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Inkabout L. Darby Gibbs

Science Fiction & Fantasy author

redraft

My internal critic knows no bounderies

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I have only been writing to publish for about a year and a half.  But in that time, I have noticed an interesting phenomenon:  My internal critic is after everybody.  In the past, when I was just thinking about writing but not really giving it much of my time, I could just sit back and enjoy reading a book. Sure some books disappointed me, but they were few and far between, and the writer really had to falter in some way.  But now that I am writing my books and putting them out there for others to read, it seems I have become a lot more alert to slipping plots, weak dialogue or dropped details that seemed important but never grew into anything.  I wonder if those same books would have been a fun reading experience if I wasn’t so often editing my own work and developing my internal critic to pick up my own slipping plots, weak dialogue, dropped details or undeveloped characters and scenes. 

Have I grown an eye that cannot discern between my own work and others?  It is an interesting dilemma because I don’t want to be less alert in my own work, yet I do want to enjoy what I read.  I imagine being an English teacher isn’t giving this attentive critic any rest either or training it to take a temporary vacation.  I am reviewing some form of writing pretty much daily.  My colleagues are known to come up to me and ask if I would look over their aunt’s autobiography that she has been working on for years. Truly, I say, “No, thank you.  I have more than enough on my plate to go through.”  And I am talking about student work and have not said a single word about my own efforts to publish.   I really haven’t put out any signs saying, “Feed my obsession for editing.”  Is this a common ailment of writers?  Am I doomed to examine the bones of every book I read?

It’s one thing when I am reading A Tale of Two Cities; that one demands a deep read, but I read books just as often for entertainment at the skin deep level. In fact, I know my books are not for x-ray examination, just a sit back and take a break from reality read is what I am going for.

Writers out there, have you run into this same issue?  Is there a cure that won’t wipe out that needed critic when my own work is before me?

Advice: A Writer Needs Feedback

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Every writer knows that the only way to get that book, story, poem, etc., done is to write. We also know that the only way to improve is to get feedback, honest, no holds barred feedback.  I teach creative writing, and I tell my new students every year that I will be considerate but honest.  They will know what the strengths were in the piece as much as where growth is occurring and where it is needed.  Every writer needs this and for some, like myself, it is hard to come by.

I am a teacher, and since I want my students focusing on what I am teaching them and not on me, I don’t advertise that I am a indie writer.  I have told only a couple people in my family and just one friend.  I know they’ll keep my writing activities secret.  But where does that leave me for feedback: well in a very limited space.  I have become friends with several writers, and those connections has been helpful because they know what I mean when I say tell me everything so I can get better.  They want honest feedback from me, and I want the same from them.  And it has been worth any uncomfortable feeling I might get from seeing the flaws pointed out in what I thought was a pretty thorough job (repeated numerous times)at line and context editing.  I grow as a writer each time they supply feedback and each time I give feedback.  It would have taken me years of personal distance to be able to give that kind of critique myself.  I don’t want to imagine waiting five years to be able to look at my own work with the necessary distance and increased knowledge in editing, drafting, plotting, etc. needed to actually see what needs to be improved.  That’s five years of embarrassment of having my work out there that I would get all in one fell swoop that could have been avoided by getting straight feedback from another writer or a professional editor when the work was “finished.”

So sure a writer writes, but a WRITER GETS FEEDBACK is even more important.  I published my first book with minimal feedback (those two family members).  It wasn’t long before I had a nagging feeling that perhaps I had overlooked aspects of the story or not edited as well as I thought (even an English teacher needs an editor, nobody can look at their own work without bias, certainly not after reading it one hundred times).  So I took it off publication, sent it to a writer friend (she sent me hers as well) and we traded feedback.  I am still working on it and hope by Christmas to have it back published again.

All this post really is saying is writers need feedback.

Quick list of the books I have recommended on my blog

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I have posted about many of the books I consider useful.  So this post is sort of a gathering of those posts in one place.  Now you don’t have to search about for them.

Grammar and revision:
Eats, Shoots and Leaves

A Writer’s Reference
Spell Friendly Dictionaries

Creative inspiration:
A Writer’s Book of Days
Lu Chi’s Wen Fu
Lu Chi’s Wen Fu 2
The Worst Case Scenario 

Good books to read:
The Catcher in the Rye
Tale of Two Cities
You’ve Got to Read This

non-linear plot imbedded in linear plot: not intending to confuse the reader

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As I have mentioned before, I am working on a revision of the first novel in my Students of Jump. One of the changes I am making is running the two timelines (1979 & 2275) adjacent to each other. I am in the middle of a decision.  Should both run chronologically or should one (the 1979 timeline) run chronological, while the future timeline runs non-linear, different scenes appearing based on a commonality.  I like how a feature in common brings in a future event that the earlier time event is a result of.  At the same time, I worry about my reader getting confused because the events in the future do not run consecutively.  Maybe I can explain it like this:

Basic linear plot: Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, gets girl, looses girl, gets girl back, they live happily ever after. (Let this be the chronological 1979 timeline.)

Non-linear plot:  Boy loses car keys, Boy needs to take car downtown, Boy cartwheels over sleeping dog, boy grabs keys off counter, boy must find another way to get to town, boy buys new car, Boy needs new pair of pants.  (non-consecutive 2275 and happens both in the future and before the 1979 events would occur.)

With one linear and one non-linear, they might look like this.

Boy loses car keys,  Boy meets girl, boy needs to take car downtown, boy falls for girl, boy cartwheels over sleeping dog, boy gets girl, boy grabs keys off counter, boy loses girl , boy must find another way to get to town, boy gets girl back, boy buys new car, they live happily ever after, boy needs new pair of pants.

In order to get the girl, the boy must need a pair of pants and must lose his keys, but these events do not occur in the same time period. One entirely precedes the other.

Is this confusing?  Would it make for a confusing novel?  You see my dilemma.  I won’t know the answer until I put it completely together.  Revise that, it is currently in this form.  It is me that is confused.

Also note, these are not the actual plots of my novel.  Hmmm.

Multitasking: My ideas occur when I can’t put them in writing

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Memo: Got your ideas right here

Other than when reading, I never have the time to give one task all my attention.  During this time of year, it is especially difficult.  Until school ends, I simply must be doing more than one thing at a time (and actually several things at once):  emailing a colleague about a meeting, sorting assignments, prepping one computer for presentation while I am waiting for a program to install on another, getting items together to discuss with a student.  Sometimes the thing I am trying to do in tandem with other tasks is related to writing when I don’t have access to a computer.  While I shower, I work through scenes I want to draft or redraft, but my shower is not computer friendly.  As soon as I am out, I do nothing but worry about losing all my ideas before I can find the time to write them down because more than likely I am getting ready for school or for bed and no time is available.  So while my brain was busy planning that amazing plot twist or clarifying a character’s motives, it was doing so with the sure danger that I will not be able to write it down and even worse won’t get the chance until after I get back from work.  I often review my ideas over and over hoping to imbed the kernels of particular value while I am blow drying my hair, putting on makeup and getting dressed, but it never works.  Faint echoes are all I am left with when I am finally able to seize the moment to jot them down.

Yesterday, I was getting ready and began thinking through two scenes I need to add to the first novel in my Students of Jump series.  One can’t type with wet hands, and it would be tough in the bathroom even it I tried.  However, there on the counter was my iPhone.  It has the app Dragon Dictation, but I haven’t made an effort to use it.  Knowing I was going to lose all my fast approaching ideas, I grabbed the phone and activated that app.  I dictated about a paragraph, took a glance at it through somewhat soapy eyes only to find it had only caught the first six words which did not include “entropy scram” (In this scene…).  I tried three more times without any worthwhile results.  Out went that idea.  I think the exhaust fan combined with running water just did not work well with this app.  But iPhones come with a voice memo app.  I gave that a try.  And two scenes later all my meteoric flashes of insight and inspiration were recorded and easy to access.  What was especially nice was I stopped more than once to think a bit, pausing the recording, and when I had my idea ready, I was able to return to recording.  I did that at least three times.  Four minutes of notes on my next two scenes all tied up and clearly enunciated rather than my scribbled writing.

Ahh, but then another flash of inspiration came to me.  I have two blogs to write and since I am feeling creative… So on went that little app again which shortly recorded two blog post ideas and my new writing prompt for the week. I knew I would not be writing them for at least another day and, of course, would not remember the details my mind was so rich with at that time.  Even when I do find a moment to write a note, I tend to just jot down a sentence or two rather than the long list of points I wanted to make.  But every word that came to me as the muse whispered in my ear was on that recording, no recall necessary.  I didn’t even have to consider if I would be able to make out my writing which becomes quite messy when I am hurried. This very post was the first of the two ideas I dictated. 

Alright, this is not a genius idea.  Many people employ a recorder for catching To Do’s or notes to the secretary or self.  But I haven’t.  So for those who have this method available to them and often don’t have the time to sit down and do the work when they think about it, try it.  I am sold.  My ideas are not going to drift out of my memory or be scribbled on a tablet leaving me wondering what I was so excited about.  My stream of thought was flowing, and the app was busy recording: nothing between me and my inspiration.

In Times Passed: under reconstruction

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I thought I should mention that I have pulled my first book (In Times Passed) from publication because I feel it needs redrafting.  Certainly, I did not have it in mind to publish my book and then remove it, but as time went by, I began to feel that the whole story was not there.  So, as noted on my Books & Projects page, it is back in edit, under remodel, reconstruction, etc.

A fellow author agreed that sometimes this is necessary, and she encouraged me to feel good about my choice.  She found herself making a similar decision some time back regarding one of her books.  Like me, she wanted her work to be at its best.  So the first in my series of Students of Jump books is on temporary hold.  Likely, the second in the series will hit publication shortly after this first gets back on the e-book shelf.