Method or Madness? Thoughts From A Steemit Fiction Curator

in #writing7 years ago (edited)

“My words are important. They have power. I know what all the ‘rules’ say, but I’m so much better than the rules. I write from my heart, and that should be all that matters.”

Riiight—if your bedside diary is the only publication you seek.

I’ve been a writer for many years, a freelance editor, reviewer, and critic, so by now I’ve heard all the rhetoric, all the excuses, and all the reasons. I’ve read a lot of crap, and enjoyed some seriously good fiction. I also like to think I’ve written some seriously good fiction. My first indie novel ranked as high as #17 in its category with Amazon last year. So, occasionally, I do hit the right notes.

With all the reading I’ve done, though, has come a dawn of understanding: people write for two audiences. Either they write for their own ego, or they write for their readers. Writing for one’s own ego isn’t necessarily bad—many legitimate therapies involve journaling and creative expression. But if one intends for their work to be read, then entirely different dynamics come into play. First and foremost, the author has to willingly step out of the way and yield the storytelling floor to their characters. This requires more than just humility. It requires skill, which is not quite the same thing as talent.

EDITING: A NOVEL CONCEPT

One thing I’ve noticed about Steemit—though it’s certainly not unique to Steemit—is the tendency of authors to publish their unedited drafts. Write it, post it, pray for upvotes. Very little attention is given, if any, to self-editing. Many people new to a blogging platform like this one may not even be familiar with self-editing. And that’s to be expected. But for those who want to write engaging fiction that appeals to audiences beyond the blockchain, it’s sometimes a jarring revelation to understand that editing goes beyond the common rules of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. True editing cuts to the heart of every word you commit to paper, and sometimes cuts to the quick of a writer’s vision for a particular piece of work.

Another thing I’ve noticed about Steemit is the constant stream of buzz-phrases like “quality content,” and “elevate the platform.” Now, if you’re a snake wrangler teaching people about nature and you’re getting it right and have a huge following, I have nothing to contribute except some enthusiastic upvotes. But if you label yourself a writer and regularly add fiction to the blockchain, then you’ve stepped into my wheelhouse, and I definitely have something to say about that.

DEFINING QUALITY

This brings us to the oft-debated topic of “what is quality,” and the misguided perception that it is subjective. Finer points of personal taste are subjective. Technical mastery of a craft, not so much. If your only aspiration is to be a Steemit blogger and collect payouts in seven days, that’s its own thing. Some of those payouts are quite hefty. But if your goal is to bring enough quality to this platform that Steemit can compete with mainstream e-publishing, then you and I need to have a conversation.

There’s a tangible, palpable reason that the Top Five New York publishers have survived all the ups and downs of the market and are still managing to pay certain authors a six-figure advance against royalties. That reason? They know the market. They know what consumers will read, and what they’ll pay for. Occasionally they’ll shell out for a real stinker. But that doesn’t happen often. And despite rumors of its untimely demise, the brick and mortar publishing industry is still very much alive and well.

We are not going to reinvent the wheel. Not with our fabulous fiction, and not with the blockchain. Why? Because a round wheel rolls just fine. You can’t improve on that. We can improve an author’s chances of getting read by a mainstream audience, and possibly landing a book deal. But none of us are capable of getting pissy enough to overthrow the current publishing regime, and quite frankly, none of us are rich enough, either. You want to make a better wheel? Invent one that pays more. So far, that innovation has eluded even the brightest minds in the industry.

BETTER FICTION

So what’s the answer for Steemit? Write better fiction. Not fiction that gets more upvotes, or gets curated, or gets noticed by a whale—although all of those things are nice. No. Write fiction that holds its own against the reams of commercial literature produced by today’s publishing industry. In order to do that, some study of the craft is necessary. Your imagination might be a fertile and inspired landscape, but if your ability to put those images and feelings onto the page is thwarted by lack of basic skill, then your readers are never going to experience the world you want them to see, and they probably won’t be your readers for long.

CURATION, CURATION, CURATION

In addition to all the other things I do as an author/critic/editor/whatever in the mainstream writing community, I also curate for a fiction trail here on Steemit. I won’t go into blatant spamming with details about this fiction trail, other than to say its primary goal is rewarding authors of good fiction with monetary incentives, and to curate only the best fiction Steemit has to offer. Our team decided recently that in a dearth of fiction curatable by our standards (which emulate current publishing industry standards), we won’t curate at all. Controversial? Better believe it is. But it’s how we’re doing it. The blockchain is forever. Once we brand a piece of fiction with our upvote and approval, it’s there forever. And in the likely event that mainstream publishers and agents ever take a hard look at what Steemit has to offer, we want our project to lend as much credibility to the platform as possible.

My time is at an absolute premium. As a curator, I’ll give a story two-point-five seconds to hook me or I move on. Do I miss a lot of good writing this way? No. Because “good writing” is delivered by an author who understands how to write an opening hook. Without fail, when I force myself to read past a soggy opening, I find the middle and the ending are riddled with their own fatal flaws. A good story should have a beginning, middle, and end, with a clear and discernible arc. The inciting incident should be identifiable, as well as the stakes, the goal, and the obstacles for the character. These will vary by genre, but without some form of them built into its structure, no story can exist. This means that five paragraphs of info dump followed by three paragraphs of backstory and a couple lines of “and this is how the story ends, I thought to myself” doth not a fiction make.

If your opening line is about the weather, or your character waking up from a dream or going to sleep, I probably won’t read on. If that’s the limit of your imagination about how to launch a gripping tale, my tail is headed for the nearest exit. If your character notices her own “flowing red locks of hair” or stares into a mirror thinking of her own reflection, I’m done. That’s one of the oldest and most worn out devices in the history of literature. If your first line is “Bobby and I laid by the side of the river talking about spinnerbaits” –or worse: “Bobby and me”—I won’t read on to see if the fish are biting. I’d be too distracted trying to count how many eggs y’all left behind in the grass, and deciding if there’s any possibility they might hatch.

Hook me. Give me a reason to keep reading, not a reason to roll my eyes and click off the page. I want to see the fresh, the exciting, the technically proficient. Thousands of articles about the craft of writing exist on the Internet...for free. Google is your friend. Use it.

Research topics like “show versus tell.” Learn about “Deep POV.” Learn about omniscient versus third person limited. Learn why we don’t litter our prose with exclamation points! Learn how they undermine the strength of your narrative! Study and discover why excessive use of italics will cause some readers’ eyes to bleed and flames to shoot from their nostrils. Explore the reasons that no character can smile their dialogue, and how to avoid dialogue tags altogether, unless they serve a specific purpose. Accept the fact that “he intoned,” or “she exuded” screams “amateur” like few newbie fails other than headhopping. If you gleefully use adverbs in places where strong writing would be indubitably preferable to enhance the readability of your story, I will happily recuse myself from curating your awesomely impressive body of work.

In other words, read and memorize Elmore Leonard’s “Ten Rules of Writing” and refer to it as sacred text until you understand exactly when exceptions might be better than just doing it well to start with.

WHAT "WRONG" LOOKS LIKE

Some examples of writing that will make me stop reading and move on to the next selection:

Mary was a beautiful girl. She had long blond hair and blue eyes, and everyone loved her.

Pardon me while I snore.

The Tygean Amphibious People had inhabited Planet X for hundreds of years. Millenia before, they arrived in shuttles and spacecraft and settled the plains near the watershed, populating the entire northern hemisphere until the Bear Warriors of Wackenridge invaded. So many women and children were killed that the population declined, prompting Karl the Magnificent to declare a national state of emergency.

Just toss me an Encyclopedia Britannica. It’ll make better reading, I promise.

With my gun in hand, I ran along the sidewalk staying close to the edge of the building. I wondered how many of them were waiting for me just around the corner. I felt scared and nervous, and my stomach quivered inside. This may not end well, I thought to myself. But that was before I knew how the story ended.

Who else would you think to, except to yourself? Or are the people waiting around the corner a posse of mind readers? Eh, so much wrong with that example I just can’t even, even.

”I don’t understand why you can’t just love me for who I am,” Gwendolyn sobbed. Her heart was breaking. How could Stephan be so cold, when she’d tried so hard to offer him everything he ever wanted? “I’ve given you everything.”

Stephan watched her weep. Part of him felt guilty, but that made him even angrier. She had no right to blame him for this, to put the burden on his shoulders when he never asked her to love him anyway. “I never asked you for any of it. I never wanted into your heart, Gwendolyn. Only into your bed.”

Gaaaah! I think I have whiplash, from all the headhopping.

The best advice I can give writers about Point Of View is to decide which character can best relate the scene, then write only what they can see, hear, think, sense, or feel. Omniscient Third Person is a recognized technique, but it is not an excuse to ping-pong all over the scene, in and out of every character’s head. That’s just sloppy writing. It leaves your reader confused about which character to root for, to bond with, or even to hate. An omniscient narrator has their own voice, separate and distinct from any character in the scene. However, use this technique at your own risk, because more often than not, the omniscient voice is perceived as arrogant and off-putting, and reminds the reader they’re reading, rather than experiencing the scene as it unfolds.

I hope this article helps. I want nothing more than to see Steemit explode as a mecca of great fiction that draws mainstream readers and publishers en masse. I don’t want to see it become a writing industry joke, or a secondary line of exposure for people who can’t make it in the “real publishing world.” This is going to require discipline, not rebellion. Education, not anarchy. Railing against current publishing standards only means that you’re railing against the readers who helped set them. Trust me, friend—if you want to write something besides your personal journal, you need those readers. Quality fiction is not a product of a gatekeeper mentality. It’s a response to the needs of your audience. Their demands for coherent, readable, engaging prose are just as important in the scheme of things as a writer’s inherent need to express themselves on the page.

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Best post ever. Discipline and quality fiction. I vote for that too. And for anyone reading this, the Fiction Workshop is awesome. I've learned more there in a few weeks than anywhere else. If you're committed to being a writer, stop by and start soaking up the knowledge. There's years of it in that channel and it really helps.

Thank you, @thinknzombie. You are such an asset to the Workshop--I can't imagine it without you there at this point. :-)

Me either. His mad editing skills are growing essential!

YES. Wholehearted agreement from me.

When I see @thinknzombie is working on editing my work, my first thought is "Alright! This'll be great!" Then I quickly realize just how much work there is in store for me.... Super talented editor!

This post is so great, I felt like you're talking to me.... while I write for my won ego most of time. It's always better to know what readers need.

Not working by the rules when you don't know the rules is ignorance, not working by them because you like your way better is (or might be) art. But when you write for readers you better write with the rules!! because not everyone can understand your 'art' if it was different.

Yes. We have to be mindful of our readers, and courteous enough to give them an enjoyable experience. Sure, we can experiment. Sometimes we do something unusual that ends up working. Most of the time--best to keep our audience in mind.

Great post... I look forward to getting over to fictionworkshop and learning some serious writing skills.

@aussiesteem, I was going to tell you to get in there. Let's chat on Monday about it. If you haven't met @rhondak yet, you are in for a treat. She is our kind of people (they all are actually). I have a huge addiction to the workshop now...

That's a good thing. Because it's like Bex said in a comment here somewhere: we're gettin' kinda spoiled by your excellent editing skills. Oh, and your awesomeness as a person, too. Much love. :-)

💗💗💗!

Oh no, a zombie with an addiction... Looking forward to joining you in the workshop, talk soon.

We would love to have you! I've been workshopping and involved in the critique process for a long time. Can't say I've ever seen a more talented group of people, or folks more committed to this craft. I'll be watching for you. :-)

Thanks @rhondak, I'm looking forward to getting involved, it sounds pretty exciting.

The best gift an author can give is not her story, but access to her story... a willingness to learn the rules, edit the work, and get out of the way. Thanks for everything you've taught me @rhondak! 😀

@geke, you are a rare gem of a human and a writer. Whatever you've gotten from me, know I get tenfold in return. :-)

Whoa, this really woke me up. Found myself at the edge of my seat.
I'd also like to thank @rhondak and the crew at the fiction-workshop for so much great help and advise like this.

@deltatrek, you get discussed quite a bit in the workshop. No, don't worry--it's all good. Everyone is stunned at the power your writing has developed so quickly! For people like you, all it takes is to hear the information, and you automatically assimilate it. We love your stories. And hope to see many, many more.

Oh. Wow. Very interesting read. I was agonising over the submission of my first short story to the writing workshop, but after reading this, and the proposed link in your post, I think I can manage to do better before asking others to spend their time critting the piece for me. Thank you!

@tinypaleokitchen, here are some links to a bunch of truly wonderful articles about this craft of writing. Some of them go into great detail and explain a great deal more than I did. I think you will really enjoy these. :-)

http://www.mspfictionworkshop.com/advice-from-the-pros/

Thank you so much!

Also feel free to come by with a question. But remember that even the best editor needs someone else to edit them. We don't object to people coming who are new. Only expect them to work to improve.

Thank you. But I don't want people to spend their time helping me do things I could have figured out. So I'll improve as much as I can before having someone else help me with editing and further improvements. :-)

Good plan, but do drop by if you are sitting there saying "I'm not sure if this para is showing or telling" or when you hit the limits of your ability to self edit. Do your best, be willing to work, and jump on in. Also you can come join in on the critting of other people. If you can pull up a piece in the crit queue after a few others have seen it, you can learn tons by seeing the changes they point out. And if you can read and you can think, you have value as a critter yourself! Or just come to join the insanity.

That insanity sounds mighty tempting. ;-) Again, thank you for the offer. It will just be fun to be a part of a community where people understand my need to write.

Head hopping is the issue that I always end up fighting... here's my main character, here's what he's experience... but wait, this guy is also experiencing this... oh the main guy wouldn't know that so how do I?

I've been charged with the same crime. Head hopping. And I fully expect a cartoon from .... okay, it starts with an a .... I'm almost certain it's you, but I won't commit to it just yet. (Cartoonist!)

A reader getting dizzy following the changes of perspectives?

One way I use around this but it can be hard to use, is making a chapter centered the other character (easier when your story is written in the third person) to tell what they experience at the same scene, I find it fun how different characters experinecing the same scene can be written very differently that it still worth reading even when the reader knows what will happen.

I don't know if this is a good idea. But I like it when I see it in other stories. (Don't know if professionals do it though... I don't read only from professionals)

I read a book that did this once. I didn't give it a very good review. It got too repetitive because we never knew what time it was and things kept repeating. I find the best course is to write then edit carefully, constantly asking yourself if your person knows this. And maybe sometimes the scene is better from another head, depending on what you are working on.

yeah, It can get repetitive so don't do it on every change... I think it's better done once in 30 page.

Very common issue, so don't feel like the lone ranger. LOL

"... if you label yourself a writer and regularly add fiction to the blockchain, then you’ve stepped into my wheelhouse, and I definitely have something to say about that." Love it! All of it! Line after line of it. MANDATORY reading.

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Hey, your advice is great.
I hope I'm at a point where I know to use a good hook. No headhopping. Make every word count. Make your protagonist suffer.

Yet, I'm still struggling on Steemit.

Occasionally, I get rewarded nicely for a piece. But other time I earn something like 10 cents or 50 cents. I believe the quality of all my fiction is good. I don't post drek.

I'm still figuring out what the Steemit audience want, never mind the general offline reading audience out in the real world.

Thanks for being there, curating.
Maybe you'll run across something of mine one day you'll like.
Until then,
Be well ...
Joe

I actually think we're still building the "Steemit audience." I don't think we're there yet, with people who read just to read. Some do, yes. Absolutely. But so many others are spamming and botting and shitposting their way into payouts--I think this is a problem that will ultimately have to run itself dry before posts get recognized based on quality alone.

I do share your frustration. So do many others. One thing we're doing to try and make a positive impact on Steemit is build communities, like PALnet at MSP Discord, where our Fiction Workshop lives. It isn't "just" about improving the quality of our writing, but about networking and building relationships. A prominent whale in this community said not too long ago, "the quickest way to become a whale is to help 100 minnows become dolphins." In keeping with that theory, we're working hard to build a community that appreciates good fiction and rewards well for it.

http://www.mspfictionworkshop.com/