about 60,000 words because you’ll likely cut quite a bit. Divide 60,000 by how many words you plan to write in a session, and you have how many sessions it’ll take. If you keep at it, you’ll get there eventually. It’s just math.”—Read the rest from Chad R. Allen.
More on the will to persist: After the first draft is down on the page, the real work begins:
Determining how closely your current draft aligns with your intended vision for the story.
Shoring up the book’s structural foundation.
Deepening the protagonist’s character arc and infusing their perspective into every page.
Pinpointing the book’s market and target audience, positioning it to surprise and delight your ideal readers.
Amplifying your strengths as a writer.
Onboarding new narrative skills and techniques.
If you stopped working on your novel before you even got to those phases of development, you’d be giving up before giving the story—and yourself—a chance. And in that situation, the answer to the question of whether you should give up would be yes, because you weren’t willing to do the work.—Read the rest at Writer’s Doubt: Should you keep working on this manuscript?
Improve your own storytelling by analyzing other people’s
“Even if you already read analytically, assessing a story’s strengths and weaknesses—even habitually dissecting books, movies, or shows after reading or viewing (in a way that probably drives your nonwriter friends and loved ones up a wall)—is just step one.
“That’s the equivalent of an editor’s first cold read of a story: It gives a good general sense of what’s working well and what areas may benefit from strengthening or developing, but it’s not until the subsequent deep-dive analytical passes that an editor can determine on a practical, granular level what may not be holding together as well as it could, why not, and how an author can make the story as effective as possible.
“Attaining that kind of analytical objectivity in your own work is one of the biggest challenges of self-editing. You may be ‘filling in the blanks,’ that unconscious gap between the story on the page and the one that’s vividly in your head.”—Read the rest from Tiffany Yates Martin at JaneFriedman.com.
More on reading like a novelist: It goes without saying that should you know what’s going on in the genre you write. But you’ll find fertile creative soil outside your favorite, well-worn tracks too. Sample a genre you’ve never tried. Read the classics with a critical eye. Do they stand the test of time, or do they read like a musty museum piece?
Re-reading helps you move beyond the immediacy of story to the structure of the words and the story. Re-reading helps you figure out what makes a novel tick. Especially if you’ve made a few trips around the sun since you read that book back in college, it could be time for another try to see how your perspectives have evolved.—Read the rest at How to read like a novelist.
Our investment in reading changes the book because the book has changed us. ... If books are merely a means of transferring information, then perhaps, yes, a book is a waste of time. If a summary of its thesis and key points could be presented in a brief article or Substack post, why not just save the hours and read the Substack post? All the more if the information is outdated or questionable for one reason or another.
But that mistakes what a book is for. A book is a tool. It’s a machine for thinking. And “all machines,” as Thoreau once said, “have their friction.” The time it takes to engage with ideas—whether factual or fictional, emotional or intellectual, accurate or inaccurate, efficient or inefficient—might strike some as a drag. But the time given to working through those ideas, adopting and adapting, developing or discarding, changes our minds, changes us. It’s not about the wisdom we glean. It’s about what wisdom we grow. — Joel Miller via Farnham Street
Can you copyright a character or book title? How about trademarking?
“Single titles are generally not eligible for trademarks. That’s because consumers may have trouble identifying you as the author of the title. Especially if there are many books that share your title. Think of it this way. If a bookstore carried your book and every other book with the same title at Barnes and Noble, could a consumer ID you as the author? Probably not. Trademark law ultimately helps consumers distinguish goods and services, but if there are 20 books with the same title, it may be difficult to say a particular author wrote a particular book.”—Read the rest from Anne R. Allen.
More on protecting your rights and manuscript: Some authors circumvent confidentiality anxiety by plunking a copyright notice on the front page of their manuscript or demanding NDA clauses and confidentiality agreements. This is not only unnecessary but the hallmark of an amateur. There’s nothing wrong with being new at this—but shenanigans like this will cost you a publishing deal if they make you seem difficult to represent or publish.
Editors and agents will pass your work by if the mere process of getting permission to read it is onerous. With thousands of submissions every month clamoring for attention, why wouldn’t they toss your incomplete submission and NDA request aside and move on to someone who’s ready to roll?—Read the rest at Is sending your full manuscript to editors a risk?
How are books adapted for the screen?
“Yes, an option is an exclusive right to shop the book to producers, studios, directors, writers, and actors to see if anyone is interested in turning the book into a movie, TV show or limited series. Pre-pandemic, options were usually for a 12-month period, but now we’re seeing more 18- and 24-month options, as it’s taking longer to get projects made. Option fees do vary widely, from the very low (a few thousand dollars) to the high (hundreds of thousands).
“A shopping agreement similarly asks for exclusivity but doesn’t offer any payment in exchange. It’s a way to test the waters to see if there is any interest in the property without a financial commitment. Shopping agreements are generally for a shorter time period than option agreements (often six months), because there is no money offered. They are becoming more and more common, especially when it’s not a competitive situation.”—Read more with agents Allison Hunter and Jennifer Weltz at JaneFriedman.com.
More on editing: Only copyediting and proofreading are about “fixing mistakes.” Developmental and line editing accelerate your development as a writer, a craftsman, and an artist. These levels of editing involve revisions, rewrites, and lots of back and forth with the editor. You’ll learn something different from every manuscript, and you’ll be way ahead of writers who’ve skipped everything but copyediting and proofreading.
Editing is a collaboration. It’s like having a personal trainer for your writing. It unlocks new techniques and opens new doors based on your current level of skill. You’ll be exploring more potent methods of expressing your creative intentions on the page and developing skills you’ll use for the rest of your writing career.
I’m astounded at the number of writers who don’t give their writing the same respect they give any of their other passions in life. A spouse’s triathlons, a child’s hockey or piano lessons, a passion for knitting and spinning—all these endeavors require a certain level of investment to achieve a satisfying, rewarding experience. If these things seem worth investing in to you, shouldn’t your writing be worthy of comparable support?—Read more at What’s involved in editing your novel?
LAST SEAT! Registration closing this weekend for Story Incubator coaching
As I finish writing this week’s Writes of Fiction article, there may still be one seat available in the April-May-June cohort of Story Incubator group coaching. This small group meets weekly to learn, discuss, and apply feedback to all sorts of storytelling and writing techniques.
This quarter, we’ll be focusing on honing description and workshopping scene structure and content—lots of theory, lots of tools, lots of discussion and opportunity to get feedback on your work.
Interested? Don’t wait—I’m closing the doors this weekend, with the first session just ahead of us on Tuesday. Hit the button below and let’s talk.
Coming soon: Office Hours community coaching call
Our next Office Hours community coaching call is coming up on April 11. Office Hours is a benefit of paid subscriptions to The Writes of Fiction. Our discussion is geared toward new writers who are just beginning to develop their craft. I hope you’ll consider joining us—we’d love to have you.
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Onward,
Lisa
This is The Writes of Fiction, a curated trove of old and new thinking about writing designed to help you get better at writing fiction.