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| "First Draft" by Doug Savage |
I think Doug Savage is baiting me. He generously allows bloggers to use his comics, but just one a month. At the end of June he posted two cartoons which I connected to as a writer. I shared one before the month ended, saved the other one, and now a new month is here. (If you have not met his fowl friends, go to his blog. You won't regret it!)
Savage entitled this post-it cartoon "First Draft." Sometimes it's obvious to everyone but the writer what needs to be discarded. Being married to the bear might not be wise. If your writing circle says, "Get rid of the bear!" and they're all saying it, chances are the bear should go.
What stories do you have about sharing your work with others? Were you ever given bad advice? What specific suggestions are you working on to improve your writing in general?
And don't forget...watch out for that bear!
Yes, in the days when I used to attend writer's groups, I received all manner of poor advice, which, like a lot of general life advice that gets delivered, went pretty much like this: "be more like me." This type of advice was most often handed down by older male participants who would then read chapter 67 of their sci-fi epic of some ten years' labor (and counting), concerning the inner workings of the engine, or:
ReplyDelete"J'Zik walked across the room. Where were his pliers? "I can't find my pliers," said J'Zik. "Your what?" asked P'Quk, wearing a low cut uniform. "My pliers," said J'Zik. "Oh," said P'Quk.
and so forth.
My writing was usually found to be unclear and full of unnecessary details, by these persons. I bow to their wisdom, but I do it someplace else, these days, and write just exactly the way I want to.
I received bad advice: "this piece is time worn and nobody will buy this."
ReplyDeleteGlad I listened to myself instead of her. An editor snapped it up hours after I submitted it. One must trust their gut feeling.
I agree with Linda. We do have to listen to our gut feelings. Bad advice, good advice, I've been given both. Mean-spirited advice is the worst.
ReplyDelete