Make Your Readers Work? Really?

I just read a blog post where one of the commenters stated that his readers needed to work when they read his stories. He said, and I'm paraphrasing, that he did his part in writing the story, but that he expected his readers to do their part by working to see what he wrote. Since the original post was about hurrying through the editing process to get to the next story (and thus let editing errors through to the finished product), the implication seemed to be that if this author had misspelled words and poor punctuation/grammar, then so be it. It was the reader's job to figure it out so they could understand the story and see it in their minds.

Ummm...no.

I find this attitude unbelievably appalling. An author should NEVER expect their readers to "work" to understand the story. It is the author's job to work so that the readers don't have to. The author is the one getting paid in this scenario, and as such, the onus is on the author to provide a quality product to meet the reader's expectations. The reader should simply be allowed to sit back, open their mind, and flow through an experience that is free from errors and clearly lays out the story for them.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, an author's job is to provide a reading experience to those who spend their hard-earned dollars on his or her books, and the reader's job is to simply have that experience. Errors and poorly written passages impede that experience for a reader.

When I buy a shirt, I don't expect to have to sew on the buttons or attach the sleeves before I can wear it, thus doing some "work" before I can enjoy that which I have purchased. Should my Galaxy S3 have come incomplete without all the necessary programming for me to finish before I used it? When I buy a car, is it my job to air up the tires and put oil in the engine before I drive it? So, why should a reader have to take their proverbial red pen through your manuscript as they read it in order to understand it? Why should they have to trudge through poorly written dialogue and narrative to figure out the story? Why should they have to read a passage multiple times before figuring out who's doing and saying what? Does this author's customers not deserve the best story he can give them? Is it okay to simply rush through the editing process and send out sloppy, poorly written work simply to get to the next story as fast as possible so the author can make more money?

I'll tell you what happens when you make your customers "work": They will take their business elsewhere, and you will get the reputation of a being an unprofessional, selfish (only want the money) writer. Businesses that make their customers work that hard  and sell "lemons" go out of business pretty quickly.

Yes, I'm mad. When I read comments like the one this author made, it pisses me off. If an author is going to be that selfish and lazy, they have no business charging for their books, let alone writing them in the first place.

My suggestion for authors is to never scrimp and never go into writing a book with the attitude that it's the readers' job to work to figure out the story you're telling. If you expect your readers to work that hard, you do not have the right mindset of a true author and should consider hanging up the writing hat until you learn that it's an author's job to do the work, not the reader's. ALL the work.

Happy reading and writing!

-D

Missing Salad—The Cause of the Apocalypse

I usually blog about writing or something having to do with writing, but 1 out of 50 posts, I blog about something else. Today is one of those days.

Through the course of a chain of events, back in May I took a contract job working for a friend of mine at a company I used to work for. I like most things about my job, but yesterday, during our company party, I was witness to some of the most appalling behavior by my coworkers. I told my husband last night, as I recounted the incidents, that I was unbelievably embarrassed by their behavior.

What happened to make me see several of my coworkers in a new, negative light?

The salad and rolls were missing from our catered holiday lunch.

Yep. Catastrophic, huh? Let me explain.

The tale of the missing salad spread through our office like an explosion of Agent Orange on the Ho Chi Minh trail, its toxic fumes and plume of smoke infecting the masses. In the minute it took me to get in line for food, the sarcastic jokes about the missing salad had reached epic proportions, and for one person (the lady who organized the lunch...we'll call her Wanda), the missing salad and rolls were cause to erupt like a volcano. She would still be fuming over them three hours later. Talk about the end of the world. You'd have thought it was. Missing Salad—The Cause of the Apocalypse.

The delivery guy was still in the building, and there is no way he couldn't have heard the remarks or avoid Wanda's wrath. I looked around at the people barking about the salad and asking for salad dressing and making all manner of other insensitive commentary, my mouth gaping. And we had croissants, so it wasn't like rolls were a big deal. I'm actually wondering why we even ordered rolls if we already had a platoon-sized tray of croissants, which I think are better than rolls, anyway.

But I digress.

Here we were, about to sit down to our Christmas lunch, a time of love and sharing and good cheer, and all anybody could do was bitch, joke, and laugh (and not in a good way) about the missing salad. Not a single person thanked the delivery man except for me. As he was walking out and past my desk, I stopped him and told him the green beans and mashed potatoes I was eating were the best I'd ever had. And they were. I don't think I've ever had such delicious mashed potatoes (I even had them for dessert, they were so good). And who'd have thought green beans could be so yummy they'd be the first thing I finished on my plate. The ham and turkey were good, too. And the jellied cranberry sauce was a delightful touch. I'm a sucker for jellied cranberry sauce, and I won't lie, I actually got excited when I saw it was part of our luncheon.

So, anyway, I wished the delivery man a Merry Christmas, as he did me, and waved goodbye as he left.

Everyone else was too busy bitching about the salad to wish him a Merry Christmas. Shameful.

Wanda continued to rant and bark to the point I wanted to tell her—and pardon me here—to shut the fuck up and eat her damned food...oh, and Merry fucking Christmas. I was so aggravated, and Wanda's behavior, as well as that of others, just soured my joy for the day. Because not only did she bitch ad nauseum for hours about the lack of salad (are you getting tired of this, yet? Yeah, now you know how I felt yesterday), but then, in front of everyone, she said the catering company would give her a free meal. I'm not quite sure exactly what was meant by a free meal, or how valid this allegation was, because Wanda has a tendency to embellish and...well...lie. For example, she had also told employees that my boss had told her in a meeting (of which I was a part of) that if employees wore jeans the day of the Christmas party they would be putting their job on the line since the company president was joining us.

Ummm, that wasn't true. Not even close. My boss never said anything like that, but yet, Wanda told at least one employee that if she wore jeans, she'd be putting her job on the line. Guess who came in wearing jeans and who didn't? Yep, almost everyone, including my boss, wore jeans yesterday. So, when it comes out of Wanda's mouth, I automatically take it with a grain of salt. She's an office gossip, a trouble maker, and a pot stirrer...not someone I'm gonna put a lot of credibility in. Unfortunately, she has a big mouth, and enough people DO listen to her to make her dangerous, and I know she's bitched about me. God only knows what she's said about me and what words she's put in MY mouth if she's so willing to shove words in my boss's mouth (and he's the VP and head of the office).

So, anyway, Wanda said something about us getting a free meal and implied that yesterday's meal should be free, cocking her eyebrow and getting all uppity, blah, blah, blah. I sat back and shook my head. All they had forgotten was salad and rolls, and I'm not even sure if rolls were even supposed to be delivered. The catering company had already drastically reduced our meal by hundreds of dollars just to get our business, and now Wanda wanted the entire lunch to be free? Over salad???? Seriously? I could see getting a $50 or even $100 break on the meal, but completely free? No. That's not right.

Excuse me while I hang my head and put a paper bag over it, because it's embarrassing for me to even admit I know Wanda and work with her. And I'm equally embarrassed by the behavior of several of the others I work with.

A few hours later, I got a call from someone looking for Wanda, and I think it was someone from the catering place. When I gave Wanda the message, she snapped off some bitchy retort about how "they don't want to be talking to me until I've cooled off." Blah, blah, blah. Get over yourself, Wanda.

So, let's all send Wanda some Christmas cheer this year, because God knows she needs it. I'm just glad she's not in MY family. Whew! Dodged a bullet there.

Happy holidays everyone. Don't be Wanda. And DON'T FORGET THE SALAD! :)

-D

New Year's Resolution For All Writers - The Patient Edit

"I will never rush through an edit again. I will give my first draft a month to breathe, then edit it, then another month to breathe, then edit it again, and another month, and another edit. Then a final edit and a proof...unless it needs more edits. And I will be honest with myself and not accept my book as finished until I feel to the bottom of my soul that I can't make it any better. I will also encourage my beta readers to be brutally honest with me and not get upset with them. I will listen objectively to what they have to say and if they don't like something or think it's not working, I will take their critique seriously and look into the issue and make necessary changes to alleviate the problem they pointed out."

I've already made this resolution. I took this vow earlier this year, and I kid you not, once you go through this exercise once, as long as you're editing right and utilizing your critique group correctly (by encouraging them to absolutely shred your manuscript and be blunt-force honest down to the ugly, hard, no-holding-back-for-fear-of-hurting-your-feelings truth), you will NEVER go back to editing in a rush again.

[A word on beta readers: They are there to help you. If you argue with them and don't listen to their critique, they will stop being honest with you and will stop reading for you. They can see things you can't, because you are too close to your manuscript. They have distance, so they can see where the piece falls short better than you can. LISTEN to them, and DISCUSS with them, but do not argue with them. Make them feel a part of the process by trusting their judgment. If you do that, you will win their trust and their loyalty.]

Okay, that's my lecture on how to work with a beta group. :) Back to the resolution and why I am so passionate about encouraging other authors to make it:

Four months ago, I thought my latest AKM novel, Rebel Obsession, was ready. I set it aside for a two months and when I picked it back up to proof it, I was appalled at how flat areas of the story were, and how a few scenes didn't flow smoothly. So I edited it again and set it aside for about a month. In that month, I read a powerful book on Deep POV (I blogged about it). When I re-read Rebel Obsession again during the proof, I was flabbergasted at how passive the story still was. Using the techniques I learned in the book on Deep POV, I put the manuscript through an intensive final edit and shot it to my editor.

Instant success! Night and day difference. It took that fifth or sixth (I lost count) edit to FINALLY bring the story to life.

I am so unbelievably impressed now with how Rebel Obsession turned out. The editing phase on this one lasted over six months and went through so many edits, I lost track. It's not even the same book it was after the first draft was written. Hell, it's not even the same book as it was after the second edit. And I'm damn proud of it. The loose ends have been tied, the awkward areas have been eliminated, the mechanics have been cleaned up, the characters have been honed, etc. The story has come alive, and the characters have with it. And here I thought it was ready two months ago. Ha! Two more rounds of edits proved me wrong, making me a die-hard believer of the "patient edit," as I'm calling it.

So I encourage all writers to be patient and have faith in the editing process. Fully commit to it, and I promise, you'll never edit the old, fast way again. Oh, and never stop educating yourself on good writing. Read every book you can get your hands on pertaining to the crafts of writing and editing.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year!

-D