Purpose: To share and encourage.
Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing
foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer
assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all
kinds!
Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group (click on the badge above for the list) and connect with your fellow writers - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Be sure to stop by and visit other IWSG members and our wonderful hosts for the month,
Christine Rains, Dolarah @ Book Lover, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Yvonne Ventresca, and LG Keltner! Posting: The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. Post your thoughts on your own blog. Talk about your doubts and the fears you have conquered. Discuss your struggles and triumphs. Offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling. Visit others in the group (click on the badge above for the list) and connect with your fellow writers - aim for a dozen new people each time - and return comments. This group is all about connecting!
Be sure to stop by and visit other IWSG members and our wonderful hosts for the month,
The question this month is about your pet peeves when reading, writing or editing. Since I don't want to talk about my writing (what writing?) right now, I'm diving into this one!
As a reader, my pet peeves are poor editing and poor writing! Okay, that's a cop-out. But I will dump a book if the opening chapters have too many typos/errors, and I will dump a book faster than you can blink if it has anachronisms and problems with a consistent and believable tone. I am actually more likely to finish a book with a weak plot than one with errors of that sort--they just irritate and distract me too much, while I'm probably too good at the willing suspension of disbelief.
As a writer, my biggest pet peeve is me. I mean, I'm bugged by the things that keep me from writing, and as Pogo Possum once said, I have met the enemy and she is me (okay, I paraphrased that). On a maybe more useful note, I have a problem with diving in without an adequate plan, and I hate it when I do that!
If we want to talk about my pet peeve as being what I struggle most with, that has to be editing, which is made all the worse when I dive in without an adequate plan (see above). Editing is hard under the best of circumstances, though the more I do it the more I have come to enjoy at least some elements at some times. This, of course, brings me to my favorite pet peeve about editing my own work (as for editing other people's work, I don't really have a peeve, because fixing those things are what I'm there for).
With my own books, I struggle with the step from seeing the big view of what needs fixing ("make this character more distinct" "provide more justification for this plot point") to actually implementing it. It's not that it annoys me, but that it's danged hard. I do dislike it when I'm supposed to be doing big-picture editing and I get all caught up in polishing sentences.
Over to you. What will make you put down a book and run, not walk, to the nearest exit? Or what will make you want to throw your MS out the window and take up a new career as a greeter at Walmart?
I'm much better at putting books down that don't speak to me. I try to figure out what's not working for me, but sometimes it's just that a connection to that particular work isn't there. Time to move on! :)
ReplyDeleteOn reflection, I do that a bit, too. Much more likely to walk away from an audio book. I guess there's less investment there.
DeletePogo the Possum sounds like a very wise critter to me :-) I could probably do with a better plan when it comes to my editing process.
ReplyDeleteHe was. He also dates me, as he was from the comic strip Lil Abner, which stopped running when I was a kid. But that line, "We have met the enemy, and he is us" was famous.
DeleteA book shouldn't have too many typos, especially in the beginning, it if was edited. It always surprised me when I find a book with a lot of glaring errors that could've been spotted even by a beta reader.
ReplyDeleteYeah. It leads me to believe someone didn't get *anyone* to read the MS.
DeleteI realise a pet peeve I left out of my own post is authors getting details wrong of places I know. But then, you've heard that before :)
ReplyDeleteOooh, yeah. You and me both. I forgot about that one, but it jars like anachronisms. Which is unfair, because if I don't know a place, the author can take all sorts of liberties.
DeleteThat's also why I like to make up my settings out of whole cloth.
I'm not bothered so much by minor errors, even anachronisms or even an odd tone or voice, as long as the tone or voice is INTERESTING. I'm way more bothered by repetitive or recycled plots and tropes.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's necessarily a positive thing in me that I am more disturbed by what are really the trivial issues than I am by the big ones. But there it is.
DeleteI think I'm my own biggest pet peeve as well!
ReplyDeleteSending you email about co-hosting.
:) Just need more self-discipline...I'll get to work on that after this next cup of coffee.
Delete