Million Dollar Professionalism for the Writer by Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta

Author:Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta [Anderson, Kevin J. & Moesta, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Business & Money, Business Culture, Etiquette, Reference, Writing; Research & Publishing Guides, writing, Writing Skills, Two Hours or More (65-100 Pages), Education & Reference, Business Life
Publisher: WordFire Press
Published: 2014-09-21T04:00:00+00:00

Also while in college, Kevin fell in with a writer’s group that met on campus every Thursday afternoon (many of them from the advanced fiction writing workshop mentioned above). He thought that hanging around with other authors would be a great way to get inspiration and make connections.

This group of aspiring writers would sit in a local coffee house all afternoon, through dinner, and far into the night, sipping cappuccino or mineral water as they talked about the great novels they would publish someday. But hour after hour, they bemoaned the fact that they never had enough time to write.

Kevin discovered that if he just stopped going to their kaffeeklatsch and spent those hours writing instead, he could be amazingly productive. He devoted his time to writing instead of talking about writing.

Writing critique groups can also be useful. A cooperative batch of test readers can help you catch mistakes or inconsistencies. You get a trial run, to see how people react to your story, learn if they understand your plot twist or if they guess the solution to your mystery, if they laugh or cry when they’re supposed to. Other critiquers might point out flaws in pacing, internal contradictions, even grammar or spelling mistakes.

Listen to the comments of a critique group, but don’t be paralyzed by them. (See the appendix to this book, Consider the Source.) A group of untried and unproven writers does not necessarily yield infallible advice. Sometimes they are just wrong. Occasionally they carry personal baggage or begrudge other writers their achievements, especially if one member of the group begins to succeed when the others don’t.

Kevin’s early critique group grumbled about one of his novels with Doug Beason, Assemblers of Infinity, but their comments didn’t ring true to him, and he published the manuscript in its original form. Assemblers of Infinity was serialized in the largest science fiction magazine, then published by Bantam Books, and was nominated for the Nebula Award, science fiction’s highest honor. In the end, it’s the opinion of the professional (paying) editor that really counts.

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