First Word

  Today I wanted to discuss challenges every writer faces. I’m going to discuss them in no particular order or emphasis.   Lack of confidence – many writers don’t get published or even try to publish due to a lack of confidence in their talents and skills. I’ve published hundreds of articles and books, and yet I still struggle with confidence in my work. Writing requires readers, and readers can be critical. It can be difficult to put your work in the public eye and not feel sensitive about it. One thing that helps me is to be open to improvement. When someone gives me feedback – and as long as it’s done in a productive manner – I’m open-minded about it and don’t take it personally … anymore . I used to feel like an abject reject lol … age and wisdom have taught me the phrase “it’s all good.”   Uncertainty with a story idea and whether or not it will be a commercial success . Over the years, I have learned that when a story is going to be a hit, it will ...

Flawed characters are more interesting than vanilla heroes or heroines. Flawed characters have chinks in their armors. They do things that push the limits of black and white/right and wrong. They do things some of us wish we could, but know that while it tastes sweet going down the aftertaste is bitter. When you write flawed characters, though, remember it's easy to make those flaws so deep they turn from good to purely bad. So how do you write a great flawed character without making him/her unlikeable? A tortured soul --the tortured soul is good at heart but his/her pains of the past have created demons. These characters will stop and help the little old lady cross the road and yet end up at the bar at night drinking and yelling profanity at the bartender. They will help the bad guys (inadvertently) because they are driven to self-destruct, but in the end their humanities always win. Sweet, funny, endearing but doing bad things anyway --they aren't intrinsically bad people...

It has been said you can't really write anything until your 40's. I remember hearing this information and thinking, "Ack! I'm 20 ... that is a long ways down the road." How do you define or describe how inexperience influences writing? The essence in the knowledge of really knowing something or having a frame of reference from which to draw knowledge deepens your ability to write about it. Writing about visiting another country without ever having visited that country is not the same. You can research it and write about it, but can you really describe it -- the exact smells, the people, the places, the cracks in the sidewalk ... For young writers this news might be disheartening. You might be like I was at age 20 and think that is a long ways off ... so my best advice, stick with what you know and can relate to. When you're 16 and attempt to write about being 40 and getting a divorce because of your midlife crisis, it will show in the work. Something is just...

Did you know there is a difference between knowingly doing something in your storytelling process and just plain doing what you want to the point it will not attract a publisher? You must understand the structure and storytelling process in order to deviate from it. What do I mean? Well, I see amateur manuscripts where the writer clearly doesn't understand traditional structure, period. The writer will just do whatever he or she pleases, and it doesn't work because there is no context or construct in which the person is deviating. I will give you the reason why and an example. Readers understand certain principles about stories and how stories unfold. Readers have certain expectations about the reading experience, too. For example, readers expect characters to have something as basic as an understandable name. Now you say, what? Yes, I got a manuscript submitted once where the writer absolutely insisted the names be (wait for it) ______. Yes, you saw the right -- underlines for...

Think about it. What glues and holds you to a novel? Yes, a great story is important, but isn't it really great characters that make it memorable? My book California Girl Chronicles has a very basic story: young screenwriter goes to Hollywood to make it only to be distracted by hot men. It's not a terribly complex story by any means. It's definitely frothy, good fun, but what do people talk about the most in all of the reviews -- my flawed, beautiful character, Brea. You can have a "thin" story, but if the characters are really interesting, great and fun to follow, it won't matter. People will be hooked to the character's adventures or in Brea's case, her misadventures, which makes it critical that writers understand that their characters must be fully developed, interesting, compelling and made to do provocative things that hold the reader's interest. So how do you create a memorable character? Distinct Voice -- make sure you start with the ve...

So many writers I know are so nervous, timid or fearful about their work. They don't feel the confidence to "just put it out there," as one writer said to me in the email. If you write and keep it private by choice that is fine. But if you write and feel too insecure, worried or nervous to show the world, what's the point? I do want to emphasize, if you write for fun and don't show people it really is fine. It's only when you have a desire to publish -- and you let your own concerns hold you back that it's time to just sit down, decide to write that first book, and get on with it. When you're done, if you truly are worried it's not good enough to "put out there" then have someone like a writing coach look it over and provide feedback. 3L Publishing provides coaching services (FYI) where writers get one-on-one attention, support, accountability and guidance to create their best work. What amazes me is that "talent" sometimes isn...