My Grading Scheme

The last blog post was about why I chose to "grade" my fiction. This is about the grades I gave myself. "C" is average: any ol' Joe or Joan could do as well. "B" is above average, better than any ol' Joe or Joan. "D" is below average: not as good as the average Joe or Joan could do. No "F"s because, after all, I am writing!

Here is the list of fiction elements, and my grades of myself based on knowledge, experience, and skills.

Elements of Fiction: Knowledge, Experience, Skills, Overall
Character: A-, A-, B, A-
Conflict: B+, C, C, C,
Consistent elements: B, D, C, C
Description: C, C-, B-, C
Dialogue: B, B, A-, B
Editing: A-, B+, A, A-
Endurance -- daily "grind": B+, C+, B-, B
Evoking the dream: C-, D, D, D
Excellence: C, C+, C, C
Grammar: A-, B+, B+, B+
Imagination (added later, no grade yet)
Improvisation: B, C, B+, B
Interactive: C, C+, B, C+
Networking: B, A+, B+, B+
Outside analysis: C, C-, C, C
Plot: B, C-, C-, B
Poetic: B, C-, D, C
Point of View: B, B, B-, B
Research: A, A, A, A
Rewriting: B, C, C, C
Sentence Structure: A, A, A-, A
Suspense (page turning): C-, D, D, D
Thematic: C+, B-, B-, B-
Vivid Storytelling: D, C, C-, C-
Vocabulary: A-, A-, A-, A-
Voice: B-, B, B+, B

Totals: 5.08.08 B, C+, B-, B-

My overall fiction writing grade is "B-". This is barely above average, and for me right now, not in the least acceptable.

Anything else to add to this list? How would you grade yourself as a writer -- or in any creative endeavor?

Why use a grade?

Well, first, I’m a teacher and this is the evaluation system I know. As I became serious about writing fiction, I realized I needed to evaluate where I am, at this moment, as a fiction writer.

During the Olympics I read an article about athletic training. The article, written by Linda J. Buch, was about the mental game Olympians use and how their techniques can improve personal sport skills. It was short and covered the same basic “improvement” information I’ve read about for years. Perhaps its seeds were falling, for the first time, on fertile soil. I was wondering how to improve skills.

I’ve always been fascinated with Tiger Woods. This is odd because I don’t care about sports and definitely don’t know or care about golf. But there is something so accessible about Tiger Woods. Maybe it’s because he’s Ordinary Every Kid, made extraordinary. I read about how he improves his game, and I wonder if his techniques could apply to me. But then I think, “What am I thinking? I don’t play golf. This could never apply to me.”

The suggestions in Buch’s article were similar to techniques used by Tiger Woods to improve his game. “First, without judgment or excuses, take a personal and honest assessment of where you are today.”

This was tough. I’ve always thought I was a good writer, but exactly how good, and good in what ways? What could be improved? What strengths do I have and how can I build on them?

I came up with a list of qualities of fiction writing. Then I graded myself. Then I started this blog to share with the Universe my process of improvement.

Maybe, someday, Tiger will stop by here. :)

Review: Hillerman

I just finished Tony Hillerman's Sacred Clowns. I'd read it years ago, but barely remembered it, and this time I read it to answer some questions.

1. What did the book evoke?

The book evokes "misfit". Every major character somehow doesn't fit with his or her current circumstances. The Cheyenne federal agent who is trying to cope with Navajo culture. The lady attorney who is Navajo, in Navajo land, but grew up in the city, separated from her culture. The two detectives, Leaphorn and Chee who feel lonely for different reasons and often challenged by the ethics of their work and cultures.

The writing continually evokes this feeling of being a misfit, a feeling we all become familiar with in junior high school, and frequently face as adults. It's what makes us shy in new settings, sets us to asking odd questions like "What will people wear to the pcinic?" We've all experienced that moment when we showed up for a group function and, for some reason (dress, hair cut, age, shoes, time), we didn't fit in.

I remember going to a party in our hometown. Many couples our age were there. It had been talked about for weeks, this particular party. Within a few minutes I realized that we were the only couple who had brought a child. Our cute two-year-old daughter, dressed in pink, was running through the legs of adults -- by herself. Oops! Here we were, smart competent adults, suddenly misfits. We left very soon afterwards.

So by evoking "misfit", Hillerman tapped a universal unease. A reader could think, "I don't know what it's like to be a Navajo tribal policeman, but I sure know what it's like to not fit in."

2. What makes Tony Hillerman a good writer?

I found numerous writing "errors" in the book. Several times Hillerman's sentence structure was confusing, even twisted. I could stop and straighten out the sentence to make it better. The editor in me is good at that. Also, words were ocassionally mis-used. But these problems did not slow down the story.

The story is about misfit people in an exotic location -- the very rural reservations of the south west. Also, the story is filled with vivid details about this exotic place: the names of rural roads, the DJ at a radio station, sunsets against multi-colored mesas, the kachina dance at a pueblo, the smell of the school wood shop.

He explored the location with vivid details, and used precise words and phrases to express beauty or frustration or exhaustion.

3. Why is Tony Hillerman a best-selling author?

See above. Plus, the man can craft an excellent mystery plot.

Have you read any of Tony Hillerman's books? What do you think of his writing?

I Love Cake

I want to be very clear here. I do NOT like MAKING cake. I like EATING cake.

I prefer the sweet white cakes from the super market, but rich chocolate cakes are certainly acceptable. German chocolate is good, lemon is great, orange and strawberry flavored are certainly scrumptious.

Cake is a joy of my life. Although it can make me fat, it isn't as complicated as family. Cake doesn't have "issues" like chocolate does. You can only eat so much cake, then you have to stop. Then it's just there for the next time you want to enjoy.

Another joy in my life is writing fiction. I love MAKING fiction and I love READING fiction. It's even better than cake! And writing fiction has no calorie content whatsoever. The only real down side is that I get very spacey and my family gets very impatient. Like cake, I can only write so much fiction, then I have to stop for awhile. But I always know it's there to enjoy.

I've come to realize in the last few days, that writing fiction is like eating cake for me: one of life's great joys. Along with that realization, came the understanding that like cake, I can enjoy writing fiction whenever and where ever I want. I'm truly not tied to place or days or an office or a desk. Writing just happens where it happens. Just like eating cake just happens.

The rest of life, what often feels like it's interfering with the joy of writing, is actually contributing to the writing, providing fuel for characters and plots and juicy details. What provides this for cake? Icing!

Therefore, life is like icing.

I also love icing.

Metaphor

I tend to think "in metaphor". It's almost like a game with me, "Is this moment like a symphony, or more like a cup of hot chocolate? Maybe like a wild train ride!"

For a long time I was embarrassed about my metaphor inclination. I had read a light hearted mystery in which metaphors were overused and panned seriously. When I was done with the story, I felt sort of ridiculous to be so attached to metaphors.

But like most personality aberrations, this constant thinking about metaphors just wouldn't go away. It became more a secret pleasure, than just a pleasure.

Then one day I was talking to a well-read literary person and I made a derogatory comment about metaphors. The person blinked, and said, "Metaphors are good."

Picture me doing a mental Happy Dance. "Well, if one person thinks metaphors are okay, then that's good enough for me!"

I've been openly metaphoric ever since. I believe this quirk makes me a better fiction writer.

What's your feeling about metaphors? Is this a quirk of yours, or do you harbor others more dangerous?

Evocative Music

Last night we watched two episodes of Star Gate. (Two episodes because this is Romania and the TV stations sometimes stack shows that would normally be spread throughout the week.) This show, in tone, is a lot like the old Star Trek series. Serious about a very futuristic, fantastical world, yet filled with fascinating characters and lighthearted moments. As I watched, I tried to analyze what moved the story from serious, frightening, funny, back to serious, back to funny. The answer in part: the music.

Music in TV and movies is like subliminal messaging. It tells us how to feel, how to respond, what we should feel at certain points in the story.

For example, in one of the Star Gate episodes, a plant from another planet was brought back and was slowly but irrevocably taking over the whole Star Gate complex. The Scientist in charge of the plant, and responsible for the problem, seemed unable to control the mess and also was allergic to the plant. While this was actually extremely serious, we smiled and even laughed during these parts of the show.

Why? Because the music indicated that while serious, this little story was meant to be fun. How did the music "tell" us, the viewers, how to feel? How did it evoke that lightheartedness?

Consider the old classical music favorite "Peter and the Wolf". You probably can even hum the tune of some of the characters, like Grandpa (slow, ponderous bassoons), the wolf (intense, urgent French horns), and Peter (chipper, bouncy violins). The composer used the sound, and nuances of different orchestra instruments to evoke the characters of the story.

In the same way, last night's episode of Star Gate used music. The story about the plant was accompanied by a chipper, bouncy tune played on just a few higher pitched instruments. It reminded me of that lighthearted theme on the old classic Star Trek episode, "The Trouble with Tribbles." However, the parts of the episode that were meant to be serious, or even suspenseful, were played on lower instruments, in lower registers, in minor keys, with a slower yet urgent pace.

I think we all know that music adds to the storytelling experience of tv and movies. Music enriches the tale, gets it closer to the pleasure points in our brains so that we are more deeply entertained. In the same way, of course, fiction writing can entertain.

This is my quest, to find combinations of words, sentences, character, dialogue, plot, paragraphs, grammar and punctuation that evoke feelings in the reader. I'm really hoping to get to pleasure points in people's brains. (Nyah, ah, ah!)

What does music evoke for you? Any music you "feel" more attracted to?

Evoking the Dream: Class with John Gardner

If you know John Gardner, the author, you know he's dead. Therefore this class is being held posthumously.

A copy of Gardner's book, "On Becoming a Novelist" came into my hands about a year ago. I started reading it and threw it aside. "Well this is a lot of puffed up nonsense by some old guy. Not another one!"

But it was the only book about writing available to me, so I picked it up again. "Be positive. You can always learn a little something new."

Perhaps I'd changed, or the Universe changed, or even Gardner changed. As I started to read the second time, I was caught. Gardner was speaking to me, a "becoming novelist" in the matter-of-fact, take-it-or-leave-it manner of an experienced teacher. It was as though he knew his book would be thrown down, given away, found again, re-opened. And he was fine with that, because the person who re-opened his book, needed it right then.

This is what I read and re-read in Gardner's book: as readers, "We slip into a dream, forgetting the room we're sitting in, forgetting it's lunchtime or time to go to work. We recreate ... the vivid and continuous dream the writer worked out in his mind and captured in language so that other human beings, whenever they feel like it, may open his book and dream that dream again."

For the first time, the very first time, I began to view fiction writing from the point of view of the reader. Until my time with Gardner, my fiction was "given" to me like holy writ, and if the world liked it, well okay. But really, why continue to write? Why create fiction just for myself? Why go to all the trouble to write down bits of a dream? Why not just dream?

Because, like so many other dreamers, I really do want to share my dreams. And sharing, just as we learned in kindergarten, means considering others.

In the past months I've willingly embarked on a path of extreme growth. It all started with Gardner's darn book, and hopefully, will continue until I die. In order to share, to consider others, I'll use this modern tool: the blog.

Do you have a book, a moment, an author that suddenly deepened your thinking about something?