Assuming a writer has a functional grasp of grammar and
story, there are still a few too-common mistakes new writers make. As an
experienced editor, I often see manuscripts with excess backstory,
characters readers care for about as much as the first-scene victim in
a bad horror flick (and they of course went to the basement, so we think it
fitting Darwinism at work), too much telling rather than showing, and books
that end without closure because the writer feels they need to save some
mystery for a sequel or they need an exact number of pages or word count. There are some fairly easy fixes a hopeful
writer can do before submitting their work to a publishing house.
Too much back story is probably the easiest to fix. If you
have to set a mood, or let the reader in on something they simply must know
ahead of time, think about adding a short prologue. Other than that, you should
always begin a story en media res, in the middle of the action. That’s why
they call it an opening hook. More and more retail outlets are letting the
readers “sample” the books. If you don’t
hook the reader in the first few seconds, they will probably stop reading and
definitely won’t buy the book. If your main character is thinking rather than
doing, they’d better be a) thinking crazy thoughts as in Edgar Allan Poe’s The
Tell-Tale Heart, or b) thinking of doing something outrageous, like killing
someone.
Most new authors would benefit
from just deleting the first couple chapters of their manuscript. Many authors do that intentionally. Think of it
as the free-writing you did to get into the feel and sense of the work.
Backfill the backstory in dialogue, either internal or spoken, and use a spoon
instead of a shovel. Write tight!
If a reader gets to chapter two of a novel and could care
less what is happening to the main character, the characters are made of dried
up wood, and won’t stand up to a quick Bic flick, let alone sustain an entire
novel. If the reader feels nothing for the main character, it’s because they
have no idea how they should feel. The writer has not revealed the character’s
motivations or emotional reactions. They may have the character say and do
things, but a puppet could function that well. To become a living human being,
even Pinocchio needed a heart. Writers must never forget action and then
reaction (IN THAT ORDER!--just sayin').
The next and perhaps the worst mistake even some seasoned
writers make is telling when they should be showing. This does not mean there
is no place for passive voice in a story, but when something is happening in
the present, especially, it is important to make the reader feel they are there
witnessing the scene rather than hearing someone gossip about it after the
fact. To do this does requires taking the reader to the location of the scene
(setting), establishing the correct mood (pathetic fallacy works well here),
and making sure the main characters are having a physical and/or emotional
response to all stimuli.
Simply put, if someone slaps you in the face are you
going to just keep talking as if nothing happened? Of course not, but I see it
in manuscripts all the time. HOW the players react to stimuli is one way
writers convey the character and morals of the individuals.
Telling someone the events, later on, does not allow the
reader to know the character motivations and reactions as they happen so that
they have a chance to react as well. Do
they feel sorry for the character? Angry? Hate another character? Understand a
character better? They should.
That’s what helps a reader “see” the
hero/heroine grow as a character, as an individual, as a person. Stories are about people, even if the
characters are not human. That’s why readers read. They want to live in someone else’s world,
and take a mental vacation. They can’t “picture” themselves there if they don’t
get their 1000 words…which the writer has skillfully tightened to 100.
It’s fitting that I should talk about the conclusion last.
What?
How would you feel if that’s where this blog ended, with no discussion
of how a good book should conclude? Magnify that by a few hundred pages and you
know how a reader feels when they have invested the time and emotional commitment
to a book’s story and characters only to have the writer leave them hanging. We used to call those slam-against-the-wall
endings. Chances are, that reader will
never, ever read another book by said author, and will be sure to complain
about it to all their friends, who will also never read a book by said
author. Selling books is like any other retail
business. You need repeat customers. Just because your book isn’t a suspense or
mystery doesn’t mean you can leave loose threads.
Would you want to read a whodunit
that never revealed the killer? Well, readers also don’t want to read a romance
where they don’t know what happens to the lovers, even if it’s only what they
intend to do, as in a goal which the writer will most likely foil in the
sequel. You can hint at coming events in the next novel, but you must give the
reader a satisfying conclusion, even if it’s not a happy ending. But that’s an
entirely different topic, so I will just conclude by saying that all’s well
that ends well and leave the Shakespeare fans chuckling at
the double meaning in that innocent phrase.
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| I hope you all now know to SHOW what happened next...and I bet Norma Bates knows.... |
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