Something I subconsciously have been doing is a lot of reading and researching. Reading about publishing, about techniques in writing styles, reading books by celebrated authors, re-reading my favourites and analyzing why they ARE my favourites. Biographies of writers, success stories. (By the way. You know those people who sit down, write a book, and pretty much just publish it right away, without having to consult much outside forces? They don’t exist. There are inevitably outside forces, whether they are recognized as such or not.)
I’ve essentially been trying to improve my own writing by learning from others who have done it. I have to tell you, it’s working in ways I didn’t suspect it would.
Most recently, I bought a book. Today, actually. Word Painting by Rebecca McClanahan. I highly recommend it, and I’ll hardly be the first to do so. In particular, I’ve been struggling with descriptions, and this book is really the answer to that problem. I’ve been focusing on characters and character development and life events, but I haven’t so much been putting my characters in places, having them interact with too many things. I realized that a couple of weeks ago, well into chapter five.
There is something missing, and it’s the descriptions that evoke strong sentiment and a visual quality to a scene.
Happily, I realized that fact relatively soon, and am now on my way to correcting it. Many of the things I instinctively knew as I started rewriting with this in mind are stated in the opening chapters of Word Painting, and I was glad to learn that my instincts were spot on. Reading a bit for information, I got to know my opening chapters again, and added detail here and there. Once I finished editing in chapter four, I have to admit that it made me feel like a student who got an A on a test after having failed the assignment; in particular, I feel that in chapter four I did it correctly.
In Word Painting, McClanahan writes: “Descriptions composed of sensory details penetrates layers of consciousness, engaging your reader emotionally as well as intelectually.” I really feel like I did that in this particular instance, and it makes me feel like I am learning more and more about my art. I’m learning about something I love. It’s exhilarating!
I love feeling that I know what’s wrong or missing, and working to fix it. There is good writing, and then there is great writing. Great writing has all of the elements. It’s important to realize that your writing can get better.
I realize that this jumble of thoughts may not make too much sense all strung the way they are, but please forgive me. It’s 1:17AM, I am tired from having sat here for three hours, re-working my first four chapters, and the small of my back is beginning to ache. I have no energy left for editing this particular blog entry. I will just hope that it finds a sympathetic reader at one point or another, be it a later me or anyone else, and go to bed happier for having noted the progress I feel I’ve made today.
By the way, I’m really looking forward to writing the next part of my book. It’s an exciting, organic thing.
Wordism 