MELECH - Books of Jewish interest or Torah works of High Quality
Articles to help you write those great Jewish works/Torah books you have in your heart.
Tight Writing Is The Way To A Publisher's Heart
By David Carter
All publishers have more works
to choose from today than ever before. The only way to attract their
attention is with tight writing. Write, rewrite and rewrite again. No
matter how good you think it is, it can always be improved, and never
send it in the mail until you are completely satisfied with it. When
you think you have finished, put it out of sight in a cupboard for a
month or two. You will be amazed at how many improvements you see when
you take a fresh look at it. Try these ideas to improve your writing.
Look out for words you repeat too often.
Some of the obvious candidates
(there are plenty more!) are: almost, already, then, that, very,
nodded, suddenly, like, but, just and our old friend, obviously. All
these words can crop up again and again. We all use them, and some of
them are not easy to find adequate replacements for. But you must do so
if you want your writing to sound fresh and modern and different.
Avoid cliches at all costs.
You know the thing,
we’re all in the same boat, and all things considered, it’s
all over bar the shouting, as we blow hot and cold, but it’s a
breath of fresh air, but in less than no time, the chickens will come
home to roost, as we kill two birds with one stone, and ride off into
the sunset. Urgh! Collins Good Writing Guide lists twenty pages of the
blighters. Join the campaign. Kill clichés!
Vary the length of your sentences and paragraphs.
This will give your writing
variety, and remember: short sentences pick up the pace of the story.
Lee Child is a master of short sentences, and these help make his work
very readable, which in turn forces the reader to turn the page, to
read the next chapter, and buy his next book. Very clever.
Seek the X Factor for your writing.
Something that will make it
stand out from the slushpile. Does the publisher really want to see
another book about wizards and dragons and goblins? I doubt that. Or
another quasi religious mystery? Think different. Be different, and if
you can't do that, introduce a twist. Raymond Chandler once wrote that
whenever he felt the story was dragging, he’d introduce a man
with a gun. I’m not necessarily suggesting you do that, but you
can see what he was thinking. Twists and turns keep the reader
interested and on their toes, and that applies equally to the publisher
you are striving to impress. First and foremost the publisher is a
reader.
Prune out dull patches, rubbish and fillers.
Be ruthless with it too, for
the story will almost always benefit. A 70,000 word tightly written
fast-paced work has infinitely more chance of success, than a 150,000
word saga that all too often bores the reader to sleep. My good lady
bought me a set or pruning shears for my birthday, and they were not
for the garden. They were a non too subtle hint, but a good one at that.
Is there enough dialogue, or too much?
Dialogue is most important
because it increases the pace of the tale. Most modern books have far
more dialogue than the classics of yesteryear. We live in a fast paced
world with bang bang bang action sequences, be it on television, in the
cinema, or within the latest blockbuster novels. Dialogue gives you
that. Some buyers glancing at books in the bookstore do so to check out
the dialogue, and if there is insufficient, they won’t buy. And
make sure it is realistic. Read it aloud, that will soon tell you if
it’s bad. Clunky dialogue sticks out like a splinter in the butt.
Concentrate on retaining the bare bones of dialogue. In actual speak,
many people hum and hah, throw in repeated “you knows”, or
“you get me”, or start every sentence with
“well”, or “er” or “um” or
“yeah”. We all do it. If you wrote that dialogue as it is
actually said, perhaps in pursuit of realism, it would read awfully
dull, and be infinitely longer. Short sharp and to the point every
time, and you won’t go far wrong.
Show don’t tell.
This is frequent advice given
to aspiring writers, but it is very good advice. Don’t tell the
reader that Laura is frightened. Show that she is frightened. Her
throat is dry, she’s trembling, she listens and peers into the
darkness. She knows he’s out there somewhere. She can hear him
breathing. She can hear his footsteps. She can smell the liquor on his
breath. She’s not frightened, she's terrified, and you
don’t need to use the “terrified” word once.
For further ideas on how you
can improve your writing keep an eye out for my follow up article:
“Knocking Your Writing Into Shape”. Best of luck with all
your projects, and never be deterred by rejection.
David Carter's new novel: "The
Fish Catcher" is out now. "The Fish Catcher" tells the story of a group
of children evacuated from London during World War II to escape the
Blitz bombing. It is a novel for adults and older children. You can
read the opening chapter right now at www.thefishcatcher.co.uk and you
can contact David on any matter via his website www.davidcarter.eu
