Writers - Writing Tips PART 2

Tell someone you’re a writer and you can see their thoughts of you projected like a hologram -a whimsical, daydreaming figure with that an ethereal haze fuzzing the outlines like a cheap family portrait.

Squash it. Zap it with an army-grade ‘tazer. Then grin manically.

Writing can be like giving birth to a child then systematically chopping off its appendages, slashing its baby-blue eyes and plastering the body back together with gore-covered fingers.
I would love to allude to pottery or tending a garden here, but I fear I’d be deceiving you. Once that moment of inspiration has left and your love and soul has been poured into countless flowing pages, it turns grisly. It’s often nasty work. Get over it.


5. HAMMER & CUT
You want to be a wordsmith? Then get out your hardware because now it’s time to shred your soul-creation. Get rid of every word, phrase or description that has nothing to do with the story. Make sure that every word counts. You may not weed out every devil on the first sweep, but get rid of as much superfluous junk as you can.


6. THE INFODUMP
The first thing to look out for is infodumping. If you ramble on about how the MC’s (main character’s) mother grew up in happy poverty until, oh unlucky day, she gave birth to an illegitimate child... you’ll lose your readers before you even get to the MC’s first birthday.

And unless there is a piece of technical information the reader needs to know about a piece of equipment, because it’s vital to the story, don’t spend a whole paragraph describing the inner workings of the thing. If you are a passionate engineer and these inner workings fascinate you, it doesn’t mean everyone else is as enthralled. Just supply what is needed to move the story forward. And if the information does not move the scene forward, cut it.

The characters each know their own stories and won’t continuously drift off and stare into the middle-distance, reminiscing. They will sometimes share a bit of their background with another character, but only use this if it’s realistic and necessary. Too often we write “And did you know, Bob...” bits to stick in some extra background for the reader. This is lazy and boring. Cut it.

Don’t be tempted to give the story away too soon. Readers want a certain amount of intrigue and mystery. Just get on with the story and don’t colour in the background too quickly. Readers will get the picture soon enough...

7. SHOW, DON”T TELL
This is a buzz phrase – always remember it.
So much of the back story is in our heads and flying around as we’re creating our first draft that we spontaneously vomit it onto the page along with the actual story. Editing is where you clean up that mess.

The reader gets to know the back story, where necessary, as the characters act, react and interact with each other. The reader is easily insulted when the writer assumes they will never be able to figure something out on their own and must point it out, either in a long-winded paragraph or using a Bob-moment.

Another example of “show, don’t tell” is when we are trying to ascribe an emotion or feeling to a character. Let us ‘hear’ and ‘see’ them rather than being told how they are feeling. Saying someone is ‘angry’ or ‘sad’ has its place, but be careful of over-using it. Rather show us crossed arms, legs akimbo, shoulders hunched, or let us hear their angry words or the nervous stutter as they fiddle with their hair. Body language is as important in writing as in real life.

We make judgements and assumptions all day based on people’s actions and words and are fully able to do the same with characters in a story we read. Run with it – and avoid Bob.

8. THE KISS
Heard of this rule? It doesn’t only apply to romances either. Keep. It. Simple. Stupid.

If there is a field of flowers below a sunset sky, tell us exactly that. There is no need to ramble on for a whole paragraph about how romantic or how full of doom it was. Unless of course the flowers and their feelings are an integral part of the story.

The use of adjectives can be a sensitive topic. Use them wisely. If you read the piece out aloud and you sound like a pompous arse, your work is probably just that. If you have to, try “The sun raged across the sky...” or “Light tore the clouds apart...” to denote mood and then get on with the action. The mood you assign to inanimate objects can be powerful if used carefully and can set the tone for your characters’ state of mind. But always remember to KISS.

9. KEEP IT REAL
We want to believe you, we want to live in your story, but if something is too fantastical without reason – or too fortuitous – your story will lose credibility. Don’t go for neat endings or serendipitous moments. Life isn’t like that and although we want to escape into someone else’s super-world, we also want to pour blood and sweat buckets with your characters. We want to experience an adventure with them, not have everything fall into place like some fairytale.

Also listen to the way people speak. Don’t have your eight-year old character use words like ‘serendipitous’ or ‘fortuitous’ or a granny greeting her daughter by saying ‘howzit’.

You make a promise to the reader at the beginning of your tale: this is an adventure, a horror, full of wizards and magic, a romance... the reader trusts you will deliver. Don’t abuse them of that trust.

10. BEGINNINGS
Talking of beginnings, how do you start your story? How do you know your story will grab the reader? It’s rather simple really – always start with a change in status quo. “It was just another day for Mary-Jo, but little did she know everything in her life was about to change.” Okay, don’t use that because it’s cliché and badly written, but start with some kind of movement, some action that allows the reader to instantly start moving with your characters. E.g. “He stopped.” “She stared.” “I fell.” And then proceed to show how things have changed for your MC.

This is standard fare and may seem like a cheap trick, but the real trick comes in how subtly you deal with it. You will either have the reader within the first paragraph or you won’t. Don’t blow it. Remember too, that your characters are unique and their situation is different to anyone else’s. And if you love them, you’ll show everyone just how special they are by giving them words that do them justice. No pressure. Just write.

Also remember that many stories, especially those written by the novice, start too early in the plot – there isn’t enough attention-grabbing tension in the opening scene. If you find your beginning lacks impact and isn’t drawing people in as quickly as you would like, look at whether you could use a later event as an opening chapter and move the story forward from there.

11. PLOT
There are only seven story plots in the world. Every story known to man is merely a variation of these. Some say there are a few more, some say a few less. Regardless of the count, we know that there are not a whole lot to choose from.

If this is so, how can I hope to make my story different? How can I hope for originality? This is sounding too much like pre-ordained fate!

Question your existence and purpose on earth later. For now, concentrate on how to make your story engaging. Vivid world-building, solid characterisation and concise writing techniques will go a long way to earning the respect and trust of your readers, but what makes a page-turner?

One of the best ways to create one is to continuously ‘up the ante’.
“If you up the ante, you increase the importance or value of something, especially where there's an element of risk...” (ref www.usingenglish.com)

... Not only is our hero faced with the challenges of an unexpected journey, but there are mounting reasons why he can’t leave. He then finds out that not just his life depends on it, but the fate of the world. Then his father is imprisoned and his wife kidnapped! His ultimate decision whether to stay of go cannot be foreseen...

... The lovers part but how will they ever overcome their past to reunite once more? Events cascade between them making it ever more impossible that they will meet again and if they do, the question bloats with ‘upped ante’: will they still reunite?...

Not only do you move your characters through the actions of the story, but you instil the importance of their actions in the readers. Make them care about the MC’s decisions/actions. ‘Upping the ante’ is a gambling term, so who cares if R20 is in the pot? At R20,000 most people’s hearts would be beating a little faster!

Pacing plays a large role in reeling your readers in, tease them with new information at just the right times and they’ll soon be running to you for more.

12. ENGAGING PACING
A long, lazy walk on the beach is lovely for a Sunday afternoon, but we can’t keep walking into Monday. Same as running a marathon – at some point you just go numb.
We want to hold the reader all the way to the end, so you’ll need to pace each scene without either boring them or anesthetise them with too much action.

A ‘slow’ scene will have longer sentences, bigger words and less action, more description. A ‘fast’ scene would generally have short sentences, no big words and lots of dialogue and/or action, little description.

Play around with this and come up with some practise scenes on your own. See what you get. Perhaps write the same scene from two points of view (POV): one from a person in the middle of the action with little or no time to think and the other from someone watching the scene unfold.

13. CLICHÉS CAN BE OKAY
...but beware. If you’re going to use a stereotype or cliché, be very conscious of it and make it obvious that you know it’s a cliché – perhaps even get your MC to poke some fun at how cliché a person or thing or situation is. The more you read, the more obvious the clichés become so treat them consciously.

Or turn the cliché on its head. For instance, Cinderella is really a spell-casting sorceress and her step-sisters are in fact caring peasants just trying to better themselves (this has been done so don’t do it yourself unless you are certain to be original)...

And sometimes that originality needs to be worked in, so don’t be too alarmed if after reading through your first draft you find personalities that are paper-thin and faces stuck on like a child’s first collage attempt. That’s all part of editing.


14. SOAPBOXING
Never use your work of fiction to make a point. If you have an issue with recycling or idiots breeding or legalising marijuana, feel free to use knowledge you may have on these subjects in your story, but don’t put your characters on soapboxes and get them preach to your audience. Rather allow them the opportunity to speak for themselves.

If you want to tell the world of your pain or bad childhood, then produce reams of angst-ridden poetry or be a star on Oprah. Leave your characters to bring their own story to the world. If your character had a bad childhood and is suffering emotional pain, let them voice it or act on it but don’t let them be your voice piece in fiction.

Jumping a vulnerable audience and bashing them over the head is not entertainment (unless you’re sadistic that way). If you want a soapbox, join a rally or write non-fiction. You will need to convince the reader that it’s really the character talking when you write about something that’s intensely personal. That’s entertainment. That’s fiction.

15. GRATUITY
Gratuitous sex, violence and excessive bad language – this is not just about what concerned citizens should complain about to the broadcasting commission; this is about poorly written stories.

If you are writing erotica, naked bodies and sex marathons are to be expected. If you write a horror story, blood and gore are to be expected and if you write a story about gangsters and teenagers, generally it’s accepted that excessive swearing will appear. It comes back to delivering what you promised your reader. So when do these elements become poor writing?

If the plot or story line does not stand up on its own and the sex, blood or swearing are only included as shock-factor, it’s a poor story no matter how artfully you describe the scene. If you are going to include a rated scene in your story, always question your motives first. Is the scene included to serve the story or does the story serve the scene?

Often an implied action creates a far more vivid picture than laying it out for the reader. Treat these subjects carefully as more often than not they can detract from the story enough to lower the overall quality. Include these things in your story but only when it serves to move the story forward – and then don’t use a chapter to do so when a line will do.

While a character may swear every second word, reading and re-reading every single one in his vocabulary gets tedious – and ask yourself if it is really necessary for him to have this particular trait at all. If so, then for the purposes of the story, use just enough swear words that the reader knows he swears a lot, but then cut out the superfluous.

Sex and violence are present in everyday life. If they are part of your story, don’t be afraid to show them – just be sensitive to the role they play and how you handle them.


Next, the nitty gritty high school stuff... basically!


Go to: Writing Tips PART 3