All Entries in the "Writers Tips" Category
Short Story Writing: Article 13: Editing and Revising
Short Story Writing: Article 13: Editing and Revising
By Ian Mackean
Once you have written out the first draft of a story you should go through it again, editing and revising until you are satisfied that it is as tight and economical as possible. Then, once you have the second draft you should repeat the process as many times as is necessary for you to feel that no more can be done. This process will take much longer than the writing of the original draft, and it is where the real ’slog’ of writing comes in, but it is also where the real satisfaction of writing comes in, because it is this process which turns a potentially good story into a good story, or a good amateur story into a professional story
I strongly advise that editing and revising should be done with print-outs, and not exclusively on the computer screen. It is all-too-easy to fail to spot errors on a computer screen which are quite noticeable when reading print on paper.
Much of the process is to do with cutting things out, and these are the sorts of thing you should be looking for:
1) Superfluous words and phrases which demand the reader’s attention without contributing anything essential to the story.
2) Repetitions which say in a slightly different way something which has already been said.
3) Explanations whose function is to fill the reader in, just in case he isn’t quite sure what is going on.
4) Digressions away from the action in hand.
5) Indulgences which you have put in for your own benefit but do not advance the plot.
As well as making these economies, you should be asking yourself: ‘Does this sentence/paragraph say exactly what I wanted it to say?’. When writing a first draft it is important to get all the material down as quickly as possible so that we have the rough shape of the story mapped out. We don’t have time to ponder over every paragraph to make sure it is says exactly what we wanted, but it is essential to do this in subsequent drafts, because it is highly unlikely that everything will have come out right the first time.
Paragraphs are the units to work in during revision. Make sure that each has a sound structure of its own, while at the same time following on logically from the last and leading logically to the next. Paragraphs are the building blocks from which a story is made, and getting the overall shape of the story right is largely a question of getting the shape of each paragraph right.
A good thumb-rule to bear in mind is to open each paragraph with some action. Save thoughts, feelings, etc. for later in the paragraph, when you have established the context in which they take place.
It is not uncommon for people to feel a resistance to revising their work because they find it difficult, or even painful to look so closely at what they themselves have written. There is a degree of self-examination involved, and this is not always easy. But it is essential. As well as looking at the technicalities of economical writing we have to re-live and re-examine the ideas and feelings that went into the story in the first place, and refine them to their essence.
You will know when you have finished revising your story when you get the feeling of satisfaction which comes from knowing that every word is the right word and in its right place.
Copyright: Ian Mackean
http://www.literature-study-online.com/creativewriting/
Ian Mackean runs the sites http://www.literature-study-online.com, which features a substantial collection of Resources and Essays, (and where his site on Short Story Writing can also be found,) and http://www.Booksmadeintomovies.com. He is the editor of The Essentials of Literature in English post-1914, ISBN 0340882689, which was published by Hodder Arnold in 2005. When not writing about literature or short story writing he is a keen amateur photographer, and has made a site of his photography at http://www.photo-zen.com
Short Story Writing: Article 12: Style
By Ian Mackean
Style
The secret of good style is to say what you have to say as simply and directly as possible. That is the most important statement that can be made about style, and the second most important is that it is only acquired through practice and experience. There are, however, some guidelines which can help us improve.
Over-writing
In any prose composition we are striving for a balance between two things: making sure the reader knows everything we want him to know, and making sure that reading our work is an enjoyable experience. Two kinds of experience we do not want the reader to have are boredom and frustration. The reader will become bored if he finds himself having to read paragraphs, sentences, or even single words which do not contribute significantly to the plot, and he will become frustrated if he feels his own imagination and judgment are being swamped by the author. Over-writing, which simply means saying more than is necessary, does both these.
The antidote to over-writing is simplicity and directness, and in practice the balance we try to achieve often boils down to the question: ‘Do I add an extra word or phrase to give the reader a little more information, or do I leave the information out for the sake of a simpler sentence?’ In short-story writing the answer is easy: You sacrifice inessential information for the sake of a clearer sentence.
Leave room for the reader to put the story together himself. Leave room for the reader to be in control.
Adjectives
Adjectives should be used as sparingly as possible. Over-reliance on them is unprofessional. (Hemingway advocated doing without them altogether.) Action, conveyed by verbs, is the life-blood of fiction, and adjectives are never more than embellishments. It is not really practical or desirable to do without them completely, but the fewer you use the more impact each one will have, so use them with restraint and discretion.
Commas
Commas are as important as words and, like words, should be used sparingly. If you can arrange a sentence so that you don’t need a comma you should do so, and always think twice before using more than one in a sentence
Repetition of Words
She checked the indicator board for the destination of the train, then joined the passengers waiting to board the train.
Such repetition of words is awkward and unprofessional, and usually very easy to avoid.
Active vs. Passive Verbs
John threw the ball.
The ball was thrown by John.
In the first sentence the verb is active, and in the second passive. The active form is always preferable because it focuses our attention on the character, and makes for a simpler clearer sentence.
That
‘That’ can often be left out in writing, just as we often leave it out in speech. She knew she would succeed.’ is better than: ‘She knew that she would succeed.’
Tenses
Most fiction is written in the simple past tense, (I walked, he walked), and there is rarely anything to be gained by deviating from it. The pluperfect (I had walked, he had walked), is useful now and then for indicating something which happened before the story opened, and for introducing flashbacks, (see Time), but long passages in the pluperfect should be avoided because they take us away from the immediate action. Any change of tense within a story should be handled with care and only done when absolutely necessary.
Some interesting stories have been written using the present tense, (I walk, he walks), but its use makes extra work both for the writer and the reader and in many cases the story would work just as well in the past tense. If you try it, remember that once you have started in the present you must stay in the present, except for flash-backs, right to the end.
If in doubt leave these out
I have already said that words in general, and adjectives in particular should be used sparingly. Adverbs too should be used with discretion. When over-used, especially after lines of dialogue, they become conspicuous and lose their meaning. For example:
“What do you mean?” she asked plaintively.
“You know perfectly well what I mean,” he replied sarcastically.
“No I don’t,” she said impatiently.
“Well you should,” he said haughtily.
Good dialogue should convey the tone in which the words are delivered without any need for reinforcement with adverbs.
Exclamation marks and underlining are also to be used sparingly, and preferably not at all. Again the words themselves should carry their own emphasis.
Never use abbreviations such as etc. or i.e. in a story. They do not belong in fiction, especially not in dialogue.
Don’t use a story as an opportunity to show off your extensive vocabulary. A reader will not be impressed by the use of long obscure words. He is more likely to think you are being pretentious and abandon the story.
Individuality in style
All these dos and don’t s may seem to be an attempt to eradicate individuality from style, but this is not so at all. The main principle is to ’say what you have to say as simply and directly as possible’, and what he has to say, and what is simple and direct will be different for every writer.
Listen to the Words
All the points I have made are intended to help you make judgments about your style, and the best way to make these judgments is to ‘listen’ to what you write. Actually reading work aloud can be helpful, but with experience it should become unnecessary, as you will develop a capacity to listen silently to what you write, and let your ear be the judge of your style.
You are an Entertainer
Finally, always remember that it is your job to entertain and intrigue the reader, not to pass on information to him, or to convince him of anything.
Copyright: Ian Mackean
http://www.literature-study-online.com/creativewriting/
Ian Mackean runs the sites http://www.literature-study-online.com, which features a substantial collection of Resources and Essays, (and where his site on Short Story Writing can also be found,) and http://www.Booksmadeintomovies.com. He is the editor of The Essentials of Literature in English post-1914, ISBN 0340882689, which was published by Hodder Arnold in 2005. When not writing about literature or short story writing he is a keen amateur photographer, and has made a site of his photography at http://www.photo-zen.com
Short Story Writing: Article 11: Dialogue
By Ian Mackean
Dialogue
Dialogue, perhaps more than any other aspect of writing, is something one has to develop a feel for, but like other aspects, observing a few simple principles can help us on the way.
Dialogue is definitely not a representation of the way people really speak. Everyday speech is full of repetition and hesitation and mundane comments which are extremely tedious when written down.
“Good morning Janet, how are you?”
“Oh I’m fine thanks, how are you?”
“Not too bad thanks. Lovely weather today isn’t it?” “Yes, gorgeous. Thank goodness that rain has stopped.”
“Yes, I thought it would go on for ever. That’s a nice dress you’re wearing.”
“Oh this old thing. I’ve had it for ages.” “Did you watch any television last night?”
“Yes, I saw that film, it had that actor in it, what’s his name? Oh goodness what is his name? It’s on the tip of my tongue hold on a sec. . . . ”
“Johnny Depp?”
“No, um, hold on a sec, it’s coming . . . “
The yawning restless reader will not hold on a sec – he will abandon the story.
Dialogue should always be used to convey something important to the plot, and should be a distillation, or edited version, of real speech. It conveys the rhythm and syntax of real speech at its best, with all the roughness and redundancy pared away.
Dialogue needs to convey information to the reader, but in a way which sounds natural. For example if Janet says to Mary:
“Have you heard that John Jones is coming to work for us?”
This line conveys to us that there is a character around called John Jones with whom Janet is acquainted, and it does so in a way which sounds perfectly natural.
Don’t overload dialogue with information. If you do it becomes conspicuous and sounds unnatural. For example:
“Have you heard that John Jones, the guy I met on holiday in Majorca last year but who already had a girlfriend and lived in Manchester is coming to work for us?”
Don’t be reluctant, as some people seem to be, to put in ‘he said’, ’she said’, ’said Janet’, ’said John’ after lines of dialogue, but on the other hand, don’t put them in too often. We don’t need them after every line, but we do need enough to keep us in touch with who is speaking. In a scene with only two characters they can largely be dispensed with, but with three or more characters present the reader will get lost without them. They are much less conspicuous when read than they seem while writing them.
The main objective in writing modern short story dialogue is to keep it brief and to the point. Every word must count, and it must sound natural. Listen to it as you write, and write it as the character would say it.
Copyright: Ian Mackean
http://www.literature-study-online.com/creativewriting/
Ian Mackean runs the sites http://www.literature-study-online.com, where his site on Short Story Writing can be found, and http://www.booksmadeintomovies.com. He was a short story and novel writing tutor for many years, and had many of his own stories published in literary magazines. He is the editor of The Essentials of Literature in English post-1914, ISBN 0340882689, which was published by Hodder Arnold in 2005. When not writing about literature or short story writing he is a keen amateur photographer, and has made a site of his photography at http://www.photo-zen.com
Short Story Writing: Article 10: Characters
By Ian Mackean
Characters
The centre of interest in almost all short stories is the dynamic interaction between characters; what people do and say to each other, how they affect and influence each other, and the effects of their actions on each other. This is what the whole business is really about, and we should keep our interacting characters in the spotlight all the time. Other elements, such as descriptive passages are embellishments. We do not have time to stop and ‘look at the scenery’, so to speak, unless it is important to the plot that the central character stops and looks at the scenery.
A character is a representation of a person, and the best character portrayals, like the best portraits, are those that prompt the reader to see the whole person in his imagination.
The way to do this is not to ply the reader with all the details you can think of with the intention of transferring the image you have in your mind to his, but to show one or two salient points and let the reader’s imagination do the rest.
There is never any need to describe a character just for the sake of it. Like everything else in the story characterisation is only relevant insofar as it contributes to the plot, and should be done through action. Let the characters reveal themselves as they act and speak, just as people reveal themselves in life, and only mention details of their physical appearance when it is pertinent to the story that the central character is noticing that particular feature at that particular time.
Your initial conception of the story will include a rough idea of the characters needed and the role they are to play, and they should develop as you work on the story as a whole. Some writers talk of characters coming alive and taking over the story, and this is fine as long as what they do strengthens your original theme or introduces a better one. But generally speaking in a short story characters are glimpsed rather than seen in the round, and if you find the characters growing out of proportion you might well be thinking of a novel.
It is inevitable that characters are going to be based to some extent on ourselves, people we know, or people have met, and we can combine features of several people to create a unique composite. In fact we can rely on our subconscious to do this for us. The important thing is that our characters should be real people for us, and not just names attached to a set of attitudes. If a character is real for us then there is a good chance he will be real for the reader too.
The article on point of view shows that the whole story is seen through a character – the central character. We therefore need a dual approach to character in a short story, we need to be the central character, and to see the others from the outside, as he/she would see them. In effect we need to adopt the personality of the central character while writing the story in much the same way an actor adopts the personality of the character he is playing on stage. We need to think as the character would think, feel what he would feel, and perceive what he would perceive. We can, of course, make the central character as similar or dissimilar to our real selves as we like.
Names
It is a good idea to make your characters’ names sound and look completely different from one another. If a story has characters named, for example, John, Jean, Jan, and Jenny a reader can lose track of which character is which. Select names which sound very different, and look different on the page. If you are stuck for names it can be helpful to browse through ‘name your baby’ books or web sites about names.
Copyright: Ian Mackean
http://www.literature-study-online.com/creativewriting/
Ian Mackean runs the sites http://www.literature-study-online.com, where his site on Short Story Writing can be found, and http://www.booksmadeintomovies.com. He was a short story and novel writing tutor for many years, and had many of his own stories published in literary magazines. He is the editor of The Essentials of Literature in English post-1914, ISBN 0340882689, which was published by Hodder Arnold in 2005. When not writing about literature or short story writing he is a keen amateur photographer, and has made a site of his photography at http://www.photo-zen.com
Writer Job Description
Writer Job Description — powered by eHow.com
Everybody loves a good story. Children eagerly await a parent to read them a bedtime story. In school, books are read by teenagers who develop favorite writers. Adults scour library shelves and the internet seeking the next riveting read. Where do these stories come from? The minds of patient, hard working, creative individuals known as authors. Every story has an author. Every author has a story. In this free career information video series, a published writer discusses the ins, outs, ups and downs of writing. Get an understanding of writing qualifications, how much a writer’s salary is and pros and cons of writing. Find out what tools are needed to become a writer, writing career information and how to become a writer. Finally, get personal as he talks about his hardest day and funniest moment as a writer.
Part of the video series: Writer Career Information
