This week on Fable and the Verbivore, we’re talking about lessons learned from Fable’s work co-leading an anthology project.
Recently Fable has been working with another author to put together an anthology to benefit a charity. This process included inviting other authors to contribute connected stories with a common character, reading through and organizing those individual stories into an overarching arc, and communicating feedback and line edits to each author in order to prepare the pieces for publication.
This episode serves as a sort of examination unpacking Fable’s experience in real time. She shares some unexpected experiences and lessons learned, different ways of looking at things that have helped her navigate challenges that arose, and new practices that she intends to lean on if she does any future anthology projects. But, also, we feel this conversation can be useful for those considering participating in future anthologies and those thinking of leading them to help look at the experience from both perspectives, and find ways to help strengthen the initial handshake at the beginning of a project so that expectations are as clear and well communicated as possible.
Here are some of the takeaways:
- Be as clear and specific as possible up front about the rules and expectations (who does what), timeframes (when will certain actions be taking place), and level of editing (copyediting vs proofreading vs line editing).
- Consider making an anthology submission based, allowing yourself the option to select work that fits within your intention and to gently reject work that doesn’t.
- Communicate feedback as early as possible.
- At the outset, clarify to yourself what you want the work to be (your intention) and what level of labor you are commiting to the project.
- Meet difficult interactions with patience, empathy, and compassion. Try to see from their perspective and acknowledge their feelings, and hope they will do the same for you.
- Don’t take baggage from one experience into another, but use what you learned in a thorny situation to help finesse your next interactions and communications.
- As a writer, be open to feedback reminding yourself that the intention is simply to improve the work and make it better. Within the anthology setting, it’s also meant to help it fit better with the other pieces in the project. Try not to take it personally or hold your work too closely, and if critique feels like an attack consider doing some journaling to explore why.
- Plan for what to do if the relationship breaks down, allow for other’s work to be withdrawn or ensure the project allows for your work to be withdrawn if an agreement cannot be reached.
Towards the end of our conversation, we discuss how valuable having a difficult experience can be in teaching what not to do in the future and also what you can add or adjust to make a project smoother. Reviewing and assessing what you would do differently in real time during the process — while you are experiencing pain points and see clearly where there are failures — can help streamline future projects. But, also, compassionate communication and patient understanding go a long way. However, in the end you can only control how you react, so release yourself from gilt over how an interaction ultimately unfolds.
We hope you enjoy this episode and that you can take away some of the lessons that Fable learned through doing to use in your own writing life! And keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!
Into the woods,
Fable & The Verbivore
All content for Fable & The Verbivore is the property of Fable & The Verbivore and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
This week on Fable and the Verbivore, we’re talking about lessons learned from Fable’s work co-leading an anthology project.
Recently Fable has been working with another author to put together an anthology to benefit a charity. This process included inviting other authors to contribute connected stories with a common character, reading through and organizing those individual stories into an overarching arc, and communicating feedback and line edits to each author in order to prepare the pieces for publication.
This episode serves as a sort of examination unpacking Fable’s experience in real time. She shares some unexpected experiences and lessons learned, different ways of looking at things that have helped her navigate challenges that arose, and new practices that she intends to lean on if she does any future anthology projects. But, also, we feel this conversation can be useful for those considering participating in future anthologies and those thinking of leading them to help look at the experience from both perspectives, and find ways to help strengthen the initial handshake at the beginning of a project so that expectations are as clear and well communicated as possible.
Here are some of the takeaways:
- Be as clear and specific as possible up front about the rules and expectations (who does what), timeframes (when will certain actions be taking place), and level of editing (copyediting vs proofreading vs line editing).
- Consider making an anthology submission based, allowing yourself the option to select work that fits within your intention and to gently reject work that doesn’t.
- Communicate feedback as early as possible.
- At the outset, clarify to yourself what you want the work to be (your intention) and what level of labor you are commiting to the project.
- Meet difficult interactions with patience, empathy, and compassion. Try to see from their perspective and acknowledge their feelings, and hope they will do the same for you.
- Don’t take baggage from one experience into another, but use what you learned in a thorny situation to help finesse your next interactions and communications.
- As a writer, be open to feedback reminding yourself that the intention is simply to improve the work and make it better. Within the anthology setting, it’s also meant to help it fit better with the other pieces in the project. Try not to take it personally or hold your work too closely, and if critique feels like an attack consider doing some journaling to explore why.
- Plan for what to do if the relationship breaks down, allow for other’s work to be withdrawn or ensure the project allows for your work to be withdrawn if an agreement cannot be reached.
Towards the end of our conversation, we discuss how valuable having a difficult experience can be in teaching what not to do in the future and also what you can add or adjust to make a project smoother. Reviewing and assessing what you would do differently in real time during the process — while you are experiencing pain points and see clearly where there are failures — can help streamline future projects. But, also, compassionate communication and patient understanding go a long way. However, in the end you can only control how you react, so release yourself from gilt over how an interaction ultimately unfolds.
We hope you enjoy this episode and that you can take away some of the lessons that Fable learned through doing to use in your own writing life! And keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!
Into the woods,
Fable & The Verbivore
Today on Fable and the Verbivore, we’re sharing how small decisions, working with your hands, and giving yourself things to emotionally react to — like playlists — can help your creativity.
In this episode, the Verbivore talks about how she’s approaching managing through some of the worry and anxiety of the moment while also making mental room for creativity.
Last week, she finally decided to move forward with a painting project that she’d been sitting on for at least the last eight months (spent trying to decide on colors, methods, finishes, and when would work best to start). After finishing this work, it became clear that the benefit was not just in having a revitalized room or a feeling of accomplishment, but in helping clear her mental landscape and provide a jolt to her creativity.
The process of painting allowed for her mental focus to sharpen on the task at hand — temporarily quieting down the noise and creating space to notice some of the ideas in the background that had been drowned out. A wip-specific playlist also helped direct ideas — test out scenes, try out details or character choices to see if they felt like they fit, and dig in a little deeper emotionally since the songs already had a personal emotional connection and meaning.
Towards the end of the conversation, Fable notes how some of these things wouldn’t be effective for her, but how great it is for us each to find whatever works. Be it taking a walk, taking a shower, knitting, working with note cards, or visually managing your project on Pinterest it’s great to find things that help support and strengthen your creative process. These specific activities may not work for everyone, but we hope the ideas shared here help spark other practices that could be useful.
We hope you enjoy this episode and that you find whatever processes work best for you! And keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!
Into the woods,
Fable & The Verbivore
Fable & The Verbivore
This week on Fable and the Verbivore, we’re talking about lessons learned from Fable’s work co-leading an anthology project.
Recently Fable has been working with another author to put together an anthology to benefit a charity. This process included inviting other authors to contribute connected stories with a common character, reading through and organizing those individual stories into an overarching arc, and communicating feedback and line edits to each author in order to prepare the pieces for publication.
This episode serves as a sort of examination unpacking Fable’s experience in real time. She shares some unexpected experiences and lessons learned, different ways of looking at things that have helped her navigate challenges that arose, and new practices that she intends to lean on if she does any future anthology projects. But, also, we feel this conversation can be useful for those considering participating in future anthologies and those thinking of leading them to help look at the experience from both perspectives, and find ways to help strengthen the initial handshake at the beginning of a project so that expectations are as clear and well communicated as possible.
Here are some of the takeaways:
- Be as clear and specific as possible up front about the rules and expectations (who does what), timeframes (when will certain actions be taking place), and level of editing (copyediting vs proofreading vs line editing).
- Consider making an anthology submission based, allowing yourself the option to select work that fits within your intention and to gently reject work that doesn’t.
- Communicate feedback as early as possible.
- At the outset, clarify to yourself what you want the work to be (your intention) and what level of labor you are commiting to the project.
- Meet difficult interactions with patience, empathy, and compassion. Try to see from their perspective and acknowledge their feelings, and hope they will do the same for you.
- Don’t take baggage from one experience into another, but use what you learned in a thorny situation to help finesse your next interactions and communications.
- As a writer, be open to feedback reminding yourself that the intention is simply to improve the work and make it better. Within the anthology setting, it’s also meant to help it fit better with the other pieces in the project. Try not to take it personally or hold your work too closely, and if critique feels like an attack consider doing some journaling to explore why.
- Plan for what to do if the relationship breaks down, allow for other’s work to be withdrawn or ensure the project allows for your work to be withdrawn if an agreement cannot be reached.
Towards the end of our conversation, we discuss how valuable having a difficult experience can be in teaching what not to do in the future and also what you can add or adjust to make a project smoother. Reviewing and assessing what you would do differently in real time during the process — while you are experiencing pain points and see clearly where there are failures — can help streamline future projects. But, also, compassionate communication and patient understanding go a long way. However, in the end you can only control how you react, so release yourself from gilt over how an interaction ultimately unfolds.
We hope you enjoy this episode and that you can take away some of the lessons that Fable learned through doing to use in your own writing life! And keep reading, writing, and putting your voice out there!
Into the woods,
Fable & The Verbivore
