Always give the reader something to see, hear, taste, smell or feel, something to remember. An old car is better if it's green and white, if its fenders are a darker shade of green and its tires are shiny whitewalls. Do you see?
Give your writing room to breathe. Don't have pages and pages of blah, blah, blah without switching paragraphs. It's hard to read, and you're not Shakespeare. In fact, Shakespeare wouldn't have been so unkind to his readers.
You don't need attribution for every bit of dialogue, but occasionally help the reader and say who's speaking. Remind your reader who Bessie Mae and Big John Jones are. Be courteous.
Give us drama. Don't give your hero a happy childhood, a happy tour of military duty, a happy marriage and an even happier work life. Make him suffer or worry a bit. Let your reader empathize with him. Give us a reason to read your writing.
Use active verbs. Don't have your hero make his way here and there. Let him amble, stroll, bumble or slither. And occasionally use an interesting word like sumptuous or persnickety. Be interesting.
And let your reader laugh occasionally. Wouldn't Stephen King see humor in horror or J.K. Rowling see something funny or frightening in magic?
Finally, when you're done, quit writing. Edit your book, and when it's ready, find an agent or a publisher. The world is awaiting your book with bated breath.
Or it should be.
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EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com BLUESKY: PROFILE
MORE EDITOR@WORK BLOG ENTRIES
BLOG ENTRIES BY TOM GILLISPIE
ANECDOTES BY TOM GILLISPIE
ENTRIES FROM THE DOG BLOG
BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
I understand this may happen in a series, but I also understand that a book should stand on its own with most of the foreshadows finalized before THE END rolls around. Nothing was finalized. Everything remained up in the air. What a shame. That book kept my interest, but my Spidergal instincts tingled about three quarters into the book when no foreshadow or sub-plot came close to an end.
So a tip to newbies: make sure your book stands on its own.