Fairy Tales for Adults

"Giving new meaning to the term alpha male."

Award winning author, Terry Spear, is my guest today Over Coffee. Terry writes Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romances and Scottish Medieval Romances. She is a lady of many talents, including creating award-winning teddy bears, Wilde & Woolly Bearsmaking. Some of my favorites are the Scot Clan Bears-with the tartan and tams.

One of the things that impresses me about Terry is her knowledge of wolves—their behavior and how they live, interactions within the pack, hunt—which makes her stories even more realistic.

Today, Terry discusses how fairy tales have influenced her writing, particularly in her Werewolf series.

I’ve always loved mythology and enjoyed reading folk tales from other countries, fairy tales, too, that often began as oral stories and eventually differing versions were captured in print so that I could enjoy them also.

Because of the fondness I have for tried and true fairy tales, I slip in fairy tale references in my wolf stories, too…Little Red Riding Hood in To Tempt the Wolf, and a different reference to Little Red Riding Hood in Legend of the White Wolf. When I was looking for pictures to illustrate this, I discovered that some story analysts think that the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood referred to a werewolf. So see, it’s in my stories for a reason. :-)

I had a reference to The Three Little Pigs in well, one of the wolf tales. Can’t remember which now. Maybe in Heart of the Wolf? Or Destiny of the Wolf?

And in the current work in progress–a reference to Alice in Wonderland in Seduction of the Wolf. I’ve also referenced Hansel and Gretel, can’t remember which story now either. But I love to refer to them because they were such a mainstay of what I read as a kid and certain aspects of them really stuck with me!

The morals of the story are still important messages taught today. How about the wolf in sheep’s clothing? Hey, I have werewolves in sheep’s clothing, too. :) Come to think of it, wolves sure have a bad reputation. Ever see a story where the wolf is a good guy in fairy tales?

In some Native Amercian tales, yes. Many tribes, both in Canada and America, revered the wolf, the way they hunted together, worked together, played together, took care of their families…so to them, the wolf was not to be feared but respected.

In my stories, the werewolf characters come in all sizes and all kinds, both good and bad. So my fairy tales for adults, are less…biased, to my way of thinking. :-)

Ever see references to fairy tales in books you’ve read? Some of course are Cinderella knock offs, or other such tales, using the same premise for the whole story, and those are fun to read, too!

I wonder some day if the old classics weren’t read, would fans in the future not even know what the references were to???

If you’re looking for a free read, I’ve started a newsletter subscription where I’ll be sending a weekly installment of a story that’s been published and I’ve received my rights back. For now, it’s: Goddess in Training. I’ve sent the first installment, but can forward the first one to any who sign up later. It’s a way of thanking my fans and giving them something to read until the next book, To Tempt the Wolf, hits their mailboxes or book stores!

Also, you can reach me at the following places. I can always use more friends!
http://www.terryspear.com/
MyspaceTwitterFacebook

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• Win a copy of Destiny Of The Wolf. Terry will be giving away a copy of Destiny Of The Wolf to one lucky commentor today. USA only.
  

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Award-winning author of paranormal romantic suspense, urban fantasy, and medieval romantic susense. PW's BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR. Retired LTC with the USAR and award-winning teddy bear artist whose works have been featured in Teddy Bear Review Magazine, Teddy Bear & Friends, The MacNeill Galley, Texas Monthly & Texas Co-op Monthly, Terry Spear writes both for adults and young adults, novels, short stories, fiction and nonfiction.

Originally from California, she’s lived in eight states and now resides in the heart of Texas. She is the author of Heart of the Wolf, Destiny of the Wolf, To Tempt the Wolf, Legend of the White Wolf, Winning the Highlander’s Heart, Deadly Liaisons, The Vampire…In My Dreams (young adult), Deidre's Secret (young adult), The Accidental Highland Hero (2010), two more wolf tales from Sourcebooks, and numerous articles and short stories for magazines.

HOW TO WRITE A HUMOR COLUMN

John Philipp will be sharing a five part series of articles on writing humor.

John tends to teach by example, as you will see.

However he does touch on several good points: how to find humor, developing a concept, and how to stretch the facts.

I have to admit that I don't invent most of my column topics. I'm lazy; I use the newspaper. A recent front-page story in the San Francisco Chronicle stated, "Consumers cruising the aisles of supermarkets this week will find a new green tea beverage with an astounding claim: Drink it and burn calories. Coca-Cola and Nestlé say consuming three cans a day of their new product, Enviga, will burn 60 to 100 calories." With provocative journalism like this, why bother to invent anything myself?

OK. Armed with the concept that the more you drink the skinnier you get, let your imagination out of its cage, point it at the idea in question and let it run rampant, which is a journalistic term meaning, "Damn the facts! Full Speed ahead!"

All you need to write a humor column is a newspaper, a brain that works slightly better than a sloth's and a couple of tried and trite techniques.

One trick to turn the funny screws on anything is to stretch it to its ultimate limit. So, let's extrapolate — which is different than exfoliate, only in that skin is not involved. In this case, if you can burn 100 calories for every three cans of Enviga you drink, what would happen if you drank more? According to nutritionists (never mind which ones), it takes 3600 calories to make a pound; so drinking 108 cans will burn off another ugly pound of you. Or, in the case of a 180-pound man, drinking 19,440 cans will make him disappear. Those are the boundaries of your column about consumers doing what they do best: consuming. In this case, somewhere between 3 and 19,440 cans of Enviga.

Now, apply your imagination to that scenario. Yes, that very same skill your third-grade teacher told you not to use when doing fractions. Imagine how much 19,440 cans of caffeine-laden soda will speed up our 180-pound man. Maybe the Enviga scenario is a man's ultimate defense against the onslaughts of his wife's PMS. It provides him with everything he needs: the ability to duck quickly and then disappear.

This theory has a few practical downsides, but fortunately for you — the budding columnist humor isn't about downsides. Or practicality.

Another technique you can use is the "side-shuffle." Start with Enviga and imagine how that might be extended to other products. If a soft drink will burn calories, what if I apply that technology to other food groups like fruits, vegetables, nuts, pizza or beer? Why a whole testosterone-infused room of Super Bowl watchers eating Enviga-laced pizza washed down with Envigabeer would disappear before the opening kickoff. The ultimate weapon for football widows.

A question people ask me is, "How do you find time to conduct the extensive background research required for a newspaper column?" Those people are confusing humorism with journalism. A professional humorist might occasionally check a fact on the Internet (especially if the topic has anything to do with pornography), while professional journalists have been known to spend all day and night in a bar to wheedle the true story out of another professional journalist. Each lists the other as a confidential source on their expense account.

I do use Google to check the spelling of proper names. You type the name the way you think it's spelled, like "Gerring," and Google will spit back, "Do you mean Goering?" which, of course, is the proper spelling. This use of the Internet assumes a) I don't already have a funny misspelling of the name and b) that I care.

A final note: Nothing gives a newspaper column the ring of authenticity like an interview with an acknowledged expert. I use an Acme All-Purpose Right-hand Puppet, add a few funny voices I do and type whatever I say with my left hand. Then I Google-up a funny name.

My final advice: write at home. Once I have in mind the pieces of a column, I mull them over while I pace through the rooms of my house. Pacing helps my thinking process and allows me to deduct 87 percent of my house for tax purposes. That and my Chronicle subscription.

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John Philipp is a weekly humor columnist for four Marin County, California newspapers and has won numerous humor and memoir writing awards. His humor columns are posted at http://johnphilipphumor.gather.com/.His wisdom (with Phil Frank's cartoons) is posted at Thought~Bytes http://thoughtbytes.gather.com/

I Am Not A Natural Writer

It is my pleasure to introduce to you, award winning humorist, John Philipp. John writes for several California newspapers and aside from those columns, he also has a thought provoking series called Thought~Bytes.

I asked him if he’d be willing to share some humor writing tips with us Over Coffee. Humor is something used in many genres and takes quite a bit of skill to pull off effectively.

John has graciously agreed to share a series of articles on writing humor. So for the next month, starting Friday, June 19th I will be featuring his articles here on Over Coffee.

John shares some thoughts on writing humor:

I am not a natural writer. I am a natural talker or so I thought until I transcribed a conversation I'd had with someone.

OK, I'm not a natural talker or a natural writer. (I am a natural eater and, while important to waist management, which has little relevance here.) I do consider myself a natural humorist. Taking that as strength, my choices were: do standup or write a humor column. I chose to learn how to write.

I wrote a few columns on topics I thought were funny and discovered I had some faults and was missing some skills. For example, I was not grounded in grammar. I felt one should write a sentence the way it sounds best. Turns out this is not true for a large percentage of readers, especially those in the newspaper business. If I wanted to write my own way I should have opted to do standup, but then there's the queasy stomach thing.

There are two relatively easy fixes to poor grammar — and neither of them is to study a grammar book. Sitting down, reading, and practicing the proper timing and placement of commas in sentences is, I am convinced, one of the top ten punishments in the Lower Kingdom.

I got better at grammar by lurking and reading writing critique websites where people edit and correct each other's writing. That experience also made me a more observant reader, grammarwise.

The second solution to better grammar is a semi-magical person called a copywriter. It is their job to correct your grammar, double check facts, correct proper name spelling and steward the use of capitals. Everything published needs a copy editor, if only because every publisher has a set of standards they follow (such as the AP Stylebook) and I guarantee you that you could spend your whole life studying and still never know when you should use a numeric character versus write out the word.

Spelling was another fault, one that surprised me. Either I've been leading a myopic life or spelling of some common words has changed since I was in grammar school (irony noted). Perhaps changing the spelling of words occurs at the same time when the government takes or gives us hours on the clock. Fortunately, there's an easy, electronic fix for bad spelling.

I found plenty of other faults that with practice and a damn good checklist I have pruned down to an acceptable level of occurrence.

The topic of missing skills was harder to overcome...

June 19th: How to Write a Humor Column.
June 26th: Writing Humor—Random Association Part I
July 3rd: Writing Humor—The Art of Exaggeration Part II
July 10th: Writing Humor—Part III

July 17th: How To sprinkle Your Articles (Writing) With Humor

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John Philipp is a weekly humor columnist for four Marin County, California newspapers and has won numerous humor and memoir writing awards. His humor columns are posted at http://johnphilipphumor.gather.com/.
His wisdom (with Phil Frank's cartoons) is posted at Thought~Bytes http://thoughtbytes.gather.com/

Learning to Embrace Whimsy

Many aspiring authors look for the magic formula to get published. Writers work hard to perfect their craft, keep an eye on the market as to what is selling, and analyze books they read with the view to selling their manuscripts. Then there are the workshops they attend, the writing groups joined and a lot of ‘sit your butt in the chair’ time writing. Instead of collecting the paychecks they envisioned, they have a folder full of rejections. Why?

Multi-published author, Libby Malin, is my guest today. Libby shares her journey from prepublication to published author. She discusses the importance of accepting the publishing business for what it is, not what we want it to be.

Early in my writing career, in those prepublication days before The Call, I decided to approach commercial novel writing…. logically. By that time, I’d collected a file full of rejections for a couple manuscripts that I had been confident were absolute surefire sales. And yet they didn’t sell. What was wrong? I knew I was a decent writer (maybe not an exceptional one, but surely as good as published novelists on the market). And I believed with every fiber of my being that the novels I’d lovingly crafted were good yarns with believable characters.

Filled with frustration, I decided to approach the problem with scientific precision. After purchasing a few romantic comedies, I sat down with book, pen, and marble notebook, determined to outline them in my quest for the right formula. Although I was interested in writing across several genres, a couple of my rom coms (as they’re called in the biz) had been rejected recently, and by gum I was going to figure out why. Surely taking an analytical approach to publishing would do the trick.

I don’t remember the title of the novel I applied this process to. It was a Harlequin book, by a multi-published author, if I recall correctly. All I remember clearly was writing the chapter numbers on lined pages of the notebook, followed by some bullet points on what happened in each chapter, major plot points, comedic moments, character developments, etc.

And at the end of this exercise, I had….a notebook full of scribbles. I hadn’t learned a thing about what made that novel publishable and mine not so much. If anything, I was even more confused. My manuscripts seemed to me to contain each element I had meticulously outlined, and were every bit as engaging as the one I just read.

After my outlining experiment, the publishing business seemed even more capricious to me, even more arbitrary. I’m a reasonably intelligent woman, and if there was a pattern here, a formula for success, it wasn’t obvious to me.

But of course there is no formula for publishing success. Sure, some books are “formulaic,” stealing the patriarchal church-conspiracy notes from The Davinci Code or the secondary-historical-figure template of The Other Boleyn Girl. But… for every Davinci Code knock-off that sold to an editor, there were probably dozens of comparable quality that didn’t make the cut.

As I said, there is no formula. There is only personal taste.

Sometimes that taste gets filtered through imprint and marketing demands (such as a fiat from the marketing department to buy Davinci Code-like books), but ultimately, an editor buys a book because she (wait for it) loves it. And whether she loves it has everything to do with who she is, whether she’s into punk or classical, likes American Idol or The Tudors, Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte, or identifies more with Ginger or Mary Ann.

Once an author has achieved a certain level of quality, whether that author’s manuscript gets chosen for publication often has nothing whatsoever to do with the author’s talent or even, sometimes, market pressure. It has to do with what the editor is feeling…about life, as well as about the manuscript you’re submitting at the moment she picks it up to read it.

The moral of the story: if you’re serious about being published, you have to accept this whimsical process, and keep trying, hoping to make that right connection with an editor.

A multi-published author I know recently did an interview with a romance-oriented magazine. In talking about publishing success, she said it really came down to three things – talent, perseverance, and being in the right place at the right time.

I’m convinced my manuscripts in those early days were falling into that third category. Or rather, not falling into it. I was not in the right place at the right time, not hitting the right editor, not hitting her at the right moment.

The business is capricious. That’s all there is to it. You can write the Best Novel of All Time and still not find an editor willing to sign a contract with you. You can write a novel that barely makes it over the threshold of acceptability (and I’ve read a few of these, even tossing one into the trash can after finishing it) and find an editor who will pay you to get it into print.

This was a hard lesson for me to absorb. When I started writing fiction, I figured it was just a matter of time, that once I’d perfected my craft and learned the ropes, I’d be appropriately rewarded. And once I got in—got published, that is—I’d be on my way to huge success.

I did get in eventually, with a YA mystery published by a small press that then went on to be an Edgar nominee, followed by four more YAs and two humorous women’s fiction books.

I started in this business with dreams of financial independence as a bestselling novelist, thinking that all I had to do once I’d reached a certain writing level was have an editor ooh and aah over my effort.

Now, I’ve arrived at quite a different place--- I understand just how much success depends on luck coupled with persistence, no matter how talented you might be. Nonetheless, I feel very happy just to be able to write, doubly happy when a publisher wants to buy what I write, and always hopeful that the “next book” will be the Big One.

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Although writing was always her first love, Libby earned both bachelor's and master's degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music and also attended the summer American School of Music in Fontainebleau, France. After graduating from Peabody, she worked as a Spanish gypsy, a Russian courtier, a Middle-Eastern slave, a Japanese Geisha, a Chinese peasant, and a French courtesan – that is, she sang as a union chorister in both Baltimore and Washington Operas, where she regularly had the thrill of walking through the stage doors of the Kennedy Center Opera House before being costumed and wigged for performance. She also sang with small opera and choral companies in the region.She eventually turned to writing full-time, finding work in a public relations office and then as a freelancer for various trade organizations and small newspapers.For many years, she and her family lived in Vermont, where she worked as an education reform advocate, contributed occasional commentaries to Vermont Public Radio and was a member of the Vermont Commission on Women.A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she now lives in Pennsylvania. She is married and has three children.

Libby Malin’s latest book, Fire Me, is a romantic comedy released by Sourcebooks. It tells the tale of Anne Wyatt who goes into work one day ready to hand in her resignation, only to change course when she learns her boss will lay off an employee by the end of the day. Determined to win the pink slip and the severance package that goes with it, Anne engages in wild antics and crazy stunts all designed to catch her boss’ negative vibes. By the end of the day, she’s learned a lot about life and love and the choices she’s made in both. Fire Me has been described as “hilarious,” “inspired,” and “the perfect beach bag” book by reviewers.

Fire Me is Libby’s sixth published novel. Her debut women's fiction book, Loves Me, Loves Me Not (2005), was hailed as a "whimsical look at the vagaries of dating..." by Publishers Weekly, called “charming” by the Washington Post, and dubbed a "clever debut (offering) quite a few surprises..." by Booklist.

Writing as Libby Sternberg, she is the author of four YA mysteries, the first of which was an Edgar finalist and a Young Adult Top 40 Fiction Pick by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. Her YAs have been called “taut, vivid and stirring” (Library Journal), “simply a delight to read” (Romantic Times Book Club), “lively and captivating” (VOYA) and “an entertaining original” (Romance Reviews Today).

You can visit with Libby at her website: http://www.libbysbooks.com/

OBSESSIONS

At the core of all romance is finding true love. As a reader, we want the heroine to have all sorts of 'hot' adventures in the course finding her true love.

Please welcome back, Over Coffee, C. Margery Kempe. She writes hot sexy adventures and is fascinated with interchangable identities, strong heroines, adventure, spies, and...obsessions.

Intriguing list, isn't it?

Margery explains a bit about the power of obsessions in our writing:

Hello from London! Thanks so much, Sia, for inviting me back. I was here as part of the Ravenous Romance Ornery Eleven Blog Tour last month and I had such a great time I had to drop by again.

My novel Chastity Flame

Chastity is the story of a government operative who has a lot of sexy adventures on the way to discovering what might be true love -- she hasn’t quite been able to believe it, but she willing to risk a lot to find out. The novel also provided a chance for me to delve into some of my obsessions.

We have a tendency to look at “obsession” as a negative thing. We’re always hearing about dangerous people who form obsessions with celebrities. But obsessions can be quite beneficial, too. They form the base of any good ambitious project. I remember John Irving giving the advice about writing, “You have to get obsessed and stay obsessed” and it’s true. People ask me all the time, “how do you get so much writing done?” That’s the answer in a nutshell. The fact is that for most of us, no one’s going to pay us to write (except sometimes after we’ve already done it), so you have to want to do it very badly.

And you can use your obsessions to power that: a handful of my long-time obsessions make an appearance in Chastity Flame. My very first novel I wrote in high school was called Ace Spies, Incorporated and was a Mary Sue adventure starring a character who was clearly me and some thinly veiled versions of the Beatles (well, it was the second wave of Beatlemania in the 70s). A bit embarrassing to think of now, but I stuck with it for months and wrote a whole novel just to see whether I could do it (and yes, to have lots of fun dreaming constantly about the Beatles). The only people who ever read it were my friends. One of those friends claim to still have a copy; she’s just waiting for me to achieve real success so she can cash in on it. But it did firmly fix the writing bug into my life, though it took a long time for me to really develop it.

I also find it intriguing that even then I was interested in having all these interchangeable identities with my spy heroine. The story line was that she ordered a sort of adventure holiday as a spy, but then got caught up in the real thing (hey, sounds like a certain Bill Murray film, eh? I should sue!). I even wrote it under a pseudonym. So it’s not much of a jump to Chastity’s constant stream of fake names and identities.

Another obsession in the novel is London, my favorite place in the world ever since I first came here in 1980. I loved using various locations around town that I adore like the Millennium foot bridge and the Tate Modern. The opening scene allowed me to not only use the National Gallery, but to begin in front of a painting closely connected to another obsession: British comedian Peter Cook. Les Grandes Baigneuses is not only one of Cezanne’s most famous paintings (and the wallpaper image of my British mobile phone) but at the heart of a beloved sketch from Not Only But Also, the 1960s television show starting Cook and Dudley Moore. It’s not necessary to know this, of course -- it just makes me giggle. ;-)

My advice is trust your obsessions -- they provide fuel for your dreams and if you want to write, you need all the fuel you can get. Writing itself has to be an obsession if you’re going to get anywhere with it. You have to keep believing through long nights of bad writing and sometimes endless rejections. It always pays off if only in the fact that creating is a great joy. Sometimes that’s enough.

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C. Margery Kempe is a writer of erotic romance. In addition to Chastity Flame, she has a number of short stories with Ravenous Romance as well as other publishers. At present she’s working onthe sequel as well as a number of other projects, while keeping busy in her other life as a medievalist and English professor. Visit her website or her blog or follow her on Twitter.

Following Your Heart

I was fortunate to be able to have Kathryne Kennedy stop by for a chat about writing. She’s an author who really appreciates her readers and I love her recommendations to aspiring authors and published authors.

Kathryne touches or writing not what you know but what you want to know and the importance of following your heart when you write. Jealousy and negativity are so destructive to our creative spirit and she gives some good advice on how to deal with those emotions.

I struggled with what to write for this blog entry. If I sat down and was talking with a friend over coffee, or in my case, tea, it would depend on if I were talking to a reader or a writer. To a reader, I would talk about how much I love to build worlds, how I manage to take the eras that I love in history--Georgian, Regency, Victorian--and change them to magical, enchanting places. I would talk about my latest book, how the hero and heroine were so perfect for each other, but had to find that out for themselves. My friend and I would laugh about some of my characters: the were-snake Sarah and her tendency to shed. The were-penguin butler. The were-duck footman. And we would sigh with longing that in some alternate universe my heroes really would exist.

Now to an aspiring writer, I would give some advice on writing that I wish someone would have given me before I started. To write what truly interests you, not necessarily what you know. I had heard long ago that for a writer to produce a great book, they should write what they know. That made me scratch my head. Fiction is pretend…how can I know what a were-lion would act like? How can I know what historical England is like when I’ve never been there? I think a better way to put it would be, write what you want to know. That’s what research is for. And that’s what your imagination is for. And following your own heart will produce a great book.

To a really good friend who has just sold their first book, I would give some advice on what I’ve learned about being an author to help them through their own journey. You might have written a wonderful book, but if no one knows about it, it won’t matter. Think of all the authors you’ve stumbled across, and thought, wow, this is wonderful! How come I’ve never heard of this author before? So market your book. Do whatever you’re comfortable with, whether it’s social networking, guest blogging, or sending bookmarks to booksellers. But do something to get your name out there. And first and foremost, get a website.

And I would caution a dear friend to develop a thick skin. I know your book is fabulous…but you can’t please everyone. What one person will love about your book, another may not. Does that mean you should change the way you write? Does that mean that you should listen when someone says they didn’t like some element about your book? Absolutely not. Remember to write what you love, and fans will follow. The important thing is that you are receiving an emotional response to your work. And then go look at the reviews for some of your favorite author’s books on Amazon.

And then I would caution my friend about something I’ve noticed writers doing that they may not even be aware of. Do not to be jealous of another writer’s success. When a friend tells you about some milestone for them--a new contract, perhaps a starred review--be happy for them. Every writer’s journey is different, and your successes will be different. Don’t belittle another author’s accomplishments, because when you achieve your own personal milestone, there’s nothing better than having good friends to celebrate it with.

And along those same lines, steer clear of negative people. It might even be a member of your own family. Self-doubt may be one of the hardest things a writer has to overcome, and you don’t need someone pushing bad vibes at you. Find people who make you feel good when you interact with them. Good about yourself. Good about your writing. And develop that relationship. Your muse will thank you.

To a reader or a writer, I would finish with a big hug. Either would be someone I would cherish.

"I'm going into surgery on Tuesday, and I will be non-functioning (it's major surgery on my neck) for two weeks after that. I would be happy to give away an autographed copy of a book from the Relics of Merlin series to one lucky commenter."

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Kathryne Kennedy is a multi-published, award winning author of magical romances. She’s lived in Guam, Okinawa, and several states in the U.S., and currently lives in Arizona with her wonderful family—which includes two very tiny Chihuahuas. She welcomes readers to visit her website where she has ongoing contests at: http://www.kathrynekennedy.com/

The RELICS OF MERLIN series from Dorchester Publishing:"Simply delightful!"~Publishers Weekly

Experiences With Writing And Critiques

~Sia McKye~

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
~Eleanor Roosevelt



I work hard as a writer. I write everyday. Journals, articles for various publications, and on the books I’m readying for publication. I enjoy writing. I like the creativity of choosing the right words for something, or picking a great introduction for the authors I promote.

I was lucky, I suppose, in that I’ve always been encouraged to explore my creative side for as far back as I can remember. I have oral storytellers in my family. There’s a tradition and a style with telling oral stories as opposed to writing the stories out. A different emphasis and description choices—part of it is in the sound of the words, the tone and voice inflections used, and the flow is a bit different. Certain words are used as a memory points.

As a kid, my siblings and I would entertain us with stories. Sometimes we’d do a round robin sort of thing where each would take over the story at a certain point and continue it. Some we wrote down some we didn’t. As I was the family chronicler guess who did most of the writing? We created elaborate ‘let’s pretend’ scenarios and then play them out either that day or over the course of a week or so. It was always fun.

In school, all my writing projects were partly creative in writing style. It didn’t matter if it was a science project if words were used I was creative—I could never just slap words on the paper. As you can imagine, History and English projects received the most attention from me. I had teachers encouraging me to pursue creative writing—especially English teachers. “Why aren’t you writing stories? You have a gift you should pursue it.” In second grade I won my first writing contest and over years won others with stories that were published in Weekly Readers and various other school sponsored things. While it was fun and I enjoyed it, I was also looking at other things I wanted to do or to be. Career choices were based on a certain amount of creativity, radio, newspaper, and promotion. The career choices got in the way of serious writing although I was always scribbling something—poems, family history; you should see some of my journals. I’d see something interesting and create a snippet of a story around it, or rewrite the romances of those in my family that were unfortunate enough to breakup or divorce. I got into a bit of hot water over a few of them, I can tell you.

My sister and I discovered Harlequin romances. They were so simple yet were entertaining. We figured, well heck, we could write romances just as good as what we were reading. We did, too. Today we were visiting and talk turned to some of our attempts. I pulled out some of our earlier efforts and oh how we laughed. Some were just awful full of passive voice and lots of exposition. We picked out phrases and descriptions and laughed ourselves silly. There were a few that actually were promising and only needed some editing and critiques. We just never had anyone to show those stories to that could do that.

When I got serious about my writing, and wrote my first novel, I made a cazillion mistakes. I was such a newbie. What saved me was entering a contest and in the course of that contest, I came into contact with real creative writers. That was my real prize—feedback and serious critiques, that and learning terms. What the hell did they mean when writers and judges would say ‘good bones’ and ‘need to work on POV’? Keep in mind, I hadn’t taken any writing courses in at least ten years and fiction-writing styles had changed considerably in that time. I didn’t win the contest (which was a romance writing contest where you also received critiques from other writers and contestants) although I finished in the top 20% out of about 1200 entries. Not bad, considering the mistakes I made.

I like to receive honest critiques. If something isn’t working, I’d like to know that. I take my work seriously. I don’t hand my work to just anyone. I tend to pick those who know what they’re doing, whose opinion I value, and who write the same genre or similar genre. I like suggestions, questions, and I also love it when someone reads something that they really like or makes them laugh and they mention it. The contest taught me the need for a tough skin, which was reinforced by the first serious critique of my manuscript.



The poor thing about bled to death with all the red lining. CPR was difficult but it survived and so did I. But you know what? She was right. She wasn’t harsh, but she was to the point and honest. She’s a published author and one for whom I have a great deal of respect.

I’ve always said if you want someone to tell you your writing is wonderful, hand it to your family or your mother. I call that blowing sunshine and butterflies. You want honesty then give it to a fellow writer you respect. And then listen to what they say. Give yourself think about it a bit—once you get over the shock.

When I critique, I’m never brutal or critique to hurt. I don’t believe in destructive critiques at all. There’s no point to them. Constructive critiques improve your writing or style. That’s what we want, suggestions or pointers on how to make the story stronger, make the characters more realistic, or how to plug those holes in our manuscript big enough to drive a Mack truck through.

I’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t and why, by doing critiques. Contest entries were quite an eye opener. Not just in just what I could see, but by reading the comments made by others which trained my eye both in what was being critiqued and how to look at my work with a more critical eye.

If someone is really bad…that’s a harder one. I’ve read a few that were really bad. Should they scrap it and start anew—oh, absolutely. I look for the good things that are working and I usually ask questions to see if they’re serious about writing or this piece or just playing at writing. I might say, this is a good idea but the way you’re presenting it hides the idea. Have you thought about…? I ask questions, why, what, where, and how.

I may have been writing all my life and won contests but that doesn’t make me a great writer. Critiques do that and the willingness to listen and learn. A willingness to sharpen your craft and be willing to put your manuscript on a strict diet to trim away the excess fat so you can see those great bones in your writing.

What has been your writing experience? How do you feel about critiques? What have you learned?

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Sia McKye has spent over twenty years in marketing and promotion. She's written and published various articles on writing, marketing, and promotion. She's a Marketing Rep by profession and also writes fiction.

Sia is married to a spitzy Italian. She has a ranch out beyond the back 40 where she raises kids, dogs, horses, cats, and has been known to raise a bit of hell now and then. Aside from conducting various writing discussions and doing numerous guest blogging engagements, each week she promote and share authors’ stories, on the laughter, glitches, triumphs, and fun that writers and authors face in pursuit of their ambition to write—Over Coffee