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5 June, 2010 9:11 am

Demand Studios Rewrites

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by Deb    in Articles, NonFiction Writing, Writing Diary

I was a little bit more canny with my next choice of assignment titles.

“Write about what you know” is almost a mantra for writers, so I decided to put it to use in a practical sense.

What do I know?

Well, sometimes that’s a hard question to answer. I know loads. Lots of little bits about a lot of subjects. But what do I know really well?

Writing.

I know how to write, and I know how to teach other people how to write – or at least how to make their writing better and avoid some of the pitfalls.

I plugged ‘writing’ and various alternatives into the demand studios filter and came up with a title on the writer’s code of ethics which I quickly claimed.

Having one title left out of my initial three, I did a little thinking ‘outside the box’, and found another title relating to telling stories to preschool children which I also claimed.

Writing about the code of ethics was easy for me, the research and writing combined took just over an hour. That’s better than my long ramble with the raccoons of a few days ago. I’d like to do it faster, and maybe when I’m more familiar with the DS style and voice I’ll be able to. For now, I’m happy with that.

Shock, horror. The article came back within hours asking for rewrites. Glancing through the rewrite requests it seemed just about everything I’d written was flagged for change.

I’d expected the raccoons to come back. They didn’t. I didn’t expect the code of ethics to come back. It did. Lesson. Don’t assume anything with Demand Studios. Copy Editors work to strict guidelines (as do the writers) and theoretically we’re all working to the same rules. Interpretations, however, differ.

For instance, I didn’t include a caption with the illustration I sent with the raccoons. No problem there according to the CE who reviewed it. But the copy editor who reviewed my second article insisted all photos must have a caption.

To be fair, the rewrites were very simple changes and on reflection I couldn’t argue with any of them. They were small changes, but as writers we know what a huge difference small changes to word order or language can make.

I made the changes as requested and resubmitted and, happily, the second version was quickly accepted. Again within hours.

The point I’m making here is that you just can’t be precious about your words. If you get a rewrite request, just do it. Of course there are instances when the request is wrong or will change the meaning or angle of your article, and in those cases you need to think carefully about where you stand on the issue. If the change goes against the grain with you then maybe you need to walk away from it. But you don’t niggle about the small stuff. It’s not worth it, not even when it surprises you.

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4 June, 2010 10:17 am

First Article with Demand Studios

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by Deb    in Articles, NonFiction Writing, Writing Diary

It’s been a month since I signed up with Demand Studios. This week I decided I’d better do something about it.

The search for assignments is actually quite hard, and the amount of documentation that details the style, content, level of research, referencing system etc is staggering.

Whilst I haven’t been actively writing for Demand Studios since signing up, I have been dipping into the various style guides and reading the forums – and thinking this is waaay too much work for what they’re offering.

Anyone who tells you it’s a piece of cake, or even a scam, hasn’t been there. Yes, once you know how it probably is easy. But so is everything when you’ve learned it. The Demand Studios learning curve is quite steep.

But I lost a relatively lucrative gig this month. So, here we go. I always said Demand would be more of a standby than a main earner. I just didn’t expect to need the standby this soon.

The Search for Assignments

Back to the search for assignments. When you first start out with Demand Studios you’re allowed to claim a maximum of 3 titles. You have to get those approved before you’re allowed any more. Once you pass the magic 3 acceptances mark you can maintain a rolling total of 10 titles.

You’re presented with literally hundreds of article titles on just about every topic under the sun. And yet I couldn’t find a single one that appealed to me. I gave up the first search thinking this just wasn’t for me.

But I’m nothing if not persistent, so I went back again, and this time tried searching a little bit more intelligently. There’s a filter box where you can enter specific keywords for the subject you’d like to write about.

An Unwise Choice

I like animals. I’ve written about dogs before (http://www.dogtrainingguidance.com) so I thought I’d see if that threw anything my way and started searching for animal-based titles.

I actually ended up myself quite a task. I found a title that involved raccoons and how they mark their territory. Okay. I can do that, thinks I.

Ha! Do I know anything about Raccoons? Nope. Did I set myself up for a load of reasearch? Yep. Are Raccoons triksy little beasts that change behaviour depending on their geographical location? Yep. Does that make documenting their habits in 500 words harder? Too right.

The article took over three hours to write. Very bad on Demand Studios pay.

On the upside, it was accepted straight away which surprised me no end. I was sure I’d have a rewrite call.

Lesson learned. Choose titles that I know at least something about. 2 to get then I get to the magic 10.

PS – I managed to get my first article accepted immediately, but it took me 3 rewrites before they liked my Bio because I wasn’t presenting it just exactly as they liked. And even now, when it’s been accepted, they’ve changed what I wrote. They maybe should have written it themselves in the first place.

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3 May, 2010 10:12 am

Writing with Demand Studios

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by Deb    in Articles, NonFiction Writing, Writing Diary

I’ve decided to give writing with Demand Studios a try, and I’ll log here how it goes and whether it turns out to be worth the effort or not.

First Impressions

Having got through the application process, which took about four days and involved submitting my resume along with a writing sample, I was required to fill in my profile/bio and submit tax information before I could claim any assignments. Fair enough. I’ve read a lot from people who object to giving tax information online (understandably), but as I’m writing from the UK all this meant for me was to give them my contact details and declare I was outside the USA. Nothing scary there.

The attractive thing about writing with Demand Studios is that it’s always there, with writing assignments on tap when other work is a bit scarce.

The pay’s not great, but if you’ve spent any time browsing the writing gig boards and become depressed over the number of $2 jobs, then $15 at Demand Studios suddenly doesn’t seem so bad. At today’s conversion rate it’s somewhere around the £9.80 mark for 400 – 500 words.

It’s definitely not a way to get rich through writing, but it is (possibly) a way to find ongoing motivation to write that has a tangible reward with twice weekly pay days through PayPal.

There are a lot of assignments.

I can’t claim any before filling in the resume/bio bit, but I could glance through what was available. It’s a real mixed bag, with some titles making no sense whatsoever. I can see finding titles to claim could become a big time drain – and if writing with Demand Studios is going to pay then time is of the essence.

I’m putting a strict time limit of one hour on each assignment I take on, and that has to include the research, gathering of resources and sources where needed, and the writing. My practised ability to freewrite will pay dividends here.

Guidance for New Demand Studios Writers

Of this there is a ton. Everything from style sheets to finished, approved articles. It’s all in the resource centre. Whereas some people like to dive right in and get writing, I’m in the camp that likes to have a good read around what’s expected of me. Yep, I always read instruction manuals before I press buttons on new gadgets, and yep, I drive the family mad.

So I approached writing with Demand Studios in the same fashion, and I’m reading everything, including forum postings on the newbie board so I can get an idea of what other new Demand Studios writers have struggled with.

I advise any other new writers to do the same. The forum community seems friendly, helpful and knowledgeable.

As each submitted assignment has to go through an editing process, most new writers worry that they won’t pass, or that they’ll be fired for getting rejections. Or they fret over why something was rejected and whether or not a rewrite is worth the time. The more experienced writers provide a steadying, reassuring voice and I’ve yet to come across any patronising voices – the biggest turn off for newcomers who want to ask questions.

It’s early days for me, having not even claimed my first assignment yet, so I have no idea how it’ll turn out.

The thing is to make it work for me rather than the other way round. The articles/assignments aren’t rocket science, but I can already see that the format and research could make writing with Demand Studios time consuming if I don’t choose titles carefully.

Off to find one then. As a newbie, I have a maximum of three, which I need to write and get approved. After that I can maintain a queue of ten.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

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9 February, 2010 9:09 am

First Drafts – Patchwork Writing

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by Deb    in Articles, Fiction Writing, NonFiction Writing, Random Writing Rambles
patchwork writing

Photo by Lori Ann http://mamawit.wordpress.com/

I’ve just read a post on Holly Lisle’s Talysmana site regarding first drafts and the writing process, which has sparked off a few thoughts of my own.

One of the hardest things in writing, or learning to write, is learning to accept that what comes out of your imagination, your pen or your keyboard first time round isn’t necessarily anything remotely like what it will be when you decide it’s finished.

You have to push on through the muddles, accept the changes in direction and bear the confusion with stoic determination. You have to trust that the changes you make to a first draft are going to result in a better story.

And it’s not cheating when you change the beginning to match the ending. It’s okay to rewrite whole sections, delete others, change character names, swap locations, switch themes or whatever else occurs to you as you’re writing.

I’ve been a creative writing tutor for a few years now. I use the word ‘cheating’ deliberately, because so often I’ve had students cast me scandalised glances when I tell them it is perfectly okay to go back and add a few lines in chapter two when they think of a cool twist in chapter 15 that needs some foreshadowing. It really is as though I’ve suggested they cheat during an important exam.

First drafts are meant to be torn apart. Stories grow in much the same way as patchwork quilts. You have a load of little bits and pieces of material (in stories called scenes or ideas) and as you assemble the finished piece you rearrange, discard, add, match colours and shades, experiment with stitch styles and thread colours (in stories called narrative voices) and finally find a combination of all the above that pleases you.

You have to go through the experimentation and shuffling, the mixing and matching, the discards and the additions. There’s no other way to do it. If you don’t try the pink floral up against the purple stripes you might miss a wonderful and startling combination that delights and surprises.

It’s not cheating to shuffle the pieces around to work out which looks best.

But here’s the thing. In order to have pieces to shuffle about, you’ve got to write them first. Only then can you start the final assembly process that builds a story. And that’s what’s so hard about first drafts. It’s too easy to fall into the trap of believing that because it’s written, it’s got to stay as it is.

Wrong. It’s just another piece of the patchwork. If it clashes then change, revise, rewrite or delete it.

That’s what first drafts are for.

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11 November, 2009 6:31 pm

Writing in Quicksand

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by Deb    in Articles, NaNoWriMo, Random Writing Rambles, Writing Diary

28000 words into the whole story, and just over 19000 for nanowrimo, I’m rediscovering just what a journey through quicksand writing is. Especially writing a long project, like a novel.

Any kind of writing can take on a life of its own and squirm and wriggle under the pen (or keyboard), taking on unforseen shapes and changing its identity at will, but writing fiction seems to be particularly prone to this kind of problem.

It can be an alarming experience. You think you know what you’re writing, what kind of story you’re telling, who your characters are and what their reason for being is. Then suddenly you get a revelation and it knocks your socks off.

Your story isn’t about what you thought it was. Your characters reveal hidden depths and start to answer you back when you ask them to do something. And just occassionally, something really big rears its head and threatens to derail the whole project you’ve spent months brooding over and nurturing.

Alarming indeed. It’s tempting to think you’ve got to start again and just ditch everything you’ve done so far. The appalling train wreck you can see after the dust of the derailing settles, is somehow far more attractive to write about than the little shunt you’d originally envisaged.

But, come one, there are 28000 words between the start and the derailing. And if you do start again who’s going to promise there won’t be another train crash at the same station next time you get here?

So stop and think. Novels change in the writing. You start out with a specific idea. You develop that idea. You understand the concepts and the themes you’re writing to. You have the cast of characters in place and you have a nifty little pile of index cards holding scenes that point the way forward.

Except, except… novels change, and it can be alarming. To ditch or not to ditch becomes the question.

Hugely, totally and absolutely do not ditch.

DO NOT DITCH. REALLY.

Here’s the thing. It was writing this far that steered the story into the dodgy track that caused the derailment. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t see it coming and don’t quite know how to deal with it. All that matters is that you recognise what’s happening and take a step into your right (muse) brain until the answer  presents itself.

Carry on writing as if you meant the disaster to happen all along. Follow the new path and see where it leads. Is it better? Is it delivering what it promised?

Don’t let a mid-story derailment spell the end of months of work unless and until it becomes clear that you need a new beginning, or you need to go back to the scene of the accident and undo it. By the time you’ve written the story, and maybe dealt with another train wreck further down the line, rewriting the beginning won’t seem like such a big deal, and certainly won’t feel like starting again. And by the same token, backtracking a few thousand words if you realise you’re heading into a siding means you still have your original 28000 to build on.

Far better to write a few thousand words down the wrong track, than undo 28000 perfectly good words in a state of crossly believing you’ve wasted your time, or worse, that you never could write in the first place.

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