Whether a romance writer, historical novelist, screenwriter or memoirist, all writers bog down at one time or another or two or three or five hundred.. In my work with writers, I have spotted 5 classic reasons writers falter when it comes to the craft of writing:
1) Writers Balk at Plot
At some point, however, every writer, even those who work out their stories on the page, requires some sort of structure in which to present their work. Plot is the interweaving of character emotional development, dramatic action and thematic significance. In other words, someone acts or reacts. In so doing, that someone is changed and something is learned.
2) Writers Concentrate on Their Strengths, Forgetting that Plot is not Merely Action-driven Nor is it Only Character-driven
The rhythm of story telling is in all of us right now, especially for those of us who were read to as youngsters and continue to read fiction today.
(PLOT TIP: The best way to becoming a better writer is to become a more voracious reader).
Natural born storyteller tap into this rhythm unconsciously and are able to weave all three plot lines without much conscious thought to structure. For the rest of us who have something to say and long to be heard or, in our case, read, our stories tend to turn out lopsided. Why? Because we get stuck either by concentrating on action only, forgetting that character makes up 70% of good fiction, or by delving into the inner-workings of characters with little regard for conflict, tension and suspense.
3) Writers Forget the Importance of Cause and Effect
The structure of story has remained essentially the same since the beginning of time. The elements that vary are the beat or tempo and the intensity. Take, for example, the best seller The DaVinci Code (dramatic action-driven story) by Dan Brown with its break-neck pace of action versus the more leisurely plot pace of the early 19th centur
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Current word count: 10,700
Words written today: 580
Words to goal: 29,300/341 words a day until the end of September
Working on my second novel, the writing is going much quicker than the first. The fact that I’m writing every day helps enormously, not only because of the time spent on it, but also because during that time, I’ve been able to continue from where I left off yesterday pretty well. The story is alive in my mind. It took a couple years to complete the first draft of my first novel. Sometimes I’d have months between writing sessions, which didn’t help keep my mind on the story. So, it’s weird to think that I can finish a novel in a matter of months. (Hey, I’m totally amazed that anyone can finish a 50K novel in National Novel Writing Month in November.) The progress also helps to keep me going.
I also learned a lot with my first novel, about writing, story structure, point of view, scenes. When I started my first novel, I spent what seemed like forever just on the first half. It started out switching POVs, then went to single third person. And it had all this extra stuff that wasn’t needed. So much got cut out. But going through that helped me to learn how to get closer to a better manuscript the first time. Not that I won’t need revisions — writing is rewriting — but it’s looking like it will be closer. We’ll see.
With this second novel, I’ll no doubt learn even more new things that will help me with the next novel, and the next, and so on.
I don’t know if writers, or anyone, ever truly perfect their craft. Maybe to others it might seem like they do, but to the writer, I think there’s always something to learn from every story they write.
What are you learning from your current work in progress?
Write On!
By: Aline Pereira,
on 7/27/2007
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Here are two books for sharing which take children on a good-night (and good morning) journey all around the world. They both celebrate differences in customs and lifestyles, and emphasise what we all share as members of the human race…
The first, for very young children, is The Nights of the World by Corinne Albaut and illustrated by Amo, which focuses on five children from different parts of the world, who all sleep in different kinds of beds. When the magic sliding window is opened, readers can see what their days are like too, and although their activities may be different, they all laugh and enjoy playing games – then close the shutter again, and they all are quiet and go to sleep!
The second is All in a Day by Mitsumasa Anno in an amazing collaboration with nine other well-known artists from all around the world: (more…)
Thanks for pointing those out. I know I'm a victim of often telling rather than showing. I will try to keep it in mind as I continue writing. Great blog!
I think you're blog is amazing and I just got a Versatile Blogger Award... which means I pass it along to other great bloggers : ) you can pick up the graphic over at my site where I've named you as one of my nominations!
http://mightymouse88-hypotheticallyspeaking.blogspot.com