Is Good Grammar Enough?

Once upon a time, I joined an online critique group. I was excited when I first learned about it, overjoyed even to find like-minded writers, since the group was exclusively for woman writers of my religion, but my excitement didn’t last long.

I learned of this club soon after getting online, so my first submissions for critique weren’t in the best of shape, I’ll admit that. Back then, grammar check didn’t flag correctly spelled words that weren’t correct for the sentence, so while spell check had been a big help, I had a long way to go, and I knew it.

At one point, after submitting several pieces for critique and only ever getting comments on the grammar, I complained to the group because that’s all they noticed. The reply I got back was that I shouldn’t be submitting something full of stupid errors, because it made it hard to notice anything else.

So I went over the last piece I’d submitted again, fixed the mistakes they had flagged, ran it through my spell and grammar check two more times, then for extra insurance I sent a copy to my — then still in junior high school — niece, to proof. Then I submitted it to the group for critique.

The response?

“This is perfect, no problems whatsoever. Good job!”

And that from several different members of the group. I wanted to scream, “Nobody’s perfect! Teach me something I don’t know!” Yet somehow, I knew they wouldn’t understand my complaint, after all, they only ever commented on grammar mistakes, and nothing else.

I found myself bemoaning my lack of good critiques in a writing chat room with several nonmember friends, some of whom were published with a mid-level publisher, not low-level or self-published like the women on the critique group I was considering not renewing my membership of. One of them offered to read the chapter in question herself. I thanked her profusely and sent it “as is” to her.

She returned it bleeding red, giving me detailed lessons in echo, redundancies, and explaining, which I’m afraid was only the tip of the iceberg of the skills I still needed to learn to write at a level the best publishers in the business expect. But at least it was a start, and I didn’t renew my membership of the other group. They weren’t helping, why waste my money?

I did learn from the author, as well as a professional editor and a college grad with a degree in creative writing. Not that the road was easy, I have mentioned in the past how I nearly gave up once, and I’ll admit it’s a few more times than that. Being A Writer However, I have persevered, I learned and I grew. Though sometimes I wonder where I’d be as a writer today if I’d accepted the pat on the back the members of the one group gave me.

Would I even be as a good of a writer as I am today if I’d accepted that good grammar was the only skill a writer needs? Of course not! I didn’t even learn I was telling more than showing until the pro editor told me so, and it took my college grad friend to teach me the difference. I’d heard “show don’t tell” a lot in online chats not associated with that critique group, but until then I’d never been able to figure it out and without learning all these little details that go way beyond grammar, I wouldn’t be the writer I am today.

I mean, saying grammar is the only thing you need to know about writing, to be able to write excellent stories; is like saying all you need to know about sewing is to how thread a sewing machine, to be able to make a wedding dress. (And if you think that, you’ve never tried to adjust a pattern, inset a zipper, or make a buttonhole. Oh wait; I avoided the buttonholes on my wedding dress. J)

So, do you think good grammar is enough to make a person a good writer? Or do you realize, as I did, that there’s more to writing a story than the proper placement of words and punctuation? After all, grade-schoolers should know that much. J

Being A Writer

I didn’t get internet service until 1998, and boy did it open up a whole new world for me, especially after I found an online writing community, now defunct, but where I met a lot of writers and renewed my interest in the craft. Unfortunately, after well over a decade of disuse, my skills, which weren’t that good in first place (especially in spelling), were rusty. And that’s not considering how limited my vocabulary had become.

So, to say the least, my first foray into the realm again after so many years was horrible. But I was lucky to have met a kind woman who sweetly took me under her wing and started giving me the grammar lessons I’d forgotten and worked with me on my spelling.

She also told me about active and passive voice, and “show don’t tell” and I was able to find a mentor in a published author, who helped me until she got too busy. Then I made friends with a professional editor who gave me a critique, and somewhere in there, I learned about Funds for Writers http://www.fundsforwriters.com. And the editor, Hope Clark told me about The Writer’s Chatroom at http://www.writerschatroom.com/Enter.htm.

With their help, I struggled, I groaned, I even cried. At one point, I told my twin, “Maybe I’m not cut out to be a writer,” she encouraged me and I grew as a writer. And I learned a lot.

Today, I can spot passive voice in a heartbeat and I’m down to 0%. I also don’t need my spell check as often, my vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds, and I even know the difference between showing and telling. Plus I’ve learned about echo, redundancies, and flow.

I haven’t sold a novel yet, however I think I’m on the right track, because not only does practice make perfect but I’m not stagnating anymore.

What do you think? J

Writing Twins

My sister and I have had several people tell us we should write a novel together, not because we both write, or because we think alike (frankly we don’t, at least not always) but because we’re twins.

I just don’t get why. What does our twin-ness have to do with our writing? Being a twin doesn’t make us better writers; it just means we have the same genes. And it isn’t as if being a twin has helped any other writers make it big in the world.

I mean name a set of twins who are both writers, go on, name a set.

Ann Landers and Dear Abby?

They didn’t become household names because they’re twins; they became household names because they knew their stuff! The fact that they were twins is just a curiosity, nothing more; so why should my sister and I “play up” our twin-ness?

Because curiosity breeds interest, and the idea is that interest could generate sells.

Nice idea, but has it ever worked for any other set of twins?

I mean I can name some famous twins, but other than the aforementioned advice columnist, none of them are writers. They are in fact actors, most of whom got their start in Hollywood because there are two of them.  

Like say the Olsen twins, and Tia and Tamara Mowry.

But there are a lot more sets of twins who played one role that never made it big, and I can name one actor who made it in television whose twin never even tried to be become an actor. They were identical; I saw them once on a TV game show.

Who’s the actor?

Conrad Bain, the fellow who played the Dad in Different Strokes.

So I’m still back to what does my twin-ness have to do with my writing?

Nothing, other than it’s a fact about me.

Nothing, other than we both write, and we often brainstorm together.

Being a twin is just a part of who I am, like being the wife of a historical re-enactor is just part of who I am. Put those together and they just might make me an interesting person.

Now to think of ways to play up our twin-ness.

Any suggestions? J