[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

self-sacrifice. Women are shot full of estrogen, and while that estrogen push
can make us bitchy as hell, it can also be channeled into creative drives that
have given us some of the rest of the world's great literature and art, and
have given birth to some great kids and some of the world's finest next
generations. Motherhood is not a crime. Fatherhood is not a crime. Families
are good things. Sex is pretty cool, parenthood is vital and  done well 
both life-affirming and rewarding. Further,
Page 63
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
M
UGGING THE
M
USE
: W
RITING ICTION FOR OVE
F
L
AND
M
ONEY
70
H
OLLY ISLE
L
humanity is worth getting to know in the form that it takes. People as they
really are are fascinating, challenging, diverse, wonderful, awful, amazing,
complex, many-
faceted, colorful.
Don't castrate your writing or your characters because you're afraid to admit
this, or afraid to face the nuts that come out of the woodwork when you say
what you mean.
We as human beings are great and worth knowing and worth writing about because
we are all different. That is the beauty of humanity  that we have risen
above the inequalities and unfairnesses of life, and gone beyond our own
weaknesses and handicaps and fears, and have made our stand based on who we
are. Not who we wished we were, not who the censors from all walks of life
demanded that we pretend we were... but who we are.
Write the words that tell your story, even if they hurt. Take a stand, knowing
that the only way you are ever going to say something that matters is if you
have the guts to say anything in the first place. Walk away from the weasel
words, admit that death waits for you at the end of your life, call your
character short or fat or skinny or stupid or ugly or perverted. Tell the
truth, even if it leaves you standing naked in front of everyone  clothes
don't do anything but hide the truth of what's underneath them.
Say what you mean.
M
UGGING THE
M
USE
: W
RITING ICTION FOR OVE
F
L
AND
M
ONEY
71
H
OLLY ISLE
L
The Writer's Toolbox
Page 64
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Every profession has its tools and requirements, and writing is no different.
Hardware and software are nice, but they won't make you a writer. These four
tools, used regularly and with the best of what you have in you, will.
"
English  If you cannot spell, if you don't know how to punctuate a sentence,
if you aren't sure about grammar, if you don't recognize the appropriate place
to break a paragraph or remember how to set off dialogue from narrative, then
stop right here. You must know all of these things so well that you don't have
to think about them when you write. Your editor will not correct your awful
spelling or sloppy punctuation; she will only reject your manuscript. Learn to
use the written language first.
"
Persistence  I could also call this  thick skin. You'll need it, whatever
you choose to call it. You must accept that some of your work will not be good
enough to sell, that some editors won't like your work even if it's good
enough to sell, that things you send out will come back rejected. You must
strive to improve constantly. You must realize that everything you write you
could have written better, if only you'd known how ... and then you must, on
your next venture, figure out that 'how.' No writer, however good, is ever
good enough.
"
Faith  Conversely, you must believe that you have something to say, and that
you alone are the best person in the world to say it. You must, on really
lousy days, remember that you have a dream you are trying to make come true.
You must have faith that what you want do matters  that you are not just
selling books (for if your only dream is to sell things, then you can sell
shoes or TVs much more easily, and save a few trees in the process), but that
you are
M
UGGING THE
M
USE
: W
RITING ICTION FOR OVE
F
L
AND
M
ONEY
72
H
OLLY ISLE
L
reaching out to people, and trying, through your stories, to give them
something they didn't have before.
"
Goals  You must set them now, and set them high. Along with  write three
pages a day and  send off first story before next month and  get paid for
something I write, add  make New York Times bestseller list and  win
Hugo and  change someone's life for the better. Set small goals for your
sanity ... but large goals for your soul.
Page 65
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
M
UGGING THE
M
USE
: W
RITING ICTION FOR OVE
F
L
AND
M
ONEY
73
H
OLLY ISLE
L
Middles
I'm in one right now  a middle, that is. Actually, I'm nearing the end of the
middle, which in my humble opinion is the utter worst place in the universe to
be.
The loathsome middle in question happens to be in
Curse of the Black Heron
, but it wouldn't matter. I've never met a middle I liked, and if the middle
weren't CotBH, it would be something just as bad, or worse.
Writers come in all sorts. There are folks who dread the blank page, and who
have an absolute terror of getting the thing started, but once they've been
plugging on a bit, they're fine. There are folks who start well, middle well,
and hate endings. And then there's my sort  we who start well and end well
(or at least enjoy doing our beginnings and endings, which I admit isn't
always the same thing) but who do awful things to ourselves in the middle of
every book because halfway through, we're certain that whatever magic we once
had is gone and that every word that spills from our fingertips onto the
keyboard has become total crap. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]