TFWW #106: Critique and inspiration

And we're back.

Time again for the TotalFark Writer's Workshop. If you are new to TF and would like to see a little bit of what we do here, check out the archived threads, conveniently collected by TFWW regular andyofne:

TFWW.org

We meet every Tuesday. An email notification is sent out when a new thread posts and if you would like to receive it, just let me know. Even though we generally begin with a topic, we aren't very structured in how we run the workshop. If you have a question or would like to post a bit of a story for critique, by all means go for it. If you look back at previous workshops, I think you will see that you can expect honest and straightforward opinions.

If you missed the last thread it is available here:

TFWW #105

There was a strong current for critique and inspiration in the last thread. Let's face it, as writers, our art is pretty much useless without readers, and we're pretty much useless without ideas.

So, I guess this week is a two pronged approach to trying to get folks to connect--and TFWW.org has a nice upload feature so that you can link us something that you would like to have given the once over. Alternatively, we can make more direct hook ups within thread, and find folks who are willing to look at your stuff, and give it a look see, and then brace yourself for the critique.

I am not an easy critic. I do think I'm a fair critic, and one of the keys to good critiques is to not just read what is on the page, but what one feels the intention is as well. A good critique isn't just about judging what is on the page, but helping the author find the right voice, the right words, and see past just what is there, but the potential for a piece as well. That being said, what is on the page already is the important part, but a good critique isn't about tearing a piece apart, and looking for weakness, it's about helping the author find its strengths and to help develop those as well.

The other current, and this is one that has plagued writers for a while: inspiration. What moves you to sit down to write? What is going to make you park your ass in a chair for a few hours and plunk down words onto phosphor or a page? For some, it's a solid gold idea, one that just fills them with delight. For some, it's characters who you want to see more of. For some, it's about the flow of the language. Inspiration means a lot of things. The article linked is a laundry list to help you find some inspiration, but I think it misses a basic point about the process.

But, I think, it also ignores the one real truism about writing: it's work. And, work means that we can't always wait for a divine moment. Sometimes, like mowing the lawn or cleaning the bathroom, you just have to sit down, even if you don't feel like it, and just get some words on the page.

Stephen King's essential screed, On Writing stresses this part of the process. While a lot of folks may think that King has long jumped the shark, you cannot dismiss the man's amazing prolificity. Shorts. Novels. Non-fiction. Essays. Screenplays. Comic scripts. The man has done a ton of work, and the only way you can really do that, like John D. MacDonald's even longer and more prolific career, is to sit down and write. When you're tired. When you're cranky. When your blood sugar is low. When you'd rather be outside with the dog. When you're happy. When you're melancholy. In that, there really is no short cut. Ideas will come, when you're accustomed to sitting your ass down and putting your head into gear. Will it all be ambrosia? Will it all be wonderful? Hardly. But, even if you aren't churning out ideas that you're completely happy with, you're learning. You're practicing. You're mining that headbone for what it has worth mining. And while not all the ideas are going to be amazing, you can certainly glean from these sessions something, perhaps later.

Most of the work I've done has come in fits and starts. Not all of the bits are great, but the daily grind does teach one to just sit down and take some time. To give yourself the time. That, in itself, is a reward. While not all of the sessions make it into finished work, there are bits and pieces that I've salvaged from failed or less than productive sessions that have survived to other pieces. In part, and it was the focus of an article last week on NPR, because while we have a plethora of information, what we rarely seem to have nowadays is time. To process. To think. Yes, we've great information, but little time to absorb and reflect. Our skill sets are for processing information, quickly, and in part, that's the opposite of the writer's craft. A reporter, certainly, but even reporters need time to distill and reflect, and then process things.

Writing is a great way of taking half formed ideas and working them through. And that takes time. That takes some reflection. Not just a blaze of inspiration that floods pages with words, but sometimes you need contemplation too. I like to think of writing sessions as almost a sort of meditation. Of working out ideas onto a page, and while sometimes that gets directed in a particular direction, sometimes it means just meandering.

As writers, we cannot be afraid to meander. To wander even. To go off task, and just sort of noodle around a bit. It's when you free up your thinking and allow yourself to let go, that you can find inspiration all the easier. We have to have the courage to trust our mental processes to do their thing, and let our fingers and mind sort of do their trick, and let the words find us. Chasing them down, that's well and good, but that sometimes imposes a lot of ideas that quash the real spark of creativity to find us.

At least, that's my take on it. Y'all?

And we're back.

Time again for the TotalFark Writer's Workshop. If you are new to TF and would like to see a little bit of what we do here, check out the archived threads, conveniently collected by TFWW regular andyofne:

TFWW.org

We meet every Tuesday--or at least we used to. An email notification is sent out when a new thread posts and if you would like to receive it, just let me know. Even though we generally begin with a topic, we aren't very structured in how we run the workshop. If you have a question or would like to post a bit of a story for critique, by all means go for it. If you look back at previous workshops, I think you will see that you can expect honest and straightforward opinions.

If you missed the last thread it is available here:

TFWW #104

Our fearless progenitor is on sabbatical for a bit, at least where TF is concerned, and has asked that andyofne and I pick this puppy back up again. Unfortunately, because of my new job, Tuesdays simply aren't an option for me, so I'm hoping that a shift to Wednesdays will work out for folks. That, and I'll be popping things back up again around 1-2ish EST so that we can hopefully catch folks during the day--you know, when you're usually Farking off.

If anyone did NOT get the reminder for the thread, and would like to, drop me a mail and I'll get you put on the list. If you DID receive the update, and would like to drop me a mail, and I'll take your name off the list.

So, we're back and running, but my own sabbatical--stoopid restaurant openings and staffing them and stoopid tap systems that have to be tested, and waitstaff to hire and oogle--means that I haven't been as involved as I was a few months ago.

Which begs the question: what are folks really looking for here?

Development? Practice and feedback? Encouragement and some support? Readers? Critiques? Snark? A certain Dutch bastiche coming in and mucking the place up a bit? Resource material? News from the markets? General discussions?

I know, it puts folks on the spot a bit, but TFWW is about serving the TFWW, and I've been gone for a bit, so I'm hoping for some feedback in how we can make these sessions work for you.