Category: Thoughts on writing

Fiction reveals truths

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Reality obscures

How does a good fiction writer reveal the truths that reality obscures? There are two ways: by what she tells us, and by what she leaves out of the story.

The story the reader finally reads in your book is like the 10% of the iceberg above the waterline. The rest, the 90% below water is the blood sweat and tears that went into the 10%. All the things the writer knows about the story but left on the ‘cutting room floor’.

So what should be left out? Big blocks of back-story,  The boring bits, the mundane everyday things that happen, the bits of dialogue that translate to ‘Hello, how are you?’ and the ‘Fine thanks. Hasn’t it been hot lately.’ Unfortunately, there’s always lots of interesting information about the characters, lots of intriguing research and darling little scenes. But, anything that slows the pace of the story, anything that drops the reader out of the story, anything that allows the reader to remember that sleep is essential, that phone calls need to be made, housework must be done, that’s what’s left out. Padding, filling, fluff, waffle, anything repeated…you got the idea.

So, what’s in the tip of the iceberg? The story, the whole story and nothing but the story.

Good books and their secrets

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Secrets

There are many ways to make your book a pageturner. Here are just some.

  • Craft suspense whatever your genre. Make each scene and chapter a cliff-hanger, leaving the reader with questions for which they need answers.
  • Create a delicate balance between what your reader knows and what each character knows.
  • Foreshadowing what is to come creates anticipation.
  • Lead and mislead your reader at appropriate times.
  • Language and word choice create mood and atmosphere.
  • Lush writing involving all the senses creates an emotional response in the reader.
  • Dripfeed your story, allowing your reader the satisfaction of piecing most things together for themselves.
  • Use pacing wisely. Vary the pace at which the story moves, sentence length and structure to build to a climax or relax the reader before a shock or surprise.
  • Raise the stakes both external and internal for your protagonist, then set a clock ticking on a time limit.
  • Use twists and turns to keep the reader curious.

The better book

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Better book

Wonderful as words are, they can be slippery little suckers. Getting the right words in the right order onto paper to tell the beautiful story in your head can be a challenge.

A good editor can help but sending a new story to an editor immediately after one finishes writing it isn’t always the best way of going about it. It can be an expensive exercise when there are other steps you can take first.

Almost all writing teachers will recommend you give a new manuscript time. Leave it for as long as you can because coming back to a manuscript fresh after letting it sit can help you see what’s actually on the page, rather than what you think you wrote. When I began writing I remember rereading and discovering I had repeated what I already said, sometimes more than once.

Next step is to have one or two or more of your writer friends critique your work. This is often the job of a good writers group, trusted friends who read each other’s work, who may have been there while you brainstormed, plotted and wrote, may see things you miss. The pace of the story may have slowed, there may be plot holes which need filling, unanswered questions, impossibilities or inconsistencies.

If possible, also find some beta readers, or trusted persons who read extensively in your genre and can give you an honest opinion.

When you have considered all their suggestions, made any amendments and reread your manuscript again, then it’s time to send it to an editor. Earlier and you will be paying more for your editor to find those things your critique partners and beta readers or you yourself didn’t see.

Don’t be disheartened though, many experienced writers will tell you that they prefer not to read earlier published stories. Like any great artist, there’s always something which could have been done better.

Inner Music

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Inner Music

When I was reading recently, the words tugged at my heartstrings, popped with new ideas, blasted away the protective coating on my emotions, soothed the hurt, tore the skin off old wounds, then cleansed everything with fresh tears. That’s the pleasure of reading a good book by a skilful writer (The book was Away in Montana by Jane Porter whom I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting several times over the past 11 years).

But, that’s not what the quote talks about. How does writing make me feel? A whole range of emotions including the above. I remember writing my first novel for NaNoWriMo in 2005, sitting at my desk at 11pm when my tradesman husband had been in bed for hours and gotten up again. He said, “Are you coming to bed yet?” My response? “But I want to know what happens!” No, I hadn’t plotted that one! Some things have changed but not all.

‘No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader.
No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.’
Robert Frost