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Good writing is often about letting go of fear and affectation. Affectation itself, beginning with the need to define some sorts of writing as “good” and other sorts as “bad,” is fearful behavior. Good writing is also about making good choices when it comes to picking the tools you plan to work with.
Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones.
book-buyers want a good story to take with them on the airplane, something that will first fascinate them, then pull them in and keep them turning the pages. This happens, I think, when readers recognize the people in a book, their behaviors, their surroundings, and their talk. When the reader hears strong echoes of his or her own life and beliefs, he or she is apt to become more invested in the story.
Write what you like, then imbue it with life and make it unique by blending in your own personal knowledge of life, friendship, relationships, sex, and work.
What you need to remember is that there’s a difference between lecturing about what you know and using it to enrich the story.
Description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.
the writer is much more fortunate than the filmmaker, who is almost always doomed to show too much…
When dialogue is right, we know. When it’s wrong we also know—it jags on the ear like a badly tuned musical instrument.
I grew up as a part of America’s lower middle class, and they’re the people I can write about with the most honesty and knowledge. It means that they say shit more often than sugar when they bang their thumbs, but I’ve made my peace with that. Was never much at war with it in the first place, as a matter of fact.
If you expect it to ring true, then you must talk yourself. Even more important, you must shut up and listen to others talk.
I think the best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event,
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if I can make you understand her madness—then perhaps I can make her someone you sympathize with or even identify with. The result? She’s more frightening than ever, because she’s close to real.
In the end I listen most closely to Tabby, because she’s the one I write for, the one I want to wow.
