Problems with Poetry 1: Critiquing Other’s Work

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on how to take criticism on your poems. I suggest that you all go read that before proceeding here, where I’m going to talk about how to critique someone else’s poems.

Firstly, I suggest you read the poem over a couple times. If it’s really long (think Paradise Lost) then you don’t need to do this, but since most poems are less than 300 words you can probably afford to read it through about three times to get a good feel for it. Before starting to write your critique you should make sure you know what the poem is talking about. It’s often helpful to include a quick, one-sentence summary of the poem in your review, just so the writer knows if it’s too clear, or not clear enough.

Then, you’ll want to give some advice. Remember, be specific. It doesn’t help at all to say ‘I noticed some problems with the rhythm.’ Instead, say ‘The last line of the third stanza is a little too long.’ Also, don’t just say you liked the feeling of the poem. Say exactly what you liked. Poem critiques seem to be very vague, but those don’t help the poem.

Here are a couple specific things you can watch out for:

1.       Rhythmic problems. If you find yourself stumbling over words then they should probably re-word it. Tell them where you stumbled and why. You can give them a suggestion for how to fix it, but don’t expect them to use your exact words. It is their poem, after all.

2.       Boring words. This especially applies to rhyming poems. If I see one more person rhyme ‘night’ and ‘light’ and ‘bright’ then I’m going to hurt them…  Also, check for generic words like laugh, sing, night, day, happy, sad, gone, life, death, etc. Poetry is about being original, and those words aren’t going to help.

3.       Boring expressions. Writing about ‘a night black as ink’ or ‘silky smooth hair’ or something like that will just make the poem feel cliché. Point out any clichés you notice.

And of course, remember to be balanced. Don’t just point out the problems; make sure to mention exactly what you like. Be specific, but talk a bit about big picture stuff. In short, write a thoughtful, helpful critique, just as if you were reading a short story or novel. Why not head right over to inkpop.com and read some poetry right now?

June Review

Wow... I can't believe it's July already! Canada Day has come and gone and it's already the 4th. Happy Independence Day to all my American blogger friends! I spent the day out in town, watching Prince William and Kate arrive. It was so tiring, and I ended up standing for two hours before they arrived and didn't even get the best view, but it was still worth it. My first royal sighting! If you're interested, I have some pics on twitter: William close-up, Kate and William by Province House, Kate and William under an umbrella.

That's my interesting news. Now, since it's July, I'm going to do a quick June Review:

Followers: 63 (up from 53)

Pageviews: 2700 (Up from 1200, but a lot of these were google images searches)

Day with the most pageviews: June 12

Most viewed page: How to get Published 3: Revisions

Website that referred the most views: Google

Country with the most views: US with 1000 (Canada was next with 500)

This is kind of a big change from last month. Inkpop.com wasn't even on the list of top referring urls since I haven't been advertising there because they just redid the site. I really like the new look and the new top fives, but it's taking me a little while to get used to it. I plan to become active on the site again soon. It's just been a really busy summer so far.

And on that note, I owe all of you an apology. I've been super busy recently, what with starting a new job, and all the excitement over Canada Day and the royal visit, as well as working on my novel and trying to have some kind of social life, so I've really neglected my blog. This wasn't helped by the fact that I've just lost internet in my room, so now I have to post everything using my family's super slow computer. So, I'm sorry that I haven't been posting much, but I can't guarantee that things will get much better soon. I'll try to work out a new posting schedule that's a little bit more manageable.

P.S. I should point out that I'm just 37 followers away from my promised giveaway.... (and yes, you will get extra points for following early and for spreading the word about my blog even before the contest.) 

May Review

Wow... it's June already. We're almost halfway through 2011! That's just crazy. It's not the best June day out there, a little dark and overcast, but we've had some really nice days recently, so I can't complain. PEI is always really cold in the spring.

Since my Shakespeare class got a little behind (thanks to a midterm and Victoria Day weekend) I won't be posting about a classic this week. Instead I'll do a really quick May Review.

Followers: 53 (up from 43)

Pageviews: 1241 (down from 1800 last month, but a lot of those views were from the poll at the side)

Day with the most pageviews: May 8th

Most viewed page: How to get Published 4: Querying

Website that referred the most views: Inkpop.com

Country with the most views: US

Again, those last two categories are pretty constant. A lot of my views come from inkpop, and most of those users live in the states. A big shout -out to my new followers: Thank you! I'm so honoured that all of you stop by regularly to read my book reviews and writing and advice and just plain ramblings. 

I'm thinking of having a book giveaway whenever I reach 100 followers. The book would be either the first two Pretty Little Liars books (Sara Shepard), Crescendo (Becca Fitzpatrick), or Hereafter (Tara Hudson). I'm not actually a big fan of these books, but I know a lot of you will probably love them, so I figure I might as well pass them on to someone who will appreciate them, right? 

So. Giveaway at 100 followers. At my current rate, that'll be another five months. But you guys can make it happen a lot faster..

IMM

This week's IMM features a number of books I've been absolutely dying to read for a long time. Many thanks to HarperCollins for running weekly writing challenges over on inkpop.com, and thanks to Tara Hudson, author of Hereafter, for choosing my except from The Web as one of the winning entries. Thanks to that, I got to choose three books from HarperTeen. Time for a bunch of dystopias:

Delirium! I'm not a huge fan of romance, but I've heard so many good things about this book that I just had to give it a try. Plus, I love a good dystopia.

DIVERGENT! I've you've been reading my blog you'll know how much I wanted this book. As soon as it arrived in the mail I sat down and read it in just over a day. I'll probably post my full review on Thursday, but let's just say I really loved it. 

This is a book I hadn't really considered getting; I was planning on ordering Bumped by Megan McKafferty instead. Then I read some not-so-good reviews for that book and some amazing reviews for this, so I decided to give it a try. Who doesn't like fairy tale re-tellings? 

I didn't get this one in the inkpop contest; it's Random House, not HarperTeen. I picked it up from the library because I heard a lot about it and (you guessed it) it's a dystopia. I'm nearly done it now and it's good, but not quite what I had hoped.

That's it for my mailbox this week. Have you read any of these books, or are they on your to-read list? What did you get in your mailbox this week?

New WIP: The Web

The other day I learned that I won't be starting work until the end of May (I work in a restaurant, so it doesn't get busy until the tourist season starts) so I decided that May was going to become MyNoWriMo. Last fall I really enjoyed doing NaNoWriMo, and I managed to finish WANDER in just 19 days. This year I'm not expecting to be able to write that fast, since my Shakespeare summer course starts next week, but I still believe I can reach the goal of 50k. I've got 5115 words so far, over three days.

Anyways, the novel I'm working on is a YA dystopian Sci-fi thriller (yeah, I know, way too many tags, right?). Here's the pitch I created:

With the New American Union at war with the European Alliance, it takes sixteen-year-old Cognate protégé, Astrid, to pre-fight all the battles in her mind.

As the youngest Cognate—the intelligent elite— on the Island, Astrid is the only one with the perfect brain to run the complex mental simulation known as The Web. Astrid is the ultimate weapon; in The Web, she can fight upcoming battles over and over to come up with the perfect strategy, allowing the NAU to win every time. It seems like the European Alliance is helpless against this superior technology, until Astrid meets a strange boy inside The Web.

The next morning, the NAU loses their first battle. An hour later, Astrid’s older brother fails the Cognate test and is banished from the Island. That evening, Astrid receives a new brother, Caiden—the mysterious boy from The Web. Astrid hopes that Caiden will explain what’s happening, but there’s one problem. He doesn’t remember a thing. Now Astrid is stuck fighting a losing battle and slowly falling in love with the boy who is legally her brother.

Astrid is convinced that Caiden is innocent, but there’s no denying that the NAU is losing the war. The only way to end the war is to kill the boy she loves, or destroy The Web forever. 

Does this sound like something you'd read? If you're on inkpop, I'd be happy to add you to the notification list. For samples, check out The Prologue or Sample Chapter. This cover is just one I created really quickly; I'll have a better one made by the time I'm done. 

April Review

Since I didn't really get any books this week (Still working on last week's pile) I'm going to do a quick April Review instead of IMM.

Followers: 43 (up about 23, I think...)

Pageviews: 1800 (up from 1100 in March)

Day with the most pageviews: April 10th

Most viewed page: Main Characters: How to Write Good Characters

Website that referred the most views: Inkpop.com

Country with the most views: US


I can't say I'm terribly surprised by those last two. The crowd on inkpop has been amazingly supportive of my blog, and since lots of inkpoppers live in the states... I've just got to say, thank you to all my readers! I really appreciate your support. I know I'm not getting a ton of views, but 1800 isn't bad considering this was only my second month blogging. Thanks to all of you for reading!

In this next month I'll hopefully be finishing off my 'How to Get Published' series and starting a new one (any suggestions?) In my other writing posts I'll be talking a bit on how to keep your readers reading. I'll also post some book reviews (including reviews of one of my new favourite series) and just other random things. I plan to dive into my new novel, The Web soon (meaning as soon as I stop writing this blog post) so I'll be sure to keep you updated on that. For a complete pitch, check out inkpop.

Again, thanks for reading!

Author Interview: Jeyn Roberts

Jeyn Roberts, author of Dark Inside was an inkpopper, but she found her publishing contract through a more traditional route and now has a three-book contract with publisher Simon and Schuster. Jeyn is from Vancover BC (yay! Another Canadian!) and she earned a degree in psychology and creative writing at UBC. For a quick synopsis of Dark Inside click here, and then scroll down to read the interview with Jeyn. (and make sure to check out the important links at the end, where you can pre-order Dark Inside so you'll get it right on the November 1st release date)


What was your inspiration for Dark Inside? Dreams. When I was a teenager I started having repetitive dreams about a world in which there was this gigantic evil. I still have them every now and then. And some of the scenes in the book are from actual dreams. 

How has your life changed since getting the publishing deal? In some ways I'm a lot less busy, in other ways I'm more busy! I'm a full-time writer now which is amazing. And I get to work from home which is great! My cats are thrilled to see so much of me. 

Is Dark Inside a stand alone novel? If not, how many more can we expect? Dark Inside is the first of three books. I'm currently working on the second one which will be out seven months after the first. 

I've heard you travel a lot. How have these experiences helped shape Dark Inside? I do travel a lot and it has helped my writing in many ways. Not only do I get to see everything but I'm allowed to learn and understand different cultures. Also, I take the same route every year that Mason takes in his book. I drove through the mountains a few weeks ago and kept thinking "Oh, that's where Mason did that" and "That's where he met Chickadee!" It was quite a funny experience. 

On YAtopia you called Dark Inside somewhat of a horror/dystopia... but not really. In what ways does it fit those genres, and how is it different? I always view dystopia as a something that takes place in the future. eg: Hunger Games, 1984. Dark Inside takes place in the present so that's why I don't like to fully categorize it as dystopia. It's a scary book so that's why I consider it horror. But there's also some romance and lots of drama. I think it really takes on a genre of its own. 

Is there anything you'd like to say to aspiring YA authors? Be patient and never give up. Becoming a writer is a long journey. Enjoy it. Learn to accept and give criticism. Don't be so hard on yourself. Remember, every author starts at the beginning. No one starts out with a blank page and writes a masterpiece.


Important Links


Amazon.ca
Amazon.com
Barnes and Noble
Facebook Fan Page

How to Get Published

Now that I'm immersed in blogging and tweeting and chatting with authors on inkpop and all that stuff that authors do, it's hard to remember a time when I didn't know any of this. Just five years ago, I had no idea how to get published. It almost seems laughable now, but I didn’t know what an agent was, or how to query, or what an ARC was, or pretty much anything about publishing. The thing is, all this information is hidden away on book blogs or in sneaky places on publisher’s websites. 12-year-old me was absolutely clueless.

I remember asking my mom how to get published and she went and asked on a Yahoo group. I excitedly waited for their answers, but when the responses came in, they were all the same: ‘It’s hard.’

That was all. There was no information about how to get published (other than the suggestion that I should try to get short stories published in magazines first). They only told me it was hard.

True. Getting published is hard. It’s been five years since I decided I wanted to get published, and I’m just as un-published as I ever was. The only thing that’s changed is that now I do know how to get published. Now, this information I’m going to share is fairly basic so most of you will already know it all, but in each case I’ll share a couple links to helpful websites so you can go farther than just my blogposts.

Step to getting published:

1.       Write a REALLY good story

2.       Get feedback
3.    Revisions

4.       Query Agents

5.       The Agent sells your book

For the next three weeks I’ll concentrate on steps 2-5. As for step one… I’ll spend a little bit more time on that. According to the poll in the sidebar, writing tips were the favourite kind of post on this blog, so they’ll be a lot more of those coming up. Any post on writing is going to have something to do with step one: Write a REALLY good story. That can’t be emphasized enough. Without a good story, you’ll never receive helpful feedback. No matter how good your query, you’ll never get an agent. Even supposing you got an agent, it won’t sell to publishers.

For next week, let’s assume you’ve already got a fairly good story. Then you need to get your story out there, and be willing to accept feedback. 

Other Writing Blogs You'll Enjoy

There’s just so much good stuff out in the blogging world for writers. I thought I’d write an extra post today advertising some other blogs which you might enjoy.

YAtopia

This blog, run by eight YA writers, is currently hosting an agent pitch contest. What does this mean? Basically, you give them a two-sentence pitch of your novel, along with the first sentence of the book, and an agent will pick the best one. The winner will have their complete manuscript read by this agent. If you have a finished manuscript ready for submission, this is a great chance to have your story read without spending all that time querying agents.

Even supposing they weren’t running this contest, YAtopia is a great resource for YA writers, with helpful posts on all aspects of writing.

Inkpop Blog

This blog is run by the team at inkpop.com and contains regular posts about all things in the publishing world. There’s news about books being made into movies, new books coming out, author interviews and all sorts of contests (I recently won I Am Number Four, Beastly and the first two Pretty Little Liars for just commenting!) I recently read a really useful interview with Lauren Oliver, author of Delirium, on how to create interesting main characters. Considering I’m working on a series about the same thing, I thought it was worth a look.

EmilyisSmiling

People on the site inkpop may remember Emily from her engaging novel Before You, which made top five back in August. Since then Emily hasn’t been on inkpop much, but she’s been busy blogging. It isn’t a blog about writing (though she does have regular book reviews), but it’s bound to bring a smile to your day. Emily talks about a variety of topics, from helping sponsor children, to pranks she played on her friends, to fashion, to her little terrier puppy. This may sound simple, but her friendly, non-judgemental outlook on life draws in 1000-2000 visitors daily. Emily’s blog is one that I make sure to keep up on.

Boring Main Characters: The Problem

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a fairly active member of the site inkpop.com, a writing website for teens run by HarperCollins. The site has around 40,000 projects and hundreds more added every week. I have two stories up, one of which has reached top five and been reviewed by a HarperCollins editor, the other is around rank 100 right now.

One thing that I’ve done a lot of on inkpop is critique other people’s stories. I’ve read and commented on at least 400 projects in my inkpop career, so I have a fairly good grasp of the problems that plague teen’s writing. On the blog I will address these problems in mini-series coming each Thursday. Something I’ve noticed that is a major problem on inkpop is that Main Characters (MC) tend to be boring, all the same. For this reason, I’m writing a six part series on what to do to make your MC unique.

The Problem

The vast majority of you have heard of Twilight. A lot of you have probably read it. I’m personally not a fan, but I read the first two and a half books simply to see what all the fuss was about. Half way through the third book I got too bored, so I stopped.

Whether you hate the books or if you’re one that really enjoys them, you have to admit that Bella is a pretty ordinary person. She, by her own admission, is boring. We’re told that she has hobbies, but we never see her doing anything interesting. She’s not particularly good, or bad, at anything in school. Her emotions are all pretty basic, and her responses are quite predictable.

You might say that Bella is an ordinary teenager. I’d say that she’s not. What’s my reason for saying this? There is no such thing as an ordinary teenager.

Think about yourself. Think about anyone you know. Everyone is unique. Everyone is interesting in some way. Everyone has a favourite book, a specific personality, a different way of viewing the world.

Bella doesn’t. And, unfortunately, many of the MCs I’ve read about on inkpop don’t either. I once read ten stories in a row that all had a MC who could be exactly the same person. These are the characters who walk to school, snooze in the back row, and go back home. They wake up in the morning and look in the mirror. Maybe they’re a bit snarky or they’re shy, they could be popular or not, but somehow the writer has only told us that they’re different, they never actually showed us what makes the MC interesting.

Good stories aren’t written about boring people. Editors right now are desperate for new novels with ‘fresh’ voices. They want unique MCs, perhaps more than anything else. A ‘Mary Sue’ won’t get you anywhere.

So, what are you going to do? Next Thursday I’ll have another post on what not to do.

Welcome!

I am Elanor Lawrence, a Young Adult author currently seeking representation. In publishing lingo, that means that I haven’t been published yet but I’m seriously working at it. I also love acting and I write and direct my own plays as well as take Musical Theatre classes. I’m seventeen years old and was homeschooled for most of my life, but now I’m in my first semester of University. Hopefully in four more years I’ll end up with an BA, majoring in English. Right now I live on Prince Edward Island (Canada) and go to UPEI, but hopefully next year I’ll head over to the University of Western Ontario in London, ON.

Jesus is my savior, and I try to do everything for him. While I often fail at that, I pray that he will use me for His glory. This blog is part of my effort to live for him; everything I write on here will be from a Christian perspective. My book/movie/music reviews will all have a section dealing especially with the religious themes in the art. While I will try to be understanding of other people’s views, I will not compromise my beliefs.

What will I be talking about? As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, I will have reviews of books, movies and music, as well as keeping you up to date about my writing and the road to becoming a published author. I’m a member of the website inkpop.com, and occasionally I will feature users or project from that site, as well as writing tips that I’ve learned from critiquing over 400 stories. I’ll have a column of interesting facts that I learn at University and the scoop about how I, as a homeschooler, got into University in the first place. I might talk a bit about modest fashion trends, and tell anecdotes from life on the Island and my experiences in the arts community of PEI. All in all, this is going to be a blog with a lot of different posts.

My schedule for the first while:
Tuesday: Book Review
Thursday: Writing Series (How to Create Interesting Main Characters)
Saturday: Life of a Homeschooled English Major on Prince Edward Island

Feel free to comment; I’d love to hear your thoughts about anything I post. If you have any questions, or would like me to address a specific issue, then let me know and I’ll do my best.

Thanks for reading,
~Elanor