Writing Is Not A Fill-In-The Blank Template

I spent a lot of time this weekend, reading through submissions and I came across an interesting trend. No, this is not necessarily something that hit me out of the blue. I know I have been aware of this for some time. I simpy think, being hit with it all at one time was sort of a dead giveaway.

Writing, in any format, is not a fill in the blank worksheet. There are a lot of approaches to writing and if you wish to be successful with your craft, you have to do more than simply insert pieces into a puzzle. Let me explain it in a couple of different ways.

THE QUERY LETTER...

Ahh, the infamous letter. Do a Google Blog search on this and I think you find that every agent out there has written something on these little bad boys. In many of those cases, the agents take the time to create a step-by-step plan for writing "the successful query." Now, while these points are truly accurate, writers simply inserting their own story items in the formula the other person created is still missing the point. These writers have no idea why they are doing the things they do in the letter. What are they missing? Simply put, they are missing their own unique voice. They are lacking that energy we are looking for in a writer. As agents, we don't want robots but people who can think for themselves.

THE CHARACTERS

We were told to have a hero that is sexy so what does that mean? I tell you, if I read about another man with "liquid blue eyes and a body that fits firmly into a pair of jeans" one more time I will scream. While I know the industry doesn't want ugly men in the stories, the images and the descriptions you use cannot be stereotypical. Figure out what really makes your hero hot. it could be the way he moves. It could be the confidence. It could be his voice. Build off of those traits but don't just pull out a worksheet of "Hot Phrases To Describe Your Man" and insert those in your story. It simply doesn't work.

As for the female characters, let's focus on the same thing. Don't just give them the sterotypical roles in the story. Find something unique. Now please understand, I am not simply talking about putting them in some bizzare job, but don't make them act and behave stereotypically. The goal is to find a believable person that women can relate to. We want characters that a woman can read about and see her own face in the picture.

I am sure I can go on and on with this one but I think you might be getting the idea here. About a month or so ago, I spent time talking about why we do things in the writing. Now, I spent most of the time dealing with specific techniques and grammar, but I think the skills learned there apply to this as well. Do you know why you are doing the things you do with your writing? Do you have any idea the impact you make on the reader when you do something in your story or query. Everything you do has an impact on the reader. Your job is to make that work.

In literary criticism, we speak of the concept called Reader Response Theory. In this case, the story only has meaning when the reader applies their knowledge and thoughts to the story. I am personally not a big supporter to this, but there are elements of this theory that work. Think laws of physics - To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Now apply that to a story.

If you start a query letter to me with "Sparks fly when..." what reaction will I have? Do you know? If not, you might want to learn.

Best of luck out there this week with writing.

Scott