Find Your Strengths as a Writer
Jul 20th, 2010 | By Jon Bard | Category: The CBI Challenge, The Writing ProcessDoes your critique group laugh in all the right places when you read your humorous picture book out loud? Do they ask for more at the end of a pivotal chapter in your middle grade mystery? As you continue to work on your manuscript and get feedback, you’ll learn where your strengths lie as an author. Every writer has qualities that flow naturally from his or her keyboard. Once you learn what you’re best at, use it to your advantage. If devising creative plot twists is your forte, don’t write a quiet, introspective novel. If you’re passionate about research and love science, devote your energies to nonfiction instead of rhyming picture books. Many beginning writers make the mistake of thinking all children’s books fall into the same category (they must feature talking animals and have a wholesome message, etc.) They try to force their writing into a preconceived mold. But you’ll have a much easier time selling your work (and more fun creating it) if you capitalize on your talents.
That doesn’t mean you can ignore your weaknesses. While it’s a smart choice to write a funny chapter book if you instinctively understand a third grader’s sense of humor, you can’t coast with weak dialogue or a plot that sags in the middle. If you get consistent feedback on specific areas that aren’t working, take the time now to improve your technique. All writing gets better with practice, and your efforts now will pay off with fewer rejections down the road. Look for writing classes in your area. Do an online search for books on writing using keywords that fit your needs. Check out books filled with writing exercises that you can use on your work-in-progress, or practice with other material that will never end up in your manuscript (Katherine Ploeger’s popular Workshop series, Plot, Character, and Brainstorming, has just been revised as reorganized eBooks with links to loads of helpful research material. Check out http://write4kids.com/indepth.html for more details.)
Below are some fixes for the most common manuscript flaws:
No "hook": Every book these days needs a hook; a clear, specific concept that allows the author (and editor, publicist and bookseller) to sum up the book’s unique slant in one or two sentences. The hook makes it immediately clear how this book will be different from everything else on the shelves. "A nonfiction picture book about how animals protect themselves" is too general to be a hook. "A nonfiction picture book about how seemingly benign creatures (such as the platypus, cone shell and tang fish) have developed unusual ways of protecting themselves that can be harmful to humans," is more precise. And, as author/illustrator Steve Jenkins demonstrates with Never Smile at a Monkey, and 17 Other Important Things to Remember, a catchy title helps too.
If you need five minutes to describe the overall plot of your book to a friend, or if you find yourself using very general terms (It’s a quiet bedtime story/ It’s a fun look at a day in the life of the average 5-yearold/ It’s a novel that explores issues all adolescents face, such as pimples and popularity contests/ I’m writing a nonfiction book that gives an overview of sea creatures) you probably don’t have a hook. You should know your hook before you begin writing your story, but it’s never too late to revise your plot. If you’re still unclear about what a hook is and why it’s important, take a look at the children’s books that have been made into movies: Shrek, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Tale of Despereaux, Coraline, The Lightning Thief. All have clearly-defined hooks that can be conveyed through one image and a tag line on a movie poster.
Pacing that’s too even: Often authors have their characters in a good place and are afraid to shake things up, so the story develops a very even tone, devoid of any tension or surprise. If a scene lasts more than two pages in a picture book, or longer than about a third of a chapter in a novel, insert a phrase that requires you to change course. Sentences beginning with However… or But then… force a radical plot shift. One day… means the character’s ordinary routine is about to be interrupted. Suddenly… ramps up the action. Meanwhile… means we’re leaving this scene and checking in on the action elsewhere. If you’re worried about the pacing in a novel or book of longer narrative nonfiction, write out a detailed plot synopsis for yourself, then drop these phrases into the synopsis and see how the action changes.
Telling instead of showing: If you’ve been informed that your writing is too "telling," then you need to learn how to "show" plot and character development to the reader via the action of the story. One trick is to do a word search in your manuscript for any form of the "to be" verb (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been) and replace it with a single, strong verb. Jake was afraid of the snake becomes Jake feared the snake, or, even better, Jake gulped when the snake slithered toward him (which gives the reader additional information). Also do a search for adjectives and adverbs, using grammar software or manually highlighting those words on your printed manuscript. Replace the adjective/noun or adverb/ verb combinations with a stronger nouns or verbs that don’t need modifying.
Check your humor IQ: If you think the humor in your manuscript might not mesh with your audience, take a look at this great round-up of what kids find funny at different ages: http://www.clown-forum.com/clowning-articles/9348-humour-developmentchildren.html What works for professional clowns can work for writers!
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Love the site!
Your link above doesn’t work properly. There is a space before the .com, and there shouldn’t be one there. Not sure if that’s the only error, though. I tried to go there manually, and the site said that clownforum.com is for sale. It’s a shame. I really wanted to read that article. Oh, well.
give it a shot – link is fixed…..