No one is born writing. It’s a skill that rarely comes naturally and needs practice. Writing is not as simple as putting down what’s in our heads onto the page. But this is a good place to start because then you have your lump of clay, your first sketches, your raw ingredients. What needs to happen next is a gradual shaping, a building and a mixing. A writer needs to find tools to craft the idea into something beautiful, finished and unique. First, they need to learn how the tools work and if they have the desired effect.
These tools are ‘the writing craft’.
There should be no shame or disappointment in having a misshapen lump of clay. You did well to get the clay there in the first place! Most people don’t even get that far, and their ideas remain a dream in the mind. It takes will force, self-belief and work to get a story down, and then it takes practice, perseverance and persistence to make it into a piece of art.
Here are some of the common tools that I see missing or misused:
1. Story Structure
There are hundreds of ways to construct a story, but it needs a beginning, a middle and an end. The character/s must start in one frame of mind or situation and end transformed in another, mentally, emotionally or psychologically. Take some time to study narrative arcs and read other books about how stories are shaped. There are about a dozen different ways to structure a story, such as the classic ‘Hero’s Journey’, the five acts, ‘Save the Cat’ and the Snowflake method. This blog is a great starting place.
2. Sentence structure
Learn how to construct a sentence. The simplest sentences have a subject (he, she, it, we, etc.) and a verb. They may also include an object, which could be a noun, pronoun, or even a phrase or clause. More descriptors and phrases can then be added to bring life, colour and nuance. Once you understand the bones of a sentence, you’ll know where the embellishments go. After all, you wouldn’t try to wear a hat on your foot!
There are plenty of good books on how to write. Try these to start:
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
3. Punctuation
Boring, I know! It’s so confusing to remember all the rules. Commas? They are used for so many things! Dialogue punctuation? Help! But reading a 300-word paragraph with no full stops is dizzying and impossible to make sense of! Please use punctuation as a tool. It clarifies meaning, lets sentences breathe and gives form and structure to the narrative. I always recommend using the ‘read aloud’ function on Word, and you’ll see immediately where commas and full stops are needed. There are many programs you can use to help brush up your grammar knowledge. This blog post details some of them.
4. Avoid cliches
Avoiding clichés in writing is easier said than done, but when you rely on tired phrases, your work ends up as old as the hills. It’s tempting to take the path of least resistance and sprinkle in familiar sayings, but that’s a slippery slope. Readers see these phrases coming from a mile away, and before you know it, your story is dead in the water. So, if you want your writing to stand out and not put readers to sleep, think outside the box and let fresh, original language be your bread and butter. 😉
5. Don’t write it like a movie
Movies are visual and can show many details in one brief shot. They have music to evoke an emotion. They have movement. A novel has but one word after another. The scene setting needs to be described – though not too much. The facial and body expressions need to be shown, the dialogue needs to be authentic, the transitions need to be explained. The words need to evoke the emotion. Try to remember that the reader cannot see the movie in your head. Scenes in movies can rapidly move from one setting to another, but this ‘cut to a new scene’ device can be confusing on the written page.
Finally, I’d recommend you read, read, read. Read classics, airport novels, self-published novels, Booker and Pulitzer Prize winners. Keep a note of when the writing takes you away or makes you trip up and wonder what the author means. How have they written a character so you feel you know them, care for them? How have they placed you right in the centre of 18th century London or a Bladerunner future? How did they plant an object or emotion in a scene earlier so you know exactly what it means five chapters later? This is the most fun way to learn your writing craft.
Many working roles expect us to do regular professional development. Likewise, writers must never stop adding to their tool kit to improve their writing craft. It makes it more fun for you, for the reader (and the editor 😉).
