I read a submission guideline the other day that sliced novelists into ‘beginner’ and ‘experienced’ using the following cleaver: “you may consider your work for the experienced category if it has been critiqued by people other than friends and family.”
I get it. Your wife’s going to tell you it’s great. Family harmony vs. weak characterization … harmony wins, right?
Well, that’s all well and good as a general case. However, my wife Beverly is not a general case. She is an educator of many facets … kids, science outreach, young (we’re talking preschool through elementary), old (adult to ancient). And, in all those facets, writing has been her central organizing idea. Here’s a reminder from her current writing course that rang a bell with me (hehehe):
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Author: John Rogers
I have thought of myself as a writer for most of my adult life. In 2011, I became a fiction writer full time. I studied creative writing as an English major in college. Then came family and career. I worked in finance and biotech and did a wonderful stint in Vienna. Now, I have the opportunity to use those experiences as the substrate for my stories. My first novel takes on the world of Big Data and the very timely issue of cyber war. The second uses the manipulation of financial derivatives as impetus for attempted murder during a trip from Vienna to Budapest on the Danube.
I have taken writing instruction at the Cape Cod Writers Conference and from The Loft in Minneapolis. I am finding writers’ groups to be very helpful as concept editors, as well as practical advice from the published authors. I am in three such groups. I have taken writing instruction at the Cape Cod Writers Conference and from The Loft in Minneapolis.
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Good reminder! I always neglect smell, for some unknown reason.