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Five things I learned while teaching at Odyssey
Five things I learned while teaching at Odyssey
Last month I was a guest lecturer at the annual Odyssey Writing Workshop. It's a truism that a teacher learns as much if not more than her students, so I thought I'd share what I learned from the experience. Some were new, while others were things that I already knew, but needed to be reminded of, much in the same way that every New Year's Eve I relearn why champagne and I don't mix.
- The best way to learn something is to teach it
- Deadlines and real life don't always mix
- There is no one true way
- Avoid the trap of comparing yourself to others
- There is no substitute for the energy you get from being around other writers
The best way to learn something is to teach it
My talk was on how to write a series. I've written two trilogies, so it's fair to say I must know how to do this. But when it came time to put together a lecture I had to step back and think. What worked for me? What didn't work? How and why did my approach change from the Devlin series to the Chronicles of Josan? What would I do differently next time? How do other authors tackle series projects? How does writing different kinds of series influence how you organize and plan the project? The more I thought about it, the more questions I had. By the time I was standing in the classroom in Manchester, I knew far more than when I'd originally proposed the topic.
Deadlines and real life don't always mix
I'm a deadline-driven person, so I'm most productive as the deadline looms. But waiting until the end isn't always the best strategy. When I initially agreed to present at Odyssey, the date chosen looked like it would work well with my schedule. By the time June approached, I was drowning at the day job, doing my own work and covering for two people who were out on leave. Everything still got done on time, but life would have been easier if I'd started preparing the lecture when I'd picked the topic, rather than waiting until the month before. The same holds true for writing--if you're a deadline-driven person, you need to figure out how to create artificial early deadlines so that you have time in your schedule to recover when the unexpected happens.
There is no one true way
Whenever I'm talking about writing, I always take care to emphasize that there is no one true way to be a writer. Techniques that work for my friends drive me crazy (and vice versa.) I took care to present multiple approaches, pointing out how some techniques might appeal to seat-of-the-pants type writers, while other techniques would appeal to the detailed outliners. And that it was important to experiment and try different techniques, because what worked for one project might not work for the next.
As an example, several years back I had investigated some of the early versions of writing software tools, and dismissed them because they didn't work with my cognitive style. But in the process of preparing this lecture I researched what's currently available and found myself pleasantly surprised. I'm looking forward to using these new tools for my next project.
Avoid the trap of comparing yourself to others
One of the easiest traps to fall into as a writer is to compare yourself to others. Alice writes three books a year to your one, Carlos sold that zombie unicorn detective story to the editor you really wanted to work with, Heidi is getting fantastic publisher support to launch her new series, Stefan has a starred Publishers Weekly review, you know the drill.
When Jeanne Cavelos invited me to return to Odyssey as a guest lecturer, I was initially thrilled. Then the doubts started creeping in--maybe the other guest authors would be more famous than I am. Maybe they would be more knowledgeable, or more engaging, or they'd choose more interesting topics to talk about. It's easy to start doubting yourself, but those doubts are self-destructive. Worrying about them gained me nothing. The only thing I needed to focus on was my lecture. The only person I needed to compare myself to was the Patricia who had lectured at Odyssey back in 2009, and how I could improve on that performance. The same is true for your writing--we need to learn to let go of the things we can't control and focus on the things we can.
There is no substitute for the energy you get from being around other writers
The internet has made it possible for us to connect with other writers in ways that weren't possible a generation before. When I first started writing I was in a critique group where we mailed each other chapters. As in snail mail. The mind boggles. Now we can now exchange chapters by email, post questions on forums, join live chats, brainstorm plot ideas over Skype, and keep up with our writing friends via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc. But there's still no substitute for being in a room full of people who share your passion. Unfortunately many of us live in places where there aren't groups of writers to hang out with, or where the local writing scene doesn't welcome genre writers. Being at Odyssey reminded me that I need to make time to be with other writers, whether that's prodding my local friends so we get back to scheduled meetups, or planning vacation days to attend conventions.
I want to close by thanking Jeanne Cavelos for inviting me to lecture at this year's Odyssey Workshop, I'm so glad I said Yes when she asked. I loved every minute of my time at Odyssey, and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the students. I hope they enjoyed having me there as well.
Bio Patricia Bray's recent projects include recording the definitive audio pronunciations of character names and invented words for her upcoming audio book releases from Audible. She's also slated to co-edit the CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE: STEAMPUNK vs. ALIENS anthology, the first title to be released by the new small press Zombies Need Brains LLC.
Last month I was a guest lecturer at the annual Odyssey Writing Workshop. It's a truism that a teacher learns as much if not more than her students, so I thought I'd share what I learned from the experience. Some were new, while others were things that I already knew, but needed to be reminded of, much in the same way that every New Year's Eve I relearn why champagne and I don't mix.
- The best way to learn something is to teach it
- Deadlines and real life don't always mix
- There is no one true way
- Avoid the trap of comparing yourself to others
- There is no substitute for the energy you get from being around other writers
The best way to learn something is to teach it
My talk was on how to write a series. I've written two trilogies, so it's fair to say I must know how to do this. But when it came time to put together a lecture I had to step back and think. What worked for me? What didn't work? How and why did my approach change from the Devlin series to the Chronicles of Josan? What would I do differently next time? How do other authors tackle series projects? How does writing different kinds of series influence how you organize and plan the project? The more I thought about it, the more questions I had. By the time I was standing in the classroom in Manchester, I knew far more than when I'd originally proposed the topic.
Deadlines and real life don't always mix
I'm a deadline-driven person, so I'm most productive as the deadline looms. But waiting until the end isn't always the best strategy. When I initially agreed to present at Odyssey, the date chosen looked like it would work well with my schedule. By the time June approached, I was drowning at the day job, doing my own work and covering for two people who were out on leave. Everything still got done on time, but life would have been easier if I'd started preparing the lecture when I'd picked the topic, rather than waiting until the month before. The same holds true for writing--if you're a deadline-driven person, you need to figure out how to create artificial early deadlines so that you have time in your schedule to recover when the unexpected happens.
There is no one true way
Whenever I'm talking about writing, I always take care to emphasize that there is no one true way to be a writer. Techniques that work for my friends drive me crazy (and vice versa.) I took care to present multiple approaches, pointing out how some techniques might appeal to seat-of-the-pants type writers, while other techniques would appeal to the detailed outliners. And that it was important to experiment and try different techniques, because what worked for one project might not work for the next.
As an example, several years back I had investigated some of the early versions of writing software tools, and dismissed them because they didn't work with my cognitive style. But in the process of preparing this lecture I researched what's currently available and found myself pleasantly surprised. I'm looking forward to using these new tools for my next project.
Avoid the trap of comparing yourself to others
One of the easiest traps to fall into as a writer is to compare yourself to others. Alice writes three books a year to your one, Carlos sold that zombie unicorn detective story to the editor you really wanted to work with, Heidi is getting fantastic publisher support to launch her new series, Stefan has a starred Publishers Weekly review, you know the drill.
When Jeanne Cavelos invited me to return to Odyssey as a guest lecturer, I was initially thrilled. Then the doubts started creeping in--maybe the other guest authors would be more famous than I am. Maybe they would be more knowledgeable, or more engaging, or they'd choose more interesting topics to talk about. It's easy to start doubting yourself, but those doubts are self-destructive. Worrying about them gained me nothing. The only thing I needed to focus on was my lecture. The only person I needed to compare myself to was the Patricia who had lectured at Odyssey back in 2009, and how I could improve on that performance. The same is true for your writing--we need to learn to let go of the things we can't control and focus on the things we can.
There is no substitute for the energy you get from being around other writers
The internet has made it possible for us to connect with other writers in ways that weren't possible a generation before. When I first started writing I was in a critique group where we mailed each other chapters. As in snail mail. The mind boggles. Now we can now exchange chapters by email, post questions on forums, join live chats, brainstorm plot ideas over Skype, and keep up with our writing friends via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc. But there's still no substitute for being in a room full of people who share your passion. Unfortunately many of us live in places where there aren't groups of writers to hang out with, or where the local writing scene doesn't welcome genre writers. Being at Odyssey reminded me that I need to make time to be with other writers, whether that's prodding my local friends so we get back to scheduled meetups, or planning vacation days to attend conventions.
I want to close by thanking Jeanne Cavelos for inviting me to lecture at this year's Odyssey Workshop, I'm so glad I said Yes when she asked. I loved every minute of my time at Odyssey, and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the students. I hope they enjoyed having me there as well.
Bio Patricia Bray's recent projects include recording the definitive audio pronunciations of character names and invented words for her upcoming audio book releases from Audible. She's also slated to co-edit the CLOCKWORK UNIVERSE: STEAMPUNK vs. ALIENS anthology, the first title to be released by the new small press Zombies Need Brains LLC.