Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Fear Factor 1

DAY 27

Word Count: 17,041

Sentence of the Day: A dull ache loitered at the edge of her hairline--though no more painful than the aftereffects of one of her father's lectures.

FEAR #1: WHAT IF MY WRITING ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH?

First off, your writing is NEVER going to be good enough for some people because writing is subjective (definition: based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes or opinions).

Even if you produced the most brilliant piece ever penned, there would still be a critic to shoot it down. Case in point: The Bible. How many negative hits does God's word take?

Secondly, make sure your writing is good before you shop it around. Use the myriad writing resources out there before you expose your baby to the cruel world. There's a ton of books about writing (believe me...I've read a boatload of them).

My top 3 favorites are:


And don't forget to seek out and apply critiques from other writers. You can always learn something from your peers...even if it's how to gracefully take criticism.

Keep slugging away. Eventually your writing will achieve saleability. Just keep in mind that the timeframe is different for everyone.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the helpful advice and links to your favorite writing books! Much appreciated!

Michelle Griep said...

And thanks for stopping by, cutie!

Southern-fried Fiction said...

I haven't read Plot vs Character, but Jeff is a great teacher. What helped me in that debate of plot driven vs character driven is this:

Plot driven = the events drive the character to make decisions (suspense, mystery, thrillers, perhaps sci-fi)

Character driven = the decisions the character makes change the events (romance, women's fiction, etc).

Michelle Griep said...

Girlfriend, do yourself a favor and snag a copy of Jeff's book. It really is good. He sees both as being integral.

I like your short and sweet definitions, though. Thanks for sharing!

And I neglected to mention one other fantastic book that you recommended a long time ago...Goal, Motivation and Conflict by Debra Dixon. Fantastic help.

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