Self-Taught MFA

Fall 2020 Semester in Review: Did My Writing Improve?

12.30.2020 by Olivia // Leave a Comment

Hi reader. Thanks for being here with me, especially through this difficult and tumultuous year. Writing and reading have been my constants in a year with an uncomfortable degree of instability and change. Since my semester began in September 2020, I’ve gone through several significant changes in my life, the most notable of which is my transition to full-time self-employment. This has meant a variable work schedule and lots of stress and uncertainty; it has also brought joy, purpose, and intellectual challenge back into my work life.

I’m glad to report that work is going very well and I’m looking forward to what 2021 has in store. (Cautiously optimistic, even!) As a side note: if you or anyone you work with is in need of a quality freelance writer/marketing consultant, please email me: olivia@selftaughtmfa.com

But now that the personal stuff is out of the way, let’s get into my semester review. How did I do? Did I meet the goals I set out at the beginning of the semester?

Writing Module

First, what did I get written this semester? On this front, I am very satisfied with my progress. When the semester began, I was midway through my first draft of Project Whirlwind, an adult contemporary romance. I completed the project by the end of September, which means that the entire rough draft took just under three months to write. This is the fastest I’ve ever written a book, and furthermore, I’m pretty sure it’s the best book I’ve ever written. This alone is a huge accomplishment for the semester.
After I was finished with that draft, I took some time to write some poetry. I had a number of ideas for what my next project might be, but I focused on reading as much as possible and letting things marinate. (This tends to work well for me.)
Finally, this month I started my next novel, an urban fantasy/paranormal romance project I’m calling Project Fire.
I completed almost every single goal listed for my writing module this semester. (Read the syllabus here.)

Literature Module

I had mixed results with this module. For the first few months I was doing fine; later in the semester I started chafing under the list of texts I’d planned to read. I’m a big mood reader, and I really don’t like being told what to read, even when I’ve made the list myself. Still, I managed to get to nine of the twelve titles I chose to read this semester.
Best nonfiction writing book I read: Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Best classic I read: Persuasion by Jane Austen
Best romance I read: Beach Read by Emily Henry

Next semester, I will be selecting a few titles that I’d like to read in preparation for revising Project Whirlwind, but I’m hoping to keep the list short and open to adding/subtracting titles.

Professional Development Module

On the one hand, I didn’t really get to many of my set goals for this module. I hope to incorporate them next semester, because I still feel that they are great ideas and really vital to my professional development! On the other hand, I think I grew more in this area than I ever have before, considering that I’m currently working as a freelance writer. I still have a lot to learn, but I’m really happy with what I’ve learned this semester.

Has my writing improved?

I think so! It’s hard to say, of course, being terribly biased in favor of my own greatness. 🙂 That’s one place where the benefits of a traditional MFA or other writing program shine. Strangers and educators are far more objective. Still, I think it’s safe to say that yes, I have improved this semester. I have a better idea of where my writing career is going, and what my next few books will look like. I’ve discovered a new interest in paranormal romance and urban fantasy that I hope to feed with lots of fantastic books next year.
It’s also safe to say that my tactics will be changing next semester. I’m still not sure exactly what I ought to do to continue to push myself and grow. At the beginning of the semester, my focus will be on finding my flow with my new novel, something that’s proving a bit difficult for this project. Once I get settled, I’d like to learn more about rewriting and revision in preparation to revisit Project Whirlwind, which needs my attention. My final priority will be learning more about the craft of writing.

I’ll be sharing my spring 2021 syllabus in the next few days, along with my much-anticipated (by me) best books of 2020 list. I read 150 books this year (!!) and there are so many standouts to choose from. In the meantime, cheers to a new, better year.

November Reading Wrap-Up

12.11.2020 by Olivia // Leave a Comment

Hello, reader! I apologize for my unannounced sabbatical– work has been keeping me very busy for the last few weeks. I’ve also been experimenting with a potential new novel idea. This busyness hasn’t stopped me from my usual habit of voracious reading, though. I managed to read 14 books in November. As always, I’ll be talking about the highlights and the books I read for my lit module– no need to bore you with talk of the handful of disappointing reads this month.

November’s Lit Module Texts

Classic

Villette by Charlotte Brontë
I consider Jane Eyre to be one of my favorite books, so I’ve long been interested in reading other books by Charlotte Brontë. Though I was stunned by this book’s intelligence and its fascinating portrait of the inner life of a complicated, unlikeable, and inscrutable woman, it made for a difficult and unpleasant reading experience. It is unquestionably one of the most depressing books I have ever read, and I was disappointed to find almost all of this 600-page book’s dialogue to be in untranslated French. Still, my respect for Brontë continues to grow.

Romance

Beach Read by Emily Henry
I have been looking forward to this delightful enemies-to-lovers romance since it came out this summer, and I was not disappointed. Rival writers January and Gus challenge each other to write and sell a novel in the other person’s genre (romance and literary fiction) over one summer. Though I enjoyed it, I can’t shake the feeling that the cover and title will be misleading to many readers. Lake Michigan is hardly your typical sunny beach, and this book deals with topics much heavier than your average ‘beach read’, including abuse, suicide, infidelity, cancer, and a huge helping of existential angst.

December reading plans

Well, we’re already a good bit into December, but that’s never stopped me before! This month I’m tackling my final four books from my semester reading list. I’m also hoping to read a few Christmas novellas and some urban fantasy books, since my new novel project might be in that genre. Finally, I’m looking forward to reflecting on my 2020 reading/writing year and setting some goals for next year.
Happy reading and happy holidays!

Save the Cat Saved My Novel

11.17.2020 by Olivia // Leave a Comment

Let me tell you about an amazing book with an unusual title.

book cover Save the Cat by Jessica Brody

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel is a book by Jessica Brody, based on the Save the Cat! series by Blake Snyder. The Snyder series is well-known within the screenwriting community; Jessica Brody adapted Snyder’s findings for novels and further popularized it.

This book essentially breaks down and demystifies the art of the novel. It gets to the heart of what makes a novel tick: what motivates characters, how to make your book engaging, how to time your plot points correctly. And its observations and prescriptions are based on the study of successful literature of many genres.

One of the most famous aspects of Save the Cat is its “beat sheet”, a breakdown of the order and structure of all the “beats” that drive all stories. Of course any reader or writer could tell you it’s all more complex than the simple chart of exposition-rising action-climax-falling action-denouement that we all know from high school. But how do you keep your book interesting scene by scene? How do you fix the inevitable drag that happens after the finale, but before the book is over? That’s what this book teaches you.

You can trust me: I’ve read many books that claim to do what Save the Cat actually does. This is the real deal. How do I know for sure? It fixed my novel.

I’m talking about Project Olympus, the book I finished writing in June. (You can read more about Project Olympus in this update post.) It’s multi-year labor of love, and based on an idea that had been brewing for years prior to writing. I love Project Olympus, but when I reread it last month, hoping to go back for edits, I was sorely disappointed. I knew it was in bad shape, but when I read it I couldn’t imagine how I could even begin to fix it. I couldn’t see a path to editing it, and I thought I was better off setting it aside forever.

As I was reading Save the Cat, Project Olympus began to solve itself in the back of my mind. The plot holes fixed themselves, the climax became more compelling. It was amazing, and it really is thanks to this book that I found the insight to fix my book.

I hope this means I’ll be rewriting the book, but I can’t make any promises. I still have my reservations about the story, and I’m having difficulty tapping back into the same passion for the story that I had when I began writing it. But I think learning how to properly revise is the next step in my writing journey, and sometimes you can’t wait around for the ‘right time’ for something, you just have to jump in. And after two years with this story, and many more with it rattling around in the back of my head, I’m ready to see it emerge in its final form.