Woke Up Drunk

Finished Chapter 8.  I was supposed to be done with Segment 1 (12 chapters) yesterday.  :(

Musings

There are three basic parts to writing a good story (not all are necessary for a novel to sell, however):

- Interesting and original story-line
- Full-bodied characters
- Beautiful writing


Beautiful Writing
If you've ever been to a writing workshop, you'll notice that they critique the hell out of the way you wrote the story.  They'll move words around, replace sentences and educate you on "style."  80% of all the critiques I've ever received from a workshop or from other writers was simply on how I used my words and structured my sentences - rarely on the storyline itself.
If you want to be held in high regard among your fellow writers, this is the most important part of your work.  However, the average reader couldn't care less about your pretty words or well-phrased sentence.  If you look at any of the Phineas Poe books by Will Christopher Baer, you'll find that the writing is perfect and imperfect, it's mesmerizing, a work of genius - holy, even.  But the Phineas Poe series is far from a best seller, it is known primarily by other writers - who worship every single word.  While writers, particularly literary or film noire writers, always keep a copy with them as if it were a bible, most normal people have never heard of it.


Full-Bodied Characters
The best way to get loyal readers is through characters that are larger than life, yet human and understandable.  If you have a character that your reader falls in love with, they will follow him anywhere.  They will watch him as he saves the world from absolute destruction, or while he's making breakfast.  A good character is a character that is captivating no matter what he does.
Most writers focus on ways to describe their characters.
An amateur writer who can tell a half decent story can describe their characters' hair, eyes, weight and favorite color.
A good writer will give their characters a past, fears, and imperfections.
An expert writer has difficulty describing their character - the way they would with a good friend.  They simple know their characters, they get into their skin and understand the way they tick, the way they think and let the imperfections, fears, weight and eye color come to them as the character reveals himself to the writer.


Interesting and Original Story-Line
The main difference between literary fiction and main-stream (or genre fiction) is that while literary fiction is character-driven and focuses primarily on the first two characteristics of a good story, main-stream fiction features really great plots.
Most writers consider Dan Brown's writing style horrific, plain and sloppy - but his story is epic.  40 million copies of the DaVinci Code have been sold worldwide.
Star Wars has flat, even irritating characters and cheesy, cliche dialogue, but it is easily the most popular series ever created - because the story line is, again, epic.
Creating a good story line is nearly impossible to teach and so is a pain to writing teachers.  How do you teach someone to be original?  How do you teach plot twists?



The number of successful, professional writers is pitifully small, even among the best, but the main-stream writer is, sadly far advantaged when it comes to sales.  A literary writer can hope to be the most respected among his peers with relatable characters and fancy words, but would be foolish to quit his day job.


And, if you want your books to be read in classrooms as part of the curriculum 30 years from now, none of the above applies, just make sure to include lots of symbolism.