Death to The Big Lie

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by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start. Still in print! (Isn’t it crazy to think that back then “in print” meant paper and ink only?) It was published by Writer’s Digest Books. That imprint now is in the Penguin Random House house.

I wrote the book as a labor of love to help fellow writers who might be in the same place I was before I started selling. I explained this in the intro:

I wasted ten years of prime writing life because of The Big Lie.        

In my twenties I gave up the dream of becoming a writer because I had been told that writing could not be taught. Writers are born, people said. You either have what it takes or you don’t, and if you don’t you’ll never get it.           

My first writing efforts didn’t have it. I thought I was doomed. Outside of my high school English teacher, Mrs. Marjorie Bruce, I didn’t get any encouragement at all.           

In college, I took a writing course taught by Raymond Carver. I looked at the stuff he wrote; I looked at my stuff.

 It wasn’t the same.    

Because writing can’t be taught.

I started to believe it. I figured I didn’t have it and never would.

So I did other stuff. Like go to law school. Like join a law firm. Like give up my dream.           

But the itch to write would not go away.          

At age 34, I read an interview with a lawyer who’d had a novel published. And what he said hit me in my lengthy briefs. He said he’d had an accident and was almost killed. In the hospital, given a second chance at life, he decided the one thing he wanted was to be a writer. And he would write and write, even if he never got published, because that was what he wanted.          

Well, I wanted it too.          

But The Big Lie was still there, hovering around my brain, mocking me.           

Especially when I began to study the craft.          

I went out and bought my first book on fiction writing. It was Lawrence Block’s Writing the Novel. I also bought Syd Field’s book on screenwriting because anyone living in Los Angeles who has opposable thumbs is required to write a screenplay.

And I discovered the most incredible thing. The Big Lie was a lie. A person could learn how to write, because I was learning.

I am most gratified by the many writers over the years who’ve given a shout out to Plot & Structure. I feel a little like Van Helsing, having pounded a wooden stake though the heart of the Big Lie.

But if it should ever rise again, I’ll be ready.

So here’s the topic for today: What are some of the “lies” or “myths” you’ve been told about writing or the publishing business?

Note: This is no lie. My new Mike Romeo thriller, Romeo’s Fire, is available for Kindle pre-order at the special deal price of $2.99 (reg. $5.99). Check it out here.

23 thoughts on “Death to The Big Lie”

  1. It’s not a lie, more like sometimes unattainable best practice–the writing world harps on the fact that you must hire an editor, etc to make your book the best it can be. I don’t disagree with that at all. However, that’s not always realistic when you have other expenses like say keeping a roof over your head, food on the table, etc. So then your choice becomes, do you keep putting off your dream until you can afford everything everybody says you MUST have to be a real author or do you push through and do the best you can with the resources you have?

    The biggest lie is not from an external source but comes from within when the writer is wrestling with self—stuck in perfection mode, and not getting their work out there because they need to rewrite one more time…

    BTW, Mr. Bell, on a side note – I’m catching up on some writing conference recordings from August and one session’s presenter sang your praises for “Force of Habit”, using it as an excellent example of a strong opening page. 😎 So kudos to you!

    And I confess, every once in a while I just pull up the Force of Habit on my kindle because the cover always makes me smile. Who knew a book cover could be therapy? LOL!

  2. An editor was at our writer’s group, and an idea came to me during the meeting and without previously even reading back issues of her magazine, I pitched her as she was getting her purse and she told me to write it and send it in.

    Sometimes being in the right place with a good idea beats a well written query.

  3. Many, many thanks to you, Jim, for Plot & Structure. It was one of the first two books recommended to me when I started writing, and your description of the Big Lie in the introduction gave me the confidence that I could produce a good novel.

    Just pre-ordered Romeo’s Fire. Looking forward to what Mike’s up to now.

  4. Congratulations on 20 years. I learned so much from that book (along with several others), and from the one class I had with you at a Glen Eyrie retreat (sometime between 2008 and 2011).

  5. “What are some of the “lies” or “myths” you’ve been told about writing or the publishing business?”

    That I’m too old to start something new…Ha! 🙂

    Big congrats, JSB, on that bookiversary.

    And, just preordered. Can’t wait to read…

  6. Congratulations on the twentieth anniversary of “Plot & Structure,” Jim! Like many others, that book helped me tremendously as a writer, proving that yes, fiction writing can be learned. One personal myth or lie I held was that you could just learn writing by osmosis–of course, you have to put in the work, practice, fail, come up with ways to break down the elements of fiction and practice them. Your golfing metaphor is very apt.

    Another I held was that I had to be just like writer X if I wanted to succeed like writer X. A. I can only be, and should only be myself, it’s what I have to offer. B., each person’s success is their own, idiosyncratic and unique, even *if* an advance, or in my case, sales figures, were equal.

    Just pre-ordered “Rome’s Fire.”

  7. Not a lie or a myth, but rather, a revelation. And courtesy of my dog-eared copy of Plot & Structure (from May, 2005).

    I had self-published the four novellas of my New York 1609 story by 2017, and I wanted to combine them into one book. An omnibus, if you will. But I felt that something was lacking at the start. Something strong. Something to really hook the reader.

    Flipping through my copy of P&S, I stopped at Chapter 4 (“Beginning Strong”). And there it was: “Prologues.” Aha! In fact, I had already underlined the section “Action Prologue” with a big scribbled “Yes!” So I re-read that part and decided right then and there to add an action prologue to my omnibus book to kick things off.

    And I know it was the right decision, because when Hollywood optioned that story five years later, their first screenplay—which changed a lot of what I’d written per the normal course of Hollywood events—kept that prologue intact almost word for word. Bada bing!

    And BTW, Jim, I also caught the typo on page 61 under “Attitude.” I’m sure you’ve fixed that by now, eh? 😉

    • Wow, Harald, that is awesome to hear. Love it, and glad I could help.

      Thanks for the eagle eye. That typo belongs to Penguin Random House now. I’ll let them know about their possession!

  8. For once I’m not being a night owl here. I’ll post three commonly held myths here that I believe hold people back, and what I think of them.

    I think they arose to serve the self preservationism of literary people who insisted! Insisted! I read Ulysses. Arggghhhh. They like their cushy jobs and fat paychecks and guarantees that someone will publish their bloviating..

    You know who they are.

    They’re self perpetuating myths too.

    1. You must! Must! complete a six page character dossier of your characters before you set pen to paper.
    No you don’t. You only need as much character as you need to tell the story, and they’ll tell you themselves. I’ll start and listen to them. More often they’ll tell me “Listen here, you with the pen! Write this down!”

    2. Writing can’t be taught or learned. You either have it or you don’t!
    Not true, and this is a myth foisted off on the rest of us to promote a sense of exclusivity by the literary writing establishment. You know who they are and the schools they teach at. It’s stupid.
    If writing cannot be taught why are you hear, teach?
    Writing’s a craft, like residential wiring or plumbing or learning how to put a set of kingpins in your Volkswagen.
    3. You must! Must! write xxxx thousand words every day before you do anything like put food on the table or fix the Buick.

    No. You don’t have to set a target and whale the piss out of yourself because you didn’t reach some target somebody told you you had to.

    Those are a few. They’re part of the holier than thou attitude that permeates the writing establishment like the smoke from a Buick with bad piston rings.

    These myths are created to make you feel unworthy. Don’t drink the kool aid.

    Cart before the horse, people. Writing is a learned skill. You’ll get there.
    .

    • #1. Right on, Robert. I do a Voice Journal for characters, have a minimal sense of backstory, have selected a “face” from the internet. Then let them assert themselves.

      #2. Singing my tune.

      #3. I do recommend a weekly quota = what you can comfortably do in a week, then add 10% to that. If you miss a day, make it up another day. If you don’t make the weekly number, forget about it and start the next week fresh. You’ll still have a goodly number of words!

  9. Congrats on the anniversary, Mr. Bell. And to have a book that’s aged so very well, still getting 5 star reviews after 20 years, is one heck of an accomplishment.

    And I don’t think I’ve ever jumped quite so fast on a link to pre-order a book as this one…

  10. Can’t wait tor read your latest Romeo book! Plot and Structure was one of the first craft books I read and the first to make sense to me. It’s funny how some craft books sound in my head like Charlie Brown’s teacher in Peanuts. Thank you!

  11. Jim, I’m late to the anniversary party cuz I just got home from a wonderful Flathead River Writers Conference. But congrats on a 20 year run and still killing it. Plot and Structure and Jack Bickham’s Scene and Structure are the two definitive books on how to plot that finally made sense to me. I recommend them often to newer writers. Classics never lose relevance and continue to help writers.

    Preordered. Romeo–more congratulations!

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