What I Learned From Judging A Contest
I recently judged a contest of approximately thirty entries of book beginnings. It was a real eye opener. I learned lots of things. Stuff I thought we could all benefit from so here goes.
First: learn the basics. Manuscript formatting, basic grammar and punctuation can be found in a number of books. Follow the basic requirements. Do not use a font that is meant to look like cursive writing and set it a eight for font size. Believe me, it’s enough to make me quit reading.
Suggested reading on this topic – There are book on basic manuscript formatting and most how-to books contain guidelines. Familiarize yourself with these basics.
Second: story is everything. If you have a good story I’ll even overlook the cursive-writing- size-eight thing. I’ll even overlook funny paragraph breaks and typos. All of that can be corrected and if the story is great, I’ll read right over that stuff.
Story. What is it?
Webster says it’s narration of a fictional tale, or the telling of lies.
I think it was Annie Lamott in Bird by Bird who said, Story is a pain killer.
Robert McKee is his very detailed book, Story, says stories are equipment for living.
Like that’s crystal clear, isn’t it? I’m sure you now have a definitive understanding of what story is.
My own definition is:
Story is motivated characters in conflict, with the character growth, and resolution of the conflict structured as beginning, middle, and end, all set in a place that seems so real it could be real.
I like the opening quote in Celia Bryfield’s book Bestseller; Secrets of Successful Writing. She quotes Clarissa Pinkola Estes in Women Who Run With The Wolves, and I repeat her quote. ‘Whenever a tale is told, it becomes night. No matter where the dwelling, no matter the time, no matter the season the telling of tales causes a starry sky and a white moon to creep from the eaves and hover over the heads of the listeners. Sometimes, by the end of the tale, the chamber is filled with daybreak; other times a star shard is left behind, sometimes a ragged thread of storm sky. And whatever is left behind is our bounty to work with, to use toward soul-making.”
Isn’t that lovely?
So how do you learn about story? You read and read and read. You read stories and digest them. You read them and dissect them. You read about the craft. You study story structure, go to workshops, take courses, read books on craft. In my humble opinion, learning about story is an on-going life-long journey. Just when you think you understand it, you find out there are more nuances.
Third: learn where to start your story. Don’t tell us why you are going to write this story or why these characters are in the story. Cut backstory. Present it on a need-to-know basis. Tease us with it but thrust us into the action.
Fourth: Make us care about the characters. If you don’t make us care from the beginning all that drama is just a news story. Again, not by throwing us the complete story of who they are and how they got here, but with a sentence or two.
For instance, in my latest book, Chastity’s Angel (a shameless bit of self promotion here) I begin, ‘Everything seemed to happen at once that pleasant summer afternoon of 1909 at Brownlee’s Boardinghouse in the thriving town of Willow Creek, Alberta, Canada.’
I quickly describe her at work in one paragraph, and hint at a boyfriend then bang, I literally throw the reader into action: ‘At the same time she heard a crash from the dining room…’
Lots of information in a very short time. Make every word count in your first few sentences.
Five: know your genre. Each series, each genre, each publisher has slightly different styles and requirements. If you want to sell (and who doesn’t?) you have to know those subtle differences. There is only one way to find them. Read. Read. Read. Take half a dozen books, minimum, read each, dissect them. How do you dissect a book?
Read first for enjoyment.
Then list each scene or what happens next, then try and figure out the story structure. Use highlighters to mark emotions, nouns, verbs, adverbs, dialogue, dialogue tags. Mark how much is narrative, how much dialogue, how much internal monologue. Again, this varies from genre to genre. Look for things that are similar, things that are different (does this sound like a Sesame Street lesson?). Study tone. Each series has its ‘optimism level.’ Learn what devices are desired.
Six: experience shows. I could pick out in a matter of a few sentences those who had been writing awhile. There was clear knowledge of craft that was missing from the other manuscripts. Some of this comes only with practice. So do your practice. Write every day. Write something. Keep a journal. Write memories. Write for the newspaper. Write scene cards. Write home. Write anything.
You can also gain knowledge by studying the craft. Read books both in craft and novels. Study. Study. Use an index card as a bookmark in every book you read so you can jot down discoveries: nice word arrangements, fresh descriptions, unique constructions – whatever catches your eye and from which you can learn.
So get yourself some experience.
Suggested reading to put your learning curve into overdrive:
The Week-end Novelist, by Robert J. Ray. I recommend this book again and again but it’s because I’ve found it such a thorough book on building story.
Story, by Robert McKee. Thorough and detailed. Some writers rave about this book. I found it helpful but rather pedantic.
Bestseller: Secrets of Successful Writing by Celia Brayfield. Very good. I am in the process of reading through it again.
Writing Romance by Vanessa Grant. One of the best books on the romance genre I have ever read. She describes very clearly how to construct a sound romance story.
The Comic Toolbox by John Vorhaus. His chapter on the comic throughline is worth the price of the book. I highly recommend this book whether or not your interest includes comedy.
One of my recommendations from judging this contest is to stock your shelf with some of these great craft books. Read and study them. Refer to them often when writing.
Above all, remember this is an ongoing process. What you didn’t understand last year makes sense this year. You are on a life-long journey. At the least, writing is a good hobby. It keeps your mind active and doesn’t cost much. At the best, you may well be destined to one day be on the New York bestsellers list. You never fail until you stop trying. So get to work and enjoy the journey
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