Feature

Learn the Techniques of Writing before You Write

by Carolyn McKay

Writing is an art form. You must understand this art form before you can begin to challenge yourself and grow. Not many people would pick up a cello and start playing right away, without any knowledge of the basics of music, but the same does not hold true with writing. In fact, many people perceive writing to be some sort of inherent talent, without the need for training and hard work. Of course, some writers have a natural gift for creating structured and meaningful works with only minimal revision, but these are the exception rather than the rule.

In my encounters with successful writers, I have discovered that for the most part, they do not write effortless and perfect first drafts—there is a process. The realization that there is a combination of talent and process in good writing has changed my outlook considerably and influences the way I approach any writing assignment or project.

For example, most talented writers approach writing as a full time job, working a full day at preparing and producing stories and novels. Although most of us cannot afford the luxury of a full-time fiction career, we can still apply some of the principles used by successful writers.

This article addresses several basic principles of novel writing: organizing source material, planning, writing the draft, and revising.

Organizing Source Material

If you already write stories or short fiction, then you know that ideas for plot points, characters, situations, and locations can come from anywhere. It is a good idea to gather these nuggets and have them on hand for when you need them. Emotions and detailed impressions about an event or situation are difficult to recall. That is why many writers keep a series of files or notebooks to organize ideas, background material, and research.

There are several ways you can do this. Many people use notebooks to jot down ideas, impressions, phrases, and sentences. These can be re-read later to help you recover a moment, remember how you felt, recall what the weather was like, and any other specific impressions about an event or situation. You can also use notebooks to outline character sketches, plot ideas, scenes, and events. These can be done in point form or may actually be bits of narrative text that you can modify for inclusion in some future work.

You might also want to create a collection of research notes, grouped into folders and labeled according to subject for easy reference. Put anything interesting you come across into these folders, such as newspaper or magazine articles, or any other bits of information you can use to make characters seem more genuine. For example, if you are writing a mystery novel with a character who is an art critic, some notes about a certain gallery’s collection might lend an air of authenticity to your character’s conversations.

If want to use specific locations in a novel, you may also want to draw maps and document descriptions of places (whether real or fictional). This will help you to avoid becoming confused when your character moves from one location to another, especially if you are including directional information, or descriptions of the route. Information about a novel’s setting needs to be consistent and believable to be effective.

Another type of source material that can be useful is a list of names and their meanings. Naming your characters is very important; the name that you choose must suit the character and may even help you in creating the character sketch. I enjoy characters whose names are revealing, so I often look up the meaning of certain names, and keep a file of names for future use.

Character sketches can be started at this time as well. You should make them as detailed as possible to help you to determine the character’s motivations. When television shows are created, the characters are profiled very precisely, often before the actors are cast. Details about a character’s background, social upbringing, religious and political beliefs, and attitudes are outlined in chart format. If you create strong character sketches before you start writing, you may find these characters so well drawn in your mind that they take on a life of their own and start guiding the story with their actions from one scene to the next.

Planning

Theme and Purpose

Once you have settled on an idea for your novel, you should begin describing what you want to achieve in the novel, and outline the thematic concerns you wish to address. For example, many short works are meant to capture a slice of life, to describe it in such a way that it touches the reader, makes them cry, or laugh. However, simple story-telling may not sustain a full length novel; good novels have complex structures and develop their thematic concerns throughout the work. The statement can be brief; it need only include the main points that you want to address so that you can refer back to them later. Include information about the message you wish to convey, what events or situations you are going to create to convey your message, how you want readers to react, and what you want them to understand or believe.

Outline

Creating the outline is the first step in organizing the novel’s structure. There are many ways of doing this (in a grid, chart, or table format); you should find the method that works best for you. Begin by listing the major sections of the novel, (you don’t need to divide these into chapters yet) and then put some rough notes under each heading.

Next, expand the original outline using some of the material you collected earlier (plot points, events). An important consideration at this stage is deciding when each character will be introduced and how. Don’t be afraid to expand and revise the outline even after you’ve started writing. You may find that once you start writing, a character’s action or other event will make you think ahead in the story to an event or piece of information that should be included elsewhere in the book. You may even decide to change the order of events as you are writing, especially if the events are not presented chronologically. For example, you may decide that instead of beginning the novel with your main character committing the murder, you may want to start the novel with this character as the narrator, describing in flashback the events that led to his incarceration.

Remember that the outline is to be used as a guide—it can be as brief or as detailed as you want. One advantage of a good outline is that if you get stuck in one section of the draft, you can put it aside and move on to another part of the book.

Writing the First Draft

Once you are comfortable with your outline, you can begin writing the first draft. Again, there are numerous ways of doing this. Some writers prefer to begin with chapter one, and write straight through to the end. Others write chapters in no particular order, using the outline to chart the course for each section. The main point of the draft is to sketch out the text, and to provide the foundation for further revisions.

Make notes to yourself throughout the text about sections that require research or more detail, and keep a bibliography of your sources.

As mentioned earlier, the act of writing the novel may open up possibilities you didn’t think of when creating the outline. Don’t be afraid to let the action or a character grow and evolve, taking the narrative in a new direction. As you get new ideas, be sure to revise the outline. Keep in mind that you will probably be completing more than one draft before the manuscript is finished. Successful authors know the value of a multiple-draft process. Margaret Atwood, for example, has revealed that she usually does about six drafts before sending a work to one of her editors. Her advice to writers is to write quickly, but revise slowly.

Revising

When the first draft is complete, you can start the revision process, which involves not only checking for obvious problems (grammar, spelling, and punctuation), but performing a more in-depth analysis of your work. You should always print pages for review (double-spaced to leave room for markup). It is likely that your editors and readers will be presented with a hardcopy version of the book, so it is best to view it in the same format.

Begin by marking the paper freely, noting such things as: clarity, whether each passage flows evenly into the next, and whether the devices used for emphasis are effective. Ask yourself questions throughout the revision, for example: why would the main character react this way, or, what are the motivating factors behind the villain’s fear of animals? Make note of any outstanding questions, so that you can try to resolve them later. Ensure that the way in which words are chosen and arranged reveal the character’s attitudes and emotions, and are effective in conveying the appropriate themes.

In subsequent drafts you will want to address meaning and thematic concerns, and the first chapters are often the ones that can use the most work. Refer back to your outline, which you revised as you wrote. At this point you will be able to view the beginning of the novel from the perspective of the whole, and decide whether all the sections are in harmony. You may find that some of the ideas that you started out with are no longer relevant and are weakening the overall effect. More than one author has commented that the later chapters of a book changed the whole course of the work, but that it was difficult to change or scrap some of the initial concepts that inspired the whole thing, even when these concepts weren’t fitting.

Once you are fairly happy with the content, flow, and clarity of the novel, you can take the revision one step further. This is where you analyze the techniques you used to convey your thematic concerns. In many cases, you will find that you employed certain devices you weren’t even aware you were using. You may find that being aware of such devices as point of view, persona, allegory, realism, and symbolism will strengthen your work.

Point of View

Decide whether your narrative would be effective if presented from a personal (I, me) or impersonal (third party) point of view. If the narrative is not working, consider adding a character (personal or impersonal) to act as the narrator, leading the reader through the work, and influencing how the reader perceives the events.

Persona

The persona refers to the writer's presence in the work, but does not necessarily reflect the writer's own personality. It is the personality that you want the reader to perceive, and help you to influence how the reader feels and reacts to the events in the novel. The writer does not need to appear as the narrator to be effective as a persona; how situations are described and the language used also reflect the writer’s presence.

Allegory, Realism, and Symbolism

These devices are used to render meaning in a novel through characters, settings, actions, and events. Allegory refers to an abstract truth that is presented through the characters' actions, or events in a novel, and do not have to be realistic. Fables, myths, and legends are often referred to as allegorical. A realistic approach is one in which the meaning exists in the literal events of the novel. A novel about a character’s wrongful accusation and imprisonment can be a realistic work whose events point out weaknesses in the justice system, and in society. Symbolic episodes are those that present a realistic story, but have a more encompassing significance. A novel might use two brothers as characters, one good and the other evil, to explore the dual nature of man.

Good writing involves more than merely putting words on a page. No matter what the genre or type of novel, it is important that writers follow a consistent form and structure in their writing. Many books on writing technique are available that will help novice and experienced writers alike improve their writing. If you are serious about writing, you should sample a few, and find one that suits your needs.

Although talent plays a role in creating effective fiction, the key to success as a writer is to discover something new from each writing experience, and to use these discoveries to help you refine your technique. Good writing is the result of creative talent and discipline combined with a firm understanding of form and method. The more you learn about technique and process, the closer you will be to realizing your potential as a writer.