#writing craft
All stories get more complicated the further you get into them.
This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just inevitable. The reader starts off knowing nothing, and over the course of the story they get fed more and more information.
If it’s a properly written story anything the reader is told will be relevant to further developments. That means they have to remember everything that’s happened so far and how it relates to everything else that’s also happened and everything that’s going to happen.
This network of events, consequences and reactions will get ever more intricate. To the point where it can become so overwhelming that when a character says, “Hey, Mary’s back!” all the reader thinks is, Who the hell is Mary?
This month I attended the Northwestern University Summer Writers’ Conference which ran August 9-11 at the downtown Chicago campus. The conference is a mix of sessions and panels on writing craft and the writing business, primarily geared towards fiction and creative non-fiction writers as well as poets. Here are some of my takeaways from the…
August 2018: The Northwestern University Summer Writers’ Conference was originally published on Amelia Aldred
I am rewarded over and over again with the authors who work with me. Their writing amazes me. We do amazing things. I know other words besides amazing.
But sometimes, you can give a writer all the tools in the world—and they will never finish their novel.
Yes, I got paid.
Yes, we had great chemistry.
100% yes, I would work with this author again.
Her story had potential. Her plot was dark and delicious. Her characters made me FEEL THINGS. The developmental work was fantastic. I enjoyed it. She loved the suggestions. And you could see how all those story elements would weave and come together beautifully like Doctor Strange holding time in his hand.
And yet.
She had become too mentally exhausted to revisit the story and make it work. To go that extra draft and see it through.
And you know what? I get it. I struggle with my own personal writing. It’s a huge struggle and a huge accomplishment to finish a book. Especially when depression, distractions, and LIFE get in the way. And sometimes, you just have to take a break or move on to something else.
But…I was so bummed.
Not just as an editor, but as a reader. I wanted others to read this amazing (amazing, amazing) book and share the same love for it. The world needed this book.
Some things don’t come to fruition.
Writing a book isn’t just talent or a good idea or clean grammar. Or when the mood strikes.
Sometimes it’s getting up and doing it when it’s the very last thing you want to do.
One of the lessons I’ve learned over the years in blogging is not to write about a subject if someone already wrote it better. It’s like that time I re-told a joke, except I fudged the ending and didn’t do it justice at all. (And for the first time, you hear what polite laughter sounds like.)
So, I’m pulling your attention to a lovely blog post, where Jennifer Crusie talked about story beginnings and endings in a linear structured plot:
“The beginning is important because if the start of the story is lousy, the reader won’t keep reading. The ending is more important because If a writer doesn’t deliver at the story climax, the reader will be frustrated and disappointed, and that’s what she’ll remember most about the story. It’s actually better that a reader NOT read a book than read an unsatisfying book.”
I ramble about story beginningsandkeeping readers hookedbecauseI read a lot of manuscripts that have slow, confusing, or clunky beginnings, where the author seemed to be doing a lot of throat clearing. (Like I did over the weekend at a karaoke bar, singing in front of a bunch of drunken strangers. Ahem. AHEM.)
Beginnings are difficult to nail and often get rewritten the most. You have a ton of story setup to get through in a short amount of time to keep readers hooked. The action, the setting, the initial disturbance, the goals, character sympathy. And more.
But then we realize the beginning is only the second most important part.
When I discard a book without finishing, I feel like I disappointed the author, or the author disappointed me, or maybe I just wasn’t the target reader. I’m pricked with a touch of guilt.
But this is a small, quiet moment compared to full-on frustration over a story ending that didn’t deliver.
Sometimes it’s not just one book that disappointed us, but a series. Also known as The Dreaded Trilogy Curse. When you’ve invested time in a series that flops in the last, most anticipated installment. Emotions run even higher. Like hanging out with a guy all summer only to realize he has a long-distance girlfriend he failed to mention until the end. That jerk.
Your time was wasted. But more importantly, your heart feels toyed with.
That’s the weird, magical thing about books. When an author begins a story, she’s making a promise to readers. And she has to make good on that promise with her ending.
It’s a lot of pressure. Here’s a paper bag to breathe into.
Luckily, authors aren’t alone. There are plenty of outlets and resources to get feedback, from beta readers, to writing buddies, to my Quickie Consulting service. In thirty minutes to an hour, my authors walk away with a lot more inspiration and encouragement to finish their draft and get their ending just right.
So, it turns out that DNF isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you, reader or writer. The ending is, in fact, the most important thing. Ever.
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Not only worried about your ending, but your entire novel? Check out The Developmental Report.
