Gabe Redel's Blog: FRYING POTATOES BLOG - Posts Tagged "writing"
Hooking Your Reader
When I was a child, some books just pulled me in until I had no idea that I was still reading. I remember reading "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls and completely losing all composure at the end, sobbing and sniffing like I had lost my best friend.
The truth is that it is rare to find a book that does that to me. Perhaps you feel the same way.
What is it about some books that can make a reader forget they are reading for hours at a time?
Is it the author? I would say that it isn't. I've read multiple books by the same author, and sometimes I like the book and sometimes I don't.
Is it the genre? Well, who can say that they've loved every sci-fi/fantasy novel they've ever read?
So what is it that makes a book great?
For me, with "Where the Red Fern Grows," it had to do with the companionship that was shared between the boy and his dogs. Those dogs truly were his best friends, and they were pretty cool best friends at that. Those dogs could do more than most humans could do. And that's why the story made me feel so good. I believed I was the boy in the story. I believed that because of those dogs, I had two of the coolest best friends in the world, and nobody could take that away from me.
For a child who doesn't feel left out or inadequate while growing up, perhaps "Where the Red Fern Grows" wouldn't appeal to him or her as much as it did me. But because I read it at a time that I felt like I really could use two of the coolest best friends in the world, I was hooked.
The trick to hooking a reader is to find an element of their lives that they really wished were different, which is called relating to your reader. If you can write a story that makes a reader feel like he or she is writing it themselves, then you know for sure that you have written something great.
The truth is that it is rare to find a book that does that to me. Perhaps you feel the same way.
What is it about some books that can make a reader forget they are reading for hours at a time?
Is it the author? I would say that it isn't. I've read multiple books by the same author, and sometimes I like the book and sometimes I don't.
Is it the genre? Well, who can say that they've loved every sci-fi/fantasy novel they've ever read?
So what is it that makes a book great?
For me, with "Where the Red Fern Grows," it had to do with the companionship that was shared between the boy and his dogs. Those dogs truly were his best friends, and they were pretty cool best friends at that. Those dogs could do more than most humans could do. And that's why the story made me feel so good. I believed I was the boy in the story. I believed that because of those dogs, I had two of the coolest best friends in the world, and nobody could take that away from me.
For a child who doesn't feel left out or inadequate while growing up, perhaps "Where the Red Fern Grows" wouldn't appeal to him or her as much as it did me. But because I read it at a time that I felt like I really could use two of the coolest best friends in the world, I was hooked.
The trick to hooking a reader is to find an element of their lives that they really wished were different, which is called relating to your reader. If you can write a story that makes a reader feel like he or she is writing it themselves, then you know for sure that you have written something great.
Beautiful Stories, Practice!
One of my favorite writing exercises is something I like to call "discovery writing." If I hadn't sat down one day and decided to write those discovery pieces, I definitely wouldn't be the writer that I am today.
What I did was decide that I needed to practice writing. And to practice, I didn't want to set out to write a formal piece of writing, such as a short story, a poem, or biography or anything like that, because that would make me think too hard. My goal was to get my brain kick-started like a mini-bike. My goal was to develop my instinctual skills as an artist. In other words, athletes don't get better at playing a sport by playing only the games. They accomplish the most growth during the long hours of practice they do each week.
Not only that, but practice gives us the opportunity to work on things that we are bad at. Taking a look at the areas that we need to improve the most is one of the most valuable things we can do as skilled writers. Because, when we know our own weaknesses, we then have the information we need to turn those weaknesses into strengths.
All I did to do my own practicing was sit down in front of a blank page and begin to write about the first thing that came to my mind. You see, I needed to get better at turning my thoughts into clear language.
Often, my discovery pieces would begin looking like a journal entry. I would simply tell myself about all the things that I cared about within the last few days.
The first few discovery pieces I wrote were rather pitiful. They didn't read well and they weren't interesting. Because, again, my goal was to practice at what I was not good at. I wanted to strengthen my mind to develop a flow or a stream of conscious to my words in a way that was natural, in a way that was trained and would, in all hopes, become second nature to me.
As I got into later discoveries, they began to get really good. I was taking the real stories of my life and adding attitude, conclusions, and greater meaning to the story at large. I was beginning to not only train my mind to continue a thought and turn it into clear language, but I was also training it to put the puzzle pieces of life together for me. I began to learn about myself. I began to learn about the people around me, learn about what made them tick, why they did or said certain things, why, in the greater scheme of life, I could use their experiences to learn and grow from in my own personal way.
And as a result, my writing got better and better. And by writing, I mean my "real" work where I set out to get something sold.
The more interesting my practice writing became, the more interesting my real writing became. And here's why: Not only did I learn how to use the English language better, but I also learned how to take my real life situations and draw out of them what mattered most. I learned how to take my own thoughts and feelings and make sense out of them in a way that I could put on paper.
So, I applied that to my real writing. I was able to take my fiction, develop a beautiful flow to my prose, and draw out of each thought in mind what mattered most in a way that was completely natural, trained, and instinctual.
And because my prose became instinctual, I no longer had to stop and think about where to take a thought or how to put a thought into words. It freed my mind up to explore my own imagination as I wrote in a completely unhindered way.
What I did was decide that I needed to practice writing. And to practice, I didn't want to set out to write a formal piece of writing, such as a short story, a poem, or biography or anything like that, because that would make me think too hard. My goal was to get my brain kick-started like a mini-bike. My goal was to develop my instinctual skills as an artist. In other words, athletes don't get better at playing a sport by playing only the games. They accomplish the most growth during the long hours of practice they do each week.
Not only that, but practice gives us the opportunity to work on things that we are bad at. Taking a look at the areas that we need to improve the most is one of the most valuable things we can do as skilled writers. Because, when we know our own weaknesses, we then have the information we need to turn those weaknesses into strengths.
All I did to do my own practicing was sit down in front of a blank page and begin to write about the first thing that came to my mind. You see, I needed to get better at turning my thoughts into clear language.
Often, my discovery pieces would begin looking like a journal entry. I would simply tell myself about all the things that I cared about within the last few days.
The first few discovery pieces I wrote were rather pitiful. They didn't read well and they weren't interesting. Because, again, my goal was to practice at what I was not good at. I wanted to strengthen my mind to develop a flow or a stream of conscious to my words in a way that was natural, in a way that was trained and would, in all hopes, become second nature to me.
As I got into later discoveries, they began to get really good. I was taking the real stories of my life and adding attitude, conclusions, and greater meaning to the story at large. I was beginning to not only train my mind to continue a thought and turn it into clear language, but I was also training it to put the puzzle pieces of life together for me. I began to learn about myself. I began to learn about the people around me, learn about what made them tick, why they did or said certain things, why, in the greater scheme of life, I could use their experiences to learn and grow from in my own personal way.
And as a result, my writing got better and better. And by writing, I mean my "real" work where I set out to get something sold.
The more interesting my practice writing became, the more interesting my real writing became. And here's why: Not only did I learn how to use the English language better, but I also learned how to take my real life situations and draw out of them what mattered most. I learned how to take my own thoughts and feelings and make sense out of them in a way that I could put on paper.
So, I applied that to my real writing. I was able to take my fiction, develop a beautiful flow to my prose, and draw out of each thought in mind what mattered most in a way that was completely natural, trained, and instinctual.
And because my prose became instinctual, I no longer had to stop and think about where to take a thought or how to put a thought into words. It freed my mind up to explore my own imagination as I wrote in a completely unhindered way.
Daniel F. Bowman Interview
1. How did you get started writing?
I realize that I have tried for a long time. When I was a child, I wrote 1½-page stories of alien abductions, ending before the main character ever made it to the spacecraft! I also tried pirate novels, though these always stopped after the third mutiny—I needed a story where it already had a plot.
2. How did you get the ideas/information for your book?
“Alaric, Child of the Goths” began on a vacation. My wife Amanda and I visited the Toledo Zoo in Ohio . She was wiped out from walking all around, so I watched the History Channel after she fell asleep. We do not have cable, so this was as much a part of vacation as was watching the polar bear tear apart a trash can.
The episode was—you guessed it—about the Goths. I stared at the screen as I heard how a group of farmer-soldiers were cheated by Rome but decided to stand up to her, though she was the greatest empire in the world. They would not put up with bullying. The program ended: “Oppression sires rebellion, and when pushed too far, even the weak and the shattered can rise to challenge their oppressor.” I feel chills every time I hear that.
History is full of stories—true ones (unlike the wildly-adapted-but-still-enjoyable Braveheart, 300, Gladiator…). So many heroes, villains, and tragedies far exceed the fictional ideas of authors, and many of these stories are known only in boring monographs. I aim to remedy that.
3. What do you think your next book will be about? Any tentative title?
I hope to publish “Hammer of God” this year. Euric and Guntharic, brothers living in medieval Hispania, watch as their parents die and their sisters are taken captive by the Muslim Umayyads, who conquer their nation in a single battle. Euric flees north to Francia, where he dreams of becoming a knight, his fate intertwined with that of Duke Charles Martel. Meanwhile, Guntharic experiences life among the Umayyads, suffering through a long enslavement as he learns their advanced culture and befriends both Christians and Muslims. Will the two brothers ever see each other again? What will happen when the Umayyad host finally faces the Frankish phalanx at the epic battle of Tours ?
I am also writing the tale of Hernan Cortes’ wife, Dona Marina, so my wife can finally read a book with a female main character.
4. What tips do you have for other writers? (persevering, proofreading, publishing, promoting…) Anything unique/strange/wonderful?
The best tip I came across is to always plan my next session before I end my current one. That way I can write anywhere/anytime, knowing what I’m supposed to do next. I rarely have writer’s block because of this.
In college, I told my brothers part of a story each night, taking notes at the same time so I could type them out! They got annoyed, but I still have those stories.
5. What is your life like outside of writing family like?
I have been married to Amanda, my first and only girlfriend, for over eight years and we have two children, John and Anna. I enjoy an eclectic range of hobbies: playing piano and composing music, reading ancient languages, and teaching English as a Second Language to students from over fifteen countries.
Alaric: Child of the Goths
Daniel F. Bowman
For more on Daniel F. Bowman, visit his website at: http://danielfbowman.webs.com/
I realize that I have tried for a long time. When I was a child, I wrote 1½-page stories of alien abductions, ending before the main character ever made it to the spacecraft! I also tried pirate novels, though these always stopped after the third mutiny—I needed a story where it already had a plot.
2. How did you get the ideas/information for your book?
“Alaric, Child of the Goths” began on a vacation. My wife Amanda and I visited the Toledo Zoo in Ohio . She was wiped out from walking all around, so I watched the History Channel after she fell asleep. We do not have cable, so this was as much a part of vacation as was watching the polar bear tear apart a trash can.
The episode was—you guessed it—about the Goths. I stared at the screen as I heard how a group of farmer-soldiers were cheated by Rome but decided to stand up to her, though she was the greatest empire in the world. They would not put up with bullying. The program ended: “Oppression sires rebellion, and when pushed too far, even the weak and the shattered can rise to challenge their oppressor.” I feel chills every time I hear that.
History is full of stories—true ones (unlike the wildly-adapted-but-still-enjoyable Braveheart, 300, Gladiator…). So many heroes, villains, and tragedies far exceed the fictional ideas of authors, and many of these stories are known only in boring monographs. I aim to remedy that.
3. What do you think your next book will be about? Any tentative title?
I hope to publish “Hammer of God” this year. Euric and Guntharic, brothers living in medieval Hispania, watch as their parents die and their sisters are taken captive by the Muslim Umayyads, who conquer their nation in a single battle. Euric flees north to Francia, where he dreams of becoming a knight, his fate intertwined with that of Duke Charles Martel. Meanwhile, Guntharic experiences life among the Umayyads, suffering through a long enslavement as he learns their advanced culture and befriends both Christians and Muslims. Will the two brothers ever see each other again? What will happen when the Umayyad host finally faces the Frankish phalanx at the epic battle of Tours ?
I am also writing the tale of Hernan Cortes’ wife, Dona Marina, so my wife can finally read a book with a female main character.
4. What tips do you have for other writers? (persevering, proofreading, publishing, promoting…) Anything unique/strange/wonderful?
The best tip I came across is to always plan my next session before I end my current one. That way I can write anywhere/anytime, knowing what I’m supposed to do next. I rarely have writer’s block because of this.
In college, I told my brothers part of a story each night, taking notes at the same time so I could type them out! They got annoyed, but I still have those stories.
5. What is your life like outside of writing family like?
I have been married to Amanda, my first and only girlfriend, for over eight years and we have two children, John and Anna. I enjoy an eclectic range of hobbies: playing piano and composing music, reading ancient languages, and teaching English as a Second Language to students from over fifteen countries.
Alaric: Child of the Goths
Daniel F. Bowman
For more on Daniel F. Bowman, visit his website at: http://danielfbowman.webs.com/
