Advice for New Writers
BY AARON LAZAR
With the advent of email communications
in the workplace, it’s not uncommon to exchange dozens of messages
daily. Sometimes, I sense a writer’s “voice” in such messages.
Occasionally, I ask if they’ve done any writing. A year ago, a colleague
answered, “I loved to write in high school, but I just don’t have time
anymore! ” She was extraordinarily busy, mothering an active
two-year-old, commuting over an hour a day, managing the house, and
holding a full-time managerial job. In spite of the fact that I knew she
was overloaded, I sensed a unique talent in her words and didn’t
hesitate to encourage her.
“Just write,” I said, “take
fifteen minutes at lunch each day. Just do it.”
“But what would I write
about?” she asked, “I have no idea where to start!” “Once you
get going, it will just flow out of you. You don’t have to
have a plan. Just do it.”
She wrote during a break the
next day, and sent me three paragraphs. It was lovely. I
encouraged her to continue and we began to exchange writing
daily. Six months later, she had completed the manuscript for
her first novel, a historical time-travel piece. She’s
submitting it for publishing as I write this.
Here are a few suggestions for
new writers. I hope you find them helpful!
Suggestion one: Just write.
Write for a few minutes every day. If your passion for writing
is real, you’ll find that you can’t stop! You’ll find a way to
make it happen. I schedule very early mornings for writing,
from 4:00 to 6:00 AM. It’s the only quiet time in my hectic
life and I couldn’t accept spending less time with my
daughters, wife, or grandsons. So, I go to bed early and
forget about TV. What’s more important? In doing so, I’ve
produced eight novels in a bit over four years.
Suggestion two: Cut out the
flowery stuff. I adore adjectives and adverbs, and I ache
to describe scenes in lush detail. But in the end, I go back
and hack away at all the excess. If you read a line out loud
and it feels stilted or halting – stop! Take out all the extra
words that slow you down, and just tell the story. Use the
descriptors sparingly. I’ve found that after writing eight
books, my style has become simpler and more streamlined. I’m
going back now and red-lining much of the early work before it
reaches the bookstores. It hurts like hell to do it, but it’s
absolutely necessary.
Suggestion three: Observe,
observe, observe! Soak in every tiny detail that surrounds
you. Colors, textures, sensations, expressions, birdsongs,
sunlight, and the ground you walk on... notice everything, and
brand it into your brain for that next chapter you’re going to
write.
Suggestion four: Listen to
the voices! Listen to the grocery clerk, the bank teller,
children at play, professors, grandparents, and neighbors...
listen! You’ll never create natural dialogue without listening
- hard!
Suggestion five: Tap into
your emotions. When someone close to you dies, it’s an
overwhelming, dreadful experience. But, the same emotions that
flatten you at that time will be indispensable when you write
about loss. Recreating the deep-seated feelings will make your
book come alive and ring true with readers.
Suggestion six: Make your
characters feel deeply and give them a rich history. This
takes time and is particularly important if you’re writing a
series. If readers don’t care about the characters, they won’t
come back for more. Don’t worry about defining them in detail
in the beginning – just start writing and they will develop.
You can always go back and add more detail that supports your
character’s growth.
Suggestion seven:
Perfection comes later. Just get it out there, get it down
on paper. Then, when you go back to it, hack away at the
unnecessary prepositional phrases and the ungainly adverbs,
extract those awkward scenes that stand out like sore thumbs,
and supplement those that seem abrupt. Then, set it aside for
a while. After I’ve completed a novel, I put it down and start
on the next one. Many months later, I’ll come back to it. It’s
best if I don’t remember much (I’m often surprised at how much
I’ve forgotten!) as that’s when one is in the best position to
challenge one’s own work. Sometimes I’ll be surprised at an
unusually eloquent passage, or humiliated by a flimsy section
through which I obviously rushed. That’s the time to roll up
your sleeves and be ruthless! Cut out the excess and fortify
the weak!
Suggestion eight: Find a
skillful editor. I’ve been lucky. I have writer/reader
friends with eagle eyes who will scour my manuscripts and be
brutal where necessary. Try to find one person who is willing
to follow along with the book as you create it. That’s the
best way to start. Share this service. Swap chapters as soon
as they’re done. That’s what I do with my friend, Jeanne. She
is a talented writer and a superb editor. She catches things
I’d never notice, and I do the same for her. We aren’t shy
about helping – if a passage sounds stilted, she tells me
immediately! If I want to “see” more of the details in a
scene, I ask her to elaborate. It works extremely well. Then,
when the book is in a reasonable shape, I send it to my
friend, Ray, who is a fine author in his own right. He goes
through with a fine-toothed comb and imparts writing gems in
the process. I call him, “The Master!”
If it weren’t for them, my
books would stink. Well, maybe that’s a little extreme, but
I’ve learned so much from them that the finished LeGarde
Mystery manuscripts read more smoothly and are of higher
quality. I also have an “inner circle” of readers who’ve
traveled with me through the series far in advance of
publishing. They keep me honest and provide feedback about the
characters that they’d come to love.
Suggestion nine: Maintain
the tension. You want your readers to need to read more.
Keep up the pace. Make it flow seamlessly from chapter to
chapter. And try to avoid unnecessary excursions into boring
territory. I use lots of dialogue; it moves the book along
quickly. Short chapters also help the reader feel as if he’s
made progress. Readers say that with short chapters they’re
more apt to think, “Just one more chapter before I go to bed.”
Of course, if the tension and suspense are stimulating, your
poor readers will stay up way past bedtime!
Suggestion ten: Polish it
‘til it shines. Don’t send in anything but your best work,
buffed to perfection. You may have to go through it dozens of
times, but it’s worth it. Have your friends and family do the
same. Each time they scour through it, they’ll find something
new. It seems endless. But if you keep at it, you will produce
a superior product.
Double Forte', the first in Aaron Paul Lazar's LeGarde
series, was published in January 2005.
Upstaged, number two, is now available for purchase. With
eight books under his belt, Mr. Lazar is currently working on
the ninth book in
the series. After writing in the early morning hours, he
works as an electrophotographic engineer at NexPress Solutions
in Rochester, New York.
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