Quick Aside
A few weeks ago, I submitted 3000 or so words of a memoir that I'd like to write about growing up, getting a new and not entirely welcome body in the tween and teen years, and then not long after that, watching it crumble and slightly fall apart in little ways to The Memoirists Collective on MySpace. Nothing too dramatic, but a funny coming of age saga that lots o' people can relate to.
Of course now that I am in India, they selected my story to be workshopped and commented on! You can find it at MySpace Memoirists Collective Blog
If you are a MySpace member, please leave some feedback for me! If you aren't a lemming like me (and thus don't have a MySpace account - good for you!), if you can let me know what you think by leaving your thoughts here at CUSS, that would be awesome. I've posted a version of this story here eons ago, but I really flushed it out with the magic of dialogue.
Thanks!!!
posted by Suzanne @ 1:39 PM
and I'm more than delighted to send some your way. Spread (ha ha!) the word!
4 Comments:
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And you hesitate to call yourself a writer? Pah!
Having read this piece before, I have to say it's looking really, really good. Not that it wasn't before, but as your excitement proves, it's all about dialogue. There's nothing worse than a memoir where I feel like the author is preaching to me, rather than telling me a story, and you, Suzanne, are certainly a phenomenal storyteller. (And I'm not just saying that...it's true). Because of the dialogue and because you keep the majority of the piece "in scene," your voice flows well, and I even found myself laughing aloud a few times (and I never laugh aloud). My only criticism is something every writer hears at some point: beware of adverbs and adjectives, especially when it comes to speech indicators. I'm still guilty of doing it on occasion, but sometimes it's best to just write "said," as opposed to modifying it with an adverb or going on to describe how the speaker spoke. It's all part of that "show, don't tell" thing, and it takes a while to get the hang of balancing it all out (at least when it comes to dialogue), but you're doing an excellent job, and if you keep going at this rate, I have no doubt that you'll eventually catch editors'/publishers' eyes. :)
Haven't read the piece yet but I gotta comment on the fact that you are so prolific. I am impressed, Ms. Cuss.
Just read it: Awesome work, esp. the dialogue and descriptions of the doc! Funny, while I was reading (critically, as you requested), the absolute only thing I came across was what others had already pointed out - the abrupt switch in voice in the paragraph beginning with Americans.
I don't do MySpace so I had to leave my comment here. I also don't own an iPod, and haven't played a video game since Frogger. Go me, right?
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