Start your story in the thick of it

Today’s readers have the attention span of a gnat.  No patience!  No appreciation of the written word! 

OK, you’re right, video games did it.  Or maybe it was CSI, solving all those crimes so fast.  Or maybe it was all that tedious buildup getting in the way of what’s immediate in your story. 

Folks ~ facts is facts and writers have to face ‘em!  Too many words is too many words.  Like they say in the movies:  Cut to the chase! 

Eliminate all that verbiage that explains the motivation of the tortoise and the hare.  You can come back around to it later.  We want to see the race. 

Don’t expect your reader to dredge through the deep and lengthy psychological explanation of what happened when the man was a little boy that makes him want to set his parents’ house on fire before he even stops at the gas station.   

Start with him in their bedroom, the spilled liquid, the fumes rising around him and the match in his hand.  After I’ve seen that, I’ll want to know why.  I’ll keep reading. 

What?!!  But I have to set the scene!  I have to give some back-story!  Otherwise my readers won’t know who’s on first!  They’ll be confused.  

Really?  Or do you just love your own writing so much that you can’t cut the superfluous? 

Be honest now, which of these story starters would keep you reading: 

Madeline Harris was dating an organic apple farmer from Lodi.  She drove a school bus in Moravia.  [Ho hum!  Not confused, but also, not interested.] 

Or, 

Madeline Harris showed up out of nowhere one night at Lucy’s Tavern and beat Hank, the owner, three times in a row at darts.  [Really!?  Who is this Madeline?  Is she married?  Why is she alone at night in a bar?]
 

******** 

Bill Kane had a lean, tough face and sandy-colored hair.  He had sworn off women since his last girlfriend.  [Zzzzzz.] 

Or, 

Bill Kane watched partly because Madeline was good-looking and partly because he liked to see Hank, his boss, lose.  [Hmmm!  What kind of man is Bill Kane?  How did his face get so tough?  What’s up between him and Hank?] 

[These examples excerpted and paraphrased from “later, at the bar,” by Rebecca Barry.] 

Today’s takeaway ~  

Don’t get all self-righteous and indignant about your “literature.”  

Jump into the action to snag your readers.  They’ll hang around for the back-story when your story’s well told.

Please! Climb down from there and WRITE!

If you're a writer, there's no question about it. 

The true question, perhaps too often asked, is not, "Am I a writer?" but "Why don't I write?" 

Only a writer asks that question!  If you're asking it, you're a writer. 

But, but, but, you say.  How can I claim to be a writer when I'm stalled?  I haven’t written anything in (fill in the blank – days, months, eons).  

Cue the shrieking from Psycho! 

I'm non-productive!  Wait for it – the "B" word of the writer's world - I'm BLOCKED! 

Well, no.  You're not.  And here's how you can tell:  Write something. 

OK.  It's dross.  It's dregs.  It’s…what's a nicer word for 'crap'?  

The nicer word is 'words.'  How about 'brainstorming'?  Or '1st draft'?  That crap is words on the page.  It’s a start.   

If you're above writing the crap first, you have strayed onto that fork in the dark, forested landscape of a writer's mind that leads to the cul-de-sac of mental turmoil, frustration, dismay, self-loathing and cliche`. 

But you wouldn't be there if you weren't a writer. 

And, if you weren't a writer, not writing wouldn't bother you.   

So turn around and go toward the light.  You’ll feel so much better. 

Get off it Dream Writers, and WRITE!

Stand Up to Passive Voice!

To be, or not to be?  Easy!  Not to be!

I know. It brings back junior high school English.  Conjugation! Yikes.

Grit your teeth!  Here's your refresher:

'To Be' ~ the ultimate in passivity!  Bolded here in an ironic twist:

I am
you are
he, she, or it is
we are
you (plural) are
they are

Just get rid of those milk-toasty, shoulder shrugging passive forms!  Save no quarter for was and were, either!

To wit ~
     Beth Ann was hungry and looked in the fridge.

Vs.

     Famished, Beth Ann searched the shelves of the fridge.

Or ~
     Henry and Joe are mad.  They are ready to fight.

Vs.

     Fighting mad, Joe and Henry stood toe-to-toe.

And, not to get too personal ~

                                   Grandpa’s feet are stinky. 

     Vs.

                                   Grandpa’s feet stink.

While we cannot extinguish the nefarious 'state of being' verb, we can shrink its status to that of a pesky flea in line for extermination.

Kill it before it kills your writing!

Make it 'Sweep #1' when you polish your work.  Scan and rewrite to cast off the passive and weave in the active.

And Write, Dream Writers!  Write!