Thoughts on Writing #20: Boundaries.

[seanan_mcguire]

It's time to return to the modern day for the twentieth essay in my ongoing series of essays on the art and craft of writing. Just in case you're new to the party, there will eventually be fifty essays, all of them based on my fifty thoughts on writing. (Past essays are linked from the list of thoughts as they're finished, thus allowing people to

Comments

[tibicina]

The thing is, we also get upset when we feel that they're being...?

Your sentence, it lacks an end.

[seanan_mcguire]

I have no living clue how that got redacted. Thanks for pointing it out, hon, and it's fixed now.

[gorgeousgary]

Obviously the work of our robot overlords protectors.

[seanan_mcguire]

Merry Christmas!

[dornbeast]

...if you get two chapters into the new book and realize that it's just not working for you, you're allowed to stop. You don't owe it to anyone but yourself and the work. And maybe your agent.

This does assume that you are the sensible sort of writer who doesn't sign a three-book contract without making sure that books two and three are going to work. Less-than-sensible writers get what they deserve, but that's a subject for a different essay.

[seanan_mcguire]

Well, it's also possible to be quite sensible, and not realize where the story will go. I live in mortal fear of series outlines, because I change my mind so damn often.

[miintikwa]

Excellent, excellent essay.

Setting boundaries is good. Knowing what's expected and wanted is better.

As a beta-reader, I was welcomed onto a couple of projects as location-specialist. (I am lucky enough to live in Florida, and to have travelled to Miami, Tampa, and several other areas that are popular novel-writing areas.) I asked writer A "Can I let you know about typos and stuff when I see them?" Writer A said "YES, please!" I neglected to ask Writer B, and when I sent in a note about Writer B's error on a location, they did not like that I had included "typo on page [whatever]."

I apologized, and promised not to do that again. (I kept my promise. Writer B and I are still close. I still help with locations for them-- but now I ask. I am a nit-picker, what can I say?)

[seanan_mcguire]

Boundaries are incredibly important things. It's equally important to understand them from both sides of the fence -- I can be a very, very harsh critique partner, and if you tell me you want it, I'll give it to you. This has led to problems when people assumed the bubbly blonde girl just had to be kidding about hard she'd hit...

[miintikwa]

*nod* And see, I am not the person to go to if you want harsh crit. Unless something is *really* badly written, I'm just not going to tear it apart. It's not my style. I'm not all fluffy bunnies and roses, but I'm also not your velociraptor and meat-chunk kinda girl. *grin* I'm an owl! I'll give you the occasional insightful critique, and then fly off to the next shiny thing. ;)

[seanan_mcguire]

Which is totally fine! I have people who never deliver harsh crit -- that's not their job with me. Instead, they tell me how things flow, and ask me what's going on when they hit stuff that doesn't make immediate sense.