I’m going to take a month off in December from this site. I need to prepare a few things (maybe even a presentation) for my upcoming novel. I’ll be back in January, but still I’m nervous about leaving y’all. So in order to cope with this fear, I’ve decided to get my wife to film me naked and use it for this next presentation.
OK. It’s not quite that scary. I’ve censored the footage as necessary. And I promise you that all the footage is (somewhat) on topic.
So what is the topic? Fresh ways to look at your (read: MY) crappy writing. You see, I’m not so into the concept of writer’s block. Every week I write at least something. The problem for me is to make the writing suck less. I always want to find a way to look at my own writing with fresh eyes. Writing groups and mentors and editors and colleagues are immensely helpful for this purpose. But I think it is also valuable to have tools at your disposal without having to depend on someone else. So I give you some examples in this presentation about how I trick myself into looking freshly at my writing. You’ll notice that some of these examples actually do involve other people (or, in my case, a stuffed elephant), but they don’t require the other person to give you feedback. In this way, you can use your kind/loving/tolerant/manipulatable friends to help you without depending on their actual feedback. Check it out:
I’m sure I’ve only scraped the surface here… So what tricks do you use to get a fresh look at your writing?
About Yuvi Zalkow
Yuvi Zalkow's first novel was reluctantly published in 2012 by MP Publishing. His forthcoming novel will be published by Red Hen Press. His stories and essays have been published in Glimmer Train, Narrative Magazine, Carve Magazine, The Daily Dot, Rosebud, The Poop Report, and others. He occasionally makes YouTube videos and apps for iPhones. Check out his website if you actually want to find out more.
I laughed out loud when you gave your pages to the stuffed elephant to read! Great video, and it’s good that you proudly represent the pants-optional writer’s lifestyle – let’s face it, that’s what attracted most of us to the craft in the first place.
Great advice too. I find reading work aloud really helps me – and – um – doing the different voices when reading dialogue. Ha, that sounds way more embarrassing in print.
I back up my writing onto my phone and sometimes read through it when I’m out in the real world. When something’s interesting enough to keep my mind occupied while queuing at the shops, I know it’s working.
I’ll definitely be trying some of your suggestions. Reading in the shower – it’s so simple, so brilliant, I don’t know why it never occurred to me before! :P
Your sly humor reliably astounds and amuses. Pleeeeeze keep it up. Wicked! Subversive! Guess I’ll just have to look in on WU daily (as if I didn’t) on the off chance you will wander back in to maul my funny bone.
I lol’d through this whole clip, bravo Yuvi. But I do think that all crappy writing sounds better when read in a classy British accent.
I agree totally with changing the shape of the text. When I sat down to edit the novel that’s coming out next I uploaded the text to my Kinldle so it had the feel of a real book there and then. It also wasn’t physically on the laptop – it was in my hand as a separate thing divorced from the Word document I’d been staring at for so long – and that made a huge difference. I read on the Kindle and edited on the laptop. Printing out is good too but I’m trying to be greener these days.
I’ve never thought about using the computer to read it … or a stuffed animal. I typically have to print out my work to find some errors. I just don’t catch everything on the computer.
This brightened my writing day, Yuvi. It also gave me some tips to try on my Mac when I get to the revising stage. Thanks! :) The rebellious elephant was too cute.
I’m trying to think of other ways that I get a fresh look at my writing. I haven’t read to a stuffed animal, so I suppose I could try that. I do read my work aloud. I also like to have a printed copy. I haven’t tried re-shaping a prose piece, but I do that all the time with poetry. Change some of the lines; read it aloud. Change the punctuation and again read aloud.
Thanks for all the great feedback already!
Dasia: Doing different voices sounds like a great method. I’ll have to try that too (when no one is around!)…
Alex: Thanks again for kind feedback.
Kathleen: Thanks so much for checking this video out!… And you’ve actually got a good point — the classy British voice *does* sometimes elevate the voice in a way that can be misleading. (Though I do get amused when this classy voice reads all the dirty Yiddish words in my novel-in-progress…)
Jim: I love the idea of reading it on a Kindle. That sounds like a cool trick I’ll have to try…
Stacy: Yes, the computer reading it is a useful method. I always find something I didn’t notice when I read it this way…
M.E. Anders: Let me know if you run into any troubles getting the thing to talk aloud. It’s a really cool method…
Erin: Great to see you here!… Yes, actually, I bet we prose writers could learn quite a few things about this kind of stuff from poets. I suspect that poets are more apt to pay close attention to the placement of each word and the sound of each phrase…
OK. Sorry for the consolidated response… (Is there some blog comment etiquette that says it is wrong to do it this way? Or am I just constantly guilt-ridden?)
~yuvi
I print out and read aloud, but I love your other ideas…pantless obviously helps, since you seem to do it often. I’ll try that first. ;)
I love the Kindle reading idea, too, though not sure how to accomplish that.
Great video…thanks for the smile!
Yuvi, from your first day on WU, you felt familiar to me, yet I knew we hadn’t met. I figured it out this week.
You’re WU’s own Woody Allen, from the smart, self-aware humor to the insecurity, to the subversion! I love it.
Thanks for the feedback Jan. (Also I really appreciated your last WU post. Hope you’re doing well!)
The underlying reason for writer’s block for me also, I’ve come to find, is that when I write crap, I stop because of my fear of writing more crap. The only way out is painful–keep writing crap, to (hopefully) break on through to the good stuff. Thanks Yuvi, for some helpful tips on how to get through this dilemma, and the very funny presentation. One of the greatest gifts that Writer Unboxed gives it’s reader/writers is the comforting realization that we do not suffer the slings and arrows that are inevitable with our work–alone–and that getting where we aim to go is possible.
Loved it! More please!
One of my ways to work at this crappy word problem is to keep my PJs on as long as I can everyday. ; )
Yuvi! I loved every bit of this from the clashing yellow shirts to the elephant to Serena and especially the little message to your wife at the end. And in all seriousness, you gave some excellent ideas for seeing our words in a different way. I so agree that hearing another voice or seeing the words in a different format makes a huge difference.
I also have to tell you that when I read your posts (before watching the video) I read them in YOUR voice now that I’ve heard it enough times. It’s a great reading voice!
Wow. Thanks for your words, Nina. (Yes, an appreciation for my wife throughout all this writing and presentationing was long overdue…) Hope you’re doing well with all that is going on in your world!!! I always enjoy your blog…
I loved this! You tapped right into all my own insecurities. I think I’ll try Serena. Until I have Siri, that is. *Sigh*
P.W.
I love that you’ve come up with options other than relying on critique buddies. ‘Cause really, you (or I) can only call on them so often before their eyes glaze over at the sound of you (or I) reading anything. May we all start reading to stuffed elephants and writing less crappy!
Cool elephant.
I’m a long time advocate of reading work aloud. I have an audience of three dogs who make good listeners though they don’t give much critique.
Wow. Um. wow.
You said it would happen, but I was convinced you were joking. But it happened.
I’m a little scarred, the way I was when I saw RPattz’s distorted nipple in New Moon.
Thank you for the tips – and the blackout square in the shower.
Hey Yuvi! I always know I’m in for a good laugh when you guest at WU. Thanks for giving me some good ideas. I have a Mac yet I don’t know anything about the voice reading of text. What is it?
Thanks.
And I see people all the time responding to a group of commenters in just one reply. I never thought it was “rude”, just efficient.
Patti
Patricia — Thanks for the feedback.
Here’s a link that gives instructions on turning on the text-to-speech functionally: http://www.walterallred.com/tutorials/text-to-speech-mac-os-x-lion/
You can also just pause my video at the right places to see how I set it up. (between 3:10 and 3:35 in the video)
It’s a great, easy-to-use built-in tool for Mac. Let me know if you need more technical help!
You know, I have to admit… I have never tried standing on top of a desk to read my stuff, but I will now. : )
I’ve noticed that a change in scenery almost always effects my writing. For instance, I’ll get a different product writing on the bus then I will writing at home. My best writing usually comes when I’m writing in a cafe, drinking a cup of coffee.
Also, it sounds odd, but pretending you’re a different person when you sit down to write can effect your writing, too. Even dressing differently, sitting differently, etc.. I think, as writers, we get bored with ourselves every now and then, so it adds a certain amount of excitement to our writing.
Thanks,
Savanna
Thank you all for the great feedback! Y’all have some cool stories about other methods of getting a fresh look at the writing. (Wow! I was totally nervous because this was the first time that I appear in my videos — it’s not something I planned on doing with this series — but it seems like it worked OK in this setting! Whew…)
Right. So what I need is a plush elephant to read to. I can do this.
I’ve always just read aloud to myself but my housemates give me funny looks. The elephant will do away with all that.
Hi, Yuvi! I enjoyed watching the video; your tips are funny yet practical :) I always like to read my writing aloud since it allows me to actually hear if what I’ve written is lousy or lacks emotion, but I’ve never tried it the way you do! I would love to try those handy, creative “tools” you shared here :D
Loved this, as always. I’m with you on the power of reading work aloud, changing fonts, all of it. I’ve been reading chapters through my Kindle lately. It looks so grown-up on the screen; maybe that’s why the rough spots jump out at me. Thanks, Yuvi!
Thanks again, Therese! I do love the Kindle idea… I’ll have to swipe [borrow] my wife’s Kindle and try that one out…
This is a hilarious approach to giving your writing a less crappy look. I especially love the 2-column approach and the computer voices. Good luck with your book!
Thanks, Susie! Yeah, the 2-column trick sounds so silly, but it really does help me when I feel too close to the material to scrutinize it… Good luck with your writing!
Oh glory. I’ve never tried reading my work naked. Maybe I should try that. Getting that fresh look is certainly important. Or perhaps I’ll just try using my Mac to read my work. Easier than getting naked it seems. Maybe I could get my cat to read my work. Seems about as likely as getting my husband to film me naked while reading my novel.
I’m just honored that my video could evoke an “Oh glory.” :) Thanks for watching… Yeah, I gotta be honest that having the computer read my work is often more effective than being naked anyhow… at least for the writing.