writerly ways

[cornerofmadness]

I had a really good idea for the writer’s blog this weekend, saw something in a magazine. Now I can’t remember the idea or even the magazine, and since the only one I’ve read recently is about green living/cooking I’m at a loss.

So I sat down and rested up with watching all the TV I taped this past week. The Glades was so critically acclaimed so I was looking forward to it. Instead, I was treated to utter crap but it gave me my topic for the week.

Your Audience Is Not Made Up Of Idiots

Write what you know: This old chestnut is either highly touted or reviled depending on which author/teacher you follow. Me, I rather revile it. I’d be stuck writing medical dramas, loveless forty-somthings and teaching angst. A better way of saying it would be, teach yourself what you want to write. There are just some things you can not hand wave over and think people won’t notice.

I was in a RPG once with a wanna be author who wanted to do historical romance but didn’t want to do research since it was boring. Needless to say several of us tried to talk her out of this. Historical fiction readers are notoriously up on their history. In The Glades you don’t even HAVE to be up on anything to know that a police detective can not put crime scene tape up to protect his golf ball on the green (was this a joke?), or know that a real detective wouldn’t say can’t the crime scene wait an hour, they aren’t getting deader, or that detectives don’t wear uniforms. There’s a divide between uniformed police men and detectives. Let’s not even get into the nurse offering to ‘give him something for pain but eh, go drink a six pack.’

There are times I honestly believe reviews are bought. The Glades seems to prove that one for me. You MUST have some authority in the things you are writing. If you make major mistakes, no one will take your work seriously. For example in In the Hands of the Gods I researched ancient Pompeii, city and culture, heavily and as a result, not only did it sell but an Italian reader commented she was surprised at the detail from a non-native. Now that’s the review you want.

In the cosplay erotica I’m failing to write, I know anime cons from experience. I feel confident I can make people believe this is a con. Now, in Splinters of Silver and Cold Iron, I do not know everything I need to about Ireland and it’s slang and admittedly I wrote it without looking into it. However, now that I’m in the final stretch, I’m working that out. Between 0_mother_0 & enemytosleep and a few others, I’m in contact with natives of Ireland and they’re helping me. I’ll go back and work on the slang and culture. I was worried that if I obsessed on getting it right in the first draft, I’d bog myself down. But I’m not sending it out to agents without doing my due diligence.

The same can be said about Machiavelli Moon. For those who don’t know, Mmoon was actually part of Writers’ Digest workshop in the magazine, so not only did a pro pull it apart but that was the first time they did it on the internet. When I was in granny’s basement this summer I found the emails about that. One was from a Lakota both praising some of what I had done with the Lakota in my story and pointing out my errors. I was so grateful. That’s one more thing I would like to do, contact the college on the rez and see if I can find someone who might want to help with that. I’d prefer to avoid ending up on Race!fail somewhere because while I did live and work in South Dakota on Pine Ridge, I am not Lakota and my cultural understanding isn’t perfect.

Write what you want to write but own it. Research it. Make it yours. If you’re sloppy, your readers will call you out, loudly, humiliatingly.

Speaking of my writing, it was the first week of class. I was swamped. I DID get out 2000 words most of it for Splinters of Silver because that was due out to the writers group. So I’ll spare you all the word count meters this time. I didn’t do much.

Comments

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Amen. I love spending time in research, because nothing makes me madder (or jolts me out of a story) faster than someone who doesn't have their facts straight about something that I know. I've read some of the worst crap romance novels written and enjoyed many of them, but the one that left the worst impression? One where the hero was in Arizona Territorial Prison, and, on escaping, went south and west to get into northern NEW MEXICO. Anyone who cracked open a book would know that the Arizona Territorial Prison was in Yuma, and going south and west would put one in Baja, Mexico.

And speaking of South Dakota, I've never been there, and I'm just playing around with one of my filler stories that's not even meant for any kind of serious consideration, but I had to do just a little research on where USD was, and then, having found it, some research on the tiny town of Vermillion (where USD is).

Of course, sometimes it means I don't get anything DONE, but at least I widen my knowledge!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Oh geez, and see stuff like that makes you never want to read anything by that author again. I hate when they don't even bother to factcheck (heh, that reminds me of an old Murder She Wrote where Jessica was getting ticked at her factchecked who was lying about doing the research)

Hey I know where Vermillion is.

And yes sometimes you get so into the research you run out of time to write (hence me changing the plot of this erotica I'm doing now)

eta - love that appropriate icon

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been scouring maps to see where the closest cities are to Vermillion -- it's a pretty isolated area. Poor Sean Patrick can't seem to find a decent hotel there.

(The best place in the entire town to stay is a Holiday Inn -- or possibly the locally-owned Prairie Inn. As I said, research!)

Yes, I'm fond of that icon.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah not much out there. poor Sean Patrick. If you were near deadwood you could come stay with Maddie

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you can't get too much further from Vermillion than Deadwood and stay in the same state. (He's contemplating Sioux City, which is the closest "big town," but it's really too far away.) And really, it's a lovely little town, going by their websites. As long as he's not there in the winter, he'll love it. (He's sort of the opposite of you when it comes to weather...)

It's not as desolate as Montana, though. There is NOTHING there!

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah, Vermillion is definitely on the other (imo boring) side of the state. Deadwood, Rapid City, Hot Springs, all places I know are on the opposite side from Vermillion so I'm not much help to you ther.

yeah not a whole lot going on in Montana

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I want to go all over that area, though; I know Dad dragged us all over the Custer battlefield and all those areas when I was little, but I barely remember any of it. There's tons of places up there I really want to see as an adult.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i definitely understand that. After living 4 years in cleveland and moving out, I realized I never saw anything while I was there (med school, poor excuse, right)

So now when i move I make a point to act like a tourist in my new home so I see all the neat things there are to see. I enjoyed hte black h ills

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

I spent two childhood winters in the Miami area. Even if I had perfect memory, things have changed. For example, Cuban-Americans in Florida tended to be left of center politically.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Word. It's far too common in entertainment, especially television, where a show doesn't go by without someone in *some* profession getting pissed off.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

I would add: Know what you know.

And what you don't, of course. Outside of writing: Every now and then, a political candidate hires a campaign manager who did well in another state. The results can leave something to be desired.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

But The Glades takes place in FLORIDA. Everyone knows they're stupid down there.

I like research on my writing. If I did all the research I wanted, I'd never get anything done, though.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Well, just from experience (and current photographs), the badlands of Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota haven't changed as much in 40 years as Phoenix (an urban area) has in 5.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

somehow I suspect that's true

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

Hard to argue that one

Well that is the double edged sword of research, that and trying to shove ALL the research into one story

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

oh i have no doubts of that. I was turned down for a job two years ago to do a human cadaver lab. I've done those before and it would be teaching physician assistants. I also saw taht outside of one close to retiring prof I'd be the only woman. sure enough they hired a biologist whose speciality was bees. He's made a mess of their program...

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

oh absolutely. TV is the worst offender. I mean when people who've only watched a few forensic shows knows your tv show is full of crap that's pretty bad

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

this is why I decided to not change MMoon to modern day and leave it in the 90's. that's the SD I know

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Yes, but then you save it for the next story...or novel...or whatever.

Florida. All the nuts roll down to....

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

All the nuts DO roll down hill to Fl

yes or at least i try to. So far got two stories out of teh pompeii research

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

See? You belong there.

*ducks*

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i have no doubt of that

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Hee hee hee.

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

If it's any consolation, my mother watched The Glades and hated it, too. I smelled the stink coming off the teasers for the show and thankfully opted not to watch it at all.

I saw a web article the other day in which the author waxed nostalgic over childhood fads like Jelly shoes and slap wristbands. See? The 90's are just on the cusp of being retro-trendy. Good news for MM and its time setting.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i went ahead and taped #2 just in case it was a case of stinking pilot but haven't seen it yet

Yes i saw that article too. I hope you're right. Now to get my ass editing and rewriting parts