Novel Writer's Toolkit: Revised Edition

TOOL 3: PREPARATION FOR WHAT TO WRITE

Preparing to WRITE is just as important as the writing. Taking a little time to work out what to write and what you think your process is could save you some time during the rewriting. Take a little time to prepare to write.

WHAT TO WRITE

Mark Twain said,  “Write what you know.” I have some addendums to that “Write what you want to know.”

Elizabeth George writes best-selling mysteries based in England and she lived in California.  I write about myths and legends because they interest me and I’m willing to do the research to learn more.  I believe that if I can find material that interests me, it should interest some readers.

Write what you are passionate about.  You should care greatly about the people and story.  Writing about something you care about very deeply has the advantage of adding passion to your prose.  It also has the disadvantage that some writers can't separate themselves enough from what they write to adequately judge its content or style.  I’ve watched writers waste years on the same manuscript, trying to polish the editing, doing rewrites on various subplots, etc. when they were not willing to accept a fundamental problem with their story:  the basic idea wasn’t that interesting.    

I’ve seen many writers become too emotionally attached to bad ideas.  Remember I mentioned earlier that open-mindedness is a very important trait for writers. Too many writers get tunnel vision and fail to objectively evaluate their own work in terms of someone who has no emotional attachment and is seeing it for the first time. Just because you feel something, that doesn’t mean you can get the reader to feel the same thing.  

Usually your background will dictate what your story is about.  That's not to say that since you haven't ever gone into space that you can't write science fiction, but it does mean that you know something about the physics of space flight if that’s going to be in your manuscript. Think about when you read the book jacket for a writer you never heard of.  If they’ve written a thriller that’s set in Antarctica and in the bio it says they spent three years studying ice formations in Antarctica you’re going to give the author more credit.

I think it’s even easier than that:  you will most likely write whatever it is you enjoy reading.  The best preparation for becoming a writer of mysteries is to have read a lot of mysteries.

Some words of advice here:  start with something simple.  Don't try to write the Great American Novel on your first try.  I’m constantly learning more about writing and am polishing my skills every time I write and it's nice to be able to learn and make a buck at it too.  As I learn more, I can write more difficult plots and characters.  

And now some words of caution.  I've said you should write what you know and you should keep it as simple as possible, but be careful.  A common problem with new writers is thinking that their life story will be extremely interesting to the reading world, the fictional memoir I discussed earlier.  This is an addition to Mark Twain's saying.  There is nothing inherently wrong with writing about yourself, but be realistic about the possibilities of someone else wanting to read it.  

There is a problem every writer faces when approaching his or her first manuscript:  You are trying to do something new.  Most wise people when trying to do something new use the KISS technique—keep it simple.  You are trying to juggle two glass balls:  the story and the writing.  The simpler you make the story, the more attention you can give to the writing.  

That sounds rather simplistic, but I’ve seen many writers get in over their heads by trying to write a very complex first novel and the writing suffers as they wrestle with the story.  Most first novelists can do one or the other well, but very few can do both well.  Since you must write well, give yourself a break on the story.  When I was still unpublished and got hooked up with an agent, his first (and only) comment to me was to simplify the plot of the manuscript he had looked at.  I had too much going on and was not a skilled enough writer to keep it all going.  I did as he suggested and that book was the first one we sold.