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.
Lawrence Block’s (publisher of over thirty books and winner of such prestigious awards as the Edgar Allan Poe award) Writing the Novel: From Plot to Print provides a step-by-step guide to taking a nascent idea to fully-fleshed novel. It’s packed with ideas (including a bibliography of his recommended books for writers), but I’ll list eleven ideas he stressed–the ones that made a difference in my writing. Add a comment and tell me if you agree:
- There’s no such thing as a formula
- Some novelists outline briefly, some in great detail… (Block has a funny story which I could so relate to)
- If you want to write fiction, the best thing you can do is take two aspirins, lie down in a dark room and wait for the feeling to pass (His book has a light sense of humor writers will appreciate)
- The best seller list abounds with the work of writers whom no one would want to call polished stylists
- Novels…are time and again written with no original central idea to be found (Sigh with relief and then read his book for more detail on that provocative thought)
- Isn’t it harder to write a novel? No. Novels aren’t harder. They’re longer
- I want to (write). What do I do first? what you do first is read (How many times have I read that? Here, yet another successful writer proclaims reading to be the cornerstone of writing).
- (To find ideas on what to write) Pay attention. The little atoms of fact and attitude which can link up into the molecules of an idea are all over the damn place.
- Writing the novel is an ongoing organic process, and we carry the book with us wherever we go.
- When an idea comes along, make sure you don’t forget it.
- The reason the reader care what happens next is because of the author’s skill at characterization.
For more writing tips, check out Kristen Lamb’s Warrior Writers and Gotham Writer’s Writing Tips from the Masters.
To purchase Lawrence Block’s great book from Amazon, click Writing the Novel: From Plot to Print.
To have these tips delivered to your email, click here.
More writing tips:
15 Tips Picked Up From Twitter
Stephen King’s Ten Commandments of Writing
13 Ways and 3 Books to Build Blockbuster Plots
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is the author/editor of dozens of books on integrating tech into education, webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, adjunct professor of technology in education, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. You can find her book at her publisher’s website, Structured Learning.
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Reblogged this on quirkywritingcorner and commented:
Writing is an adventure and occasionally a huge headache!
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Reblogged this on Writer's Work Lab.
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I think the 1st tip sums it up. I don’t think of writing as any kind of task, job, or anything else going along that line of thinking. I think of it as a passion and an obsession. And that’s what keeps me writing the next word. 😉
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Addiction even. I tried to stop once. That was a failure.
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Take two aspirins, lie down in a dark room and wait for the feeling to pass. Love it Jacqui.
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That does work quite well. The question is: Do we want it to pass? Hmmm….
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I guess its like an itch Jacqui, that keeps coming back and so yes we must share it.
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Just took 2 Advil before I opened my computer – does that count?
Following the comments thread here: I think folks might have missed the word “original” before the “central idea” statement that Block made. Block is not original in that observation. It is often said that there are no original story ideas, they are all repackaged, and how the repackaging is crafted is what determines the quality of a story. Fresh and original tends to refer to the arrangement of parts, not to the core concept. Just my take on what’s been said here.
For myself, characters drive my books. I carry my stories everywhere, (at least in my head) often several stories at at time. I read all the time, a bit slowly, but I’m always with a bookmark if not my nose in a book.
Just added another title to my “get soon” list. Booksellers everywhere should put you on their payroll, Jacqui. Authors should send you bouquets. Thank you for this review.
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Did the feeling pass? Usually, when I take two aspirin and lie down, I come back revving to write. Maybe I need to be younger–or older.
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This is a great list and you’ve made me curious about this book. Looks like a great resource for writers to have.
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It’s always on my bookshelf, right behind my writing desk, in case I need it.
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Love the humor and I can relate to many of Blocks’s tips. I don’t agree that there is no such thing as a formula, but I do agree with throwing the formula out the window, probably what he meant.
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My favorite formulaic book was The Marshall Plan. It got me through some rough patches in my writing. I still mentally play it back when I’m drafting.
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Thanks Jacqui and to Lawrence Block’s tips .. I wish I could be a chip off the old block and incorporate them all. Taking an aspirin or three sounds like a good idea too. I like Curious to the Max’s comment (Kierkegaard) about living life forwards but life is understood backwards. Makes sense to me ..
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Oh, I am trying to unravel that thought. So, the end justifies the means? Or maybe explains it? Or decodes it? Hmm…
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Jacqui,
Thanks for the new reference book – it sounds like many of his tips can be applied to life, not just writing.
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Like ‘There’s no such thing as a formula’. My favorite crutch–out the window.
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The idea that a novel has to have a central idea strikes me as insane. Does your life have a central idea? Life always has a blend of thematic threads–if yours doesn’t, you’re not looking hard enough. In developing a novel the work is to narrow the distractions–but not so much that the work becomes obvious or didactic.
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Great explanation of that tip. I was on Rod’s side–thinking of course novels have central ideas. Now I can see the other side.
And now, I’ll have to ponder this…
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AV – You expressed it beautifully.
I think it was Kierkegaard who said (I paraphrase) that life is lived forwards but can only be understood backwards – to me, this is the hallmark of a great read.
The most interesting novels I’ve read lately reflect convoluted “thematic threads” which I begin to understand after I’ve finished reading.
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Any examples?
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The Tin Drum (Glass), The Last Thing He Wanted (Didion)
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Oops. Haven’t read either of those.
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I continue to learn about all these points even if I have to use a hammer. 😀 😀 😀
Great post, Jacqui. ❤
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So far, I’ve provided 2,486 hints. I hope you have the complete list so you can follow them tenaciously (hehe).
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You bet. I don’t need to keep a list. I know where you live. I’ll just rifle your posts on WP. 😀 😛
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Thank you, Jacquie! I am bookmarking this page for reference. So helpful!
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He has some great hints. Thanks, Kate.
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Great tips. I especially liked the last point. But also the humour about lying in a dark room and waiting for the inclination to pass!
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I just did an article on my education side about ‘Habits of Mind’. I love that one of them is humor. I absolutely agree humor can communicate tough ideas nicely.
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‘Novels…are time and again written with no original central idea to be found (Sigh with relief and then read his book for more detail on that provocative thought)’
I don’t know about you, but without a central idea/s I would have no motivation to write anything. Which does not mean I am writing a concealed polemic.
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Agreed. I usually have a central though–whether I communicate it is a whole different matter. That’s the sigh!
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