John Steinbeck said "If there is a magic in story writing,
and I am convinced there is, no one has ever been able to reduce it to a recipe
that can be passed from one person to another. The formula seems to lie solely
in the aching urge of the writer to convey something he feels important to the
reader. If the writer has that urge, he may sometimes, but by no means always,
find the way to do it. You must perceive the excellence that makes a good story
good or the errors that makes a bad story. For a bad story is only an ineffective
story."
Writing is not an easy profession and difficult to earn a
living without supplementing your income. Yet, writers feel a need that often
cannot be ignored – we need to invent stories, communicate thoughts and
feelings, and we need to touch our readers’ hearts with our words. Being a
writer is hard work, it takes perseverance, determination and the inability to
take criticism personally.
Let’s share some advice for beginning writers:
No one is going to be able to “teach” you how to be a good
writer – how to make your words reach out to the readers and pull them into the
story. You have to start by believing in yourself and in the stories you write.
Experienced writers will tell you about routine, grammar, discipline, story
structure, proofreading, point of view, and other techniques. Just like a list
of recipe ingredients, it’s up to the chef to blend the flavors into a
delicious dish.
Start with a cast of characters, come up with a plot, add lots
of conflict, and use your voice to make it feel alive. Show, don’t tell don’t
make your story sound flat by saying how a character feels, show the reader by what
the character does. Let your reader meet your characters gradually by reading
the story, you don’t need to give back story in the beginning, focus on only
what is important to what is happening. Don’t “head-hop”, stay in one
point-of-view (one character’s head); the character whose POV you are using
knows what he/she is feeling but can only SEE what another character is
doing/reacting/saying – unless your character is a mind reader he does not know
what the other person is thinking. You only have a paragraph or two to convince
your reader to want to keep reading; open your story with action, an intriguing
question, or even in the middle of a conflict.
Dialogue should sound natural and should be individually
styled for each character’s personality; be consistent. Describe only the parts
of the setting that are necessary to the story, unless you are going to refer
to the clocks’ ornate hands as an integral part of the story there is no need
to go into detail about the filigree design for instance. Especially if you’ve
moved paragraphs around in editing, make sure that your story is in
chronological order (except for flashbacks) so that you don’t have the old aunt
that just died in chapter two showing up in chapter five with a fresh made
casserole. Unless you are using a trademark signature in dialogue, be sparse
with repetition, especially in the narrative. If you need to do research for
your storyline, don’t turn your narrative into a textbook, that gets boring.
Just like real life, everything that happens in your plot
happens for a reason. Even if you are vague about writing “the why”, you as the
author need to understand why your characters do things. Everything is action
and reaction – the car rolls down the driveway and hits a parked car, the owner
of the parked car gets angry about the damage, the two car owners get into a
heated argument, and so forth. Keep the story moving along based on what has
already happened.
Writing Exercise: Write
a letter to yourself 20-years earlier – make sure it is full of advice from
lessons you’ve learned along the way. Do you think you would have done anything
differently had you actually received that letter when you were younger?
Writing Prompt: Your
favorite character is told he must go to live in a bunker for a year with a
group of strangers to avoid a disaster. All of his basic needs (food, medical,
etc) will be provided. He is told he is allowed to take ONLY five (5) personal
things with him – List the 5 items he will take.
Challenge Assignment:
Three people are in a room and they are arguing; person #1 is claiming
that person#2 stole from him/her, person#3 is sharing his/her thoughts on the
argument. Using this scenario, choose three different Zodiac Horoscope signs –
one for each of the three people. Write a few paragraphs telling the story of
what is going on and being said in that room – each character MUST display the
traits of the Zodiac sign you have assigned to that individual.
