Instead of a workshop this week, the creative writing program here had sort of a joint seminar where both classes got together to discuss some general rules of writing. They were kind enough to invite the emeritus group and there was some good advice for young writers. So, as a follow up to Three guidelines for better writing and Show, Don't Tell, here are three more guidelines that should help your writing.
You're only going to be the best writer you can be. A lot of young writers think they need to write like someone else, in someone else's style. They don't have faith in their voice. You can be influenced by other authors, you can learn from them, but at then end of the day you need to write in your own voice. You're never going to own another author's style, you're never going to do it better than they did. You can only own your own style and that only develops by putting the work in. But it does develop and you have to have faith that if you put in the work, it will pay off in the end.
Don't be tricky. Young writers sometimes feel like just telling a good story isn't enough. That they need a unique style or they need to do something tricky in order to impress the reader or break convention. The most important aspect of writing is telling a story that your reader wants to read. It is not showing your reader how smart you are or what rules you can break. Tell a great story and every thing else, style, language, symbolism will come later and will fall into place. Without the base of a good story however, everything else will fail.
Why tell this story?. Readers want important stories. When writing, ask yourself, "would my characters remember this event in twenty years?" If the answer is yes, then it's probably a good story to tell. It's important, it has high stakes for the people involved. If the answer is no, if your characters wouldn't remember the story in twenty years, then what is going to keep your audience reading?
The idea of the day was substance over style. Readers want stories that move them, that excite them, that make them laugh. Readers don't want to be talked down to or tricked. It was refreshing to that advice from the professors. Stick to the basics, don't worry about making art.
Posted by Ben Corman at 4:08 PM