It seems like EVERYONE wants to write a book. When acquaintances,
friends, or family members find out I’m a writer, they often describe, sometimes
in long-winded detail, the book they want to write. Then, inevitably, they ask
for tips on creating their great American novel.
I wrote a book about things that fall from the sky. The
first chapter dealt with weather phenomena. Now, as a scientist, an astrophysicist
by degree, I actually have a fair understanding of how weather works. After
all, it’s just physics applied to the atmosphere. But, as so many writers do, I
wanted to check to see if I incorrectly explained anything weather-wise, so I
sent it to a well-known, local meteorologist. I explained that I was writing a
children’s book (I had already published four at that time) and asked if she
would go over the chapter dealing with meteorology. She emailed me back gushing
about the children’s book SHE wanted to write. That was four years ago, and she
still hasn’t written that book. (And, by the way, she never responded to what I
asked her, to verify my meteorological science.)
Many of my writer friends tell me similar stories: friends wanting
help in writing the book that they’re certain will be the next New York Times
best-seller. Essentially they are asking for a ten- minute description (or
four-text chain, or quick email exchange) on how to write a great novel.
That, of course, is impossible. The best way to learn to
write a great book is to read a lot and write a lot. In fact, the great science
fiction writer Ray Bradbury once said about becoming a good writer, “Write a thousand words a day and in three years
you will be a writer.” That’s a million words! That’s the equivalent of
10-20 full-length novels.
That is a bit of exaggeration. I
honestly don’t know of any writer who wrote and threw away 15 novels before
becoming a best-selling author.
Ray Bradbury’s advice, however,
is sound in this sense: almost no one is born being a best-selling writer. Like
any craft or skill, one must hone it over a long period of time with practice
and failures to become excellent at it.
But I can, and do, tell people
who ask me how to become a novelist that there are some skills they must learn
to do well.
First, learn grammar and
spelling, or use a good grammar checker and a spell checker. When Word, or whatever
word processor you use, underlines a word you’ve written, it means something. It
never ceases to amaze me when I judge various writing contest entries how many
people ignore those and have misspellings, improper punctuation, or simply bad
grammar. Editors will reject such books, and, even if you self-publish with no
editing, readers will reject such books.
Second, and I can’t state this
strongly enough, AVOID PASSIVE VERB CONSTRUCTION. When you use words like be,
have, had, is, was, were, are, did, do, can, etc., your writing is weak. Using
passive verbs TELLS the reader what happens in the story instead of SHOWING the
reader how the story unfolds through actions, dialogue, and character responses
to situations. And, along the same lines, avoid overuse of adverbs, all those –ly
words many beginning writers use in abundance. Like passive verbs, they tell the
reader what the characters think instead of showing.
Third, make sure you know
everything about your two most important characters: your protagonist and your
antagonist. What does the protagonist want? Why does s/he want it? What
obstacles can prevent him/her from achieving the desired goal? How is the antagonist
able to thwart the protagonist, and why does he/she want to? Remember also that
an all-good hero or an all-bad villain is unrealistic. Those are 2-dimensional,
cardboard-cutout characters. Even though the villain may be quite evil, he/she
might still feed a stray dog.
And, along the same
lines, KNOW YOUR STORY. What happens in the course of the story to hinder the protagonist?
What is the climax and why is it a virtual do-or-die circumstance? How is the hero
changed by the entire chain of events? If there is no change and growth by the hero,
you don’t have a story, you have a vignette that ultimately makes no difference
in the end. The reader will feel cheated by that book.
Hundreds of books exist which
describe everything that goes into making a great novel, and this short blog
can’t begin to cover everything a novice writer needs to learn. But those are
by far the most common mistakes I see wanna-be writers make.
I also add a fourth “must” for
new writers. Join a writers club and/or a critique group. Go to writer’s
workshops and conferences. You need the lessons you get from the workshops and
conferences and the critical reviews you receive from your critique group.
Read. Read books in the genre
or genres you want to write. Read books about writing. Hell, read the newspaper.
Those writers have to write every day and they eventually get quite proficient.
That’s why a surprising number of great authors began their careers as
journalists.
And after you’ve done all that,
start on your million words. It may not take you that many, but we all need goals.
