Writing Nuts & Bolts

The following are tips excerpted from the "Nuts and Bolts" presentation I'll be doing for the Lakeland American Christian Writers this week. If your writer's group would like a live or phone-conferenced workshop, contact me at www.DeboraCoty.com

1. Beware lest rambling descriptions run away with you. Like this Wretched Writer Award winner: "The rising sun crawled over the ridge and slithered across the hot barren terrain into every nook and cranny like grease on a Denny's grill in the morning rush, but only until eleven o'clock when they switch to the lunch menu."

2. Drop the reader in the middle of a scene without throat-clearing (preamble or introduction). Skillfully craft your lead paragraph so that you're imparting lots of information without being obvious.

Here's a good example from one of my faves, Before the Dawn Wind Rises by Laurie B. Clifford. It's not breakneck action (not that kind of a story), but it's got teeth: "We had been married 11 years when I first noticed that Bobby used his fingers to push his food onto his fork. We were having breakfast on the greenhouse porch, autumn blazing like a fandango dancer around us. Janie and Susie were fighting over whose toast had the most cinnamon sugar."

This short passage tells us:
1. The story is written in first person (informal diary form) and the protagonist is a woman, married with two daughters.
2. The family is somewhat affluent (I don't have a greenhouse porch, do you?).
3. A hint of marital discord (forshadowing a major subplot).
4. The time of day and season of the year.
5. A light tone is set right away; indeed, subtle humor riddles the entire book.

3. Avoid too much dialect, which can become confusing, offensive, or out of vogue. Don't risk outdating your book or turning off your reader. The days of Brer Rabbit are no more.

4. Avoid eyeball walls at all costs. (Anything that stops the flow of words; that halts the movie playing inside the reader's head - may be an obscure word, confusing passage, or redundant phrase.) If the reader has to go back and re-read the sentence to understand it, you've just scored a D- in Writing 101.

5. Use concise, precise writing. Take the time to find the perfect word or phrase. Don't say in five words what you can say in two. Blaise Pascal said, "I have made this longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter."

Write tight!

Taking the Lead

"Okay, class," I addressed the room full of eager writing workshop attendees last Saturday afternoon, "imagine that you are Margaret Mitchell. Using the principles we've just learned, write a query to a fictitious publisher pitching your newly completed manuscript, 'Gone With the Wind.' Since you don't know Margaret's real writing history, feel free to take creative liberties with your bio."

For the next ten minutes, nothing could be heard but the scratching of ballpoint pens on paper.

When time was finally called, a salt-and-pepper-haired gentleman in the back with a mischievous grin volunteered to read his query first. His lead was one of the best hooks I've ever heard.

"Dear Mr. Ledbottom,

What could possibly be better? Hot off the dazzling success of my action-packed thriller about Mrs. Noah, "Gone with the Rain..."

If I was an editor, this fellow would certainly have my attention.

Leads (also called ledes) are of utmost importance, whether you're writing queries, non-fiction, novels, or a letter to your great aunt Matilda. No throat clearing, spit balls or phlegm. Just jump right into the action; spring the clincher on your unsuspecting reader to grab them around the throat and insure their attention is nowhere else but on your well chosen words.

Personal anecdotes make nice leads (didn't the one in this blog entry grab your attention?) as long as you're short on the introduction (like none) and move the point forward, always forward. It's a plus to include a hint or foreshadow in your lead of what your story will be about to help prepare (some call it tease) the reader and make them want more.

Kind of like the effect that smelling hot buttered popcorn has on you: first your interest is piqued, next you begin to salivate, and then you begin to yearn for one of those kernels with every ounce of your being. You won't rest until you can satisfy your craving, your lusty desire for a greasy, salty handful.

Take your opening seriously. Spend sufficient time on your lead to make your reader salivate and long for more. It's the best way to keep editors reading past the 9 seconds average they spend on each query.

So pour yourself a steaming cup of hot cocoa and focus on those beginnings. Then you may indeed predict a happy ending.