Writing is fun. At least *I* think it is. That's why I do it.

In the beginning of this web site, I used to try and edit everything that was submitted, but I stopped doing that. It had gotten to be no fun at all because some people don't take suggestions for improvement very well. For the past several years, I've simply posted everything that comes in (within reason). Lately, I've had a couple of people write me asking how they can improve their writing. If you REALLY want my help, I'm perfectly willing to help you. I'm told I'm a pretty fair editor, and I am willing to share. Drop me a line and we'll discuss your ideas.

However, if you *DON'T* really want the help, then let me at least throw you a general lifeline that reflects my ideas on writing. The following ideas are my own, and represent what works FOR ME. If you don't agree, feel free to ignore all of what follows. However, it's the only indirect help I have to offer you, and I think if you'll read and follow these ideas you'll have better stories. Que Sara Sara.

Plan the story from beginning to end THEN start writing.

I'm afraid it's almost impossible for me, personally, to work with things out of order. I plot everything out in fair detail before I begin to write and then it's just a matter of getting it all on paper. In this way I can lay in foreshadowing and other details early in the story that come to fruition later on.

This doesn't mean that you can't "Let the characters speak to you as you write." I know of an extremely prolific (and excellent) author who doesn't know what the characters will actually say until he starts to type. I don't plan in THAT much detail either. However, if you simply start to write hoping that a plot will come to you I can almost promise you a LOT of wasted time! It's the same thing I tell young radio announcers in my classes... You better know EXACTLY what you are going to say before you open that microphone! If you don't, you'll spend quite some time trying to find something entertaining to say, usually fail, and become so discouraged that you will stop trying.

Know what the story is about, who the characters are, and how it ends as a bare minimum. As you write you will see plot branches that you didn't think of up front. Use them! But make sure they tie back in some way, shape or form to the initial scenario you start with. If you don't, you'll wind up with an episodic mess or a meandering tale whose parts have little relationship one to another.

Write in Sequence

My general suggestion to writers is, predictably, to write it in sequence. It is much duller for the author doing it that way, (because you don't get to do all the "fun" parts at once!) but you will wind up with a FAR more unified whole, and a far less episodic feel to the story.

I have a dear friend who writes WONDERFUL short stories who has tried to write a novel. This person fooled with the story for over a year and finally gave it up. The reason? It was written piece-meal. They would write this scene, then that, then something else and then try and figure out how to "string them together". The result was a terrible mis-mash that was impossible to pull together into a unified whole. Last I heard about the project, the person was rethinking the story along the lines that I'm suggesting here.

And I'm certainly guilty of not taking my own advice! Another friend and I wrote a vampire novel a few years ago. The original first draft took nearly a year! The main part of the story came together in just a couple of months. It was the ending that was the trouble. We didn't know HOW or WHERE to end it! There was no point to the story, as we had conceived it! FINALLY, we hit upon an ending that worked well, but we had to go back and create a whole new sub-plot to make it really fit in! The time we could have saved by refusing to start until we KNEW the ending!

About the only time I've added to things after I was done since is when I see a hole in the story that needs filling.

"The Surgeon" was my first novel on my own, and it bears all of the shortcomings thereof. The chapter where the male nurse goes back and finds (and reunites with) his first patient was an afterthought, as was the entire sequence with Tommy Liflin and, additionally, the final chapter (which makes a far more "SOCKO" ending than the original low-key ending I had planned!) To make them work, I had to go back and rewrite some rather large sections of the parts that had gone before to make everything consistent. I think each of these sequences brought added depth to the story, but they were after-thoughts that took a lot of time and effort to "graft on".

"Wages of Sin", "Questionable Practice", "Voodoo", and "The Real Thing" hold no "extra" chapters or even major sequences added. What you read there is simply a straight typing of what was in my mind transferred to the computer file. I believe if you read them, you will find they are far more unified and polished than "Surgeon". Even "Carpe Diem", which was written originally as a soap opera, a short section being posted to the website each day, has been tightened and solidified by the knowledge of everything that happened before I began to write.

And let me add, what you are reading of my works on line in each of these cases is *a third draft*. Period. I write it... I re-write it once... send it to *my* editor, then do a final re-write based on his suggestions. Then it goes to html! I do not believe that literature requires endless rewrites and polishing *if* the author did his ground work first.

Start in the Action!

There is nothing duller than exposition. We have to have it to understand the story, but it is inherently DULL! Think about the movie "Star Wars". The opening scene after the main title is a battle between space ships! It's filled with action and confusion and everything else! Finally, after the robots land on the desert planet below then the exposition (the background we need to understand the story) is laid in piece by piece AS the action progresses. I used to wind up throwing away the first three chapters of everything I wrote because it was DULL exposition and little else.

Corollary One of this rule is: Start with people doing things rather than events happening. Events are huge and impersonal. People are what makes your story live. Don't start with "It was a terrible crash!" Start with "John hit the brakes hard to try and avoid the pile-up!" See the difference? Who cares how bad the crash was? I bet you're worried about John, though! And you don't even know him yet!

Make every word you write contribute something to the story or the characters!

Once you have described the characters, LET IT GO! Repeated descriptions are gratuitous, unless they add to our image of the person or describe something going on with them or to them! If you don't follow this one, you wind up with a story where the word "stump" is repeated 38 times in 2500 words!

Which brings me to my final point.

Use variety in your language!

If you called something a suitcase in the last sentence (or even two or three sentences back) call it a valise or a carrybag or a grip in this sentence. Same thing for body parts (especially genitalia). There is a wonderful book called a thesaurus that will help with this. In fact, if you check, there MAY be one attached to your word processor! Use it!

Finally...

Start Writing Something!

Don't let the enormity of the blank screen intimidate you. Secret: I can't write a novel. Not at all! It's too damned big a thing to contemplate. But I can write a chapter a night! Or half a chapter. Or a couple of pages! Me personally? It typically takes me about a day for each chapter. That means that I write most of my own stuff in under a month. Net result? Hey! I CAN write a novel, after all! Actually, I've written seventeen of them all told!

Give these ideas a try. You'll be surprised how much easier it is to write this way!

Happy Word-smithing!

Doug