Writing
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M.A.P.P. Your Writing In More Depth
M is for Mechanics
Spell-check and grammar-check: some think it solves the problem of mistakes,
but of course that isn’t true. The computer doesn’t know no from know, doesn’t
mind that you wrote, "He was a can" instead of "He saw a man." A writer needs a
basic understanding of the rules of proper writing, the determination to read
and reread many times what’s been written, and often simply time away from the
text. Time reveals mistakes that you may miss the first or even the fifth time
you read your own work. It is essential to reread, rewrite, and polish material
before you ask anyone to publish it. Nothing turns a reader off (especially an editor)
as quickly as mistakes in punctuation, spelling, and syntax. If you aren’t good
at it yourself, there are three sources of help: books, your computer’s spell- and
grammar-check, which is helpful if not perfect, and smart people.
- Books
- get a good style manual and use it. While they don’t always agree, it’s helpful
to be able to look things up, read examples, and make the choice that seems best for your
purposes.
- Computer
- Of course guides can be found on a computer as well if you don’t relish paper-and-ink
sources. Most word-processing programs have built-in aids that help with spelling, finding
synonyms, and correcting poor sentence structure.
- Smart people
- This isn’t to say you aren’t smart, but it is difficult to see our own mistakes.
It’s also difficult to find someone who will give an honest effort to read and correct
your work. Some suggestions: pay someone (okay, you aren’t rolling in the dough yet), join
a critique group (which means you’ll have to do the same for someone else, but it may be
worth it), or find a capable acquaintance and set up some sort of barter (I do print jobs
for a friend who hates the computer and in exchange she reads my work.)
After your work has been read twenty, maybe thirty times, it should be ready for submission
to an editor. It still won’t be perfect, but it should be within acceptable limits.
A is for Audience
Writing is very personal, but selling writing is public. In order to sell in today’s market,
you need to consider the audience. Is there an audience for what you write? Of course there
is someone somewhere, but publishers are looking to make money, not support your right to
free speech. If you simply want to give an opinion or tell a personal story, you may be better
off starting a blog and typing to your heart’s content.
Okay, so you decide there is an audience for what you want to write. Who is it? Do they read
a lot or a little? Do they like long sentences? How much blood and guts will they tolerate?
How much depth do they want on a particular subject? Keep an image of your average reader in
mind as you write, and speak to that person. Try to imagine the questions he or she might ask
while reading over your shoulder. Tailor your work to who your audience is, what they expect,
and what will make them respond to your work.
I write mystery novels. That may be enough for some people, but readers of the genre are aware
that there are subgenres within the mystery field. Do I write cozies, hard-boiled, woo-woo, or
procedurals? An agent or editor is going to want to know, since some of them only take on
certain types and are well aware of what the trends are in sales for each. Once again, my
audience is important. Sure, some people read any type of mystery, but others may hate it if
a cat gets killed in my story. That may cause them to never read another word I write. Knowing
who I write for keeps me writing--and selling.
P is for Purpose
Is the purpose of this material to make people laugh, cry, or frown in puzzlement? Purpose
is everything in writing because we approach a subject quite differently because of it. Let’s
say you’re writing a grant for money to build a new local sports complex. You may have to make
the point that your town is economically deprived, but you would not spend a lot of time
describing the slanting, rotting warehouses down that side street behind the run-down gas
station. It would be much more effective to give statistics on unemployment or children who
receive state aid. In a novel it is word pictures that matter, not numbers, but in the real
world, those numbers are critically important.
Few of us consider that we’re writing for the ages, but even if you’re writing schlock it helps
to know your purpose. Nonfiction forces a writer to organize and state ideas clearly. Fiction
requires imagery, weaving ideas into word pictures so the reader sees what you see. Are you
telling a story, trying to convince someone of something, or going for a particular reaction,
like laughter? Everything you write should advance your purpose. A story should be detailed
enough to help the reader picture events. An argument should be convincing, lining up the facts
that support the position you’ve taken. And an emotional piece, whether glad or sad, should
aim principally at the reader’s emotions.
Modern non-fiction tends to be broken into small chunks with lots of sub-headings and varied
print types. Readers often skim, looking for items that interest them, so a page should look
inviting and offer interesting tidbits along with regular text. The purpose is to keep the
reader’s attention, even though there’s no story and not much drama. We like our informational
reading in bites these days.
Many amateur writers think that they are "done" with a work when they’ve really just begun.
Telling events or listing arguments is only the part of the purpose. You also have to fill
in details so the reader, who hasn’t got the benefit of living inside your head, gets the
idea not only that a couple met and fell in love, but that it would have been tragic if they
had not. Similarly, in a How-To article, it isn’t enough to write the steps down. Clever
writers pull the reader in with extras so he doesn’t just turn the page and go on to the next
article. If your purpose is to get published, you’d better learn the intricacies of your chosen
specialty.
One way to get a sense of purpose is to study an author who writes things similar to those
you’d like to publish. Purely for practice, rewrite a page or a chapter of that author’s work,
using your own style. What does the published author do that you didn’t that adds enjoyment
to the writing?
P is for Pacing
Every written work has a rhythm, perhaps more discernible when it’s read aloud, but certainly
a factor in reader enjoyment. As a teacher, I often dealt with students who spent four pages
describing the setting, characters, and initial scenario, then got bored with the assignment
and used the ultimate cop-out ending, "And then I woke up." Whatever the story type, the pace
must move appropriately. Even in a very short story that ends abruptly, a good writer builds
the pace very carefully to a point where the sudden ending has maximum effect.
Novels rise and fall several times before the final climax, short stories rise to a single point,
and poetry pulls the reader from word to word with sound and subtlety. How does a writer accomplish
this? Variety is one good way. Sentences should vary in length, words should not be repeated
over and over, and text should not be dragged down by qualifiers, passive verbs, or overuse
of adverbs. Even when the story goes into detailed description, the words and sentences should
flow smoothly so the reader does not get a sense of slogging through the passage.
In the novels of centuries past, pace was slow and sentences were long. Although these novels
may still be enjoyed, modern writing tends to be in smaller bites: short chapters, brief sentences,
and fewer flowery words. Popular writers end their chapters at intriguing or exciting points so
the reader wants to go on. They know that readers need help keeping characters straight, so they
repeat names and identifiers several times at the beginning and even late in the book if the
character has been missing for a while. This helps the reader keep up. No one wants to go paging
back to find out who Bob is.
Some modern nonfiction can be almost as difficult to digest as those novels of old, mostly
because of euphemisms, buzzwords, and qualifiers. Readers prefer clarity: crisp sentences,
specific words, and those helpful indicators: headings, subheadings, and special text to
help lead them through informational text.
How do you check your pace? Reading aloud is one way. If you get tired of a passage as you
read it to yourself, chances are your readers will, too. Some fiction writers use a storyboard
and lay the events out before them so they can see the action rise and fall. If there are
thirty pages where no significant events occur, they fix it. This can work with nonfiction,
too, helping you see gaps in information that may confuse the reader. It also helps to balance
chapters, which in non-fiction should be all about the same length.
Having someone else read your work is again very helpful. Ask the reader to mark where she
stops reading each time and take a look at what’s happening at those spots. Now maybe the
doorbell rang, but those stopping points may indicate where interest fell off a bit, too.
My favorite comment on a book was when a reader told me that she sat in one spot all day
because she couldn’t put the manuscript down once she’d started it. What a great compliment
for a writer!
All this may seem like a lot to digest, but it’s a good beginning. You want material that’s
as mechanically correct as you can get it, cleverly addresses an audience that exists in
acceptable numbers, has a specific purpose, and is paced appropriately. When you have that,
you are well on the way to publication. Luck and determination will be the next factors required,
so find a shamrock and don’t ever, ever give up!
