Paul Whybrow
Full Member
It’s a tough truth to acknowledge that not everything we write is excellent. If you’ve done any querying at all, then you’ll begin to wonder if anything that you’ve written has any merit, as the form rejection emails clutter your inbox! 
We write because we’re compelled to write. Getting ideas out there is better than keeping them prisoner inside your imagination. Remember, that no writer has ever created something that was perfect first time. To me, the process of writing resembles mining—you get the raw material out, but then it takes processing to extract the ore from the rock—you might throw away a lot of useless rubble, yet still find bright gleanings that can be used in projects apart from your WIP. Keep them in an ideas folder, for when your creative powers are waning.
I’ve previously sounded off about the current requirement for a story that you’re querying with to fire like a flaming missile from page one. I’ve read several novels recently that had tacked-on zingers at the beginning to grab dozy readers’ attention. Certainly, there has to be something to intrigue the reader, but there’s such a thing at setting a scene...honouring the reader’s intelligence to be patient. Also, however gripping your tale is, there are still occasions where pedestrian writing is needed to keep your protagonist and antagonist rooted in reality.
I’ve been mulling over such thoughts for the last month while creating the second audiobook in my Cornish Detective series. The Perfect Murderer was the first story I wrote but became Book 2 when I realised it was way too long. I’d made the beginner’s mistake of not sticking to the recommended word length for a debut novel by an unknown author in the Crime genre. My initial manuscript was 140,00 words long, though I later cropped 40,000 words. Narrating it, I’ve been lamenting how long it still is, as my voice dries to a croak! It’s the most complicated plot I’ve written, and I think that it works as a story, but it rumbles along over red herrings, rather than crackling with instant gratification.
Maybe I’m more of a fan of slow writing that can be savoured. The three novels I recently recommended all meander seductively, bonding the reader with the protagonist and her predicament. Nonetheless, these stories are slow-burning zingers.
What do you think?
Do you need immediate and regular fizz in what you read and what you write?
Or, do you like being drawn into an unexpected scene that clobbers you as a reader and which makes you wonder as a writer, can I get away with this?
We write because we’re compelled to write. Getting ideas out there is better than keeping them prisoner inside your imagination. Remember, that no writer has ever created something that was perfect first time. To me, the process of writing resembles mining—you get the raw material out, but then it takes processing to extract the ore from the rock—you might throw away a lot of useless rubble, yet still find bright gleanings that can be used in projects apart from your WIP. Keep them in an ideas folder, for when your creative powers are waning.
I’ve previously sounded off about the current requirement for a story that you’re querying with to fire like a flaming missile from page one. I’ve read several novels recently that had tacked-on zingers at the beginning to grab dozy readers’ attention. Certainly, there has to be something to intrigue the reader, but there’s such a thing at setting a scene...honouring the reader’s intelligence to be patient. Also, however gripping your tale is, there are still occasions where pedestrian writing is needed to keep your protagonist and antagonist rooted in reality.
I’ve been mulling over such thoughts for the last month while creating the second audiobook in my Cornish Detective series. The Perfect Murderer was the first story I wrote but became Book 2 when I realised it was way too long. I’d made the beginner’s mistake of not sticking to the recommended word length for a debut novel by an unknown author in the Crime genre. My initial manuscript was 140,00 words long, though I later cropped 40,000 words. Narrating it, I’ve been lamenting how long it still is, as my voice dries to a croak! It’s the most complicated plot I’ve written, and I think that it works as a story, but it rumbles along over red herrings, rather than crackling with instant gratification.
Maybe I’m more of a fan of slow writing that can be savoured. The three novels I recently recommended all meander seductively, bonding the reader with the protagonist and her predicament. Nonetheless, these stories are slow-burning zingers.
What do you think?
Do you need immediate and regular fizz in what you read and what you write?
Or, do you like being drawn into an unexpected scene that clobbers you as a reader and which makes you wonder as a writer, can I get away with this?
