When I was brand spanking new to novel writing I entered a local writing contest. Looking back I realize I entered for the wrong reasons. I wanted to win. I wanted a pat on the back. I thought that everyone who read my entry would Oooo and Ahhh. After all, it was a scene I had worked on for years and I thought it was really good. What constituted “really good” for me and now are two different things.
Last month I tackled the Sinister Synopsis and some time during my battle preparations it hit me that perhaps a discussion should be had on the various incarnations of paring a book down. In this season of conferences, authors are forever challenged to wrap their precious bundle of pages into smaller and smaller packages in an effort to snag the illusive attention of those fabled editors and publishers.
You’ve finished your book. After all the hard work, you need a great title. But writing a title is a lot different from writing a full-length novel or even a short story. Writing a title takes creativity, but it isn’t storytelling—it’s marketing. Your potential readers see a title before they see anything in chapter one, and it has to hook them. Companies spend fortunes on finding the right name for new products—names that will resonate with consumers—and so should you.
I came across this quote on a bookmark the other day and was mindful of it the next time I went outside to sit on my back steps. There is a positive and grounding force in connecting with nature and I believe it feed and nurtures our creativity.
A few months ago I decided on an exercise challenge. After two years of bi-weekly handstand classes I still could not balance on my own in the center of the room. After asking experts I was told, “you need to practice every single day no matter what, for a minimum of two minutes a day. If you do this, in six months to a year you’ll have your handstands.”
You managed to find your way through the battlefield of plot, claw your way free of character motivation, and rejoiced as you conquered the unsurmountable ending of happiness. Behold the miracle, you have emerged triumphant with a COMPLETE BOOK.
People talk to each other all the time, so it seems as though writing dialogue should be simple. But many writers trip up over making dialogue sound natural. Here’s a sample of something I see frequently when I’m editing manuscripts:
Passive sentences gained popularity in the mid- 18th century with new scientific research. The agreement between the scientists and the publishers of journals and newspapers was that the scientist (a new term and a new field of study) were to write up their ideas and findings passively.
In the past I’ve discussed my evolving style and methods as I continue to learn the art of comics and the graphic novel. When I look at my past books I can see clearly how my drawing is changing to suit my voice. This graphic novel, Queensgate, contains mostly my hand-drawn frames, and I’d incorporated traced pictures of photographs I’d taken on my first trip to London.
“…the bearded merchants in furred robes conversing quietly as they picked their way along the slimy stones above the water, the fishermen unloading their catch, coopers pounding and shipmakers hammering and clamsellers singing and shipmasters bellowing, and beyond all the silent, shining bay.”
Every format of story telling—written, sung, painted, sculpted, photographed, inked, digitally enhanced—shares a sprinkle of an illusive elixir, a potion which will enable the viewer or reader to step into the magical world crafted from the artist’s mind. It is combination of words, note arrangement, brush strokes, use of lines, lighting, or shading that snag the listener’s imagination and set their hooks in so deep they believe, for a heartbeat or a collection of moments, that the artist’s fantastical world is real.
The goal for every writer has to be writing a book so compelling that readers can’t put it down. Using foreshadowing can help you create that kind of suspense, because it hints at what comes later and motivates the reader to find out what that drama or secret is. Foreshadowing can also convey information that helps readers understand future events.
Sometimes writing is like being in a trance. How else can it be explained? When people have experiences, like taking the kids to the zoo for the first time or falling in love; we remember them. We may even remember what our lover was wearing the first time we laid eyes on him or her.
With the upcoming conference and contest session upon us, writers may be scrambling to craft that perfect one-liner that captures the 300 plus pages of perfection to lob to an editor or agent. There may be some who are quietly being fitted for white jackets with buckles as they pare down their beautiful creature into 1 to 5 page synopsis to accompany that one-line pitch. If you’re hoping for words of wisdom on these two items, sorry, I’ll leave that to someone else better suited and not currently tearing their hair out trying to accomplish the same thing.
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Beth Barany helps authors get their books completed and out into the world, into the hands of their readers.
Creativity Coach for Writers, NLP Master Practitioner, and Master Teacher, Beth Barany has been there and knows how hard it can be to take your idea and turn it into a real book, that people will actually be interested, and even yearning, to read.
She walks the talk, as her clients like to say. She is the author of the 2012 award-winning young adult fantasy novel Henrietta The Dragon Slayer, as well as the author of the bestselling nonfiction books for authors and aspiring authors.
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