How to Write a Better Book in 5 Easy Steps

Ok so these might not be the traditional definition of 'easy' and the 'better' is subjective but hey ho, let's see what they are anyway! I've read a lot of manuscripts from aspiring authors and, with few exceptions, the same few little niggles crop up time and again. I've even seen these pet peeves in published novels, for example, Twilight is littered with them. I do believe it should be renamed 'The How-To Guide for Writing a Crap Novel'. I am in-between massive edits at the moment so I have a spare few minutes to cyber-scribble my thoughts on this subject.

I love writing, I've been doing it since I was a child and have barely stopped to take a breath. For the past, probably 20 years, I've been reading 'how to write' books, blogs, magazines, as well as taking writing classes, novel critiquing classes, etc. etc. All that aside, I firmly believe the best way to learn about how to write is to just do it, to forget the rules and get that wordbaby onto paper. The 5 Easy Steps come in after you've done that. After you've had a celebratory jump up and down, tweeted about it, called your mum, and had one or six stiff drinks, the hard work comes in. So here it is -

1. READ YOUR BOOK! I can't stress this enough, all the exclamation points in the world couldn't stress this enough. I know it's like trudging through estuary mud but you have to do it, you just have to, don't argue. Set aside the red pen, don't look for mistakes, don't correct typos, don't do anything like that, just read it. Also set aside all prior knowledge of this story. Read it like a real person would. Read it to enjoy it. You may have created a spectacular fantasy world full of woamdsnursxxx11's and gold-plated snafflybeuftters but if you are using a bunch of invented words and concepts, make sure you explain them enough. If on your read through you come across things you wouldn't understand without the 400-page planning document then make a note of it and change it later.
2. Do a search for how many times you have used the following phrases - 'he/she said [followed by adverb]', 'he/she sighed', 'he/she curled her lip', 'his/her [hair, eyes, whatever] was the colour of'. If, in a 80k manuscript it's more than a handful, seriously consider changing them. They are common, overused tropes that deserve a spot in the Pit. In dialogue, however, these are okay but in the body of the text, they should be avoided and flagged up with neon lights and claxons as Cliche. There are plenty of ways to say 'she curled her lip in a smile and sighed as he said seductively, 'your eyes are the colour of the deepest ocean'. Bleugh. So find another way of saying it and save us all from the horror of having to read lines like that. 
3. Adverbs. I think I'm going to try to get my hatred of adverbs into every blog post, so far so good. Delete them. Just hit delete, the world and your writing will be better for it. They are abhorrent and should not be tolerated except under very specific circumstances. They are lazy writing. It's just easy to say 'he laughed loudly and irritated those around him' than 'his booming laugh irritated those around him'. The second sentence gives a lot more information than the first and has irradicated the adverb. [Disclaimer - I know I use adverbs in this blog but blogging is more like dialogue than prose. Adverbs are fine in dialogue. I don't use adverbs in my writing unless I have no other option].
4. Long sentences. I've come across this issue a lot recently. I've read sentences comprised of 60+ words, a handful of conjunctions, clauses, and a meandering subject that just gets lost. This ties into the first point, read your book, that's what you want other people to do so make sure they can get through a sentence and keep the meaning intact. When you read back and feel the natural pause (usually after the first conjunction) just put a full stop and reword the rest. I promise you this will make your narrative much easier to read. 
5. Cliches and obvious descriptions. This is also, I suppose, about similes and metaphors. I'm predominantly a metaphor person but a well-placed and well-written simile can be just as effective. Go through your manuscript and make a note of how many similes you use. How many are to describe a character (his eyes were like emeralds, her blonde hair shone like the sun, his legs were thick like tree trunks, etc.)? If it's a lot, and if you have used any of those, change them. There is very little worse in a novel  than reading a cliched description of a character or setting. Inject a little originality, imagination, and the unexpected into your descriptions. Use metaphors instead of similes, they are more powerful. Don't always go with the first description that comes to mind. If, for example, your instinct is to say 'he was eating his cake like a pig' to describe a messy eater, then ignore your instinct and try to think of another way to say the same thing, 'the cake disappeared into his slobbering maw, one packed handful after another'. Don't be afraid to use a few extra words to get the point across. 

So those are my Top 5 tips for better writing but I think the most important is number 1. You have to put yourself in the mindset of a reader picking this up in a bookshop (if, of course, that is your ambition). Think about when you go to a bookshop, do you go for really hefty 800 page books or slim 2-300 page volumes? If the latter then don't write a 200k word novel. Think about the book you would want to read, write it, then read it. You will find a million mistakes but once they are all corrected you will have something you can be very proud of.

Rant on Book Lists

<rant>

So the World Book Night Top 100 is out. It’s a great list but doesn’t hold many surprises. It’s littered with, and topped by, the classics; To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights (my favourite book of all time, ever. Really. Ever), Catch-22, The Great Gatsby, along with a bucketful of Booker winners and nominees which is a great thing in itself (encourages more people to read the classics, etc.) but I’d love to see a list where the classics could be excluded and only books published in the last, say, 20 years would be eligible. Then we might see some hidden gems emerge. Not to say there aren’t a few excellent, contemporary and less super-famous books on the list (The Book Thief, Wolf Hall, The Graveyard Book) but it is predominantly made up of classics and Booker/other prize nominees (excluding of course, Harry Potter).

There is another list of the 20 Most Iconic Book Covers; this includes all the same classics and more listed in the WBN 100. The problem I have with lists like this is that they are so predictable. Where is the fun in seeing a list of 100 or so books or covers when around 40-60% of it is a given?  There are some amazing books from the last 10-20 years that I believe everyone should read and are always excluded from these lists for various reasons (Travels in the Scriptorium, Transition, The Night Watch series, The Song of Ice and Fire series, Christie Malry’s Own Double Entry etc. etc. ad infinitum). This could be because they are not as well-known as those Richard & Judy darlings or even because SFF books/TV shows/films never get the same level of recognition as mainstream equivalents, but that’s a different blog post.

I do have a bit of a wasp in my keyboard about this issue. I look on these lists thinking that there may be a new, as-yet-undiscovered-by-me, awesome read but always come away disappointed. I’ve read the classics, I’ve either read or decided not to read the Booker nominees (and yes, I know that a lot of people haven’t read either) but there is nothing on the WBN list that I’ve not heard of and that either makes me spectacularly well-read or the list-makers, public vote or judging body, very predictable. 

</rant and breathe> 

My Bad Writing Habits

I've been writing for, I suppose, decades now. The earliest memory I have of writing a coherant story was age five or six and I like to think my writing has improved somewhat since then. I sometimes re-read things I wrote years ago and cringe at the mistakes I made. Then I read what I'm writing now and realise I'm making some of the same mistakes. I was wondering if they were Beth-specific mistakes or ones that other aspiring writers make.

• I use commas very liberally. I can't help it, I just like them, they are perfect for how my brain rambles and how my characters brains ramble. I may use them incorrectly but I read everything I write aloud so the natural pauses always seem appropriate. My addiction has got better but I do sometimes find myself giving in.
• I don't plan. I've read countless books and attended creative writing classes which always said the same thing. 'Before you start your novel, sit down and plan it out. Write your characters, their names, personality traits, and personal arcs. Write your beginning, middle, end, and subplots. Once you have ironed out every single possible diversion and wrung the life, spontaneity, and imagination from the thing, then you can write your first line.' While I can see the wisdom in this, I just can't work like that which leads to a few consistency errors I have to go back to correct. It's annoying and confuses me but I can't seem to work any other way.
• I sometimes skimp on dialogue. I tend to write very close, single character-focussed narrative, either in 1st or 3rd person, so I often forget about dialogue. The MC in my current WIP is bit OCD so tends to be a lot inside his own head and is, generally, a very isolated person so the dialogue is always something a little foreign to him. I know that the plot feels like it moves and the pace speeds up when there is a lot of dialogue (e.g the literary abomination that is Twilight) but I'd like to think the prose can carry the story without pages and pages of he-said-she-said (I also don't use 'said' in my writing. Hate it).
• Adverbs. This is more of a historical mistake, I'm not using them in my current projects but I used to. I had adverbs coming out of my ears, nose, mouth, and keyboard. They just seemed to write themselves, automatically... My instinct is still to write those dreaded ly-words but I catch myself and try to re-word the description and consign them to the Pit. If for some reason I can't find a suitable alternative, I will use a less obvious or well-known adverb, but always with a touch of disappointment and the promise to come back and change it.

I believe that being able to take a step back from your writing and identify problems/mistakes/bad habits is probably the most important action a writer can take. It allows you to cut the fictional umbilical cord and accept constructive criticism. If you can admit you have a problem, you can take your first step to solving it, or something like that.

So these are a few my bad writing habits, some I'm working on, some I'm content with. Do any of you share any of these habits? And if you're in a sharing mood, what are yours?

Tone: Consistency vs Evolution

I spent the better part of yesterday evening writing my current WiP and eventually typed the final word of the chapter I've been struggling to finish at about five past midnight. This evening I re-read the 2.5k from last night. This led me to realise how the voice and tone of the writing had changed from earlier chapters. I started to wonder if this was because I was being inconsistent or because the tone, along with the character, had evolved.

A previous project, a third-person, world-spanning YA fantasy, told the story with the same voice throughout, the omniscient narrator. My current WiP is a close character narrative, third-person but a singular, inside-the-head point of view that rambles as his thoughts do and follows his mood. When my MC is panicked, the tone changes to short, quick sentences. When he is happy, the sentences are longer, more descriptive, and more jovial.

Here are my top 5 tips for keeping your tone appropriate to your narrative.

1. Decide early on your narrative perspective - 1st, 3rd, close or far and commit to it. There is nothing worse in a novel than reading one chapter of 3rd person, then one of 1st, then swapping throughout - far too confusing.
2. If your story follows one character, keep his/her personality consistent, write with his/her mood in mind.
3. Don't be afraid to let your character naturally evolve, if an event or conflict leaves your previously happy-go-lucky MC jaded and cynical, make sure to change your style to reflect this.
4. Be aware of your characters age, education, and social status, this is also important for dialogue.
5. If your chapters jump from the PoV of one character to another, try to alter your voice so the personalities of your characters come through in your writing.

These may seem obvious but you would be surprised how many stories I've read that fail on these simple points.

How do you write the tone and voice of your story? Do you let it envolve or are you consistent?

Welcome to Have Pen - Will Edit

Hello and welcome to my blog.

This little corner of the internet doubles up as both a blog about writing and an editorial consultancy. I will be blogging about my writing and giving my tips for other aspiring writers. I will also be blogging about the random events of my life, silly things I find on the internet, my favourite blogs, reviews of my favourite books, and a plethora of interesting titbits.

The editorial side is a free service to fiction writers who may be wary of all the scams going on in the literary world. I was once stung by an editorial consultancy. I paid a few hundred pounds to a manuscript appraisal service. Their 1 month turnaround time came and went, I emailed for an update. No reply. I emailed again. No reply. I phoned, no answer. I then received, close to three months after submission, a two paragraph copy-and-paste 'critique' which basically said that this and that needed improvement but did not offer suggestions. The 'critique' was also clearly targeted towards a crime fiction (I think the words 'police' and 'forensic' were used) when I was sending them a YA Fantasy novel.

I read a lot of blogs and forums online and it is clear that aspiring writers are a cautious lot who can be reluctant to hand over their cash for a few lines of opinion and a few spelling corrections. I will do the same job as an editorial consultancy but I will do it for free. I have a few reasons for this, mainly it's a way for me to gain invaluable editorial experience. I'm not going to say I'm offering a free service which will eat up a good chunk of my spare time out of the goodness of my heart. I want something out of it as well and I want the experience.

So there you go, that's me. If you'd like more information, please check out Editing and Submissions.