Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write Fiction
Teach yourself to write fiction while improving the course from which you're learning. This blog tracks an aspiring writer's efforts to design then take a course made from easy-to-find books on writing. Posts explore the craft, suggest writing exercises, and revise the course itself.
10.22.2006
Thoughts As I Go #3: Reader Disqualification
Paper Coach : Teach Yourself to Write (A Fiction Writing Course)
Working on Creative Activation (with The Right to Write), I was struck by Julia Cameron's comments on people who pick at little imperfections instead of appreciating the goodness of the bigger picture.
The sentence that really hit home was:
"...When people cannot see the larger picture of what it is we are trying to do, they will pick out some detail and pick at that."
- Julia Cameron, The Right to Write.
Do people in your life do this to you? If so, why? Generally speaking I don't have friends who are stupid, lack insight, or not inclined toward the arts. So if they miss all the good stuff and instead pick at small imperfections, what's the motivation? Do they imagine they are helping me?
I find at least two practical lessons here:
1. A nitpicky response immediately knocks a person off my list of readers. Why expose myself to that kind of disappointment for no gain to my writing?
2. When I offer criticism or suggestions, I will strive to always begin with what I think is good or what I enjoyed in someone's work -- without lying.
Working on Creative Activation (with The Right to Write), I was struck by Julia Cameron's comments on people who pick at little imperfections instead of appreciating the goodness of the bigger picture.
The sentence that really hit home was:
"...When people cannot see the larger picture of what it is we are trying to do, they will pick out some detail and pick at that."
- Julia Cameron, The Right to Write.
Do people in your life do this to you? If so, why? Generally speaking I don't have friends who are stupid, lack insight, or not inclined toward the arts. So if they miss all the good stuff and instead pick at small imperfections, what's the motivation? Do they imagine they are helping me?
I find at least two practical lessons here:
1. A nitpicky response immediately knocks a person off my list of readers. Why expose myself to that kind of disappointment for no gain to my writing?
2. When I offer criticism or suggestions, I will strive to always begin with what I think is good or what I enjoyed in someone's work -- without lying.
posted by Lou @ 12:56 PM
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