Comments on: Excellence http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/27/excellence/ about the craft and business of fiction Wed, 23 May 2012 23:52:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: barbara http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/27/excellence/#comment-83404 barbara Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:22:47 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/28/excellence/#comment-83404 Checking in from an internet kiosk in Tasmania. (which is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!)... Cooking is a great example, too. I love to cook and it does require allowing for some failure. The photo is mine! :) Love the patterns. Eric, the comment on making decisions stuck with me. I can get into loops of dithering and just freeze. Not helpful. Checking in from an internet kiosk in Tasmania. (which is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!)…

Cooking is a great example, too. I love to cook and it does require allowing for some failure.

The photo is mine! :) Love the patterns.

Eric, the comment on making decisions stuck with me. I can get into loops of dithering and just freeze. Not helpful.

Like? Thumb up 0

]]> By: Julie Layne http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/27/excellence/#comment-83256 Julie Layne Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:10:11 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/28/excellence/#comment-83256 Photography is my "other thing," too, and the best advice I ever received was years ago when talking to someone about photography. I mentioned to this accomplished photographer that I always had to take a lot of shots of the same subject to get a good picture, thinking I was doing something wrong. He told me I was doing it right--without even knowing it, I was "bracketing," which is something nearly every good photographer does. Who knew? And, when you think about it, it's the same way with writing, just as you said. You have to write a lot of crap to find the gems. Kind of like panning for gold, too. Think of all the dirt you have to sift through before you find that kernel. Photography is my “other thing,” too, and the best advice I ever received was years ago when talking to someone about photography. I mentioned to this accomplished photographer that I always had to take a lot of shots of the same subject to get a good picture, thinking I was doing something wrong. He told me I was doing it right–without even knowing it, I was “bracketing,” which is something nearly every good photographer does. Who knew?

And, when you think about it, it’s the same way with writing, just as you said. You have to write a lot of crap to find the gems. Kind of like panning for gold, too. Think of all the dirt you have to sift through before you find that kernel.

Like? Thumb up 0

]]> By: Suzanne http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/27/excellence/#comment-83169 Suzanne Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:49:15 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/28/excellence/#comment-83169 First, have a wonderful trip to Australia...I hope you bring back wonderful memories and wonderful pics. Cooking has become very meditative, my hands work, my mind wanders, it's incredibly relaxing...and when one dish is done I get to start on a new one. First, have a wonderful trip to Australia…I hope you bring back wonderful memories and wonderful pics.

Cooking has become very meditative, my hands work, my mind wanders, it’s incredibly relaxing…and when one dish is done I get to start on a new one.

Like? Thumb up 0

]]> By: Eric http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/27/excellence/#comment-83158 Eric Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:31:01 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/28/excellence/#comment-83158 In other words, it'd be better to write 50 takes on a scene than to obsess over a single draft of one. In the time it takes to decide what you want to do with that single scene draft, you could have found the best one out of 50. It's incredibly frustrating, but so important to remember. In other words, it’d be better to write 50 takes on a scene than to obsess over a single draft of one. In the time it takes to decide what you want to do with that single scene draft, you could have found the best one out of 50.

It’s incredibly frustrating, but so important to remember.

Like? Thumb up 0

]]> By: Eric http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/27/excellence/#comment-83157 Eric Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:29:12 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/28/excellence/#comment-83157 "I discover that it doesn’t matter very much that only one in ten, or one in 50, or one in a 100 shots is worth saving." This is where you discover that being indecisive is silly. The more decisions you make, be it 50 or 100, the closer you are to a story you're happy with. Refusing to make a decision means you're hovering at 1, and not going beyond that. When it can take 50 - 100 takes to get something right, hemming and hawing over a single take is obviously getting you nowhere. That's an incredibly valuable lesson to me, one that I sometimes forget. “I discover that it doesn’t matter very much that only one in ten, or one in 50, or one in a 100 shots is worth saving.”

This is where you discover that being indecisive is silly. The more decisions you make, be it 50 or 100, the closer you are to a story you’re happy with.

Refusing to make a decision means you’re hovering at 1, and not going beyond that. When it can take 50 – 100 takes to get something right, hemming and hawing over a single take is obviously getting you nowhere.

That’s an incredibly valuable lesson to me, one that I sometimes forget.

Like? Thumb up 0

]]> By: Kathleen Bolton http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/27/excellence/#comment-83149 Kathleen Bolton Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:00:17 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2008/08/28/excellence/#comment-83149 I like to bake, though I don't have a lot of time for it these days. The sifting, the blending---it's theraputic. I do plenty of mental plotting when I bake, too. I never thought about what my love of baking and writing have in common, but I guess it's the effort to carefully bind disparate ingrediants into something coherant (and delicious!) that thrills me. Great post, Barbara. And I love the photo... I like to bake, though I don’t have a lot of time for it these days. The sifting, the blending—it’s theraputic. I do plenty of mental plotting when I bake, too. I never thought about what my love of baking and writing have in common, but I guess it’s the effort to carefully bind disparate ingrediants into something coherant (and delicious!) that thrills me.

Great post, Barbara. And I love the photo…

Like? Thumb up 0

]]>