The Rules of Writing Part 4: Good Writing vs. Great Writing

First let me apologize about the tardiness of this post. It has been weighing on my mind and I was not sure how to proceed.

In Part 1 of this series I talked about three categories that the rules of writing fall under. In Part 2 I talked about best practices and in part 3 I talked about personal preferences.

This final installment I will discuss the final category - good writing versus great writing.

Great Writing

• Avoid using adverbs
• Have a tight POV
• Avoid using passive voice
• Avoid 'be' verbs
• Show don't tell
• Avoid cliches

The above list of 'rules' are some things that you can do to take your writing from good to great. Now, don't get me wrong, adverbs, passive voice, cliches and the like all have their place in our writing. We just need to be sure not to use them in excess.

Part of the reason it took me so long to write this installment of the series is because I kept trying to think of rules that made great writing. The above are some that I came up with. But you know what - they don't necessarily make your writing great.

So what does make writing great?

I thought back to some of my all time favorite books - the ones that I have read over and over again. I also thought of books whose popularity have stood the test of time. And you know what, they had three things in common:

Really Great Writing

• Tell a great story
• Have memorable characters
• Connection with and inspire the reader

Now, I don't think there are any 'rules' of writing that can teach us or help us to do these things. I think it comes with practice and experience. We need to learn the craft of forming words into sentences, sentences into chapters, and chapters into books. But more importantly we need to craft ourselves as story tellers. That is what makes great writing.

What do you think makes great writing?

Insight (Beholders Book 1): A Review and a Giveaway

I am trying something new on my blog. I am going to do book reviews. It won't be a constant thing. Just when I read a book by one of my writerly friends I will review it here as well as on Goodreads. I also occasionally review books on amazon.com and the Barnes and Noble website.

My reviews on Goodreads will tend to be brief and give a general idea of my feelings of the book. The reviews I will post on my blog will be more in depth. If you rather see the short version - just follow the link below.

Insight (Beholders Book 1) by Terron James

For more awesomeness check out the blog tour schedule


And don't miss out on the give away: a Rafflecopter giveaway



This is a review of the second edition. I also reviewed the first edition.
Rating (out of 5):    
My Rating/Reviewing MO
Goodreads Page
Goodreads Review
Authors Webpage
Publishers Webpage
Recommended For: Every fantasy lover, suitable for all ages.

About the Book

See the Goodreads page (link above).

Pending Stars

When I finish the series this book has the potential to earn an additional star.

The Good

I really think the magic system in the Beholders world is cool. Beholders (the magic wielders) use something called "True Sight" to see and manipulate the worlds energies. James has really thought of some cool ways that this power can manifest itself. (I admit I got a sneak peak at some of the stuff from book two - I know you are jealous - and it is just as awesome.)

There are a lot of interesting little details here and there that bring the world to life. Things like the design of two of the major cities. The kings cross. The history of the world and the individuals in it, and how they are all connected (again some sneak peak knowledge helped there two). There are also some cool engineering tidbits and contraptions that are quite interesting. I won't go into details, because it would spoil it.

The very end has an awesome hock that will make you want to pick up the second book right away.

The righting is good, smooth. There is a fairly tight execution of POV which is important to me. The description is enough that I get a picture in my head but not so bothersome that I get distracted from the story (an improvement from the first edition. Also the back story is worked in well (not really any data dumps). And in most cases is handle expertly. There are still a few patches where events are summed up instead of played out (the old show vs. tell adage).

The Bad

I had three major issues with book:

• It is about the world, not the characters
• Some of the events I was most excited to see were skipped and referred to later.
• The end fell short

I will cover each of these in more detail.

1. It is about the world, not the characters
First of all, this is not in and of itself a bad thing. I just personally prefer to read (and write) stories that are about individual characters. When I read the first edition I found it hard to connect with a specific character and care about their plight. When reading the book again I found it more difficult. For me, in the first half we are worried about Lon and his plight. But then that changes to the big world picture and we no long know who to root for. It kind of lost me a little.

2. Some of the events I was most excited to see were skipped and referred to later.
Often, one scene or chapter would end with the tantalizing promise of what lay ahead - only to have the event skipped over or summarized latter. It was a real let down. I also remember thinking to myself - more then once - when some event was referred to: I would have liked to see that instead of just hearing the characters talk about it. This by no means ruins the book. I think for me it goes back to number 1. The scenes were skipped because they did not contribute to the overall world story line - but I would have liked to see the character development that the scenes would have shown.

3. The end fell short
For me, the end fell short. Well, except the very end that has an awesome hook that makes you want to pick up book two right away. I don't want to give too much away. But a certain characters actions did not make sense to me. I could not see the change in view point or the reasons for the change. Also I thought some of the characters reactions to events at the end were both preemptive and excessive. I did not see how easily relationships like that would just fall apart. Again - this is a character thing for me.

Conclusion

Overall this book is a good fantasy read, and I can recommend it to those who are looking for just such a thing. I think this book would appeal to children and adults. It is also clean and free of fowl language. A big plus in my book. So be sure to check it out.

Writing for me has always been a release. I need a release today - so I am going to share my thoughts on something that some (but probably not all) of you can relate to.

Being lonely in a crowd.

Now if you are an extravert, you may be baffled by what I mean. But those of you who are introverts, don't need an explanation.

The following are some thoughts and feelings I have had over the past several years as I try to find my place in the writing community. Mostly this stems from still feeling like I don't fit in, despite my best efforts.

How to be Lonely in a Crowded Community

1. Be different. Yes, I know, being a writer means you are inherently different. But I mean being different within the writing community. Here are some examples of how I am different:
   
   • I love prologues. No ands, ifs, or buts.
   • I like adverbs and will use them as I please.
   • I like dialog tags, and more specifically ones that are not 'said.'
   • I hate present tense.
   • I don't care for first point of view at all.
   I have noticed something about human nature. We tend to gravitate to people who think and feel the same as we do. So going against the grain has a way of isolating us.
   
2. Express your different opinions. I am extremely opinionated. I think what I think and that is how I think. It takes a lot to change my mind. Especially about trivial, subjective things like those listed above. I believe in the free exchange of ideas, that is how we learn about the world around us and grow as people. This exchange requires that each person can express their opinion without being judged, and in return listens to the opinions of others without judging. I won't say I am perfect at this, but I try really hard.
   
   I think the problem in the writing community is that we pour our heart and souls into our writing (that is how me make it great, right?). And so it is hard to detach our emotions from the thoughts and feelings of other.
   
   This all goes back to that human nature thing. We tend to gravitate to those people who agree with us. Disagreeing sets us apart.


3. Be Unique. Our nature is to avoid and even fear that which is different or that we do not understand. So being unique, though very important as a writer, can have side effects. Unique people find it hard to find people who are like them enough to form bonds of friendship and association. Being unique in a crowd can be very lonely.
   

The Moral of the Story

Be different. Express your different opinions. Be unique.

Wait, how does that solve the problem of being lonely in a crowded community, you ask? Did I ever say that being lonely was a problem? I don't believe I did. We should never give up ourselves to fit in. That is a lesson that took me years to learn, and which I often forget.

But being lonely is still hard, especially when you are surround by a sea of people you think you should fit into. And how do we over come that? I don't know. I am still searching for that answer. If you have any thoughts, I would love to hear them.

Do you feel lonely in the crowded writing community? How do you combat or accept that feeling of loneliness?

yWriter It Is

So I tried out a few other writing programs (Liquid Story Binder and Page Four to be exact). I did not use them for long. Just played around with them a bit. But I decided that I already knew I would go with either yWriter or Scrivener.

As you can tell by the title of this blog post - I have decided to go with yWriter. And here is why:

1. I like the layout and the user interface
2. I like being able to have multiple documents open at the same time
3. I like that it will read my work to me - right there
4. I like that I can highlight character names in a chapter
5. I like that I can see instantly the word count for each chapter as well as the over all document (without any extra clicks)
6. I like that it is free. (Of course I plan to donate to the project with the some of the money I make from my first book).

The things I didn't like (or liked better in Scrivener):
1. No spell check suggestions
2. Formatting (aka "Compile") options

I think I can live without. So on to writing using yWriter! You should check it out.

What program(s) do you use when you write?