Writing: Luck or Pluck?

How many books have you read lately? Were they any good, or were they just so-so? Could you have done a better job with the plot? The ending? The characters? It's been said a few times before, I know, but if you're not reading, how can you expect to write? Oh, I suppose there are a few people out there who just happen to have the inborn ability to, with hardly any effort, write a best-seller before lunch, and not even break a sweat. But let's get real here, shall we? Writing is work. Sure, it can be fun work, but work it is.

So, my opening advice this month is to read a few good books. Go to the library and check out some books in the genre in which you are interested. Writing for children is different than writing for adults. Why is that? Well, read a children's book, such as The Popcorn Shop by Alice Low. Or, if you're interested in writing a poetry book for children, Blackberry Ink, by Eve Merriam, is fun. Then try a mid-reader, or young adult book, such as the Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. Lastly, read a mainstream adult fiction novel. I happen to like anything by Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters.

Analyze the different styles, see how other authors set up a scene, how they do dialogue, how the characters are introduced and developed, how the writer makes the names memorable or fails to do that, how the story is paced, how the action unfolds, how the conflicts develop, how the subplots are made part of the story, how the climax is handled. Analyze the scenes, find the key words which bring out the emotion of a scene, study how the writer got his effect, how he uses verbs and adverbs, try to decide why he used the key words he did. Why did the writer choose the point-of-view he used, did he shift verb tenses, why are the paragraphs where they are, why did he use action verbs in one place and "to be" verbs in another? What are the rules each writer follows?

That seems like a lot of work, doesn't it? Well, it is, but again, it can be fun. I'm afraid I get too caught up in the reading part, and I forget to analyze what I'm reading. However, last week I picked up a young adult science fiction book. I took it home and read it, and immediately went back to the library (the same day!) to get the other two books in the series. I asked myself as I read, "Why do I like these books? What's the writer's style? What don't I like?" I found myself trying to think of a good young adult science fiction story that I could write.

To be a successful writer, you need to be an avid reader. Dissect everything you can get your hands on. If you need to, buy a paperback of your favorite novel and tear the pages out, so you can analyze it bit by bit. Study a new writer every month. Analyze their different styles, and how they go about delivering their stories. There's viewpoint, genre, subject matter, and so much more to consider. But most of all, remember one important thing:

A writer is someone who has written TODAY.