Writer's Tip #20: Write the Book You Want to Read

When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.

Today’s tip: Write the book you can’t put down.

This is the most oft-repeated advice. It works. Don’t write the book you think you should, or the book that the market wants. Write the book you’d devour. Make your characters human. Give them foibles, dreams, plans. Let them grow throughout the story until they’re you’re readers’ friend by the end. Make the plot tricky, unpredictable. Make the settings exciting with the details that make you want to buy a ticket and go visit.

Does this sound difficult? If you take your writing slowly, in pieces, this all comes easily.

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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, creator of two technology training books for middle school and six ebooks on technology in education. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blog, Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

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