Lady Dae Writes

            This is more rant oriented, but certainly helpful. Anyway, notice this is tilted editing for others and why is that? Well, I enjoy editing for others. I edit other people’s things from time to time on forums and while I have some major pet peeves about editing in general because we writers are nitpicks, all with our own opinions on how a story should go and what the characters should do. So a writer will never satisfy everyone and that’s okay

            But (Yes! Always a but!) when everyone is saying the same thing about your writing, it’s something to take heed and I honestly get tired of the know-it-all writers who think they know everything (that was a redundant by the way, but who cares. I’m ranting) and don’t want to listen to people who know what they’re talking about. I mean, I feel like a broke record sometimes. I say the same thing to writers. Start where the story begins. This long passage of explaining is an info-dump. A query is not a synopsis, therefore I don’t need to know that the three chapters before the inciting incident is about your MC in your day to day life, moving to a new city and meeting the bullies of her neighborhood who in no way shape or form propel the story forward if the story is a fantasy and the fantasy doesn’t start until chapter four, and if that does happen in your story, you need to start thinking about cutting those first three chapters because that’s the kiss of death when the agent or editor wants the first three chapters to see if you can write.

            The veteran writers out there know exactly what I’m talking about. You tell the person all these things and the writer won’t listen. Then a few months later they want to come and ask what the heck they’re doing wrong because apparently none of the agents or editors want to see their work… It always takes everything in me not to say “God damn it! I told you why before you even started trying to sell the darn manuscript.”

            My point in this rant? While it is up to the discretion of the writer to take advice or not, some advice, especially when it has to do with believability, structure and all that jazz, because let’s face it, sometimes we have to cut the stuff near and dear to us in order to make the novel work. So I say a 65-75 percentile is what you shoot for in range of likeability and the ok, because not everyone will like the way you writer, so don’t worry about the other 25-35 percent. But when the majority is saying, something’s wrong. I’m telling you to pay attention. Ugh! These cocky writers get on my nerve sometimes…

I had no intention of writing about this, but it came to mind when my sister and I were browsing the internet last night looking at silly stuff about Harry Potter and having a good laugh, when I came across this site:

I know there are probably thousands of them going around, and I’m not here to debate about religion and dispute her facts. You can go read it yourself, because it’s clear whoever wrote this hasn’t read the books and only took what they heard from others. Not only that, certain passages in the book are clearly taken out of context and anyone who’s read all the book at least once can see that. And did I mention this person actually believe in black magic? That J.K. Rowling is actually trying to start some occult and gathering follower and secretly teaching them through her books with real spells and magic? I’m so rolling my eyes right now. But you can go read the article. I didn’t get on here to talk about. I did get on here to defend the writer though.

Why do writers, particularly those of fiction and fantasy, need defending? Well it’s not defending as much as it is pointing out facts. First and foremost though, to anyone who thinks fantasy writers, myself included, are trying to start an occult. I need to point out three things.

That means that:

People like the ones on that site are the opposition we writers face and not just people with extreme views like this one, but a lot of people have the impression that just because we writers write about it, we believe it or we’re trying to preach or glorify something. I had to learn this when I was younger and people would ask me if my main character shared the same faith as I did. And it is this:

New writers remember this. I wished I had known it. It would have made my writing a lot better a lot sooner. We can’t be afraid to write about things that might stir a little controversy or get some extreme reception like the above article. Here’s the thing about fiction writers. Our, especially fantasy writers, goal is to make the fiction, the supernatural and thing that we know not to be true to appear real. So we do our research, give symbolic names and references every now and then and mix truth, myth, falsehood, and folklore to make a story. Just because my novel may have a name from pagan influence or any other background doesn’t mean that’s what I believe in. I choose the name and give it to a character who matches the name and if it isn’t the case, I redefine it. It makes for a more interesting story and is a creative writing device! It’s not glorifying anything. It’s a story. It’s not real and the elements and themes I use have nothing to do with my religious beliefs and or lack of them, and I hate when people accuse writers of believing in something, whether it be true or not. It’s fiction and anyone who has a problem with it can get over it or ignore it. There are more important things and more serious matters to worry about than wondering if fantasy writers are trying to gather followers for a cult? Really?