Everyone values someone’s opinion – no matter on what. There is always a sense of admiration that one has for a person, someone one goes to for an honest commentary on whatever that person is working on. In my opinion, one of the best places for writers to find those honest voices is a workshop group.

This will most likely be one of a number of posts I will make on the topic of workshops or critique groups. Since my college days (which were not terribly long ago) I have found that working with a group of people all with a similar interest has helped me ferment my desire to write. Any numbers of reasons can be given (most of them cliché): “the creative energy is abundant in a group”, “like-minded people feed off one another”, “artists are inspired by other artists”. For me, I just think the exchange of ideas and commentary amongst colleagues and contemporaries.

Every writer benefits differently from a writers group, though. Some people are more eager to look for a rigid group that requires constant output for the group to read; others are more interested in a group that focuses on craft and exercises; still others just enjoy discussing writing and talking about favorite books. Whatever the case may be, writers groups are beneficial in any of their many forms. As a writer aspiring to be professional and profitable in my trade, though, I feel that a group with regular critique and commentary benefits me the most.

My own workshop operates with two sessions a month. One is a critique of two writers whose work is read by the other members before the session with the requirement to at least come with some commentary about the pieces. The other session is a craft workshop, at which we work on various aspects of writing, editing, the submission process, or even editing.

Another group I frequent is a little less formal. We meet once a month and typically there is a vast amount of time spent discussing various topics on writing and others’ experiences. While I admire the company, many times I leave with a sense of not having accomplished anything.

In Milwaukee alone, there are a number of writing groups. Just about every city will have them, and there are always various online groups. I will always suggest a writer to join one if they have the intention of publishing in the future: it’s a very good way to meet writers, find colleagues, and maybe even make a contact or two. When you’re going into it, though, keep a few things in mind:

1. What do you want out of the group?
2. Is your style compatible with the level of commitment for the group?
3. How ready is your work for public view?
4. How soon are you looking to get published?
5. Is there at least one person in the group that has a few credentials?

Now, you may look at that last question and think that it seems a little pretentious. It’s not. While I am no expert, I at least have a degree in Creative Writing. This is the kind of thing I went to school for, so I have a bit of knowledge. Other members in my group include a professional copywriter, a magazine editor, and an English professor. So aside from me, there are other people who have English and writing in their background. If you just have a group of people interested in writing or who write as a hobby, it’s very difficult for you to be motivated to put yourself out into the publishing world and expect support.

Take your questions with you to some of your local writers groups. Answer them in your mind as the group progresses and make notes when you get home. Email the group leader and ask him/her what their intentions are for the group. Attend a second time (as there’s always the chance they were having a bad week) and then make your decision. In the end, never discount anyone in the group as a potential writing friend, so always go and make a few contacts.

Groups are good; a lot of people work very well in groups. As a writer, though, workshops are beneficial because it’s good exposure to how others will react to your writing. It’s better to hear from colleagues – at first – that your writing may not be up to par, than to hear it from an editor after your first attempt at a submission. Use the time to your advantage, and you’ll come out with a great deal of learning.

Being that I haven’t been inspired as of late, I decided to visit a few of my regular blog reads. I came across this from a couple of weeks ago. Grammar Girl spoke about passive versus active voice. Her thoughts were well spoken, but there was something in it that I wanted to elaborate on:

Another important point is that passive sentences aren't incorrect; it’s just that they often aren't the best way to phrase your thoughts. Sometimes passive voice is awkward and other times it’s vague.

More as an editor than as a grammarian (and I am both), I find passive voice distracting. Over the past decade, the vastly-expanding Post-Modern movement has been sweeping over the literary world. There is a wealth of books in the market, which are laced with Post-Modern style. In my opinion, passive voice is the weapon of choice in most of those styles. In the way that those stories are told – the slice-of-life, lack of emphasis on anything in particular happening – passive voice seems not only natural but in an over-abundance.

I don’t like it. I never have. I want a story that tells me something, in which characters do something, and in the end there’s a resolution. Passive voice and passive writing doesn’t accomplish anything – nor does it seek or have the goal of accomplishing anything. As Grammar Girl pointed out, it can be eliminated just about every time. It is best to write actively, for your characters to drive the action, and for your plot to be the focus not the backdrop.

The worst place to find passive voice, though, is in business writing, and over the past few months I’ve become increasingly aware of it. With more and more people in businesses opting for emails as their preferred method of communication, there is a sincere lack of attention paid to how things get written when something more formal is required. And without anyone in the office with an eye keen enough to point out the flaws in such writing, businesses seems unschooled when it comes to their writing samples. What’s worse is that when I am asked to write something for someone in my office, it gets rewritten with passive voice because it sounds more PC or less “offensive” as one manager told me.

Example:
I wrote: I need these forms to be signed by the end of the week, or Mr. X will not be able to get you your money.

Manager rewrote: These forms will need your signature sometime this week, so that your money may be sent out in a timely fashion.

We got our signed papers three days late. It's not straight-forward, and there's no sense of urgency.

It just doesn’t make sense to beat around the bush in a business because nothing is going to get done. Just as in your stories your characters perform actions, your writing in any setting needs to show someone doing something. Otherwise, the piece of paper is just being written upon by you.

Each time I log into my email account, I am always eager to look at the query letters that are sent to me. It is disappointing, however, to be turned off by the letter, the story, and even the author within the first sentence. A query letter to any editor or agent or publisher is your resume. It is your first chance to show to them what sort of writer you truly are. If you let them down in that first impression, then there is a high chance you may never get another opportunity again.

Query letters are an essential part of a novelist’s life. It should be noted here that those of you reading this who are short story writers or even poets that query letters are somewhat unnecessary for those crafts. While a cover letter is nice to send along with a short story or poem, it’s not required, and it’s certainly not as instrumental to your acceptance as a query letter is to a novelist. I should also mention that my knowledge is in the novel writing field. Query letters are certainly important to other writing professions, but I won’t claim to know a terrible amount about those. So, moving on.

The following example is one of a terrible query:

Dear Editor:

I'm submitting my novel and full synopsis “-------” for possible publication. My stories have appeared in the following magazines/journals:

…

I have a BA and MA in psychology and a doctorate in counseling, all from the ------- College. I've been a newspaper editor and broadcaster. I also worked 27 years under the title Senior Psychologist at ------- Hospital.

No need to return the material. Thanks for your time.

In order to not bore you, I’ve eliminated the list of nearly forty – that’s 4-0 – titles of short stories this particular query writer sent to me. The moment the list started I stopped reading it. The only element of a query letter this particular query had right was the author’s name.

In my opinion, a query letter should contain a certain few key elements.

• A cordial and polite greeting (know the editor’s name)
• A good introduction describing what the goal is for the attached work
• A concise synopsis of the work without using the phrase “it is an intriguing story”
• A clear statement (or statements) of the author’s particular expertise
• An overall sense of having read over the query before it gets sent off

Query letters really aren’t that difficult. Write it; edit it; have a friend read it. Then, read some examples online and see how others do it. At the request of my readership, I can post an example up next week.

My workshop this month will be putting together some query letters, too. I find it a useful tool, and I think that any aspiring writer ought to have a firm grasp on how to write them. With time comes the knowledge on what works and what doesn’t, but the basics are essential and not everyone knows them.

Some time ago I received a query for a novella for Carnifex Press. While the query itself left something to be desired – and I will speak about that and another next week – it was the contradiction between the synopsis and the story that truly boggled my mind. Below is part of the synopsis:

While the story uses a futuristic setting, it is a mystery that really makes people think. The hero is an intelligent, likable guy who eventually finds himself on the wrong side. As the top-graduate of an elite intelligence officer training school, he is tasked with supporting enforcement operations of the Species Protection Act. Whisked away to the Pentagon as the personal aide to the general heading US enforcement operations, he must decipher the mysterious resistance leader’s messages and figure out who and where he is before the conflict escalates out of control.

The story turned out to be steeped in religious philosophy and spiritual morality. The only “science” in the story was the bits and pieces of futuristic-type technology that were mentioned here and there. The genre was only a vehicle for a platform. So the lesson is this: know your market. In the publishing world, it’s also called a platform. It’s that thing that says: “this is what I write, and these are the people for whom I write.”

There’s nothing worse for an editor than to be sideswiped by a misleading synopsis or a story that’s completely off topic. For Carnifex, we want Fantasy and Horror, primarily, with some Science Fiction. Our submission faq says specifically that we’re looking for traditional science fiction, though I don’t mind a unique bit of storytelling. What I don’t want is to be beat over the head with someone’s overly political or religious ideals.

When looking into publishers or editors or agents to send your work to, research them. Go and pick up a copy of The Writer's Market from the library or purchase one. Make absolutely certain that your story fits their guidelines and their suggestions. Also, see what you can find about one or two of the editors: learn what they like, what they write, maybe even what they read. So many people have websites or Myspace pages or even blogs. If they do, they’ll probably mention some of the things they like. Once you’ve done that, then you know your market – at least somewhat.

Once the story is done, the research ready, write your query letter. When you know the market you’re angling for, use that to your advantage in your query letter. Again, I’ll give examples in my next post.

When I’d finished with the story that had been sent to me, I tossed it. While I did spend the time to bounce a few emails back and forth between the author afterwards about the proper market for it, I felt that I had been swindled. Editors don’t like to have their time wasted and when an author doesn’t know the market, then that’s exactly what they do with an editor.

As a side note: not all editors are as clear about their own market as they could be. When in doubt, be as clear about your story as you can be in a query letter. If you’re not sure if it will fit, just ask. While it may take a bit for an editor to get back to you, at least you’ll know if they’re the right place to be sending your material. In the end, it all goes back to research.

This past weekend (March 9-11) I attended the UWM Spring Writers Festival. I learned a great deal at this conference, and I think I came away with a number of different topics to discuss, but the one thing that I did while I was there, which I thought helped me the most, was make friends. A couple of weeks ago I came across an article in The Writer about being successful at a writers conference. Networking was one of the key issues in the article, and I did my best to utilize what it said: don’t go into the conference with the idea of pushing your work, your ideas, or your agenda.

Most writers love to talk about their work and their experiences. Even as an editor, I do as well. When you attend a conference where everyone likes to talk about their own work, then you run into the problem of no one hearing one another. So I went with the intention of making friends and to do that, I stopped and I listened. I came away with two good contacts: neither of them are solid in the field as a writer, but both of them have small connections to various things that interest me. At the end of the conference, I even gathered a few more people who were interested in my writers group1.

I also had the notion to start my own smaller, sponsored conference. As a writer, most of us are only mildly techie. I happen to have a wife who is both a graphic and web designer, so I get a heads-up on a lot of the latest ideas. Just a few months ago there was a conference in San Francisco called Word Camp. I have been considering such a conference, because I believe my city of Milwaukee could use a good conference of good local writers. I’ll keep you updated on that.

Conferences are useful tools in gaining new knowledge about your craft and about your own abilities. Some of the workshops might not be as informational as you might have hoped, but you will generally come out with at least one or two very good bits of information. I, myself, learned a great deal about the importance of place in a very specific way. (There I go talking about my own work).

Find something that appeals to you at a conference with its workshops. Find someone that you admire or learn something about one of the authors or agents or editors attending and see if you can make a fast friend. In the end, though, don’t go with the intention of selling that book deal to the first publisher you talk to.

1. As a side note, if anyone is ever in the Milwaukee area, and you’re interested in getting together for a writers group, please visit Milwaukee Writers Workshop or email me James Boone Dryden.