Becoming a writer has ruined me for reading fiction. From the time I can remember, I’ve always loved to get lost in a good book. Stories had the ability to take me from my uneventful life and plop me into an adventure. When we were little, my mom would take us to the library during the summer, and I could choose however many books I wanted. The only requirement was that I read them all before our next visit.
As I got older, I would devour books. The library was my happy place where I’d find novels by all my favorite authors and get introduced to some new ones—like Sue Grafton and John Grisham. If I had a particularly good book, I’d be up until the wee hours of the morning reading. I’d say to myself, “Just one more chapter.” But then I’d reach the end, and if the writer was skilled, I’d be drawn into the next chapter, and the next, and the next.
Then I began to study the craft of writing.
I’m a rule keeper. Did you know there are rules to writing fiction? Well, there are. No head hopping, structure is necessary, and show don’t tell (which means adverbs are a definite no-no). For those of you who haven’t been in a language class for a while, adverbs are those words ending in -ly, and they describe the verb (action word.) For example: She calmly and quietly exited the room. According to Stephen King—who is the self-professed authority on writing—using adverbs is lazy. Though I might take issue with his colorful language (and I don’t mean descriptive), I have to agree with him.
As a rule-keeper, I cannot read any work of fiction without my editor’s cap glued to my head. I’m always rewriting in my mind, or getting distracted by those pesky adverbs, poor story structure, or head hopping. Most people probably don’t have my somewhat freakish attention to the rules, so they may not even notice when they’re broken.
That’s not to say there aren’t wonderful books out there to be consumed—and I still get lost in them. They are often traditionally published and have gone through several edits before the final product. But we now live in a time where anyone can publish a book without benefit of professional editing. To those of you who have ventured out like this on your own (or plan to), I’d like to offer a little writing advice from someone who nitpicks.
Learn the craft. There is no shortcut to this. I’ve been attending conferences for more than fourteen years to learn from those who have vast experience. You don’t even have to leave the comfort of your home these days. Many are offered through Zoom. You can choose a variety of workshops that will educate and inspire. I also learned a lot about the spiritual aspect to writing at conferences from people like Alan Arnold. When you’re desperate for an agent or publisher, it’s important to remember Who we serve—and it’s not the readers.
There is also a plethora of books on the craft of writing—I have a bookcase of them. If I were to suggest one book on structure, it would be Larry Brooks’ Story Structure. He uses examples from popular movies and books to show the importance of plot points, mid-points, rising conflict, etc. Another few good books to consider (which I also have on my bookshelf) is Brandilyn Collins’ Getting Into Character, Sol Stein’s Stein on Writing, Jeff Gerke’s Plot Verses Character, and Jerry Jenkins’ Writing for the Soul.
The first novel I ever showed to a well-known agent was what is now Providence. He glanced through my first few chapters (at a conference) and told me he loved my writing. He wanted me to send him the entire manuscript for a possible book contract. A couple months later, his response was less than favorable. In fact, he eviscerated me on my lack of structure. We were in Vancouver on vacation at the time, and I vowed right there never to write another word. Three hours later, I pulled out Story Structure, which I happened to have with me, and revamped the entire book. In fact, all but one chapter was deleted. When I presented the book to the agent the following year, it was a whole different outcome.
Critique groups are another invaluable resource. I’ve been in several over the years—some rather large groups, and for a time, I had one critique partner. At the moment, I have two other people in my group. One fiction and one non-fiction author. They both bring something unique to the table aside from the fact that they are amazing writers. The non-fiction author has a background in theater, so she’s great at pacing, motivation, and adding beats where needed. The fiction author was born and raised here in Tennessee, and I’m benefiting from her knowledge of culture and setting in my new Southern Fiction series. She keeps me real.
You may feel if you’re self-published (or even if you’re not), and you have a decent readership, improving the craft isn’t important—and you may be right. It all depends on your motivation to write. If you’re cranking out a multitude of books for maximum income, and honing the craft is time consuming, that’s obviously your choice. Personally, if I read a book not up to my freakish, nit-picky standards, I won’t read another by that author. On the other hand, once I find an author I love, I will search out everything she (or he) has written.
I do not believe I’m all that and a bag of chips (as my publisher and friend would say). I write because it’s what God calls me to do, and I don’t want to offer anything other than my best back to Him. It’s a personal challenge for me to continually search for ways to improve in the craft. But that’s only one aspect of the writing career. The other is much harder—marketing. It’s vast, ever-changing, and unpredictable. That’s a subject left for a later time.
Comments 1
I notice such issues rdg. books but unless the writing is seriously bad, I can usually follow and enjoy the story line. When well-written (and I’m fairly choosy about what I read), I sometimes take notes of things particularly well-done.