Authors: Lessons Learned from Young Writers – Part 4 of 4

In this, the last of the Lessons from Young Writers series, I’m devoting the first “half” of the post to one exceptional young lady. I might explain a bit more about why I use that adjective; I might not, either. After you read to the “My Comments” header, you’ll understand.

What was your expectation in September 2015?

Oooh, September 2015! Probably my first thought about the whole thing was, “Hey, a creative writing class. That’s right up my alley!” I pounced on the chance like a cat would on a particularly tasty-looking mouse. I barely knew what I was getting into, or at least that’s what I thought at the time. In hindsight, I had no clue what I was about to entangle myself in. I thought we’d be done with whatever we were doing at the end of the school year, that we’d all be happy little campers riding off into the sunset. Yeah, there would be edits, it might even take us all year to finish, but I still thought that everything would be tied up neatly, probably with a little bow on the top for presentation. How wrong I was!

What is the biggest disappointment for you during this process? Explain.

Well, if not for one major snag, my story would have been practically done at the end of the first year. I had a few more edit passes to go through, but I was pretty far along. Then it turned out that there might be a copyright issue that I hadn’t considered with my story, and I didn’t want to go there. I chose to rewrite my entire plot—and subsequently my entire story along with it. I still stick by my decision, even though it made me lose almost a year’s worth of work. I like the outcome, even though I loved my original story and I was very disappointed that I felt I needed to rework it. But in the end, I think my choice was the right one.

If you were to do this over, what would you do differently? What would you do the same way?

My first choice would be to start with a plot I knew would work from the beginning! I may not regret rewriting my story’s plot, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t wish that I had realized my problem from the start.

Other than that, I might choose to develop my character a little more. My protagonist’s personality was always the same inside my head, but way back in 2015, I didn’t have the same ideas about how to characterize her on paper as I might if I started writing her story for the first time now.

On doing some things the same, I would definitely edit as much as I did after the rewrite of my story. I think I made good decisions on who to send it to, on which words to consider, on what to ask my writing buddies about. I remember when they originally read the death of one of my characters, they looked at me and said, “I’m not very sad about this. You should be making me want to cry, he just died.” I said, “Yeah, okay,” and went about trying to do that. Another time, I asked a question about a particular sentence which was bothering me. It took a full hour to figure out how to fix it, and that one tetchy sentence turned into almost a page and a half of good writing. The editing process can be harrowing, but in this case, I think that I made a lot of right choices.

What is the most important lesson you learned from this process? Why?

Probably that everybody sees things differently. Sometimes very differently! I know there were moments when I thought something made perfect sense, and other people would be wondering what on this good earth I was thinking. There were definitely moments of the opposite, too, and it was really a challenge to find a way to present my own thoughts and opinions on certain things in a way which would make sense to the other writer. But trying to help other writers seem their own work in a different light can help you see your own in a more objective way, too. Everybody wins!!

What three pieces of advice do you have for aspiring authors?

1.    Don’t be afraid to ask questions! If you don’t understand a certain term or phrase, especially concerning the mechanics of writing, try and find out. No one is born into the world knowing exactly what the Oxford comma is, or how to distinguish a parody from an allegory. Everybody else had to figure it out, too. This also goes for when you aren’t sure about a certain plot point or sentence. If you ask for someone else’s opinion, they may not give you the perfect answer to your problem, but chances are that they will make you think, and you just might figure it out on your own.

2.   Be creative. Everything started somewhere, and that wild, outrageous idea you had earlier in the week could turn into a diamond in the rough with enough polishing. It just takes time and effort to wrangle those sorts of things into the proper format so that everyone else can admire them. Give the idea a try and see where it goes!

3.   Don’t give up. Sometimes ideas don’t go how you want them to, or your inspiration peters out. That’s okay. It happens to everyone! Letting them rest for a while and trying something new doesn’t mean you’re abandoning them forever. You might go back to them, you might not, but you always have the option. And in the meantime, don’t stop writing because of that one thing you never finished. Keep going strong—if nothing else, it helped you practice your grammar and sentence structure. And you can never have too much practice!

Optional. Add any thoughts or comments you want to add.

Writing and publishing may a long and difficult process, with many twists and turns along the way, but it’s worth it. Just because it’s not easy shouldn’t deter you from trying. And as the great J.R.R. Tolkien once said, “It’s the job that’s never started as takes the longest to finish.”

Thanks so much! I hope this is okay, if you need something else, let me know. :)

“Grace”

My Comments

Click here for a link to Sci-Fi High on Amazon.

You’ll notice that the sub-title of Sci-Fi High changed from the 2016 version to the 2017—final—version. That was not a capricious decision. “First Days of School,” the original tagline denoted that the book was the first in a series.

There will be no series. The volume printed is the only Sci-Fi High book that will come out of Mountain Valley Academy.

“Live the curriculum” plays homage to the major premise of the stories—the morph that “transports” students to what/when/where the teacher has planned for that class period.

Other new features:

• Each door with an image on the front cover reflects the content of one of the stories. 
• Mrs. Ray and the school's principal have comments on the back cover. 
• Only the student authors' names are on the cover as authors.
• The custodian's closet on the front is significant.

If Mrs. Ray and I finalize a unit plan to market to other teachers, we will include a cover template as part of the cost. Other schools can choose to continue the Sci-Fi High series under that title if they wish. The only requirement will be that the title is cleared with Mrs. Ray before publication. 

She’ll be keeping track of the number of volumes and taglines to prevent duplication.

The photo above is the newspaper article from the “other” community newspaper. This one is more about the process and less about the students. Mrs. Ray and I were pleased with the accuracy of the coverage.

My final comments in this series eventually focus on the lessons I learned from the young writers—or was proud that they learned.

In the beginning, the young writers started like I started out, thirty some years ago.

• I took a correspondence writing class through the Newspaper Institute of America (NIA). They took English in school for years.
• I got a binder with lessons in it from NIA. As I completed the writing assignment in each chapter, I mailed the hard copy—I did have a computer by that time—to my “mentor.” He read/critiqued/commented on my story/assignment and returned it. They turned in drafts via Google Docs, and Mrs. Ray and I edited/commented on them before "returning" them to the students.
• The cycle continued until I finished the NIA course. I thought it was valuable. I learned a lot about the business of writing—not so much about the writing process from inception to print. The cycle continued for the students and ended with a finished product.

Sometime after I completed the correspondence course, a story idea blossomed in my brain.

• I wrote my story. It was Biblical fiction. Titled “Who Leads the Shepherd?” the plotline chronicled a shepherd who was a young child outside Bethlehem on the first Christmas. As the troubled life of the shepherd unfolds, he begins to search for the adult Jesus.
• I spent some time (a few hours) revising and editing.
• “It’s ready to publish,” I said to myself.

I was wrong.

I submitted the manuscript to a Christian publisher.

• I got back a rejection slip and a note. The note was from the Editor in Chief. He apologized for the “unkind” tone of the review of my story and that he’d redacted the reviewer’s name.
• It was brutal.
• I wasn’t happy.

When I look at the story now, which I am re-writing, I empathize with that reviewer so long ago.

I still think he over-reacted to some aspects. However, the manuscript deserved rejection.

What does that have to do with young writers?

If you haven’t read the part 3 of this series, I invite you to go back and read it. The author’s insightful commentary that opens this post is also evidence of what I learned—and, thankfully taught these young writers.

It might not take a village to write a story, but it does take many honest eyes and consistent voices to get a story ready for press.

I close with this reprise of the answers of two young authors to this question:

What is the most important lesson you learned from this process? Why?

• Edit ‘til your eyes bleed, then edit some more.
• The most important lesson I learned is that editors are not trying to make your life miserable, they are trying to help get your writing to the best it can be.

I’m not sure what the next Author’s blog will address. It’s summer. I taught high school and college full-time for 39 years. Summer isn’t a time for a lot of rigorous thinking.

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