Getting to know you

"A writer lives in awe of words for they can be cruel or kind, and they can change their meanings right in front of you. They pick up flavors and odors like butter in a refrigerator. "--John Steinbeck

"Getting to know you", famous lines from The King and I. These are also famous lines posted above my computer. When I wrote my first little story, I invented characters as most novices do. I gave them names and tried to make them come to life. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, they stubbornly remained cardboard cutouts.

Along the way I found lots of advice on creating dynamic characters, imagining what they look like, writing down all the little qualities, strengths and weaknesses. Nothing seemed to work. Then I read something that finally penetrated my thick skull. Not that I hadn’t read it before, of course I had. I just didn’t pay any attention to it or try it.

Some bright, and I’m sure, published writer said that he/she would go online, find a picture of someone who looked like they imagined their main character would look, downloaded and printed it, then attached it to a characteristic chart. What a wonderful idea!

Next it was time to do the same for all of the other characters. Brilliant. I didn’t realize, until I did it, how effective that is in helping to write a story. Once done, I knew what each character looked like, what their strengths and weaknesses were and how they got along with each other. They soon became friends, friends that helped me write my novel.


Well, go write something, find out what your characters really look like. Don’t leave it to the misty realm of imagination, make them real.

P.S. I found another really good site for chats, contests and writing tips. http://authorsunlimited.blogspot.com. Check it out!! Aelf

Sites to see, places to go and groups to join:

My Writing Friend: writingfriend@yahoo.com. This is a great place to hone your writing skills.

Nick Daws Writers Circle: Click link on this page. I'm a moderator on this site, It's awesome.

Online Writing Workshop: http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com. Want feedback for your work?

Newbie Writers: http://www.newbiewriters.com/. Great place to meet other newbies

I’ll be adding to the above list as I find more newbie friendly sites

The Short Path to Publication

"Writing is just having a sheet of paper, a pen, and not a shadow of an idea of what you're going to say." --Francoise Sagan

What is the one thing that will inspire a newbie writer to continue learning and growing? Getting something published, of course. Well, what if you’re writing a full-fledged novel? Getting published could mean years of work and eons of frustration. When I started writing, one of the most intimidating things about it was the time investment. It takes time, lots of time. It takes practice, lots of practice.


It was so daunting that I almost gave it up. Almost but not quite. I had to figure out a way to write more stories, more often, in short spurts, and in so doing increase my chances of one day being a published writer. I decided to try my hand at writing short stories. What a shock! Short stories are harder to write than novels. Go figure!


We’ll I am stubborn, if nothing else. That’s one of a writers greatest tools I’m told. I scoured the web for information on writing short stories, I attended online classes and I joined forums. I wrote my first short story. It took about 3 weeks for my first rough draft. Later I wrote my second one. This took up a weeks time and I was starting to have fun. Now I can do a short story in a couple of days. “What about publishing?” I’m glad you asked. The next step was to post my stories on a couple of the forums I belong to in order to get feedback. Those forums are My Writer Friend and Nick Daw’s Writers Circle. There are links here to both sites. So what? Did I get published?


No, not yet. There’s a little more to it yet. Once I got a good cross section of feedback, I re-wrote my little stories. They range in word count from 500 words to 2700 words. Next, I entered several contests. I won second place in one and have several pending. BTW see the upcoming contest links I’ve listed. I figure at this pace I will have about 4 entries a week, more or less, out there, waiting to win. My writing skill has been improving steadily as I’ve had to learn to write concisely.


The bottom line to all this blather is that if you want to learn to write and be published one way to start is by writing short stories, then step up to that award winning novel you have and do it the justice it deserves. Til next time, Namaste. Aelf

Sites to see, places to go and groups to join:

My Writing Friend: writingfriend@earthlink.net This is a great place to hone your writing skills.

Nick Daws Writers Circle: Click link on this page. I'm a moderator on this site, It's awesome.


Online Writing Workshop: http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/ Want feedback for your work?


Newbie Writers: http://www.newbiewriters.com/ Great place to meet other newbies


I’ll be adding to the above list as I find more newbie friendly sites.

Confident Writing

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Sites to see, places to go and groups to join
My Writing Friend: writingfriend@earthlink.net This is a great place to hone your writing skills.
Nick Daws Writers Circle: Click link on this page. I'm a moderator on this site, It's awesome.

Online Writing Workshop: http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/ Want feedback for your work?

Newbie Writers: http://www.newbiewriters.com/ Great place to meet other newbies

I’ll be adding to the above list as I find more newbie friendly sites.


Here's a little article that I found at the Newbie Writers site www.newbie-writers.com

This month Jenna Glatzer teaches us all about confident writing. She has just published a new book on writing - The Street Smart Writer. Check it out on Amazon! (If you do decide to buy this book, please buy via the site and help to support it - thanks)

Confident Writing

By Jenna Glatzer

You know how, when you’re watching a speaker, you can tell if he or she is nervous? There are those tell-tale signs: trembling hands and voice, lack of eye contact, perspiration, twitches, lots of "ummms," and a myriad of other idiosyncratic gestures and signs that show he or she is not fully at ease in front of an audience.

Did you know that I can spot those same tell-tale signs in your writing?
If you’re not completely confident in your skills as a writer, and in what you’ve written in particular, there are warning signs that can tip off an editor or reader. I find them in query letters all the time, and, to a lesser extent, in articles and stories themselves.
The first tip-off? Stilted language.

Stilted language is formal and proper. It employs big words when small ones would suffice just fine. It "sounds" canned and over-prepared.
Example: "Marjorie was required to submit to a physician’s examination prior to the interview in which she would be considered for the position."
Doesn’t it sound like the writer is working too hard to impress here? Like she’s trying to SOUND like a journalist? "Real writers" don’t have to use big words and serious language to effectively get their point across. In fact, the more direct and simple the language, the better.

"Marjorie had to go for a doctor’s exam before the company would consider her for the job."
Is it "dumbing down" your language? No. It’s cutting through the thicket and allowing the words to flow as naturally as they would in your speech—just with the benefit of editing. It’s being purposely as understandable as possible, so that if someone was skimming your query/article quickly, he would still get the meaning, without tripping over S.A.T. words or unfamiliar phrasing.

Many professional writers (myself included) believe in writing first drafts quickly, so as not to give our brains enough time to censor, doubt, and question each word as it flows through us and onto the paper. When I write, whether it’s an article, story, or just about anything else, I pretend I’m talking to a friend. I want my friend to hear about this interesting thing I learned. So, I tell him in the same manner I’d tell him if he were sitting next to me in my living room. I don’t need to impress him (or confuse him!) by "spicing up" my writing with words like "proceed" and "consume" when the words "go" and "eat" would have worked just fine.

Stilted language is a sign that the writer is not confident that her OWN words—the words she would really use—are good enough. It’s puffing up the writing to suit an editor. But think about this: the more formal and convoluted the language, the harder the editor will have to think just to get through the piece. Too much thinking equals rejection, unless you’re writing for an academic or very intellectual market. Editors want clarity. They don’t want to have to reread sentences to get the meaning of your words. Once the eyes glaze over, you’re in trouble.
Another giveaway: namby-pamby qualifiers that shift the responsibility for the statements away from the author. Example: "It seemed to onlookers that Mayor Ross might possibly have been suffering from exhaustion."

Were you one of the onlookers? Was it pretty obvious that the guy was falling asleep at the podium? Then don’t shift the observation into a passive voice. Be confident in your own powers of observation and reasoning. "Mayor Ross seemed exhausted."
The same goes for overuse of "experts" and studies when none are needed. We all know that you’re supposed to get eight hours of sleep a night, right? Then why do people insist on writing, "According to doctors, eight hours of sleep per night is optimal"? You don’t need the doctor to say that for you. If you know it to be true, you can skip the "according to doctors" and get straight to your point, without pulling out of your own voice.

Another example: "usually," "probably," "most likely," "often," etc. Watch for these words in your writing. There are times when they’ll be necessary—and, then again, there are plenty of times when you can omit them.
I once had a psychology professor who prefaced every statement she made with the words "basically," "usually," or "typically." It undermined what she was saying, because it felt like she was unsure of herself. When you write these words, it translates to uncertainty—did Mary Beth go to church on Sundays, or did she "typically" go to church on Sundays? If she skipped once or twice a year, she went. You don’t need a qualifier. If she skipped every other week, then you can add a qualifier.

Be confident in what you are writing. Every time you shift away responsibility for your words by attributing them to someone else, or by watering them down with adverbs, you give the reader leeway to question whether or not you really know what you’re talking about.
Another tip-off: fear of making a point.

Similar to the problem with too many qualifiers, pulling out of your article too soon shows a lack of confidence in your message. Let’s say you wrote an entire article about how a certain kind of duck is going extinct. You talked about all the reasons why it’s happening, and you explained what people can do to help. Then you end it with a lame conclusion like "Further studies are needed" or "Experts will continue to examine the causes…" blah, blah. Again, if you know that what you’ve just said is true, you don’t need to end off with anything that detracts from your conclusion. Sure, further studies may be conducted, but does that take anything away from the evidence you’ve just reported? Let your point come through loud and clear. Make the decision to take a risk and be accountable for your words.

You don’t need to tie it all up neatly with a moral, a la Aesop’s Fables ("And that’s why we must all stop throwing plastic in the garbage"). Just let the strength of your entire article carry the message—let your readers come to the conclusions to which you’ve directed them, and don’t let them second-guess those conclusions by giving a wishy-washy ending.
Be bold. Be confident. And let your very best writing shine through.

Jenna Glatzer is the editor-in-chief of Absolute Write (http://www.absolutewrite.com/), where writers can get a free list of more than 180 agents who are open to new writers! She is also the author of OUTWITTING WRITER'S BLOCK AND OTHER PROBLEMS OF THE PEN and other books for writers, which you can read about at http://www.absolutewrite.com/jenna/books.htm if you want to make her day.

This article may be freely reprinted as long as the bio and this note are included.

Writers Chat Rooms and Forums

What about writers chat rooms and forums? Is there any value to be gained from joining them? You bet! When I first started to write I was hesitant about joining. I preferred to just read excerpts here and there that interested me. The first chat room I joined was Newbie Writers. Once I became a member I found that there were lots of “freebies” that were meant to both inspire and enhance my writing abilities. Since that time I’ve joined about eight different forums.

I’ve gotten great feedback on some of my work, I’ve gotten free eBooks, and I’ve gotten tips on writing. I’ve been given leads on publishers that are looking for new writers, I’ve been given web sites that tell me of all the wonderful contests coming up that I have a chance to enter and I’ve been able to hob-nob and schmooze with a lot of talented, published writers who seem to always be willing to share their expertise. What more could a newbie want?

Last, but not least, being a member of chat rooms and forums demands that I do the one thing I love the most. Write. Write daily, sometimes hourly. Write, write, write. The other requirement is read, read, read. Funny, those are the two of the three most critical things a writer must do. What is the other one? Learn, baby, learn. Study, learn all about the art, then go back to steps one and two, write and read. These, plus a little imagination are the tools that open the doors to becoming a published writer. So what are you waiting for? Go join a chatroom or forum. Go write something! :) Aelf