Leafkin

It's my turn for Leafkin editing!  I've got an easy job compared to Drea and Erica -- I'm just doing copy edits.  Already, though, I am struck with the quality of the submissions this year.  Every story I have read so far has gripped me from the first paragraph and held on until the final words.  This is great stuff, guys.  I am so excited to be preparing it for release and I can't wait to hold the finished product. -Meli...

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To Be is Not to Be

I really enjoyed editing this year. I learned a lot from the experience, especially about craft. A few weeks ago I posted about some of the mistakes I found in stories...and with this post I'm going to continue that trend. But first-- Why does it take editing others' stories to come to these realizations? When we critique, we are focused on making the critique group useful and functional for all members. That usually means we, as writers and critique partners, aren't going around saying: "This isn't necessary to your plot." When critiquing we say: "I don't think it's needed." This is reflective of the different mental state. An editor looks for what is needed to make a story better. The writer is a vessel, but otherwise outside the process. It's all about the story. Critiquing...

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Posted in: craft of writing,Edititing,writing

Losing the Poetry in the English Language

Those of you who saw it on our Facebook page, about a week ago I said that I was going to talk more about the link to the New York Times article that I posted.  I said I would do that at the end of the week but didn’t get to it until today so I apologize for that.  I hope you all had a chance to read it.  If not, you may want to take a look at it now.  Here's the link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/us/12Y.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=YMCA%20is%20Downsizing%20to%20a%20Single%20Letter&st=cse Well I also indicated that the issue being reported worried be.  Actually it doesn’t just worry me; it angered me.  It angered me because it shows that there is no or very little appreciation for the English language by its own speakers.  There’s little...

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What School Left Out

I recently let my friend and classmate Megan read Arylle in trade for getting to see some of her writing.  Her feedback was very positive, but she pointed out one particular aspect of the story that struck her as highly unrealistic.  It turns out, I can't write horses. Yes, my horses do not behave at all as real horses do.  An equestrian since the age of ten, Megan highlighted these portions of the story and said that they pulled her out of the plot. So of all the possible things to have wrong with a story, my biggest problem according to her is... horses. It brought up a very important issue though: as writers, and especially fantasy writers, we are constantly dealing with subjects that we might not be at all familiar with. The only times I've ever ridden horses were around...

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Kind of Silly

I've always kind of sort of wanted to write a musical.  I've been raised on the medium and spent my adolescence on a stage, so I guess it's not surprising.  Unfortunately, I'm far from being a musical prodigy.  Four years of piano lessons gave me the ability to read music and a rudimentary understanding of melody, but I have to plunk out even the simplest of songs.  I hadn't sat on the bench in ages until yesterday, when I decided to give it a go.  I've become infatuated with Gankutsuou (a gorgeous anime based on The Count of Monte Cristo, for anyone interested), and had found some sheet music for the opening song online.  Feeling bold, I dove into it - using the pedal and everything. "Unh," my mother groaned when I had finished, not waiting for me to ask what...

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The Benefits of Taking a Break

So now I understand why, when I've been moping lately, various friends have asked me if I could take time off work.  I've never experienced a vacation as anything except escaping from one type of stress into another, with any good done immediately negated once I returned home. This past week was different.  I took Thursday and Friday off, giving me a five-day weekend with the Monday holiday for Independence Day.  My boyfriend and I drove down to Santa Monica early Thursday morning, played in the ocean, wandered through shops, ate some fantastic Thai food, and spent the night with an old mutual friend who had the most magnanimous parents imaginable.  When Mrs. C discovered my love of music, she insisted that I try out her marimba (think of a giant, wooden xylophone). ...

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Leafkin Submissions Have Swallowed My Life :P

I've been reading a bunch of the entries into the anthology this year. I want to talk about some of the trends I have seen and what I think about them. Passive Sentences: Yes, I know long, flowing sentences look pretty and make a person feel smart, but they can also completely destroy (or fail to ever introduce) tension. See? Over used passive sentences mean we can't see what your characters are doing. The significance of characters' feelings, actions,and thoughts, are swallowed in the prose. The very things that help a reader connect to the story are trivialized or distanced from the reader. Reader and Character are separated by murky water, creating a hazy view of Character. Adverbs and vague word choice: A lot of the submissions I've read thus far have a good grasp on description....

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Posted in: Edititing,Leafkin,writing