The writing process

Especially common among new writers is the question of process: "How do I write a book?" It arises among short story writers who long to embark upon book-length fiction. Similar to that question is that regarding how long an idea should run.

The questions are similar, but not the same. One involves process, the other doesn't.

With regard to how long an idea should run, the answer is, as always: "It depends." With an idea, the story will be as long as it's supposed to be, que será, será. (I can hear Doris Day now.)

Regarding the question of how to write a book, the answer is, as always, "It depends." When writing within a genre (fiction or nonfiction), one should take into account the genre standards. The Write Life and Manuscript Appraisal Agency both provide succinct lists with regard to general genres and the typical lengths of books published within those genres.

That said, it's possible to extend an idea, to expand upon it to interminable lengths. After all, J. R. R. Tolkien managed to get an entire trilogy from "destroy the magic ring." After watching the trilogy of movies, my husband asked why Gandalf didn't just summon the giant eagles to drop the ring into the volcano.

"Because then there wouldn't have been a story," I replied.

He didn't get it. The story is about the journey, not the destination.

Writing experts and, from what I've seen, the vast majority of book writers advise new writers to engage in a good bit of heavy lifting before they begin writing the story. The pre-story writing consists mainly of developing a plot and subplots, building the world or environment in which the story takes place (especially crucial for fantasy and science fiction), and developing the protagonist(s) and other main characters to include physical descriptions, backgrounds, and personalities.

After that, the writer organizes what happens when to whom, by whom, or for whom. Including a timeline with the plot helps to keep events in chronological order without frequent and distracting use of flashbacks.

The story need not progress along the entire plotted timeline. It need not begin with the earliest recorded part of the timeline, but the author must keep track of the sequence of events occurring prior to the story as well as occurring within the story's run. Like one's own life, events occurring prior to the beginning of narration affect what happens during narration and, of course, what occurs after narration along an interconnected continuum.

Interspersed among the "what happens" are action and dialogue. Action is the "who does what" and dialogue is the "who says what." Action need not refer to car chases and fight scenes: it keeps the story moving. Dialogue does that, too, while offering additional insight, humor, and information. Sometimes action works better than dialogue and other times the obverse is true.

Description modifies. Too much description weighs down the story with dull or unnecessary detail that hinder the plot's progress. New authors generally fall prey to the false allure of description in an effort to transfer the images in their minds into the minds of their readers. It doesn't work. An author may be someone who paints pictures with words, but the most effective verbal style of "painting" is Impressionism.

Vocabulary affects the story. In dialogue, a character's vocabulary indicates education and sophistication or lack thereof. Deliberate, effective use of vocabulary aids in character development and sets the mood in a scene. Speech allows for the frequent and common violation of grammar rules, because people don't normally express themselves in complete, complex sentences. They stutter. They use sentence fragments. They repeat themselves. There's a trick to the marriage of "good writing" and "realistic dialogue" that takes skill to pull off such that dialogue "feels" natural, not forced or false.

Good writing does not necessarily translate into novel-length storytelling. Some stories work best when kept short. Others lend themselves well to expansion. This, I think, is where "pantsers" have an advantage over "plotters." Diehard pantsers begin with an idea or story premise and let it carry them to a natural conclusion. Without the advance work of plotting and character sheets, the story flows naturally. Of course, plotters have the advantage of background material ready-to-hand for reference and to double-check whether they've written events out of intended sequence.

Contrary to what a new writer might think, there's no "us versus them" between pantsers and plotters. The personal preference with regard to writing confers both advantages and disadvantages that work better for one person than for another. Comfort, not writing method, takes priority. Do what works best for you.

As for how to write a book, the process from which most people learn the most is by plotting. In doing that, they learn how well (or not) that process suits them, and they also realize just how much goes into the small details of writing a book ... and that all this occurs before editing begins.

Every words counts.

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