Here’s a little poem to bring in the New Year. My hope is that it will be a good year for all.

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Just because someone is educated doesn’t mean they are intelligent. If you want an example of that all you have to do is look to our nation’s capital. Enough said about that!

And likewise, just because someone has a degree in journalism or literature doesn’t mean they can write well. Writing is an art like music. Some people have a natural ability for written communication but do not have any formal training or education in literature. History is replete with individuals who went on to great accomplishments in fields for which they had no training. Education, or lack thereof, didn’t keep them from achieving their dreams or writing some of the best known classics. Mark Twain, pen name for Samuel Clemens, who only kept up his schooling to age 12 wrote some of the most beloved American literary classics.

But regardless whether writing well comes naturally to you or not, just like music, you have to practice, practice, practice! Not only does that mean write, write, write, it also means read, read, read, but not just any reading. Expose yourself to good writing and good writers. Part of the process of becoming a good writer is through osmosis. If all you read is trash and garbage then your writing will reflect that. This is not only true for writing but is also true in all elements of our lives. It’s kind of like what friends you surround yourself with. You will eventually become like the things you are exposed to most. Choose to surround yourself with good friends and good writing.

Now go forth and write!

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Writing good fiction starts with a good story. – So you’re an aspiring author and you have a story you hope people will like. You can see the story in your mind and you can see the beginning and the end. The first real obstacle is whether you have enough clearness of thought to actually tell your story from start to finish in such a way that your readers won’t get lost or feel like the story is missing important details. Even mystery writers who hold back some information still give just enough details to keep the reader immersed in the story in anticipation of the final scenes when everything comes together and the truth comes out. I think this same principle can be used in various ways in all fiction.

If you truly have a good story it’s important to just get it down on paper to start with. Whether it’s a rough draft of the manuscript or a detailed plot outline doesn’t matter. But having it down will help you see where your story is missing information needed for a cohesive story and plot. The next important process in writing good fiction, after you’ve worked out the plot, making the story and timelines cohesive, is character development.

Good Fiction Has Strong Characters

Part of the process of writing good fiction is to engage your readers, making them feel like they are part of the story. Although the story itself can be engaging, without strong characters even the best story will produce yawns and poor reviews. By “strong” I mean that the character comes to life on the page. Readers become part of the story through characters. They identify with a character, their feelings, personality, behaviors and a wide variety of other factors that you can incorporate into your story.

There are different ways to introduce and describe your characters. One is through narrative, where you simply tell a little back story about a character during a scene. Another way is to allow your readers to create their own vision of the character through behavior. And yet another way is to allow an already established character to describe a new character or scene through observation. Here are examples of each of these methods of character description.

• Narrative
  • Tony was a tall, lanky man, every bit of six feet, 4 inches. He was clumsy, anything but coordinated and the people that knew him thought of him as a walking cyclone just looking for his next disaster.
• Behavior
  • As George continued walking he spotted a penny on the ground which he promptly picked up and put in his pocket.
• Established character observation
  • Robert’s attention was instantaneously captured, making him oblivious to everything and everyone else in the room as he watched Angelica descend the staircase. Nothing could have prepared him for the vision of beauty now before him. Her long dark hair pulled up into an exquisite arrangement that accented her face and neck. “Surely this vision of beauty is the transcendence of divine that her name echoes,” he thought to himself.

Did you get a sense of the characters in the descriptions above? None of the descriptions in the above examples are meant to be exhaustive and you probably don’t want to completely describe your characters anyway but rather leave a lot for your readers to imagine.

The Narrative method is pretty straight forward and you’ll more than likely use this method to introduce your main character. It also works well when describing groups of people but you’re not locked into it for that either.

The Behavior method is especially nice for describing minor characters. In the example above you get the sense that George is a miser. With just that simple behavior your mind is already creating a visualization of the character.

I have to admit that the Established Character Observation method above could be better but hopefully you get the idea. You can be as elaborate as you want through the eyes and thoughts of your established character.

So to summarize, two things you’ll need for good fiction are a Good Story and Strong Characters. Of course there are many more things you’ll need to learn along the way but if you have a good story and learn how to introduce your characters you’ve come a long way toward the goal of writing Good Fiction.

Go Forth And Write!

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Imagine for a moment that you’re an author of a new fantasy novel, or any other genre; hopefully this isn’t hard for you to visualize. You’ve had a good response from a literary agent with emails and even a couple of phone calls about your work.  You think your ship has come in and you have a ticket to getting your work published. Then the bottom falls out when you get an email from your prospective agent telling you that she doesn’t think she will be able to help you. She doesn’t respond to any more of your emails and doesn’t return your calls. You’re left dazed and heartbroken.

What you don’t know is that your prospective literary agent just took the time to visit your blog and Twitter feeds. She discovered that you post content about politics and re-tweet political posts on your Twitter account. Your political views are directly opposite to her political views and she is offended by your political remarks and comments. As a result she decides that she is not interested in representing you for your novel.

If you think this is farfetched consider this, even if she is able to look past your political views to your work as a writer she is still likely to consider the impact of your posts and views on potential book sales. Remember, your prospective audience is almost certainly going to be comprised of people with differing political views. If you do manage to sign with her as your agent she will probably tell you that you should purge your posts of political remarks, especially before you sign a contract with a publisher.

Don’t Alienate Your Audience

Most good businesses avoid politics, especially in the politically charge environment of our world today. As a writer you are also in business to sell books. If you’ve read and learned anything about the publishing industry then you should already know that you, as an author will be doing a lot of promotion for your own work, the publisher doesn’t do all the marketing for your book. They expect you to have a following that are potential buyers. Selling your work becomes difficult when you alienate half your potential market. The exception to this rule might be if what you write is designed to be politically charged and controversial.

As a writer my goals are to build a following and a community, which in turn will increase my exposure to potential readers, which will result in more book sales. Being professional is part of business. And your literary agent will expect you to be professional as well as a writer. If you can’t suppress your urge to react about some controversial issue then you may not be considered professional. Authors need to have a loyal following and that can include people with opposite political views.

Does that mean that you can’t include political struggles in your writing? No, but if you’re a good writer you’ll learn how to write to engage your audience and stimulate thought without alienating anyone. It can be done.

For me I try to leave politics out of my writing because there is enough drama in my books and stories; I don’t need any more… thank you.

Does that mean that I don’t have a political opinion? Of course not but if there is one subject this writer will remain silent on its politics.

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Writers don’t always write, sometimes life gets in the way. Well, in this case “tree got in the way”, literally.

This tree was rotting in the “V” between the two halves. I had seriously considered taking the tree down before this past winter but was concerned about the size and wanted to find a way to minimize damage to the driveway pavement. After looking at the tree I decided there was enough good wood that it should be OK until spring or summer when I would have more time to deal with it. I was trying to finish my first novel at the time and didn’t need the distraction. The weather would be better also, I reasoned with myself. It would be OK, I thought to myself, BUZZ….WRONG.

It waited till after I finished the book, yeah, but it certainly didn’t wait for my choice of timing. When it came down on its own it got caught in the top of another tree and blocked the driveway. Now I had to deal with it and now it would be much more difficult because it was caught in the other tree.

After about two hours with the chain saw, sledge hammer, wedges, and axe I managed to get the lower part of the tree out of the way of the pavement without killing myself, yeah again. It’s always a yeah when you don’t kill yourself. It is still caught in the top of the other tree but now I can at least get in and out with the van. I’ll deal with the rest later.

But taking down the tree left us a bit of a mystery. In the rotten section of the tree we found about a dozen eggs. At first I thought they were turtle eggs but there was no way a turtle could climb three feet into the “V” of the tree. The only remaining possibility was that they were snake eggs, yuck. If snakes are laying eggs in any rotten sections of trees on my property then that’s a good enough reason to take the tree down.

The moral of this story: Life will always get in the way at some time or another. Do what you need to do to clear the way and get back to work.

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A Lovely Lady and an Inspiration

When we received the poem from our friend it simply said “Author Unknown” at the end. Over the years we have shared this poem with many people whether they had a child with a disability or not. I even had it posted on my business website for many years, hoping that it would be an inspiration to someone else as it had been for me. I also posted it as “Author Unknown”.

A few years ago I received a call from a lady who had found the poem on our business website and after a brief discussion she said that she knew the women who wrote the poem. I was ecstatic and wanted to know much more about the author and her connection. I don’t remember her specific relationship, it could have been daughter or granddaughter but she was very pleasant to talk with. I told her how much the poem had meant to me over the years and that I would really like to keep it on our website. I told her I would be more than happy to finally be able to include the name of the author. She said she was sure her author relative would be happy for me to have the poem on our website.

I’ve done my own research on Edna Massimilla, author of the poem. She is 101 years old and as far as I know is still living. She is a song writer and a lovely woman. Do a search on the internet for her and be sure to find her Facebook page.

Edna, thank you for this poem that had meant so much to me.

“Heaven’s Very Special Child”

A meeting was held quite far from earth.
It’s time again for another birth.
Said the angels to the Lord above,
this special child will need much love.
His progress may seem very slow,
accomplishments he may not show.
And he’ll require extra care
from the folks he meets way down there.
He may not run, or laugh, or play;
his thought may seem quite far away.
In many ways he won’t adapt;
and he’ll be known as handicapped.
So let’s be careful where he’s sent,
we want his life to be content.
Please Lord, find parents who,
will do this special job for you.
They will not realize right away,
the leading role they’re asked to play.
But with this child sent from above
comes stronger faith and richer love.
And soon they’ll know the privilege given
in caring for this gift from heaven.
Their precious charge so meek and mild
is heaven’s very special child.

Author:
Edna Massimilla

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