Welcome to the New Seminar!

Hello, all, and welcome to the first Workshop Wednesday of the new revamped series. This is the official start of my new Seminar, and we’re going to tackle a wide variety of writing topics. Since I’m a fiction author, the posts will be geared toward fiction writing, but the basic principles apply to all kinds of writing, professional, informal, or just for fun. My approach as seminar host is to provide as much useful and in-depth information as possible, so that you can take from it what you need or want. Topics will be grouped together on a scale of fundamentals (1000 level) to advanced techniques (4000), mostly as a way for me to keep things organized. Comments and questions are welcome, and I’ll be happy to elaborate on anything and provide additional examples. Thanks for joining me! Let’s get started.

Writing 1101: Getting Started

The Written vs. the Spoken Word

Storytelling is a constant endeavor. At work, at home, talking on the phone: wherever we go, whoever we’re with, we’re constantly telling one another stories, large and small, humorous and serious. In theory, everything about our daily interactions with others has prepared us to write stories down on paper; but, inevitably, we sit down to begin writing a book…and realize there’s a world of difference between the spoken word and the written word. One is instant, informal, and forgiving, in that it allows you to amend, tailor, and further explain the story right there on the spot. While written stories require planning, thought, usually research, and have only one chance to explain themselves clearly and entertainingly. Writing books is, and should be, trickier than telling stories at a party. The wonderful thing about writing, though, is that it isn’t limited by age, physicality, or a host of other superficial obstacles. It’s a process of constant learning, and there’s always room for improvement, no matter your level of education or experience.

Scroll through the reviews for any book on Amazon or Goodreads, and you’ll see lots of talk about the “good”ness or “bad”ness of books. “Good” and “bad” are completely subjective and aren’t useful words to use when talking about the quality of writing. So let’s get rid of those right off the bat. Instead of good, you want your writing to be clear, concise, and interesting. You want a mix of sentence structure and a lack of redundancy. You want the story to flow from one scene into the next, smooth as warm butter, with language that is pleasing, but not clunky. Sounds like a tall order, doesn’t it? And I wish I could tell you there’s a formula, but there isn’t. The trick is there is no trick. Writing takes lots of studying, lots of practice, and looking critically at your own work and that of others.

Putting it in Perspective

Writing is a mental exercise, which means the way you think about it and approach it is important.

I like to think of it in the extended metaphor of writing as a skill-specific sport of some kind. Whether it’s football, tennis, competitive diving, or, in my case, horseback riding, some people start off with a natural inclination, but no one can reach his or her full potential without years of practice, instruction, and self-directed study. No one walks onto the field for the very first time and is able to compete with professional athletes; no one sits down at the computer for the very first time and writes a literary masterpiece on the first attempt. Don’t set yourself up for disappointment and failure by expecting such a thing. Writing requires patience. Don’t look at someone working on his or her fifteenth book and think “why aren’t I there?” when you’re working on your first. The two experiences are worlds apart; you’ll get there one day, but there’s no substitute for the time you invest in the process.

Speaking of investing your time: A lot of joking goes on that writing the book is the easy part, and marketing is the hard part. Marketing is difficult, in that it’s tedious, slow-moving, and requires hours and hours of your time spent on social media, sometimes shouting into the void. But it doesn’t require the skill that writing does. My personal strategy is one of intense focus on the writing, and a more laid-back marketing approach. So. Don’t come to me for your marketing advice; I’m here to talk about the mechanics of book writing. You can have the most dynamic, flashy marketing campaign in the history of marketing…but if the book doesn’t live up to the hype, no amount of money spent on adds or favorable blog posts will sell your book. The best marketing tool will always be a well-written book that attracts readers who will then spread the word organically.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Building Blocks

When I taught riding lessons, I started all my new students the same way: on the longe line. It’s the best way to work on balance, posture, and confidence on a moving house, while allowing the instructor to have control of the horse. Invariably, my adult students would feel insulted by this. “I’m not a kid – why are you holding the horse?” Because kid or not, they had zero experience, and the building blocks of riding apply to all students. Age is just a number in this case, and not as important as the number of minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years spent learning how to ride.

The same principle applies to writing: no matter your age, starting out is starting out, and you need the building blocks to develop your foundation. Like walking before running, like training wheels, like pee wee football or learning to read sheet music before you play your first song, you need to know how to express yourself in writing in order to write the best book possible.

In this particular seminar, the building blocks I’m going to blog about are:

Ø Sentence structure

Ø Punctuation

Ø Proper diction

Ø Cutting out redundancy

Ø And a basic overview of grammar.

Getting Started: Good Habits

The truest thing about writing is that no matter where you start, you can always improve. You can always learn, and grow, and refine your skills. The most important part of starting is just that: starting. Putting words down on paper or on a Word doc.

Ready for your first homework assignment? (Yes, I’m giving out homework, which is optional, obviously, but worth a try.) Dedicate ten minutes every day – or every week, if your schedule prevents daily writing – to free writing, just to get in the habit of expressing yourself in written form. I’m going to be compiling some prompts in the weeks to come, but to start, you can write about your day, write a description of the room around you, write about something you’d like to do in the future, or compile your thoughts on the last book you read that you really enjoyed. The trick is just to get started and start to learn about your own writing habits. Do you prefer to write longhand, or type? Do you like to write in public places, like coffeeshops, or at home? Night or morning? Midafternoon? With music, or in silence? Get yourself a journal, or start a fresh doc on your computer, and start putting words together.

If you’ve taken the time to read this, and plan to read the rest of the seminar, I’m incredibly flattered, and I hope that my experiences and strategies can offer you some help and encouragement. Don’t hesitate to reach out! Thanks, and happy writing.