Stephen King's On Writing

What I'm Listening To: 21st Century Breakdown-Green Day

I came across a writer that I think is fabulous and I really want my website to be as cool as hers. Plus, she's a veteran of the profession that I want to get into (journalism). Her name is Alexis Grant. In one of her most recent blog posts, she mentioned that she had just read Stephen King's memoir on writing. I should definitely plan to read it. I'm going to mention a few things that she said she learned about the craft from King because I think that it will be useful to everyone, whether you write horror, thriller, or not.

~ When you start writing, it’s okay not to know how the book will read when you finish. Start with an idea — a situation, King calls it — and uncover the story like a fossil. Symbolism in particular should not be plotted; if something is meant to be symbolic, he says, you’ll notice when you revise and polish till it shines.

“Once your basic story is on paper,” he writes, “you need to think about what it means and enrich your following drafts with your conclusions.”

While he’s talking primarily about fiction, this advice also can apply to nonfiction. Ideas, themes and realizations can become clearer through the writing process.

~ Think about your story as a What If? What if a girl was running away from home but then encountered mobsters on a subway? What would happen?

~ 2nd draft = 1st draft – 10 percent. The revision process is brutal. In revising Nostalgia, I have found that I've had to cut even more than 10%.

~ It can’t hurt to hear certain advice a second, third, fourth time. Don’t use adverbs. To write well, read a lot. Write every day. Description is a matter of how-to and how-much-to; don’t overdo it. King’s explanations of why these rules apply, as well as his specific examples, were helpful.

Here are some excerpts of the book.

Really good advice from Alexis Grant. I still haven't gotten around to doing the final run through of Nostalgia because I'm doing some final prepwork on my website instead. Also, I tried to take at least some downtime so that I wouldn't go completely crazy.

Lastly, agents Janet Reid and Holly Root were having a hilarious banter ever over their twitter accounts the other day. It's nice to see agents joke around with each other. It was also funny when Janet was twittering about the ridiculous queries she was getting and how she was trying to relax a little bit over Christmas. Good Janet, you deserve it. I'm always so thankful for the advice that they give.

Weddings, Rihanna, & NYC Conference Agent Overview

What I'm Listening To: I'm like a Bird-Nelly Furtado

So my mother and I were watching Say Yes to the Dress on tv last night, and I have got to say that a lot of these brides are insane, especially wanting their fiancee to see the dress and for him to like it.
???
Then they had the nerve to be upset when he didn't like it and tried to choose something completely different. I was drowning in disbelief that there are women out there like this. So here's my question: Would you, under any circumstances, let your fiancee see your dress before the big day? To me it just makes you loose the element of surprise.

On another note, saw parts of the Rihanna interview, sadly didn't get to see the whole thing. I think, like a lot of people, that she is strong for doing the right thing and leaving. That's setting a good example for other victims of battering. I'm glad that she wasn't bitter and very mature about the whole thing, and I hope she NEVER goes back.

And then, I wanted to talk about the wonderful agents I met at the NYC Backspace Conference. Diana Fox (don't ever apologize for your honest brutality, I was cracking up inside the whole time) and Joanna Stampfel-Volpe (brutality packaged with overt niceness) were in my workshop for Fantasy. They had to be brutal (because essentially that's what we spent money at the conference for), but both were really willing to help. I felt thankful for all of the agents who were there because they were taking time out of their schedules and I felt that they genuinely wanted to see us succeed. Even though I know they probably heard a lot of crazy ideas....

My afternoon workshop had Colleen Lindsay and Rebecca Strauss. Colleen pulled no punches, but honestly had me laughing the entire time. Bite packaged with comedy, a little like Janet Reid. Rebecca's style reminded me a little of Joanna's in a way--both were nice but were very firm in their assessments, which I thought was great. And I'm not saying that Colleen and Diana weren't nice because they were, they just were a little more brutally honest than the other two.

I thought the panels were a great way to get all of our questions answered and was happy that I was also able to see Jennifer DeChiara in person, who I will most likely query, and meeting Janet Reid was awesome. Of course I stammered like an idiot for about a minute at first, of course about how I read her blog, and she told me that there's probably medicine for that. Oh, Janet!

NYC Backspace Conference

What I'm Listening To: Paparazzi-Lady Gaga

So basically I just spent the last couple of days in New York where I worked on my query letter. I would definitely recommend to anyone who is serious about getting published to do to a conference. You will feel a lot better when you do. Face to face contact is crucial, and no where else can you get the expertise of an agent who will look over your work and say yes to this or no to that. They were brutally honest and harsh, but I liked that because that's what I paid for. I needed them to tell me what in the world was wrong with my work so that I could turn it into something that they might possibly represent. Although they did tell me that usually the first book never gets published, that won't stop me.

The one reason I knew that I had to be at this conference, was because Janet Reid was going to be there. She was signed up to be in my workshop group, but for some reason wasn't. That was okay because I immediately went up to talk to her afterward. She was really nice and hilarious, and when I asked if I could query her, she told me yes, if I cut the word count. So clearly I have a lot of work to do in the next few days if I want to query the agents over Christmas break and hopefully have an answer by next July before I go to Spain.

I visited Kevin, one of my old friends from high school who now goes to NYU. We went on the Upper East Side, 5th Avenue, and traipsed around Time Square. I ate extremely well and expensively. I felt the vibe and also felt much more in my element. If I transferred from Madison to NYU, I would probably adjust well. Also, New York in itself is much more diverse than Madison and even Milwaukee. Many races walking together in perfect symmetry. It was beautiful. My hotel was great, and I really enjoyed my time there. I bought three books that were recommended by the agents and am excited to see what I can do. I plan to have this book revised, at least over Thanksgiving, and sent out again to agents in the beginning of December.

Hopefully I can go to a conference in London when I'm in Europe next year, and the conference has only bolstered my hopes that I am a good writer because a lot of people at the conference were just coming to learn about it instead of already having done the research. I think I'm probably going to join Backspace because they seem like a pretty good network, even though I'll have to pay, but I'll try my hardest to get published and I plan to do it by the time I'm 22. And I will.

Oh, and the Yankees won their 27th Championship, so everyone was in NYC and there was a huge uproar over it which made time there even more fun.

Midterm Season

What I'm Listening To: I Gotta Feeling (Black Eyed Peas)

I've learned a lot of things in the past few weeks. Hopefully if I can get a new phone, these blog posts will be more frequent. Nikki Giovanni has written me back again, saying that I can quote her. I am really happy about this, and I plan on submitting to several poetry journals before the release date of my poetry book to build up my literary resume. I also plan on shooting a YouTube video for my first novel Nostalgia. Other than that, I found Victor Webster on Twitter. I didn't realize that he had a small role on Lincoln Heights (the show I've been watching online for the past week). So mostly everything is good, and Prime Magazine is having a poetry contest, which I am trying hard to facilitate.

I think my hugest decision is that I'm going to a Writers Conference in New York on November 5th. I've paid for the conference and my parents are helping me pay for it. Janet Reid is supposed to be there, along with many other good agents. Hopefully I can get some insight and hopefully I can keep trying to get Nostalgia published. I would like to finish Renovatio by the end of next year, but with all of these projects going on and midterm season, it's a little hard too balance everything.

But now I think for the first time in a long time, my vision is clear and I can see where I'm going with no distractions.

It's One of Those Days

What I'm Listening To: Lady Marmalade

My Spanish final is Thursday and I feel like I'm getting nothing done. I love Janet Reid's blog (but, if you're smart, who doesn't?). I'm trying to plan to go to a writing conference, but these adults who don't have to take classes schedule conferences during the week. And it's bound to be expensive, from the conference itself to my transportation to wherever it is. So basically, I have to be making some serious dough or just plan on going to one at the beginning of next year. I'm still editing and formatting my poetry book, and that WILL be pubslished by January, whether or not Starbucks, Giovanni, and Angelou get back to me on my proposals. I never claimed to be a poet, but I am a writer. I think that every writer should have basic knowledge in various fields in order to call themselves writers.

My Spanish teacher Julio said something very interesting to me today. He said that there are so many people who call themselves poets and writers but they don't adhere to the more conservative guidelines, don't write novels or poetry, and they are unpublished. I thought his assessment was a little harsh. I mean, I guess I couldn't call myself a writer even though I've come out with two books. I feel like I have no time in my life whatsoever. It's getting rather ridiculous. But I love to write and really need to begin making money, so that's why I do it.

I don't even think I have time to start a small side business, but here I go again, (excuse the cliche) about to bite off more than I can chew.