by Larry Brooks
It’s amazing that nobody has compiled such a list, at least that I know of. Sometimes a little morsel of writing wisdom is so rich, so illuminating and powerful, it doesn’t require a lecture or a blog post or a book.
I’ll try to hold to that here, after I lay one on you.
I bet you, too, can think of a handful of powerful writing tips just from this prompting.
Often I kick off my writing workshops by asking folks to jot down their all-time favorite writing tip, and then open things up for a lively discussion.
Almost all of the tips offered are powerful–except the one that says there are no rules or principles, just make up your story as you go along… that one can be downright lethal–so the discussion focuses on the context of why these tips work, and what brought the writer to that particular career-changing realization.
Not all writing tips are golden, though,
Some require a deeper discussion to be fully understood. Not because they are overwhelmingly complex, but because at a glance they can be misleading. (Too many writers operate from that at a glance context.) I can think of at least one popular writing book with a title like that, suggesting “truth” that is, in fact, context-dependant and nothing other than a risky opinion (“hey kids, do it like I do it!”). The book itself is actually fine (in fact, it contradicts the title; it ends up being more about process than what makes a story work), adding to the confusion even with the best of intentions.
There is another tip, though, that transcends opinion to become holy writ. I’ve seen it work wonders for writers who have struggled to move forward without ever really wrapping their head around it. With a more open mind, though (and yes, it’s a shame that we sometimes need an open mind to see that which is simply, obviously and always true, in writing and in life), it can change your writing journey the moment you see it, provided it parts the curtain of your understanding.
This one is especially true for genre fiction, so us Zoners should paste it onto our monitors, because it will never fail us. It is this:
It isn’t a story until something goes wrong.
This connects to so many principles of storytelling.
And yet, newer writers in particular get stuck writing about something–a character, a place, a time, an issue, all without plot-driven conflict or antagonism other than the hero’s inner issues–rather than writing about something happening in the context of something gone wrong for your protagonist, launching the hero on a dramatic quest that unfolds under escalating pressure from antagonistic opposition, threat, urgency and emotionally-resonant stakes.
You can start with something going wrong, and add character, setting, theme and structure from there. Of you can start with character and/or there and look to add conflict–something has gone wrong–to it.
But no matter how you start, you can’t finish until something really does go wrong.
What is your favorite writing tip? id you hear it because you needed to (one of those when the student is ready the teacher shall appear moments), or is it a baseline truth from which you have always written?
Did you hear it because you needed to (one of those when the student is ready the teacher shall appear moments)? Or is it a baseline truth from which you have always written?
******
On another note… I’ve launched a new website in support of my new relationship-salvage book, Chasing Bliss. You can check it out HERE (including an in-depth author interview).
Offering the flip side of your request for advice:
In my very green newbie days, when I was just noodling with writing, not striving for publication, I belonged to an on line group–one of those ‘anyone can join in the fun’ types. I was writing what turned into my first publication, Finding Sarah, and as I threw “challenges” at my heroine, the group leaders said, “I like Sarah. Please don’t let anything else bad happen to her.”
AS I commented yesterday, the advice that started me down a much better writing trail was “only trouble is interesting.”
And I often think about PJ Parrish’s advice in another workshop: “Don’t bury your dialogue.”
“Enter Late, Leave Early” is another tip I try to adhere to.
And “don’t end a chapter/scene with the character going to sleep or driving away.”
I got the same tip – enter late, leave early – from William Goldman in this iconic writing book, “Adventures in the Screen Trade,” which I highly recommend to any writer who values the wisdom of a legend, like Goldman.
“Trouble is my business,” Philip Marlowe says in one of the Chandler short stories.
Writers should have that figuratively (or literally, if they want to) tattooed on their forearm.
So one tip: When in doubt, make things worse. (Or as Chandler put it once, “Bring in a guy with a gun.”)
Big grin here. Sometimes I say, “tattoo this on your forehead,” but you’re right, they’ll see it more often via the forearm. Love the the Chandler line, “Bring in a guy with a gun.” That’s genius.
Lately I’ve noticed a variation on the Chandler Rule:
When in doubt, introduce a baby…
🙂
Larry, thanks for the post. It will be fun reading all the tips the zoners come up with.
Three pieces of “advice” (more than a succinct tip) that have been most helpful for my journey: 1) Your detailed explanations of story set up in your Engineering/Physics/Fix series. I had mistakenly come to believe that the opening disturbance needed to somehow be the first doorway of no return (using Jim’s terminology), and all set up was a backstory dump. And 2) James Scott Bell’s “write your story from the middle” and 3) your explanation of the difference between concept and premise – gave me a whole new perspective on the process of where to begin laying the foundation of plot and character.
It’s wonderful to have so many talented teachers here at TKZ.
Thanks for all your teaching!
Hey STeve – I really appreciate the depth with which you’ve embraced the craft and the way Jim and I are framing it for writers. Not everyone gets it (some need a trial and error type of learning experience); so glad that you do. You’ll go further, and faster, as a result. Larry
I’ve posted this quote on StoryFix before, but it bears repeating.
“Competencies of storytelling aren’t your call, any more than you get to invent a new way to swing a golf club or take out a spleen. However you create your work, if you want to sell it, eventually it will need to align to these principals. The sooner it happens in the process, the better.” ~ Larry Brooks, Story Engineering
Thaks for echoing this, Sue. I hope folks will make a note of it.
“It isn’t a story until something goes wrong.” A good one. But as Terry mentioned above—I fall into the trap at times of not letting bad (or sufficiently bad) things happen to my character. The problem that comes for me is that people will say, such as Donald Maass—“What’s the worst thing that could happen to your character?” And I’ll say “He could be dead.” Which shuts down the brainstorming cuz that’s the end of the story.
Save the “dead” part for the end, I think. Until then, torture is more apropos. “-“
“Kid, don’t threaten me. There are worse things than death, and uh, I can do all of them.” — The Plague, “Hackers”
Ah, but there are worse things than death. Losing a loved one/very good friend. Torture. What would kill him emotionally, if not physically?
Just my two cents here. Maybe I’m just a nasty person, but when things start to slow down in my novel, my first thought is, how can I hurt someone?
Don’t kill any animals.
Well, you CAN, but understand that readers will turn on you like rabid badgers. 🙂
Amen to this one!
The late Barbara Parker gave me that advice, and I immediately resuscitated the cat that had died. I thought it would be “ok” since he had 2 cats, and I only killed one of them, but Barbara convinced me otherwise.
Really? What if the police have to kill a mountain lion who has crashed through a window of a high school full of students? The tranquilizer darts didn’t work and there was no time to try some other method. There was no other choice. (Do I have to change this?)
Seriously, I agree with Terry on the “get there late as you can and leave as early as you can.” Always works for me!
I posted this on my wall in front of my writing desk.
After today’s writing, ask: does my character have agency? Did she push on the story more than it pulled on her? Could she be replaced with a potato being passed around? Is she a little paper boat on the river, or is she the goddamn river?
Thanks Chuck Wendig
I had a tee shirt made that says:
No conflict
No structure
No story.
There are so many great tidbits of advice. I think one of the most helpful is the first one you hear from virtually everyone: Show, don’t tell! I think this is one of the most important things to learn as a beginner. A reporter tells a story. Those are the facts. Fiction is based on emotions and being able to see the story unfold in your mind. Telling does not accomplish this, showing does. Another that comes to mind is three-dimensional characters. Do not have cardboard characters. For a long time, back in college, I did not understand how to flesh out a character. Learning this has helped me the most in characterization. I learn so much here and value each and every post. Thanks to all bloggers for your help and wisdom from your experience.
Many stories fail at the premise due to the author using the wrong genre to develop the idea. This tip is from John Truby. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Fh9T3yJUU)
Write every day, at about the same time each day. That was an important one for me.
The biggest rule is “Thou shalt not bore the reader.” You can get away with almost anything if the story works. Take a look at Nora Roberts’ 200th novel entitled “The Witness.” She begins with a zinger of an opening line, and then she delivers paragraphs of backstory. The book has had thousands of reviews on Amazon, and the average is nearly five stars. Nobody complains about her couple of paragraphs of backstory. I read the novel and finished it in one sitting. Stephen King once commented that JK Rowling never met an adverb she didn’t like (http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/05/20/deathly_adverbs/). Oddly, none of the kids I know who read the books complained about the adverbs. Then there’s “50 Shades of Grey” where there is so much word repetition that some critics have gone through the book and done actual word counts (http://flavorwire.com/503325/holy-moses-oh-jeez-parsing-the-erotic-vocabulary-of-fifty-shades-of-grey). Even if that story isn’t one’s cup of tea, the last I heard it was on track to earn 500 million (http://time.com/3727908/fifty-shades-earnings-universal-500-million-r-rated/). Don’t bore the reader, and you can get away with almost anything else.
Truest thing I have seen yet, Gentle Reader.
I read romance, paranormal romance, and occasionally Science fiction and fantasy.
And what is true is that last line: as long as you don’t bore the reader you can get away with anything.
The majority of the people who will read your book these days are people who don’t care about adverbs or beautiful prose, they care to be entertained.
In my favored genre, Romance, I find there are two types of writers, the ones who write so beautifully you could weep, and the ones with terrible sentence structures and faulty editing.
I find I’m faster to put down a book with beautiful writing because they have the least entertaining storylines, on account of being so focused on sentence structures. And I am more likely to overlook the bad writing in the other book and keep reading because the story is riveting.
The crappy writers usually do better in sales than the good writers and they always wonder why.
“But my writing is so much better than that drivel. I don’t get it!”
Yeah, but in your quest to write so wonderfully, you forgot to entertain.