Lately I've been coaching people writing fiction, and have noticed some big differences between published and unpublished manuscripts. The first 4 can all
be corrected if the writer wants to take the trouble to correct them;
the next 3 three I think depend upon having some talent......
The list helped me fix my OWN writing and I sent it along to one of the people I coach, too. He also found it helpful -- maybe some of you will.
If you disagree with some or can think of others I haven't mentioned, PLEASE comment.
1. Published writers use
dialog to
move the story along or develop character. Unpublished writers use it to
take up space or give the reader information that could be more economically given in
some other way.
UPWs
almost always let their dialog go on way too long. Conversations
in books (unlike conversations in real life!) should end as soon as
their dramatic purpose has been achieved.
2. PWs give readers
just the right amount of back story/information
about the characters and situation -- not too much, not too little. UPWs
tend to either give WAY too much -- telling us all much more
about the characters' pasts or the present situation than we need to
know -- or so little that we are completely confused.
3. Simiarly, UPWs often spend more time describing a scene/setting it up than letting it play out. PWs
concentrate their energies and our attention on what happens --
and in every scene, something does.
4. UPWs introduce characters, facts, situations and then abandon them
without developing them or bringing them to a conclusion. PWs make sure
that if there is a gun lying on the table, it goes off, or fails to go
off, or gets confused for the murder weapon or plays some other role in
the story. Otherwise, why mention it? Similarly, if they describe a
character in Chapter 4, that character has a role in what happens. He
doesn't just get introduced in a paragraph of backstory, stroll in to ask about the weather, and then disappear.
5. It is amazing
HOW MUCH HAPPENS in a
well-constructed novel. Many amateurish attempts simply contain too
little -- they're too slight to be interesting.
6. PWs write about
people who come to life in the readers' minds -- their characters seem
real, we care what happens to them. UPWs' characters are hard to tell
apart or remember, or they're unconvincing -- they seem made-up/flat/fake and
we don't care what happens to them (and often, not much does -- see
#5). Conveying what a person is like with a few well-chosen details IS
an art, but being interested in other people and noticing things about
them is a really good start!
I remember an amateur writer -- a doctor -- who was incredibly good
at this, even though he had no writing experience. For example, he described a character as dressed in a cowboy hat and boots, and adding the comment that on anyone else, it
would have looked silly or affected; but on him, it looked natural and
stylish. Later in the scene, when this character replied to something another
character had said, the narrator commented that he couldn't tell what
he was thinking:
"His was a poker face."
When, later, this same character saved the
day with a really brilliant move, it all fit, we believed it -- because
the author had chosen the right details to describe him/let us know what
he was like.
7. Some writers (both published and unpublished, IMHO) simply have nothing to say -- and these people
shouldn't be writing at all, or should wait until they've thought of
something.
8. PWs
"Use the right word, not its second cousin." -- Mark Twain
Some UPWs just plain can't
write: they misuse words, make grammatical mistakes, are incredibly
wordy, use way too many adjectives, always embellish the word "said" or
avoid it in favor of words they consider more interesting -- which is like
avoiding the word "the".....
This (#8) can be corrected by a little work on
the part of the writer: using a dictionary (not a Thesaurus, a
dictionary), mastering the concepts in a book like
The Elements of Style
by Strunk and White, simply paying attention!
Of course, #8 can also be fixed by a good editor, but it's been my experience that those who commit #8 also do so many of the others that I don't think any editor is likely to bother. So the ms. will never get that far.
____
Lastly, I hope this doesn't sound snobbish: I did begin by admitting that MY writing, especially in the earlier drafts, contains some of these things ...and maybe that brings me to one more:
9.
PWs usually rewrite -- many, many times. UPWs seem to think one draft is enough, and when it isn't, they give up.
One of the hardest things about writing is that YOU JUST DON'T KNOW -- maybe those who give up are saving themselves a lot of wasted time and energy (if writing something that never sells is a waste of both). Or maybe they're missing the chance to find out, or get something great out into the world.
There are no guarantees, and until you've done your very, very best work I don't think anyone can tell you.
