BEST WRITING ADVICE (PART ONE) : REMEMBER THE THREE Rs - READ, READ, READ by Penny Hutson

 

Like many writers, I’ve received a ton of advice over the years from various sources, including other writers. Naturally, some were more useful than others. So, I’m beginning a series of the best writing advice that contributed directly to my own writing. I’ll cover one piece of advice in each blog and explain how I used it and/or the difference it made in my writing. I hope you find them useful.

The first one is that you must read a lot. And, according to famed novelist, Stephen King, “if you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”

I’m starting the series with this piece of advice because it seems the most logical. First, anyone can do it. No need to be an accomplished writer or have a completed draft. Secondly, it’s best done before you begin writing. If you want to write a gripping novel, for example, you’re not likely to be successful if you haven’t read a bunch of gripping novels beforehand.

There are always exceptions. However, as I used to tell my students, if they were one of them, they’d probably know it by now. It’s like thinking you can become a great chef or successful baker when you haven’t tasted any great dishes or baked goods. You’d have nothing to go on.

Writing is similar.

You must read a lot, but what you read can be just as essential. For instance, if you’ve haven’t read a young adult novel since you were one many years ago, don’t expect to create a good YA novel without reading some good ones first. Likewise, don’t try to write a memoir or self-help book without reading some in those genres.

My first manuscript was YA because I had spent the previous thirty years as a middle and high school librarian and English teacher. I read hundreds of YA books during that time, and I knew what kinds of stories were popular with young people. All of this informed my writing. I am certain I could not have written that story prior to my educational career. I simply would not have had the necessary tools. And if I continue to write YA books, guess what? I must keep reading the new ones coming out, so I can keep up with what’s popular now and changing in this genre.

So, if you want to be a good writer, don’t forget to do lots and lots of reading.

LOOK! IT'S A BOOK! MY LIFELONG ITCH TO PUT A COVER AROUND MY WRITING By Judy Fowler

 In her book The Artist's Way, Julia Cameron wrote that every artist has their own idea of True North. That's their "I have arrived" moment. Seeing my writing between two covers with a spine has been my True North since third grade. 

That's the year my teacher tasked us with writing a report on a country. Ugh. Tedious.  Then she said our reports had to be bound in a hardcover binder. The uphill assignment suddenly took on the wonder of a trip to Disneyland. 

I could hardly wait to get home, choose a country, pull out my brother's World Book Encyclopedia and get down to some shameless cribbing.

Okay, I cared a little about the content of my report. First, I wanted a country no other eight-year-old Glen Cove student would pick to write about. Second, the nation had to be manageable in scope. Switzerland and Germany were out. 

My choice was Ruanda-Burundi, a photo of which I'd seen in a National Geographic.

In nineteen-fifty-eight, kids used two-hole ruled paper and printed neatly on sheets of it in pencil. My teacher asked for the reports to be sectioned into Customs, Culture, Social Groups, Arts, Clothing, and History. Luckily, Volume R of the World Book had those bases covered.

But I was working toward that cover. For the blissful moment when I'd place my penciled pages of paragraphs into the black hardcover binder my mother let me purchase from the school supply section of Newberry’s (yesterday's Dollar Tree).  

I glued a large red and white paper label (used by Mom to mail packages) on the front cover and boldly wrote on it with red pen: 

 RUANDA-BURUNDI

by Judy Fowler

I sat cross-legged on the floor and held that covered beauty in my hands. I peeked inside to look at those penciled pages snuggled up inside it. True North. 

Holiday card-making exposed the same compulsive urge to cover the "Roses are Red" dreck I'd written for my parents and grandparents. It wasn’t a card until I'd nestled it inside a homemade envelope, even if the card never saw a mailbox and only had to go upstairs on a tray. 

A few months ago, a story of mine became downloadable in an anthology titled Rock, Roll, and Ruin, edited by Karen Pullen of North Carolina’s Triangle Chapter of Sisters in Crime. The stories are fantastic, but what I wanted to see most? The e-book cover.  

Most manuscripts I read to my colleagues leave me less than thrilled until I get them covered. I love the magic of Fiver. They take my ideas and in two days a cover appears. I can even tweak it and get it back again in a few hours. It's an itch my discretionary income allows.

So, whether my story appears alone or last or eighth in a manuscript's batting order, I’m just happy to know it's inside something.  I judge a book once it's covered.