Change The World With Words

I hope you’re enjoying my Ten Things series. Today I’m learning from bestselling author, Janet Evanovich, and her book How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author.  Ten things Janet has taught me (or reminded me) about writing this week:

1.  “Don’t fall into the trap of rewriting chapter one until it’s perfect. And don’t discard everything you write halfway through because you’re sure it sucks. Writing stuff that sucks is part of the learning process!”

I needed this advice this week. Everyone gets to a point with their work-in-progress where they think it isn’t working. Instead of throwing out my half finished novel I’m learning from it, and looking for ways to get it back on track.

2.  “A character’s dialogue and actions should be unique to him.”

We all have phrases and actions we overuse in our fiction. But that’s actually OK, as long as we use this as part of our characterization. If a character regularly uses the word “ludicrous” or constantly tugs nervously at her braids, that’s fine. It helps develop the character. Just don’t have everyone using the same (unusual) word or having the same nervous tic.

3.  “Names are critical. They really can set up and define a character.”

Uncle Scrooge, Professor Snape, Holly Golightly. An aptly named character is worth a whole paragraph of description.

4.  “Engage all the senses when describing a place.”

This reminded me of an old writing tutor who set us the exercise of writing a descriptive passage without any visual description. We could include sounds, smells, textures and tastes and even emotions/intuition, but nothing that required the power of sight to observe. Try it. You’ll often be surprised at how powerful a piece of writing you produce.

5.  “Dialogue defines a character. Even in the most basic of conversations between two people, there will be distinct differences in how they speak to each other.”

This is an extension of number two, but is particularly relevant to writing dialogue. Everyone speaks differently. Everyone has their favourite words, phrases and speech patterns, their quirky turns of speech, even their own way of pausing mid sentence, or starting sentences in the middle. When you find a character using an unusual word or phrase, or speaking in a certain way, make a note of it. Make sure he speaks this way throughout the novel and give all the other characters their own way of speaking too.

6.  “A good plot draws its energy from the reader’s curiosity.”

If you’re ever stuck for ‘what happens next?’ ask yourself what the reader is curious about at this point, and explore that. You don’t have to reveal the answer to the reader’s current questions. Now may not be the time for that. Maybe it’s the time to build on them a little more.

7.  [First drafts are] “a gift to a writer. The fact that no one but you will ever see your early work – unless you want them to – lets you pour onto the paper whatever damn words you choose, knowing you can go back to fix them later.“

Another thing I needed to hear right now. I was getting self-conscious about my writing. Why should I be? It’s a first draft. It’s for my eyes only. I can fix it later.

8.  “Write something every day, even if it means getting just a few sentences on the screen.”

Or even a few notes in your notebook. Never let a day go by without writing something. Don’t let yourself start to get out of the habit.

9.   “Is the ending important? Hey, this is where your reader will decide if he should buy your next book.”

Or as Mickey Spillane once put it:

“The first chapter sells the book; the last chapter sells the next book.”

10.  “The odds are stacked against a book that’s self-published. It’s hard enough for a general trade publisher to find distribution.”

Regular readers may be surprised to read me stating that (although of course it’s Janet’s statement, not mine). If you stop by here often you’ll know that I’ve been researching self-publishing options and even wrote a pretty extensive blog post based on that research, Fifty Self-Publishing Resources For Authors.

But Janet is talking about fiction, and I agree with her. Self-publishing works best for non-fiction books that focus on a niche that the author has already established credibility in and a built a platform around. Self-publishing fiction is a risk, at best.

Janet goes on to point out there are some very successful books that started out as self published fiction books, from A Time To Kill through to The Tales of Peter Rabbit. The odds are stacked against self published fiction, but they’re not insurmountable. Few things ever are.

Feel free to check out my other Ten Things posts, for writing lessons with Stephen King, J K Rowling and Maeve Binchy.

I hope you’re enjoying my Ten Things series. This month I’m learning from one of the best: J K Rowling. This is what I’ve learned from reading (and re-reading) her books, studying her writing, and observing her rise to fame.

1. Don’t write for a specific age group

I’ve mentioned this before, in my post Three (Unconventional) Tips For Children’s Writers. The Harry Potter books are a great example of stories that appeal to people of all ages. The books have been re-packaged, with the covers of the adult versions designed for a more mature audience, but apparently this was to save the blushes of those adults who didn’t want to be seen reading a book obviously designed for children. The stories themselves haven’t been changed at all.

Many authors would argue that you need to know your potential audience in order to pitch your book to an editor.  And they would, of course, be right. I like this way of looking at it, taken from the ebook, How to Write a Children’s Book In 14 Days:

“In some ways it’s better to take Louis Sachar’s advice (the author of Holes); just write your book and let its market find it. However, the length and format of children’s books do differ for various age groups and types of readers. And you really do need to know what these differences are, if only to make certain you don’t waste time writing one type of book when you meant to write another.”

In other words, be aware of what you’re writing (for marketing purposes) but then just write a great story that would be enjoyed by anyone (for creative purposes).

2. Weave in back story

You can pick up any Harry Potter book, read it and get all the information you need to understand the story. Reading them in order will create a richer understanding of the finer plot points, but it’s not essential.

Each can stand alone, in part, because of the skilful way the important details of the previous books are naturally included in the story. There are no big chunks of information, and no awkward dialogue sequences where characters sound like they’re needlessly recapping previous events they both already know about.

Rowling uses carefully chosen details to fill in the background to current situations. She also exposes the thoughts of the point of view character (Harry) in a way that enables us to absorb all the back story we need. Read the opening pages of any of the books and you’ll start to see what I mean.

3. Build a believable world

The wizarding world is portrayed so carefully and consistently that it becomes incredibly ‘real’ to the reader. As Francis Bridger puts it in A Charmed Life: The Spirituality of Potterworld:

“Hogwarts represents far more in Potterworld than just an eccentric educational establishment. It represents more, too than just the stage on which the stories are set.”

Hogwarts becomes very real to the reader, as do other eccentricities of the wizard world. Spells, potions, quidditch, and talking portraits are all, somehow, totally believable. It’s this skilful world-building that has my kids and me having semi-serious conversations around questions such as:

“Which spell would you use to defeat Voldemort, and why?” or

“Which Hogwarts house would the sorting hat put you in, and is it the one you’d want to be in?” 

We know it’s fiction (really, we do) but it’s fiction that’s real enough to get us thinking about all kinds of scenarios we know we’ll never be in. (Or will we? All good fictional situations can, after all, be representative of other things.)

4. Write about universal themes

There are some things that apply to every tween and teen, whether you’re a wizard or a Muggle. These universal themes are there in the Harry Potter books, however unusually they play out.

This paragraph, (also from How to Write a Children’s Book) sums it up:

“The Harry Potter series does this extremely well. Harry is different and his special ‘gifts’ single him out for negative attention from Draco Malfoy and his henchmen; a classic case of bullying. Hermione is singled out as not being a pure wizard; she has Muggle blood in her veins. Likewise, Ron comes from such a large family that money is tight. Rowling incorporates the classic causes of bullying ‐ racism, snobbery and jealousy ‐ into the magical world of Hogwarts. This allows her readers to strongly identify with the main character regardless of setting.”

5. Friendship is important

A huge appeal of the books is not the fantasy elements, or even the plot, but the relationships. The friendship between the three main characters is so strongly drawn, we feel part of it. They could be three characters doing anything, in any genre of books, and we’d still get the same warm fuzzy feeling from their friendship, and the same anxious discomfort when they fight among themselves.

6. No character is ever all good or all evil

Harry is a very well-rounded character. He has a temper. He breaks rules. He doesn’t always think things through. Hermione can be an insufferable know-it-all, and Ron is an insensitive idiot at times.

The evil, death eater Malfoys love each other, and dote on their son Draco. Even Voldemort  killed his father (perhaps) partly out of love (or was it just revenge?) for his mother.

7. Keep notes about your story

If you’ve seen Rowling interviewed, you may have noticed that she can answer questions about all kinds of obscure things that crop up in the books with total confidence and authority.

Apparently she keeps copious notes on everything from the background of her characters through to the root patterns of willow trees. I’ve only just started doing this. Now if something crops up in my story I make a note of it and do some research to fill in the background. If only I could get my notes organised into some kind of easily accessible system, it would be flawless. Suggestions welcome.

8. Names matter

Rowling puts a lot of thought into naming her characters. It’s not hard to see someone named Draco Malfoy as a villain, or Albus Dumbledore as a wise but eccentric old professor, and Lord Voldemort was never going to be a good guy.

There are deeper meanings behind so many of the names that the only really surprising thing is that the hero himself has such a common one. Check out some of the meanings behind the names of Harry Potter characters here.

9. Use the bad times

Rowling has been reported as saying that if her personal life hadn’t been so miserable at the time, Harry Potter might never have happened. Certainly, when times are bad, losing yourself in your art can be a wonderful and very productive way of dealing with it.

Next time you have a bad experience/day/fight with your spouse, don’t hit the whiskey bottle or the Haagen-Dazs. Hit the keyboard and escape from reality and into a really good story.

10. Keep giving back

Rowling has written at least two great little supplementary books Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, in aid of British charity event Comic Relief, and continues to do other charitable work with various agencies.

Former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, has suggested that Rowling has also done more for children’s literacy than any other modern children’s author.  I may not have Rowling’s bank balance, and you probably don’t either. But as writers, we make money doing something we love. The least we can do is give a little back.

See more Ten Things posts here.

Image from blingcheese.com.   

Prolific Irish author Maeve Binchy has put together a great little book of advice (from herself and various others in the industry) for writers. It’s a short, easy and useful read, but if you don’t have time for it at the moment, here are ten things I learned (or re-learned) from The Maeve Binchy Writers’ Club.

“Time doesn’t appear from nowhere. You have to make it, and that means giving up something else. Regularly.”

Or, as Ruth Barringham, co-author of The Wealthy Writer, puts it:

“No one has ‘Free time’. There’s no such thing, so don’t go looking for it.”

I can guarantee you are currently using all 24 hours of your day doing something. You will have to give something up to write.

The bad news is that if your life is really full, it will be something fundamentally important like time with your family, or sleep.

The good news is you may be able to give up mindless web surfing, or snacking on chips and chocolate in front of trash TV. Writing regularly is a habit and habits can be started, broken, or changed. Do you have a bad habit you can swap for the writing habit?

“We have to care enough about the people to follow them through to the last page.”

Good characters are vitally important. In some cases they can even make up for a bad plot.  In most cases, strongly drawn characters will actually help you avoid plotting problems. Strong characters take on a life of their own. They start to do things, feel things, make things happen. There’s your plot.

“We get courage from other people’s stories. We get consolation from the way they tell about failures, disappointments and crises.”

Identify a universal issue, and write about it truthfully. Write about divorce, heartbreak, grief, loss, the trials and tribulations of being a parent to a difficult child, or the child of a difficult parent. Tell stories others can relate to, and tell them with courage and humor. You’ll produce world-changing writing.

‘If we can learn a little hint here and there from every writer we read…then we will do well.”

Or as Stephen King put it:

 “Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones”.

Good writers read, constantly, and learn something from every book, every article, every blog post. It may be what to do or what not to do, but we always learn something.

“Editors are amazing people. They don’t usually write books themselves but they know what’s right and wrong with your writing. They should be listened to with great attention.”

Editors have a job to do. They don’t mess around with your work for no reason. They do it to make it better, or sometimes more saleable/marketable (which is not necessarily the same thing). It’s your work. You have a say about how it’s presented, but always listen to your editors. They (usually) know best.

“If you are ever running out of ideas, newspapers are filled with them. You’d be weighed down with ideas after reading a newspaper thoroughly.”

A writing tutor once suggested this exercise. Take any article in any newspaper and rewrite it as a short story. If it’s newsworthy enough to be in the paper, there’s a story there. It’s amazing how this exercise works. Your creative side kicks in and often there’s only the echo of the original article in the finished story, but the inspiration was still invaluable. You may not have come up with that exact story any other way.

”We all know the story of the boy who said he preferred things on radio to television because the scenery was better, meaning that it makes us use our imagination more.”

Books are supposed to leave something to the imagination. That’s why reading is such a personal experience and why the movie of the book is often such a disappointment. Don’t overdo description. Give some pertinent details and let the reader do the rest.

“Children often read a favourite book over and over, getting something new from it each time. That’s a fearsome responsibility to have.”

I’ve just returned to writing for children, and this thought really gave me cause to think about just how important children’s literature is. I think this may have been one of the concepts Maxim Gorky had in mind when he stated:

 “You must write for children in the same way as you do for adults, only better.”

“What will separate the winners from the losers is the ability to pick ourselves up and refuse to take rejection too personally.”

Refection is part of the writing life. It’s heart-breaking how many writers take it so personally that they are unable to keep submitting their work. Every successful writer has dealt with rejection. The writers who eventually get published aren’t always the best. They’re the most persistent.

“None of us ever stops learning. For my last novel I got seven pages of closely typed corrections and rewrites from the publisher.”

When one of my kids recently asked me what is my absolute favorite thing to do, my answer surprised even me. “Learn new things,” I replied. Then I thought about it.  Is that really my favorite thing to do? I honestly think maybe it is, and I think I’m very lucky.

Writing involves lifelong learning. So does life. If you enjoy learning, you’ll be a better writer, and (probably) a better person. and (almost certainly) a very fortunate person.

You can order The Maeve Binchy Writers’ club here.

If you haven’t yet picked up your free copy of How To Earn Even More Money From Your Writing you can do that here.

I’ve been (re) reading Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft this week, and I’d love to share some of the things that jumped out at me. Here are the top ten snippets of advice I took away from this particular reading.

 “If you want to be a writer you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way round these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”

If you’re a would-be writer but you don’t read much, ask yourself if you’re really in love with the written word, or if you just like the idea of being a writer. I’d say it’s a little like getting married because you like the idea of being married, rather than because you’re in love with your partner. You’ll never be able to sustain it.

I’d also ask yourself if you’re reading the right things. Are you reading great work in the same genre you want to write in? In an essay in The Atlantic The Case Against Writing Manuals: How To Write in 700 Easy Lessons, Richard Baush laments the fact that so many aspiring writers don’t read literature, they just read ‘How To Write’ books. Don’t get me wrong. I’m addicted to books about writing, but I agree it’s not much use reading a book entitled, How to Write a Great Work of Literature unless you also read hundreds (or thousands) of great works of literature.

 “Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones”.

Good books show you what to do. Bad books show you what not to do. The latter is probably more important than the former. Whenever you read a passage in a book that makes you cringe or yawn, analyse it.  Is it full of clichés? Clumsily written? Not moving the story forwards? Whatever the writer did wrong, learn from it. As an aside, really bad books make you think, ‘I can write better than this.’ They inspire you to throw the book down and get back to your own writing – perhaps the most valuable lesson of all.

“This isn’t the Ouija board or the spirit-world we’re talking about here, but just another job like laying pipe or driving long-haul trucks.”  

Working writers, especially commercially successful ones like King, know that being a writer means sitting down and writing. You don’t wait for inspiration before you drive your truck, or lay your pipe (or teach your Kindergarten class or perform brain surgery). You just do it. King does allow for the fact that there may be such a thing as inspiration, or a writing ‘muse’, but as he puts it:

“Your job is to make sure the muse knows where you’re going to be every day from nine ‘til noon or seven ‘til three.”

“In my view, stories and novels consist of three parts: narration, which moves the story from point A to point B and finally to point Z; description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech.”

These really are the 3 elements of good story telling and we all have our strengths and weaknesses. I love writing dialogue and struggle with description. It’s OK if your work is heavier on one than the other, but they all have to be there. Notice there’s no mention of plot here. King does not really believe in plotting and that’s maybe the most important thing he’s taught me. I used to plot in advance, and plot a story to death. Now I take his advice and dive straight into narrating the story. King clarifies his position with this telling quote:

“I won’t try and tell you I’ve never plotted any more than I’d try to convince you that I’ve never told a lie, but I do both as infrequently as possible.”

“The situation comes first. The characters – always flat and unfeatured, to begin with – come next. Once these things are fixed in my mind, I begin to narrate.”

I remember trying to write a novel years ago and the “How to Write” book I was reading at the time insisted I should know every detail about all my characters first. I wrote a page on each one, and never got more than a third of the way through the novel. I just couldn’t make these characters fit into my plot (yes, I had plotted the story to death as well!)

Recently I started a new story with just a situation and characters that were so unformed I didn’t even have names for them (I just assigned them random letters). I was pleased with how the action started unfolding and I honestly think I have the beginnings of a novel. I’ll let you know how it pans out.

“A strong enough situation renders the whole question of plot moot. The most interesting situations can usually be expressed as a What-if question.”

Now most fiction writers will be familiar with the concept of the What-if question. It’s often what we start a story with and what we use when we run out of ideas and just don’t know what to do next. But I love the idea that we can take a situation and just ask a what-if question and then simply begin to write. No further plotting necessary. I’m trying it out with my latest stories. Join me, and let me know how it works for you.

“Description begins in the writers’ imagination, but should end in the readers.”

I like this idea because I don’t like writing description. I think it’s best kept to a minimum. A few well-chosen words can often paint a stronger picture than a long descriptive piece anyway. We all have our own mental short-cuts and images. Your ’short-cut’ image of a teenage nerd, self-absorbed obsessive, or high school drop-out may be different from mine. But it doesn’t matter. As King says, description ends in the reader’s imagination.

“What people say often conveys their characters to others in ways that they – the speakers – are completely unaware.”

I love this concept because I love writing dialogue. I find it the ultimate ‘show, don’t tell’ tool, and you don’t have to overdo it. A few words can show someone as a racist bigot, insecure control freak or bored housewife. A few words can convey their character, reveal their motivation and set them up for a fall.

“I was astonished at how useful “thematic thinking” turned out to be. It wasn’t just some vaporous idea that English professors made you write about on midterm essay papers.”

King talks about ‘finding’ themes in your work rather than creating or inserting them, and I think I know what he means.  You are a human being with your own passions, concerns and values. When you re-read (and re-write) your first draft, you’ll start to see one or more ”themes”, or recurring ideas, in your work. Themes can often be summed up in one word –Redemption. Atonement. Persuasion. (Yes. You can them make the theme the title of the book – but you certainly don’t have to). The re-write is the time to strengthen and clarify themes.

“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life as well.”

Easy for him to say, you might think. King is rich, and famous, but what he’s saying is that’s not his motivation, and I believe him. Nobody pays a would-be writer upfront. You have to work first and (sometimes) get paid later.  The belief that your work will someday enrich your readers’ lives, and the daily knowledge that it’s enriching yours, is what keeps you going ‘til the fame and riches show up. And sometimes what keeps you going when fame and riches just aren’t enough.

The last part of On Writing is about how King survived an almost-fatal accident, and about how he recovered. In between surgeries, physical therapy and learning to walk again, he also started to write again. As King says:

“Writing did not save my life. {My surgeon’s] skill and my wife’s loving care did that – but it has continued to do what it always has done: it makes my life a brighter and more pleasant place.”

You can order a copy of On Writing here.

I’m planning to make my ‘Ten Things’ posts a regular feature. If you enjoyed this one you might want to subscribe (over on the right) so you don’t miss the next one.