Getting Crafty by Brenda Chapman

When you have craft questions, where do you go for answers? A particular website? A book? Podcasts? Writer friends?

 Like all writers, I’m constantly on the look out for any new information that will advance my craft, be it improvements on writing style, story arcs, character development, building suspense, or pretty much anything. I can’t say that I have one website or one writer friend to turn to when I have questions. My method for acquiring knowledge is more of a shotgun approach — I’m constantly absorbing information from wherever or whomever I can get it.

One of my primary resources is the wealth of books written by my fellow authors. Not only do I read for enjoyment but I also read to analyse why a story works and even why it doesn't (in my subjective opinion). I look at word choice, sentence structure, plot, character development ... you name it. This isn't to copy their style or to steal from their stories but rather to improve on my own writing. (A lot of this goes on subconsciously at a mystical level that authors sense but can't explain.)

I've also read a lot of writing wisdom online as well as watched writing workshop videos. There's an amazing amount of solid writing advice at our electronic fingertips. Stephen King's famous rules of writing are a good place to start. Last year I gave a writing workshop on point of view and found an amazing amount of information online. I also turned to a book that I bought at a book conference a few years back Write Away by Elizabeth George.

A little anecdote about the book. I bought a hard copy and stood in line to have Elizabeth George sign it. I've long been a fan of her Inspector Lynley series and was excited to meet her The lineup was long as you can imagine and the wait time was more than I had to spare so I bowed out after about twenty minutes. Anyhow, when I finally opened the book back in my hotel room, lo and behold, I'd unknowingly bought a signed copy! This reminds me that book conferences and attending panels have also been great ways to glean tidbits to improve the writing craft. I can't tell you how many times a bit of advice from an author on one of the panels comes back to me as I write or market my work.

Back to this week's question. I've been fortunate to belong to two crime-writing organizations that are into writing development and information-gathering in the crime field. Any writers getting started in the business can't go wrong joining an organization or two for support, friendship and information.

Capital Crime Writers is Ottawa-based. Over the years, they've had numerous experts in to speak about everything from art theft to gambling in sport to gang activity. Psychologists have spoken about narcissism and detectives have given workshops on murder scenes. In addition, authors have spoken about various aspects of the craft and generously given tips and advice. Every speaker has donated their time, making this an invaluable resource that I've never taken for granted.

Crime Writers of Canada is our national organization for crime writers and they offer online workshops on the writing business and the craft of writing. I recently watched a presentation on poisonous plants, for example. Canadian crime writers - I urge you to join if you haven't already!

I also belong to The Writers' Union of Canada and note that they have a number of online presentations not tailored to crime writing specifically but still very informative about all aspects of the writing business. I've yet to watch any although several are of interest. I read their newsletter, which is also a good resource. 

As for specific craft questions, I've worked with various editors assigned by my publishers and have learned a great deal from each one. The key is to be open to their knowledge and to absorb whatever makes sense for my writing going forward. I've also learned a lot speaking with other authors and reading their blogs and like nothing better than getting together with another author to 'talk shop'.

Ultimately, what to use from all the advice on craft that one takes in is up to each individual writer, but we're lucky to be in the community of people who like to share and mentor. I can't imagine the day will ever come that there won't be something new to learn or to tweak.

website:  www.brendachapman.ca

Twitter: brendaAchapman

Facebook: BrendaChapmanAuthor

Learning and Teaching that Elusive Core

Terry here. This week we are talking about whether getting formal training as a writer is useful, and whether we can teach writing.

I got my master’s degree in English with Creative Writing focus at San Francisco State University. I loved every minute of the program. When I was an undergraduate, on the advice of one of my professors, I veered off from majoring in English, and I majored in political science. He said he thought if I wanted to be a writer, I ought to broaden my knowledge of the world.  I liked my political science education and it left me with a strong background in government and politics which as continued to interest me.

At some point  I felt like my writing education had been stunted. There were books I hadn’t studied, courses I hadn’t taken,  so I went back to school. The curriculum It mostly consisted of literature courses that I had missed.

The classes on writing I hardly remember at all. I recently ran across stories that I wrote for the classes and found that I had made As in all of them. My take on that was, “So what?” I learned as much from just writing and participating in critique groups.

That doesn’t mean I don’t think it was valuable, I just don’t remember the fine points. I have no idea whether I would be the same writer today if I hadn’t taken the classes—or if I would have been a better writer, or a worse writer. No matter how many classes I took, I still struggle with the basics that every writer struggles with: voice, plot, description, dialogue, and character development.

What I don’t struggle with is how to write a sentence and a paragraph, how to state a theme, develop it, and end strong. You may not think that matters in fiction, but it does. In the opening of the book or short story you have to give the reader a sense of what she should expect: the theme. You use your sentences and paragraphs to build your story line, to populate it with characters, and to set scenes. Sentences work for paragraphs, paragraphs work for scenes, scenes work for chapters. And if you build the story properly, eventually you come upon the ending that satisfies the theme. Easy no?

Not exactly. As always, the devil is in the details. And that’s where writing workshops and  courses come in. Some writers who are not only natural storytellers, but know how to build a book properly as well, without formal help, without critique groups, without beta readers. But I think those are rare. Most writers—both fledgling and fully-formed—benefit from classes, whether they are attending or teaching. Preparing to teach a writing class can be just as valuable as being a student in one.

I never get tired of attending workshops, classes, panels at conferences, and critique groups. I don’t always hear new ideas, but I often hear old ideas presented in ways that I really “get” for the first time. That happened several years ago with a weekend workshop I attended. One of the instructors told us that to write a good book we had to reach deep inside and find the books that only we could write. Old advice, yes. But somehow the way she presented it made me hear it in a different way. I understood suddenly that this was not just the admonition to “write what you know.” It meant something deeper. It meant to dig for something you cherished, something you knew on a visceral level. Shortly afterwards, I started writing my Samuel Craddock series. I had written several books before that, but with that series I finally found my passion, my voice, my setting, and my characters.

I’ve never taught writing in school, but I have taught in workshops. I like to teach aspects of writing. I love to see the look on a student’s face when something clicks.

But I also like the preparation. Every time I put together a class, I dredge up important things that I may have forgotten. Sometimes I even think of something new--not a new concept, but a new way of looking at it that I hope will be useful for my students. I don’t think it’s necessary to have formal training, but taking classes may smooth the way for grasping that elusive core of writing that we all strive for.

Terry Shames
A Risky Undertaking for Loretta Singletary
www.Terryshames.com