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THE
MAGIC OF WRITING "Reading is magic. You're all alone when you read, yet you hear the author's voice. Think about that spell, that curious suspension of reality that is reading. As a writer you must try to create and sustain this spell. It is an unspoken, unwritten covenant between the writer and the reader."i If reading is magic, what then is writing? Unfortunately, it's not quite as simple as it seems. You can't just wave your fingers over the keyboard and voila! a story appears told in a unique voice with sophisticated style, and all, of course, grammatically correct. You say that writing is difficult, of course it's difficult. It's just you and the keyboard and whatever is in your head at that moment. But it helps make it less difficult when you know the basics. In this article let's address some of those basic elements of writing. 1. Style. It's in the style of your writing where you'll find your voice. You know, that unique, distinct, strong new voice that every editor is looking for. Here is where they'll find it – and you. Style is in the how you write, not the what. Keep your writing simple, the meaning clear. Use the active voice where the subject is doing the action in the sentence. Use precise nouns and strong verbs. Avoid wordiness; that's where you embellish your meaning with adjectives and adverbs. Also, avoid repetition; again that's where you say something like "small dwarf". We already know a dwarf is small. Avoid repetition in concepts. You don't need to write two sentences that convey the same information, or two paragraphs that establish the same personality trait. Learn what it means to "show and not tell". Example: Telling – Fred was angry. Showing – Fred clenched his fists, his face growing redder by the minute. Beware of monotonous sentence rhythm where you've constructed sentences in the same length and in the same way. Vary your sentences. You can't reach for style; it will emerge in your writing. But you can help polish it up by ensuring that every sentence, every word, has a purpose and is being used for effect. 2. Pacing. You'll often be given the advice to begin your story ‘in medias res', which means ‘in the middle of things'. The best way to involve your reader is to start them off in the middle of something exciting. Modern readers are fairly sophisticated; they don't require pages of backstory or scene setup. Your novel is competing with the TV and/or a computer for the reader's attention. Don't throw your first big chance away. Once you've got your reader hooked, you have to know how to keep them interested. That means you have to keep the story moving by writing scenes or story events. Make things happen. A fast pace means that something happens, then something else happens, and then still more things happen. Long passages of narrative summary or description will put your reader to sleep. Don't allow any sections where nothing is happening in your story. Another key element to holding the reader's interest is to make him/her care about what is happening to whom. Readers want to read about people, people undergoing tremendous struggles, people to whom things (usually bad things) are happening. Remember, a story is not every single little thing that ever happened to your character, it's every important thing that happened to him/her that forced him/her to act, to grow, to change. To keep your reader interested and involved the story must get on with it. 3. Plot. Think of plot as the framework, the organization of your story. The usual framework is beginning, middle, end. But plot is more than that simplistic format: it is events (actions) and their sequence (reactions). To effectively tell your story you need to know what events and in which sequence to place them. Use tension to effectively impart that information and to make it have the best impact on your characters. Tension is the very thing that makes a reader turn the page. You must place your reader in a state of uneasy suspense, then keep her there. Your plot should travel in a logical sequence, yet to the reader it should remain uncertain. Make your reader question what will be coming up next, make it unpredictable. Try not to give your story too strict a formulaic format. Leave it room to take off in an unexpected direction, give it more layers than the more generic plots of its genre, and best of all, let it surprise the reader. Keep in mind the four basic plot elements: 1. The story must be about a sympathetic character; 2. Conflict must happen to that sympathetic character; 3. The conflict must lead to a climax; and 4. The story must end on a satisfactory note. Remember that your goal is to make the writing work, not just for you as the writer, but more importantly, for your reader. Good writing allows your reader to have faith in you and to suspend his/her sense of disbelief. You want your reader to forget the knowledge that what he/she is reading is made up. You want them to believe every word that you wrote. Closing words from Donald Maass… "Delight your readers with your own brand of story, then continue to delight them in a similar way (only better) on a regular basis."ii Bibliography & Recommended Reading List: |
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