Let me ask you a question: Who do you write for?
Who you are writing for defines genre. You should define your genre before you start, but that doesn't answer my question.
Writers like to say things like "my novel."
We writers can be a self-centered lot and we tend to write to satisfy ourselves. We think like this: I like this story. It has meaning to me. Everybody will just love it.
That kind of thinking stays with us until someone says that they were not impressed with our great work.
Maybe you should have written "my reader's novel."
Getting Writing Advice
If we could easily get decent advice on our writing, we would be in better shape writing wise. But for new writers, advice doesn't come easy.
Since it's hard for a new writer to get an agent, where can he or she get advice?
I say take a writing course at your local community college or by correspondence.
I took a number of courses offered by Writer's Digest and other institutions and the instructors were experienced published writers and they gave good advice. I had a lot of fun playing mail tag with my teachers and we became good friends.
There are some excellent software programs to help you improve your writing. You will see some of these in Writer's Digest Magazine. Writer's Digest sells many excellent books on writing too. Books can give you criteria to judge your own writing.
Publishing Problems
Anyway, you can't sell your novel?
What is the problem?
There may be nothing wrong with your writing. Writers frequently send a manuscript to dozens of editors before they get published. Some get tired of this and self-publish.
You can publish a novel easily because of Print-on-Demand publishing. If you do this, you will find you are on your own for the main part to get your book promoted.
If Paris Hilton has a writer ghost for her, she can be on Letterman, Leno, and Stewart in the blink of an eye. Oprah will be there to serve her every need. Not you!
Three Writing Problems
Here are three problems that plague writers from the editorial standpoint:
The Story Stinks
In this case, there is nothing wrong with the writing. The story is esoteric and only the writer is interested in it.
I suggest that you write a number of story lines in some detail before starting your novel. Start with your idea. See what you can do to improve it by writing separate story lines. Keep improving the story until you think that readers in your genre other than you will enjoy it. Choose the best story line and start writing. If the story is there, keep writing. If the story is not there, start over. Read your genre.
I'll get back to this.
The Writer Can't write Idiomatic English
This means that there are grammatical problems, structure problems, or the writing is stilted or phony. The only way to improve your writing is to take a good course in Basic English and a writing course. There are many fine grammar books that are fun to read and they will help you tremendously in a very short time. A grade school teacher can help you.
The Story is not Intimate
This is where I want to put emphasis. If a lady reader in the Romantic Genre wants to curl up in her favorite rocking chair by the fire with your book she intends to have an intimate experience with that book, not with you.
Can I say this in another way? You are the writer. She does not want to have an intimate experience with you. She wants to have an intimate experience with the characters in your book, especially the protagonist.
Okay, so you are not a romance writer.
Your Western Genre reader, Joe Smoke, wants to ride the range as your protagonist, be on his horse, get hit by his arrow and feel the pain in his ribs. He wants to lie in a wet ditch with a high fever while fighting off the Apaches. If your protagonist is Brent Steadfast, he wants to be Brent Steadfast.
The protagonist is your main character. You are the narator. Narators should not be seen. Narators should not be seen. Narators destroy intimacy.
The characters in your book are what is important, not you. How do you feel when a writer as narrator starts pontificating? You dump the book, grab a cookie and a glass of milk, and watch television.
Many writers write very detailed outlines of each character in the book before they begin the story. Some cut pictures from magazines of stereotypes that fit the role. They analyze their character's thoughts, they smell their hair, they feel their muscles, and they visualize experiences with the character that help define the character.
Some writers make up a table that gives weight, height, bone structure, eye color, hair type and colors, scars, etc. They will write a short history of the character to use as background in the story.
When does this definition of character end?
It doesn't.
In the last paragraph of the book some new aspect of the character's personality may be revealed. Just don't turn a snake into a mongoose in one sentence. Use a salt shaker to continually define your characters throughout your story.
Don't over describe minor characters. Having said this, you might have to over describe a minor character who is about to disappear. In a western, the reader wants to know who the protagonist is shooting and why. You can't have a one on one showdown with a complete stranger to the protagonist. If you don't describe him before the shooting, you sure as heck will have to describe him after the shooting.
Protagonist: Who was that guy?
Old Grisly Sidekick: Don't you know, Joe?
Protagonist: Don't remember seeing him anywhere.
Old Grisly Sidekick: Damned if I know either.
Well, since the character was not important, you could leave him in the mystery box. His character will have to be revealed later. (Well, maybe not.)
Point of View
If you have an intimate story to tell, don't use a television camera as the point of view, zooming in and out at random.
Most new writers write in the first person. The writer gets into the skin of the protagonist and tells his or her story from her or his mouth.
There are some restrictions on this method of writing. The only mind you are really in is that of the protagonist. You see and feel only what your protagonist sees and feels.
If the protagonist sits on a cactus, you will feel it. If his friend sits on a cactus, you won't feel it. You can only describe what you see as the protagonist. You can only guess what other cjaracters think unless a character tells you.
That's when Charlie sat on that prickly pear. If there were an Olympic event for springing into the air from a sitting position, Charlie would win the Gold.
You don't have to write in the first person to remain intimate. But you must stay with the protagonist. Although you are not writing in first person, you see and feel only what the protagonist sees and feels.
Cowboy Frank tried to warn Charlie. There was a prickly pear directly in the path of Charlie's rear end. Frank was too late. Charlie landed four-square on the prickly pear which immediately launched him into space. Cowboy Frank broke out laughing and rolled into the camp fire burning his fingers. The pain was excruciating and Cowboy Frank jammed his fingers into the water bucket.
Did you feel Charlie's pain? No. Did you feel Frank's burning hand as it sizzled in the water bucket? Yes. (Well, I did.)
The Need for Detail
Your reader will not become attached to your characters if you leave out those picky little details that bring characters to life.
Mary shivered at the site of the dying cat hit by the red convertible. A scene from her childhood flashed across her mind; her father killing the litter of nine kittens by beheading them with a hand axe. Poor Mary screamed and ran into the house.
This short reflection on Mary's childhood and her reaction to seeing the fatally injured cat will not satisfy your readers. They want to know more about the childhood incident that explains her action. If you have not covered Mary's childhood and described the incident, you can always do it by using a flashback. There you must describe the scene in its ugly details.
I met a woman once who had the exact experience described above. Her remembrance of the event had so traumatized her that she could not live a normal life. So if something comes up in your novel that will get you into the psyche of characters, you must pursue it.
Much of intimacy comes from a character's thoughts. You must be able to continually report on the protagonist's thought processes. What people say and what they think are two different things.
Mary studied Federico's face. What a worthless self-centered creep! She smiled at Federico and said, "Yes, Federico. I'll meet you behind the barn in one hour."
The above illustrates why great novels sometimes make lousy movies.
Did you see Dr. Zhivago? It had its good points. They would be Julie Christie as Lara Antipova and Geraldine Chaplin as Tonya.
Dr. Zhivago was a poet. The director had problems revealing his thoughts to the viewers. That ended up with numerous frames of Zhivago gazing up at the ceiling. His poems were not revealed either to any great extent. What in all hell was Dr. Zhivago thinking? We must conclude that is was mostly about committing adultery with Lara. Well, Dr. Zhivago revealed his thought when talking to others. However, his deepest thoughts were not revealed, but we know he had them.
That's why people still read novels. Secret thoughts are always revealed.
Back to the Story
Characters make the story. It is their story in the final analysis. That can be a problem. Each strong character in your story will try to take over the story. They are as egocentric as we are. You must control them.
A secondary character can become so strong that it becomes his or her story. I've removed strong characters to the character grave yard and transferred the strong points of his or her personality to my protagonist.
They never like me doing that.
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