I write alone, I edit myself, I ask advice, I appreciate (really appreciate) criticism, and I listen to comment…
Since I have been publishing my books so I have a real audience, I have become even more acutely aware of my readers – and become aware of them as I write not just as I await their opinion! As I edit I try all sorts of different things to try to distance myself from my work and to see it objectively.
Recently and very belatedly, I have tried to consciously see what it is about books I’m reading which I either like or dislike.
I must not
- fall in love with my characters
- pile on word on word, clause on clause, heap up adverbs and adjectives – clean and clear descriptions!
- list every tiny detail when describing something – tiny detail is good, but readers have imaginations too!
- allow conversations to be written down verbatim (ok, they are in my head, but in my head I can hear every interjection, repetition, non-phatic communion)
- have purposeless characters – yes to people who set the scene in a pub for example, but no to people who suddenly disappear from the plot for no reason and are never heard of again
- hurry to finish the story because I’m fed up with it – if I am, the reader will be, and if they’re not, they will know what I’m doing!
- have too many coincidences
- have too many sub-plots – why not use some for another story?
I must
- make sure the reader knows what the main character looks like if they are the narrator, or if the narrative is told only from their point of view
- check the pace of the story – I’m not Dickens so I cannot deviate into wonderfully written highways and byways, I have to get to the action (not necessarily physical action, but some forward move in the plot)…
- … and although I need climaxes and crescendos, I must make sure the build up is not too long and tedious – I am not Tolstoy!
- consider my reader; if they have taken the time not just to get hold of my book but to read it all the way through (despite any errors which have crept in through my self-editing, and the Kindle gremlins who throw in strange punctuation and swap letters around) then at the end, even if it is not a totally happy ending, it must be a satisfactory ending, and there must be a possibility for the characters to continue with the reader to make their own personal conclusion
Thank you all my readers, thank you very much, especially those who have made a comment or criticism of my stories… I really do appreciate it, I have learned so much. Thank you too to all the writers whose books I’ve hated or been disappointed in, I’ve learnt from you too.
PS I will never write a narrative in the present tense – that to me is a personal abhorrence with only a few exceptions
PPS non-phatic communion is all the little ways of communication without using words – waving, smiling, winking, thumbs up, non-word noises like ugh, aaah, ooooow, bleagh
Lois Elsden 
Hey Lois
I also enjoy summarising my own “tricks” to myself… and things I picked up from either blogs or my (wonderful!) editor, Colonialist (if you like, find him in my blog comments) and other highly welcome critics, and even from editing/reviewing others’ stories.
There is one piece of beautiful advice someone gave me – in fact it was Arkenaten (his comments, too, on my blog) who is a quirky, fabulous writer with a marvellously different style. He said: Every opinion is just another opinion. We are the creators. We make the rules. This has often kept me sane.
I am deeply in love with all my characters, even the villains. Without loving them I can’t complete a story. It hasn’t bothered anyone yet (I try not to talk about them all the time) but I do find my readers falling in love with them too.
Which genres do you write?
I really enjoy blog posts such as this. Thank you. 😉 Keep up the great work!
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Thank you for your comment, I really appreciate it! I will certainly be seeking out your editor’s comments… thanks for mentioning it.
I was interested in what you said about being the creators and making the rules… i suppose that is true to a certain extent, especially for great writers, but I’m just an ordinary person and I want people to read my work – the same as if I were a performer, I would want people to watch me, so sometimes I might have to adjust what I write, or how I perform to catch people’s interest, and then sustain it… and yet continue to be an my own person and true to what I want to do.
I share what you mean about loving your characters, I do love them – there is one who I am almost ‘in love’ with! I guess what I meant was that I should also try and see them objectively so they behave within the context of the plot in a consistent and believable way. My characters continue on with their lives long after the story has ended… just because there is nothing more for my readers doesn’t mean the characters don’t continue!
Once again thanks for your comments!!
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Hehe Lois you’re a step ahead of me! Of course. Yes one wants feedback from readers. Most definitely. But I’d also suggest, pick your critics carefully. It doesn’t help if someone who didn’t like your genre in general gives a comment that e.g. your romance is simply nauseating. You’d want constructive crit.
One of the best favours someone did me, a few years back, was to proof-read my first chapters and let rip. I didn’t have a croc skin or swollen head yet and clung to the one sentence that he opened with: “Can write.” The rest of the crit was terrible, my story really took a beating. I would have been shattered, but for “can write”. I am deeply thankful to this critic that he went to such trouble; I picked dozens of tips out of his 3-page crit.
Read a fabulous series very recently, in Afrikaans, “Oloff die Seerower” (Oloff the Pirate) by a Gerrie Radlof, written for 12-year-olds. Beautifully written, it’s cliff-hanging stuff. And I fell in love with those characters too. They are so human!
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Thanks again, it is jolly hard when someone shoots down your beautiful literary bird in flight,,, but maybe the bird was a bit of a dodo anyway!! I had a friend once who was a very harsh critic… she was so useful because I had to really look at what I’d written again, and either agree with her, or find some really good reasons to defend my work… and that arguing for my work sometimes helped me pick out the germ of what was good, and then cut away all the rubbish.
“Can write”… the most beautiful words!
I’ll have a look at “Oloff”… is it translated into English do you know?
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🙂 I don’t know if there’s an English translation, will look it up.
Hehe I love it, the literary bird was a bit of a dodo! It was indeed.
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LOL!
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You have a great blog here. I’m a little disappointed that I haven’t come across it sooner. As for your list, I find myself committing many of those writing crimes. I’ve bookmarked it so I can come back and check my writing periodically. Thanks!
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Thank you Rachel… I’ll have a look on yours this afternoon, but meanwhile I am off out for a cream tea in Cheddar, an extra birthday treat! Thanks again, and read you soon!
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It may be OK to be in love with the characters as that comes through to the reader who may also fall in love with them. I feel like confidants or family have evaporated from my life when I finish a novel and the characters are no longer in my daily consciousness because I fell in love with them. They are real and personable in my mind despite fiction. No sub plots please – that’s why I don’t read James Michener and the like. His 12 generations with 7 families – hey where’s the story? I drop a read with flowery unnecessary adjs and advs. But love creative metaphors and similes and that keeps me reading. I often copy them on end blank page or 3×5 cards. Ah, the errors left by self editing – no matter how good a proof reader or copy editor I am – always let someone else read because our mind/eyes see what they want to see not not watts aktually their.
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You’re so right Carl! I love it when I’m reading and the characters stay with me… and they do when I write too; I just don’t want to become so close to them that they are taken out of the context of the plot and behave or speak in an inconsistent way… maybe indulgent is the word I should have used! Maybe I need to think about what I mean and write a proper post on it!
…. oh and yes, the self-editing errors… I know them so well! I just hope I get taken up by a publishing house with an editorial team to support me… oh but then I might actually hate that too!
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Oh and also I did akcherly larf owt lowd!
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🙂 Definitely needs an additional pair of “fresh” eyes to go through it. Reading it aloud to someone helps too – for deleting “cringey” scenes. Disagree strongly about sub-plots but that’s really a matter of taste. I love that effect of “meanwhile, back at the ranch”, also as a reader.
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are you two dabbling in the style of Mark Twain ?
….says Mom giggling over her shoulder 🙂
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Oooh, Mark Twain! I wish!
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Go for it.
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