So one of the questions I often get in the editing world is, "Glitch, what's a dope ass way to turn my writing into something brilliant an agent would even consider touching? It's pretty shite right now, I'm trying to make it great!"
Let's start with the basics and define what makes great writing. Off the top of my head:
"Great writing is writing that accomplishes what it sets out to do in the most concise and direct manner possible. It fills the reader with vibrant images and evokes emotions on a broad spectrum. It is elegant, accessible, and has clear voice and tone."
#1: Spend a few hours LEARNING PROPER Grammar
For those of you brave enough to have queried an agent, especially those that have been stock-form REJECTED, there is a distinct possibility that your manuscript was tossed aside before the second sentence due to grammar. It is the number 1 red flag in almost any scenario with writing involved that someone has absolutely no idea what they're doing, and they're not taking it seriously.
By now, half of you have probably closed the list saying, "DUUUHHHH this list is garbage!! Who wrote it? Some shit hippy?!" (yes) but how many of those people actually know PROPER grammar?
That shit is tough.
Tough or not, GRAMMAR is unyielding, albeit malleable. It is the structured framework in which you are left to build around. These are not loose guidelines, but laws you must adhere to. Making it up as you go along doesn't cut it. Settling for "an editor will fix it" only does yourself a disservice. A bit one.
It is especially crucial in the following contexts:
Dialogue Syntax-- This is the first place I always look to see just what type of author I'll be dealing with. I can tell more about a writer's experience in just 1 paragraph of dialogue than any other aspect of their writing (notwithstanding paragraph length and the number of Christmas colored squiggly lines that pop up on my word processor before I even start editing).
Periods -- These are hella important. I'd argue the most important part of English grammar. Most people take them for granted and just keep stuffing more and more bullshit in until my eyes want to fall out because of the total disregard to whether its grammatically sound or even whether it makes sense or if anyone is actually paying attention anymore or if they've got the joke I'm making a run on sentence on purpose. You'd all be amazed how often I take jobs where 50% of the work is just adding a simple dot . to the page...300 times.
Paragraph Length -- Although it can be a bit subjective where to break from time to time, proper paragraphing is the 2nd biggest tell that an author has ostensibly no clue what they're doing. When you end up half way down the page and there are no breaks, chances are good you're dealing with bad writing. Fix it!
My personal favorite web-page to study grammar is: http://www.grammar-monster.com Because they offer "Quizzes" which are immensely helpful. Most people (even though who consider themselves great writers) are surprised just how little they know about grammar.
#2: Learn to "SHOW" vs "TELL" Search for "WAS" and "WERE"
>Bob was sad. "You really hurt me, Mary!" Not since Bob's mother died had he been so upset.vs
>Tears streamed down Bob's face. "You really hurt me, Mary!" Worse than my mom dying!
One of the quickest ways to eliminate "tell-y" writing is to CTRL + F and search the word "WAS" or "WERE". Those two words can almost always be replaced by STRONG VERBS. (Tears streamed vs Cried vs Was sad)
For more information check out the link: {LINK TO COME!}
#3: Learn about POINT OF VIEW (POV) and keep it consistent!
POV is huge and one of the main reasons manuscripts get rejected. To avoid a maelstrom of newbie confusion, it's always better to stick with what you know. Don't hop heads to impress.
Also, if you have a named character, stick with that name exclusively. Under no circumstances should "The man" be used instead of a proper noun, especially if that proper noun has already been introduced. Similarly, Fred is not sometimes Fred, sometimes Fredrick, and sometimes "Hat Guy" or "The man". Fred is Fred.
Point of view can be thought of as "the camera" in the story. There a handful of different points of view, ranging from:
3rd Omniscient (God tells us the story--They have access to EVERYTHING!)
[E.G] The group trekked for several hours. A small rabbit watched from the shadows. A hundred miles away, a child wept.
3rd Limited (The story is told through the "eyes" of 1 character or one very small group of characters selectively)
[E.G] Bob trekked beside William for several hours. Bob's eye caught a flash of movement in the shadows. "Oh, it's just a rabbit. What a little shit. Fuck off you stupid bunny!"
1st person (The story is told by the character)
[E.G] I walked beside William for several hours. My eye caught a flash of movement in the shadows. "Oh, it's just some shit ass rabbit. Screw you, you lanky eared freak-show mother fu--"
There are a few others I'm not going to make examples for, like 2nd person, but the rest are exceedingly rare and often a total shit show. I could spend an hour trying to copy someone smarter than me, but I'll just link to her blog.
#4: STUDY YOUR TENSE
"Tense" is the "WHEN" of the story.
Did the car drive? Is the car driving? Is the car...drives? You get the picture. Often, newer writers will make the mistake of hopping tense. Like, POV, you should generally (at the onset of the story) pick the tense you're most comfortable writing in and ALWAYS STICK WITH IT THROUGHOUT.
Here is a basic example: I walked to the store yesterday. I picked up some milk. Joe jumped in the truck and peels out. William stares in awe.
It's a subtle shift, but it is a HUGE problem if you don't catch those. One of the places I usually find these little bastards is at the end of a sentence, especially with verbs ending in the -ING suffix.
#5 STOP TRYING TO IMPRESS YOUR READER!!
No one likes a try hard.
Writing is a lot like gymnastics. Stop trying to impress your friends by doing back-flips at every applicable opportunity. The danger in writing isn't a cracked skull, it's a tossed manuscript and a pissed or disappointed reader. I assure you, if you try to do back-flips in writing, you're going to break your literary head wide open (or I will with my editing pen god damn it!)
Being flashy defeats the entire purpose of writing. Anytime you draw attention to the WORDS THEMSELVES you are fundamentally undermining everything you're working for. The idea should always be to disguise the fact you are writing a book.
You should aim to create a world and immerse your reader in it. When you try to show off *YOUR* writing skills, you break that immersion and generally confuse your audience and bloat your word count and make your editor snicker as s/he laughs to the bank with this ha-ha-ha-haaaa!
#6: Less is More! Be CONCISE!!!
Oh the irony!!!
Anyway, not every little detail needs to be addressed in your book. Just because you can write something in doesn't mean you should. This slows down pacing and throws a wrench in the engine. What often starts out as engaging quickly transgresses into a clusterfuck of over-information. Worse is when it's not even an action scene, but a "walking tour" where characters point at stuff and explain them. I hate these scenes. I call them "Capital City" scenes.
There is a fine line between not enough detail, and too much detail. You are not doing yourself or readers a favor by inundating them with your nonsensical descriptions of everything. I don't care how extravagant the palace is, we don't need to know what the chairs are made from unicorn blood, and that the silverware was {insert atrocious back-story for silverware here}. These are mistakes I've actually seen.
Ask yourself (on literally every sentence!)
- Is this bit of information going to be relevant later?
- Is it even relevant now?
- Does it help build the world or the setting?
- Do I even need to do that anymore or did the last sentence already accomplish it?
Even then, it's only suitable for first drafts.
#7: Avoiding adverbs.
Adverbs end in -ly : quickly, happily, reluctantly etc.Adverbs, although technically (grammatically) okay to use, are generally frowned upon because they make the writing weaker. They serve to skip over potentially dank imagery by cutting corners to save time / writing effort. As a result, the image isn't as strong.
However, there are times when nothing but an adverb (or an adverb acting as an adjective--e.g: technically) will complete the sentence. As a rule of thumb, an adverb should only be used if trying to write around the adverb would be ridiculous. Note: This is very rarely the case
Adverbs also fall into telling and not showing for the same reason:
If it ends in –LY it's usually pointless. [E.G] “Yes sir,” she hastily replied, quickly turning to the keyboard immediately to her right. vs "Yes, sir!" She whirled back to the computer.
These type of adverbs are compensation for dry dialogue or shit narrative expositions. You shouldn't need them and they actually made it very difficult to follow. In the nanoseconds a readers brain has to process a poorly placed adverb, they lose their flow. They are now AWARE THEY ARE READING A BOOK (Result of too much telling) and not involved in a story.
Try just straight up removing adverbs and seeing if the scene you're trying to set still stands. If no, consider using stronger verbs and "talking around it" before placing it back. [E.G] said loudly |vs.| “screamed”
On a final note, these should almost NEVER be used after "he said" or similar attribution. If dialogue isn't strong enough to imply the way it's said, you need better dialogue, not an adverb bandage. 3rd omniscient authors will often break this rule (in my opinion to a fault that editors should really catch but aren't looking for). Harry Potter (the early books) are a great example of awkward grammar and mix of telling / showing and pervasive adverb use.
You become aware of reading it as a book quite often and the imagery suffers as well. While quite literally everyone knows about these books, that may just have been a result of marketing and hype. Most probably don't know just how poorly written those early books were, even if the characters and story are great (and that is actually what matters most I think).
#8: Choose Strong Verbs
This one is actually so simple, I almost didn't include it. However, I think it's important. Agents especially have an eye for this one. Sounds easy enough right? It is! Hooray! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ but often picking which verbs are strong can be difficult.
[H]OUSE THEME STARTS: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Love love is a verb...Love is a doing word...
But is love really the verb you're looking for? Is it adored? Lusted? Wanted? Compulsion? etc. Having a rhyming diction isn't going to help you, but there is this dope shit I call SYNONYMS. They're words that mean the same thing (more or less). There is this thing called a Thesaurus. It's not a dinosaur. It's pretty radical and guess what? MSWORD has that shit build right in with a right click! It doesn't always work, but it's pretty nifty.
#9: Avoid "info dumps"
An info-dump is anytime you dump info in a way that draws attention, or bores the reader. Basically, when you get that full paragraph of total bullshit that just drags on about ...really anything. This falls in line with "Not everything is needed" but info dumping is a special and very sinister type of irrelevant. Even if every detail NEEDS TO BE KNOWN by the reader, the way it's being conveyed (in one big dump that pauses the story to tell you) is going to be a problem.
To be really honest, I could just copy paste and reword, but I'd rather give credit where credit is due: http://www.forresterlabs.com/limyaael/rant186438 this is a very old blog post that is always going to be relevant :)
#10: Avoid "in world glossary" use whenever possible.
A sword is a sword. Not a Xaok. A bow, even a named one, is a bow. Looking at you Tolken, you SOB.
Xilthen rammed the hu'eth into Xaok's skull, shattering the aether within him. Terrified, Zyereth rolled away just as the O'xithen disintegrated in his very hands.
You shouldn't be mindlessly transforming English words that are well established in the dictionary to other words for the sheer sake of being flashy. That's arbitrary. It serves no purpose but to confuse. You can invite some basic words here and there or change the colloquial reference to things every so often, but it should be done in moderation. If you find yourself spilling 2 - 3 in world words in page, chances are good you might be over doing things.
I run this blog without ads because I think ads are shitty. I'm an freelance editor, although this blog is not affiliated directly with my business. If you're looking for an editor (specifically in the genres I specialize in) you should consider sending me a sample of 500 words including title, genre, and a paragraph about book to GlitchHippy@gmail.com. I'll edit it for free regardless of whether we talk shop.
No comments:
Post a Comment