How to write a bestseller, or not, as the case may be.
This is a topic often considered in depth by published authors as well as fledgling writers. Is it just a lottery or is there a magic formula? Here is Author of "Whispering Plams", R.S.Charles' take on it.
Having been a teacher of Modern European Languages, including English, I suppose I should have known exactly what approach to take when writing a book, well, in theory, at least!
Finding one's 'niche' is obviously going to be an important feature in determining exactly what is envisaged as the finished product. Is it going to be fact or fiction? A biography or a fantasy? Tragic or humorous? And, if it is going to be fiction, which 'genre' best suits one's passion, knowledge, experience and style of writing? But, then again, if we want to be successful, is it not better to write about what people want to read rather than what the author wants to write?
Anyway, enough of the theory, back to the plot. Yes, there must be a 'plot' of sorts whatever we write. Think back to those boring English lessons at school, (well, if you're my age and went to an English Grammar School, they were probably exceedingly boring, but we did all pass the exams). The lesson on "How to write an Essay" must surely be a good place to start. Clearly, we just expand each section of the 'plan' to write a book? Simple!
Yes, remember the 'plan'; an introduction, development and conclusion. It's as easy as that, isn't it? Wait a minute; is that in the right order? Don't they do it backwards now? Start with the ending and finish with the beginning? It's all a bit confusing nowadays.
Unquestionably, we need a title for our 'bestseller'. That's something which we must get right. It must instantly captivate potential readers. Shall we waste hours thinking up one first, and make our writing 'fit' round it, or find one that suits when we've finished? Possibly by that time, we'll have had a brainwave!
Just a few more questions; what about the setting? When and where will the story in our novel take place? Is it a modern piece or an historical epic? Or doesn't that really matter? Conceivably, we are going to write something that could transpose itself to any place and any time, as long as the 'plot' is good. There's that word again!
I expect, at this point, it's also time to start thinking about 'characters'. After all, every novel must have some. They are the catalysts who allow the 'plot' to develop. They are 'what makes the novel'. We have decided it's going to be a novel, haven't we?
I've got a strong hunch now that the 'characters' will be quite important to a 'bestseller'. In that case, each character must be finely sculpted, impeccably 'honed'. So, to what extent should we describe them? How much should we leave to the reader's imagination? Should we portray them in every detail, explaining their background, their appearance, and their 'characteristics'? Or might it be better to just allow the characters to 'develop' themselves through their habits and idiosyncrasies, depict themselves through their behaviour and their emotions? Let's just see how it goes. We may even come up with something better half way through and change everything about them. It's a problem though, isn't it? Rather like painting a picture; how much should we 'shade in' or indeed, leave blank?
Inevitably, 'characters' are going to contain snippets of those we know, either personally, or through the wonders of the modern media. After all, they have to be 'real', have 'real' qualities and 'real' weaknesses, if they are to be believed, empathized with, identified with. (Oh dear, I've ended a sentence with a 'preposition'- that's not right, is it?).
Now, another consideration, will the 'plot' be 'character driven' or will events and experiences 'drive' the characters? Do we really need a hero or a heroine? Every novel seems to have one or both. Perhaps we should be different and not have any? It's becoming even more complicated; so many things to consider! At this point, I fear that I may be losing the 'plot'!
Maybe we should have done some research first? It might have been a good idea to produce an 'outline' of each character before we began, just so we knew how we would like to depict them. But, then again, the 'plot' might cause them to act 'out of character', so is it worth the bother?
Talking about research, I keep thinking it may also have been useful to suitably acquaint ourselves with any location, climate, time period and specialist information we are going to write about. Someone who reads the novel might be an 'expert' on one or all of these and catch us out. And then where would we be?
But they won't be an expert on our characters. They belong to us. They are our creations. Effectively, they behave just as we tell them to; do whatever we force them to do.
I'm still pondering about the 'development'. Did we think about the length of the novel, how many words we should aim to write? Does it really matter how many chapters we have? Do we need yet another detailed 'outline' of each chapter before we put pen to paper? (this is an old- fashioned phrase which means 'finger to keyboard, keyboard to computer screen') Or shall we just sit down with the laptop and see how it goes? Who knows?
And should we discuss 'style'? But isn't style a personal thing? Will ours suit the 'genre'? Should it be a narrative? Do we need 'dialogue'? Obviously, we must engage the reader immediately, create an appropriate atmosphere. Shall we use the 'first person singular', as if we're (or 'I'm', in this case) a character in the novel?
I'm sure 'the mechanics of writing' was mentioned somewhere in the dim and distant past. This must include all that rigmarole like spelling, vocabulary, punctuation and even grammar. (I think I was absent for those lessons at school !).
No worries; the computer will do all that for us, won't it? Every time we misspell something, the machine will underline it in red and tell us the correct spelling, if indeed we meant to use the word in that context. But, perhaps we actually meant the other version of the word, the one with the other spelling which means something completely different.
And if we waffle on or leave out some punctuation, the computer will underline it in green and correct it or say; 'fragment-consider revising'. That's very helpful, isn't it? Obviously it can't think of an alternative either! Anyway, the publishers will see to all that when they edit the finished version, you know, polish it up a bit.
So, did we decide on a 'genre'? Keep up! Does the novel have to fall into a specific category like 'romance', 'science fiction' or 'thriller'? That's how books are arranged in shops and on-line. Oh dear,we might have to change it then, so it doesn't 'straddle' different genres. Otherwise it will be hard to categorize and for our readers to find. That, in turn, might muck up the plan!
I think we're nearly there now, anyway.
So, we've got the 'characters', 'introduced' and 'developed' the story. The computer is doing the 'style', spelling and grammar, with a little help from us. Now for the 'conclusion'! Well, I suppose, (oh, I'm repeating the same words too often; where's the Thesaurus when we need it? On the computer, of course!) we have to think about the 'ending'. Let's be traditional and put it at the end. Perhaps it should round things off nicely, end on a 'high', reveal all. Or should we leave something to the reader's imagination; leave him/her wanting more? What about a cliffhanger? After all, we might write a sequel, so we'll need a starting point.
That's it then! All we have to do now is find a publisher- there'll be a book in the library with details and addresses. Let's just send off the manuscript, leave the rest to them, sit back, and wait for the royalties to roll in, shall we?
One last thought; how come I tell people that my popular mystery novel, "Whispering Palms", 'wrote itself'? Perhaps now is the time to take my tongue firmly out of my cheek!!
www.mymysterybooks.com
