Animal Fantasy Awareness (T.A.A.'s going Back to Basics!)

Some time ago, my writer friend and "Comrade in Revisions", Kelly Hashway, posted on her blog something she shared with me in private 


She's unabashedly a YA writer. 


Those who read my Critter Chat with Kelly in January know she began her writing career in different realm form where she's heading now. Between various sales of her work in magazines, her first major release was a picture book, "May the Best Dog Win" inspired by her daughter (pre-K at the time of this post) who asked her to write one, and the rest is history--for that book, anyway. She later went on to collaborate with her illustrative sister, Heather, on her self-published effort, The Perfect Puppy, and more recently, Santa Bunny. Heather also did the cover art for "The Imaginary Friend" her two part short story now available for free* at Amazon.com (Price of Free may be subject to change).


Kelly's work has appeared in various magazines and anthologies, and we each have a story in the anthology "Trunk Stories." 


But as I said at the outset, Kelly's found her new home in the world of YA with the first two books in her trilogy, TOUCH OF DEATH AND TOUCH OF, currently slated for publication in January 2013 and July 2013 respectively (Pub Dates are subject to change so please follow Kelly Hashway's blog for any date changes).


I'm happy for you, Kelly, there's nothing like the feeling of finding where you belong and are most happiest. True for anything in life, but especially for writers who have to endure decades of apprenticing to start their careers.
Be it a magazine piece, memoir, nonfiction, novel or poetry/story collection.


Those who follow my blog know I struggle with writing my own stories for the YA audience, a skill that I know will serve Kelly well, but what you may not know is she landed her agent with a middle grade novel, which is my specialty, but the current market for debut middle grade fiction is struggling, even more-so for folks like me who are more at home with animal fantasy, than anything with a dystopian or edgy and dark bent. 


Aside from wishing I could write YA, I also longed for finding my own tribe of readers, not just writers of animal fantasy, and not just paranormal.


As many of you T.A.A. faithful may have noticed, I haven't written much on genre-specific issues nearly all writers of animal fantasy face.


I mean my blog's named, "Talking Animal Addicts" and yet I've kind of deviated from the core message of my blog, and there are really two key reasons why-


I Didn't "OWN" my love of the Genre
There are many posts I wrote to tackle this subject that I never posted or completed because I had doubts of the impact my passion could have.


Envy Delayed My Progress
That pretty much speaks for itself.


But no more. Like Kelly, and many writers before me, I need to embrace my niche, rather than feel shame from it, that's vital for all the writing I do, and those of your who also blog know full well what I mean.


So, consider this statement a follow-up to my intro post when I began Talking Animal Addicts in December 2010-


I started this blog to protest the myth that only preschoolers like animal fantasy, and unite other like-minded writers who know all too well as I do that stigma attached to these stories, especially as an unproven brand name author, but the stigma also comes from educators and parents, other writers (Even those we love and respect), even some publishing insiders who argue that kids are demanding more books with more contemporary, or reality-based plot lines.


Maybe there aren't millions of us, but there are more than the average person might think, especially among the non-parents or writers who aren't easily in tune with their "Inner Child" and/or interact with children on a regular basis. and I think part of this is the fear we have of divulging our passion for animal fantasy, since the first thing people will say is "That's a hard sell, especially for non-famous author." 


Whether this is true of every case or not isn't the issue here, the real issue is for those of us who proudly write the books we love to band together, and shout to the world, "We're not crazy for reading or writing books about or featuring talking animals!"


Okay, maybe not shout it at work, or outside your kid's high school (Or anywhere people who know you will hear...) but it's important to remind yourself why you do what you do. It keeps you honest, if not always sane.


I felt strongly there needed to be an outlet for these writers, a sanctuary even, where their passion would not get made fun of, but meet like-minded writers, that span the ages and stages of writers worldwide.




I want T.A.A. to become that safe haven, and will get back to more animal fantasy related posts in the coming weeks. If you have any ideas, feel free to share in the comments below. I urge all you writers of animal fantasy out there to let it rip in the comments below.


Tell your writer friends to find T.A.A. on Facebook and Google+.
Eventually T.A.A will have its own Twitter Feed, but for now you can follow my separate Twitter Feed here.


Remember, "We're not just for preschoolers anymore" We're for readers and writers who love what we do, and eventually people will see that reflected in our stories, instead of thinking "We're just trying to ride the copycat wave of Charlotte's Web, Redwall, and Watership Down." 


Some people do that. No question. 


I'm not one of those people. 


Anyone whose read my work, even people who normally don't read or particularly like animal fantasy, have told me this, a writer can't ask for a better endorsement than that (Well, a paycheck would be nice, really, but that's a topic for another time).


Until Tomorrow, 
May the Fantastic Fauna Be With You

Quantity over Quality

UPDATE (8/18/11): Edited for clarity. 

No, I'm not saying quality should take a backseat to quantity in general, because no one's getting far these without turning in polished work as competition gets fiercer.

But you can't improve what's not there.

By that I mean we can't improve writing we haven't written.

So many stories stay stuck inside writer's noggins and never see the page, or computer screen, because we let fear of writing another dud stifles our output and the joy that only comes from just doing it.

While chances are much of what we write isn't publishable, it can be hard to go from project to project, not unlike an assembly line, because in order to write our best work, we have to invest our passion as well as the time to physically produce it.

When projects don't sell or improve, even after years of refining and tweaking, it can just be da** frustrating and scary to begin again, for fear of the same outcome. While I agree with the countless number of writers who've told me that this shouldn't stop me from writing entirely, it's vital to let ourselves know it's OKAY. We can't let these fears rule our lives, and stop us from writing, but for the sake of our artist's sanity, we must acknowledge they exist.

Admitting your pain doesn't make you weak, just don't let it warp your mind, or rule your life from the shadows, both of which happened to me many times. Only until I hit rock bottom do I see the mess I put myself in.

This year, I will get back much of the diligence and joy I'd lost, when I let what frustrates me about writing get in the way of actually writing, and to do that, I must relearn a skill I had at the beginning. Something I lost when things got tough. Just writing my story.

Not thinking about agents, editors, query letters and the like until I've written the story from beginning to end, no matter how rough it will be, because I can only improve by having something to improve. For me, my writing output is more important right now than overall quality.

Fear can't take hold of a writer who blazes his temples on the keyboard.
(Or for those of you who write early drafts in longhand: Gripping tight to one's pencil, or pen, as the writer scribes with sharp, and almost rhythmic precision)


Charging in replaces Worry with Work!

That said, once daily (Or consistent) writing has become a natural part of you routine, you will feel good about having things out of your head and in plain sight on the page, and yes, it will be rough, and feel like you're just setting yourself up for nightmarish edits or rewrites down the line, but remember, the point at the beginning is to have your story on the page, and finding joy in that alone.

If you're a writer who's more comfortable with thinking analytically, you can adjust the flow of drafting to meet your needs, or the needs of a particular project.

But for writers who are too petrified to write for fear of not improving, like me, just start typing now!
Longhand drafters, pen or pencil it out, without looking back!

Right now, you need to get a draft your eyes can see, and only then can you edit, remove, and revise as needed.

I know many writers who are quite comfortable with planning out the story as best they can before writing a draft, to lessen errors that come about from being too in the dark about the plot and motivations of the characters involved, but sometimes, or for some writers, just diving in's the best way.

I tried outlining many times, and truthfully I did learn many things worth learning, but often it made me a paranoid coward who barely wrote a few paragraphs, and while I do agree that knowing what you can in advance will make you less likely to stall finishing a draft of your story or novel, sometimes going in blind's the only way if you know dawdling's an issue for you.

Remember, the point of this exercise is to keep fear and self-doubt from having the chance to keep us from doing much of anything, the fear won't go away, but tell yourself you refuse let it add to the problem.

Now once you've finished a draft of your story, novel, or query letter (Hate those letters!) take the time to shift gears so editing is just another step in the process, and feels less like barbarism, and let's be honest, sometimes it does, positive as we try to be.

This is also the time to call back the Quality Control Cops. now that you've finished a draft of your manuscript, they're input in the form of beta-readers, writer's groups, and even your homicidal inner editor, will help you, not just hurt your resolve.

If I can do it, nearly anyone reading this now can as well, so do your creativity a favor. Finish the story already!

Until Then, to loosely quote Nike,
Just Write it!
Taurean

Write For Yourself - You First Must Acknowledge The Fall, And Why You Fell, Before You Can Get Up Again

(Details for giveaway below...)

Last week, I began my comeback to the blog scene with touching on the main reason above others why I was M.I.A. so long.

Writing became frustration devoid of fun.

Now for writers like myself who want to get published,  I know full well there are times we must slog through things we find neither pleasurable, or simple to execute as they are to advise, but we also didn't start writing to torture ourselves either.

Remember, we started writing because we each had stories to tell.

We all kept writing, even when times got tough, agonizing over dozens of countless rewrites, revisions, and restructurings of our manuscripts to get them in top form.

We put in the blood, sweat, tears and time to achieve short and succulent query letters that at best, showcase our balance between craft and commercial appeal.

We endured learning more about publishing than we sometimes want to know.

Because we believe so much in our stories, real or imagined, we will do anything in our power to make it happen, no matter long and uncertain the road getting there may be, 

However, there comes a time, even for the most committed and serious writers, when persistence wained, and feelings of jealousy or inferiority creep in, hard as you try to keep them out. It's important to note here that while it's vital you don't let these negative thoughts poison your mind as well as your passion, you're not a heartless hypocrite if you've felt this surge of envy for other writer's success, especially if you know them personally on some level.

But keep in mind that the same writers you feel in the shadow of, once and sometimes still, feel the same as you, and if you know them personally, might still wish they could improve at X writing or marketing skill that YOU do better than THEM! Without even realizing it.

While I've read many articles and how-to guides that do their best to break down the steps needed to achieve your writing goals, too often these how-tos treat you more like a soulless, robotic army grunt, than someone who doesn't learn well under pressure, and I'm in this camp for sure.

It's not just kids and teens who have unique learning styles, be they autistic or not, adults also face similar issues, but often I feel we sometimes unfairly treat fellow adults like flakes who simply can't "Get Tough" the same way, especially among their same age or generational peers.

These people are not self-pity freaks. Nor are they lazy slobs who'd rather waste time "complaining" than make good use of it, we just don't learn well when we're forced to be faster, and speaking for me here, when I'm forced or feel pressured to pick up the pace, my clumsiness and short temper set me up for a fall, figuratively and even literally on the really bad days.

But we're just people who are trying every day to be better than yesterday, as I'm sure many who follow blogs like this strive to do all the time, you may just simply recover slower than most from many of life's ills, be it about education, religion, and other facets of daily living that can get on top of anyone. 

Don't feel alone here. 

I live this struggle too, and even if you don't, chances are you know one writer or two who meets some or all of the following symptoms above.

With this in mind, I came up with a list of tips and strategies that nearly any Non-Type A writer can benefit from. The only pre-requisites are in the following quote below-

"I want to be a better writer than I am right now. Am I tired of housing a jaded vagabond in my heart day after day? Am I finally ready to evict him?"

For those of you who who've been through similar struggles, I urge you to share some highlights from your experience, it may help other writers overcome what's blocking their comeback trail.

The first two who comment to this post will win the following-

Reply Prize #1:  $20 Barnes and Noble E-Gift Card*
Reply Prize #2: $10 iTunes gift card*

(*Prizes can only be awarded to residents in U.S. or Canada)
-Hawaii and Alaska are eligible-

Another giveaway's coming this week so keep your eyes sharp for another chance at winning some fun prizes. 

Keep checking back to T.A.A. today and all this week for tips and strategies that keeps me going. Hopefully one of them will help some of  you as well.

Until Next Time,

May the Fantastic Fauna Be With You,

Taurean

UAPDATE (8/18/11): Giveaway's Officially Over!
Winners, e-mail me at the following address to claim your prizes-
taaddicts-AT-yahoo-DOT-com