How Can You Learn From Your Writers Group?

Our last post was all about what a writers group should do to help you. This post is about how you can help your writers group, and in turn, get the most out of the experience.

Your Role in a Writers Group: 

1.  Show up. This one might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised at how many members attend meetings sporadically.  I’m not talking about those who come to a meeting or two and decide it isn’t for them; I’m talking about those who come to every other (or every other other or every fourth, etc…) meeting for two years straight. They want to write, but don’t want to put in the hard work. Work schedules and home life can get in the way, but not showing up on a regular basis shows a lack of respect for other writers’ work and a lack of respect for your own. How can you get better if you don’t make the meetings?  
2. Listen to critiques. Even seemingly harsh comments are usually meant to help you, and almost all critiques contain at least one valuable insight. Don’t let somebody spend his or her time and energy reviewing your work and then ignore it. Not only are they fellow writers, but they’re readers, too. They will have some valuable first and second impressions. Apply some of what’s been said to your current work and future submissions. Don’t make the same mistakes again and again. That’s not getting better; that's stagnating. And like number one, it doesn’t show much respect for others’ abilities or your own.
3. Try changes. Insert certain changes. Try them. Test them out. If they don’t work, you can always remove them. After all, you’re the final arbiter of what works in your submission. Listen to everything, then carefully decide what to use.  
4. Read everything your group submits. You might be a veteran writer or a newbie with a novel idea. Either way, you’ll be surprised what you can glean from reading others’ work. You can learn from writers better than you, but also from those far worse. “Oh, I get it, do this, don’t do that.” “I can see why they did this, why on earth did so-and-so do that..?”

Remember, the members of your group are there to support you. Not only do they want to get better, but they want to see you turn in first-rate manuscripts, too. Most will cheer your success, console you during defeats, and live through your accomplishments. You owe it to them and yourself to submit the best work you can as often as possible. Learn, work and revise. Those steps will make you a better writer. And then, when it comes to your writers group, they’ll be happy to have you come to every meeting, and you’ll be happy to go since you’re improving your technique and talent. Participation makes you a better group member and lets you benefit tremendously from another’s expertise.

Part One: What Should a Writers Group Do? 

Help your fellow writers out: How have you made your writers group work? 

Writing Backstory Naturally

"Hey, Bob, remember that time we went bass fishing and you lost your leg in that horrible fishing lure accident?"
"I'm just glad you were there, Jim, to jump in and retrieve it as it sank to the bottom. Who knew you could hold your breath for three minutes?"

OK, the above scenario is a bit of stretch, but unfortunately not by much. I've read lines like, "Do you remember that time you got shot?" Yes, of course. The person got shot! Same with the above "example." A reader should know, needs to know, certain facts. but the author should be able to find ways to introduce backstory without being ham handed or clumsy.

Bob limped into the room on crutches, having lost his leg bass fishing years ago. His lure got caught in the boat's motor and pulled him forcefully toward it, severing his left leg just above the knee.

Jim dove into the lake to save his daughter. He struggled for air, turned purple, fought for five more seconds. He hadn't held his breath this long since recovering Bob's leg from the bottom of the lake.

Incorporating facts into action, not just exposition or dialogue, is a great way to present backstory. But make sure it fits. Make sure it doesn't take away from the scene. The last thing you want is for your reader to say, "That's nice, now get on with it!"

Don't introduce backstory too soon or too late. Your reader can forget certain information, or they might say, "Thanks, but I could have used that 30 pages ago. That explains Bob's fear of ordering sea bass in a restaurant." Backstory, like comedy, is all in the timing.

Don't introduce it all at once, unless it's in a scene. Can you reveal pertinent information by fully re-creating the time and place in your story? Do we have to know about Bob's horrible accident in the past tense, or can you create a full-fledged scene for us in the here and now? Describe Bob's accident, the pain, the stupidity, and Jim's valiant efforts to dive in and retrieve it like a Labrador. The information will stick with your reader longer, make more sense, be full of tension, action, and drama, and add rather than detract from your story.

Consider all the ways to introduce backstory and find the one that works best. Even if that means rewriting whole passages. When the time comes, reread your piece and see if your attempts at keeping the reader up-to-date and informed are awkward and heavy-handed. If they are, find a way around it, or you might lose your reader long before they learn why they need to know all that information in the first place.

Read more about it @ Fiction Groupie

Writing Without Resolutions

Shampoo Mohawk by TedsBlog

In the 1920s, a shampoo company was looking to boost its revenue. One of the salesmen suggested adding the word "Repeat" to the directions. It worked. People started using twice as much shampoo.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

We know it by heart. It's the subject of parodies and comic relief, and rightfully so. And I still repeat, even knowing that story. One simple direction works.

Write. Edit. Repeat.

It doesn't work as well, but it should. The basic steps are there. Write. Edit. Repeat. Until you get it right. By following those three simple steps as often as you bathe, you'll be amazed at how much writing you get done.

Now, sure Write. Edit. Repeat has its problems:

1. You only repeat shampooing once. Writing can be four, five, six (or more) drafts.
2. No one tells you you're washing your hair wrong. Writers, readers, and editors will have suggestions for you. Your mother will praise you, but that's also how she got you to wash your hair.
3. Try not washing your hair for a week and you'll feel disgusting. Try not writing for a week and you might feel good about it. You'll even make excuses.

The point is, it's a simple formula -- three words that are three separate sentences. Say them often. Write them down. Stay motivated without New Year's Resolutions. Say them when you wake up in the morning and mumble them as you drift off at night. Attach them to your shampoo bottle so they stare at you in the shower.

And if need be, get someone else to give you the order. It worked for shampoo.

Have a Happy New Year, and may you meet your writing goals!

Showing, Not Telling

It's an age-old adage in the writing world: show, don't tell. But how does a writer go about this? There are basic guidelines to follow and tricks to use regardless of genre.

1. Create action. It's easy to write, "The cook chased us down the street after we skipped out on the check," but it's much more effective to describe the diversion created to "skip out." Did your characters bolt out the door or slip away slyly before being discovered? Did the waitress yell? Did the cook brandish a knife or a shish kabob skewer? Did he threaten to make them tomorrow's lunch? Did they escape in a taxi, a delivery truck, or by hiding in another restaurant? Action creates full scenes, and in so doing, shows the reader what is happening.
2. Use active verbs. Avoid forms of be, have, etc. Not "We were racing down the street to avoid capture " but "As we raced down the street two steps ahead of our captors, we flipped boxes and barrels behind us to slow their pursuit."
3. Describe emotions. Not "I felt sad" or "upset" or "dispirited," etc., "but tears streaked my dirty cheeks" or "my throat tightened like a miser's fist," etc. Readers can figure out the emotion based on description and context.
4. Deveop Dialogue. Good banter, when used properly, almost always shows rather than tells, but be careful. Long monologues or discussions about things two characters already know falls into the "telling category."
5. Avoid flashbacks. Flashbacks are usually just exposition. Don't tell us what happened in the past, particularly in third-person, detail-oriented tracts that distract from current action. Let us know what happened in the past by exploring its effect on the present. If describing the summer two characters met, reveal it slowly, not by discussing it or telling the story to a third person, but by injecting moments and developing consequences from previous actions. Not as easy as a simple flashback, but far more rewarding.
6. Proper foreshadowing. Tease us with details that make us want to keep reading. Mention a character two chapters before we meet him. Create mystery and interest. This way, the reader will know something about said character when he finally makes an entrance, preventing you from having to "tell" us nearly as much.
7. Lead a reader. Don't simply put a scene in a reader's lap. Don't write, "We had lunch in an Italian restaurant," but rather "We entered Giuseppe's for a late-afternoon lunch, aware that heavy, manicott-stuffed shells would likely be our dinner, too." Even place names, etc., set the stage for a reader without being heavy-handed. We expect different atmospheres from restaurants named Francesca's, Don Giovanni's or Frank's Pizzeria.

Much of Showing, Not Telling comes down to trusting your reader to fill in the pieces, to understand basic emotions and thoughts; to put themselves in the story and empathize with your characters. Think Agatha Christie when it comes to showing: the classic murder plot where the detective doesn't just tell us who the killer is, but shows us. Her writing reveals details easily missed and creates dramatic tension in the process. Showing is a great way to intrigue your reader, to draw her to the next page.

Remember: showing is the best way of telling!