Two Lessons for Beginning Writers
family peace tip: books are way better Thanksgiving conversation topics than politics
I have fabulously talented nieces and nephews on both sides of our family. A number of them talk about wanting to be writers and some are doing the work. One debates the intricacies of plot ideas with me. One makes regular book recommendations, ushering me back into a love for YA fiction and Newbery Award winners. One will have a poem published in the near future! And one can’t decide between being a writer when they grow up or being an ice cream eater. I say go big or go home, do both!
Over Thanksgiving weekend I got to talk books and writing with several of these nieces and nephews, as well as other adults. I love that I’m part of reading families. Every gathering means my to-read list grows.
During some of these conversations, I was asked about my writing process and experiences. I talked about how I started with writing fiction. For years, all I wrote was fiction, I even took fiction-writing classes and went to fiction conferences. I have three finished novels, several unfinished novels, and many short stories tucked away in the dark file cabinets of my hard drives.
These will never see the light of day and the world is a better place for their languishing in darkness.
But. I learned some things by writing them. I learned many things, here are just the two lessons that came up over the weekend.
To start your published book stack you’ve got to finish and you’ve got to be mean.
One.
Finish one book. I can still remember the day I finished my first novel, over sixteen years ago. I banged out the last line while my family ate lunch and then I ran into the dining room with my hands in the air like a champion and shouted, “I DID IT!” It was not good. But I made it all the way through.
Finish one book. I don’t care if it sucks to high heaven all the way through to the last page but finish one book. Take your idea, which you loved the day you came up with it and you hated as soon as the first sentence hit the screen, and run with it all the way to the terrible end.
Resist the urge to chuck it and start over. No one ever published dozens of half-finished books or thirty-three books that only got to Chapter 2.
Prove to yourself that you can do it. Prove that you can go from page 1 to page The End.
If you write 500 words a day, you could be typing The End before July.
It will be awful. You will hate it and want to burn it. It won’t make sense and you will lose the plot and have bland, cardboard characters on the page. I don’t care. Finish it.
Once you finish a book, you’ll know you can do it. You will have so much confidence. Even if you never publish it (and let’s be honest, you probably shouldn’t, no first novels are good), you are now a book author.
You will approach the next one with less terror because you’ll know you are up to the challenge. Later, you can edit it and revise it or destroy it or hide it. But you must finish it.
Two.
Do mean, terrible things to the people in your book. Terrible could mean violent but it could also mean they forget to turn in their homework on time but the consequences must be terrible, there has got to be something at stake on every page.
I remember the first time I did something to my fictional characters that made me feel so awful, I started to cry and had to set aside the manuscript for the whole day. That is where being both a writer and an ice cream-eater may come in handy.
Get yourself so wrapped up in your characters that you cry for them, laugh with them, are angry on their behalf.
I read a lot and every book I read is finished, all the way to The End. And, every book of fiction (even a lot of nonfiction) has terrible things happen to their characters. There are always high stakes involved or I put the book down.
What is the last thing you finished? What terrible things have you done to characters?
Here are some of the books I’ve read or listened to this fall (mostly listened, this is what can be accomplished on long runs!). I won’t bore you with the theological texts I’ve been swimming in.
The Women by Kristin Hannah (cried and then cried again). Gorgeous and heartbreaking. I called some of the plot twists but that in no way diminished their impact.
Nightwatch by Jayne Anne Phillips. Painful and beautiful, I also called some of the plot twists which was a bit disappointing, if I’m honest, but also I can’t imagine how the story could go any other way, which points to a lovely book.
Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra
The Sequel (sequel to The Plot) by Jean Hanff Korelitz. I loved The Plot. Did not love The Sequel. I’m not alone in this, if the number of Amazon stars (1,128 compared to 23,600 for the two books) are any indication. The Plot felt clever and smart. The Sequel felt overwrought, trying too hard, and, pun aside, the plot meandered and wasted a lot of time and pages for needless reasons. That said, it was also fun and funny to read her sharp critique of the inside world of publishing.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger
Sandwich by Catherine Newman
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, I finally got to this.
Over my winter school break I plan to read, among whatever comes through my library queue and all the get-ahead reading for school:
Leaving the Land of Numb by Don Follis (by a friend, well done Don!)
Stories from the Steppe by Kim Aasland (by another friend, well done Kim!)
80/20 Triathlon by Matt Fitzgerald and David Warden. Yes, this means I am thinking about another triathlon. Anyone have a go-to training plan? Or a maintenance plan?
Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry. I have heard this described as “the perfect book.” We will see.
Happy reading and happy writing!