Advice for Writers Early in their Career Efforts

Often writers ask how they can learn to write better. Yes, there are 'how to' books out there, but this is often the advice I give:

Read books you enjoy, but do more than just read them. Study them. Pay attention to how successful authors accomplished things like dialogue, description, pacing, POV, action scenes, etc. Take notes, maybe even bookmark specific examples.

Then, when you're writing and get stuck or feel something isn't working, you have examples to go back to and review. Apply how those authors managed it, incorporating your own story and writing style.

Always remember, don't compare your first draft to the final (published) works out there. Heck, be careful how you compare your finished works to others out there. Remember, you will have strengths and places where you will need to improve throughout your writing career.

I personally have go to books and authors. Zelazny, Brust, Donaldson, Ringo, Hamilton, Moorcock, and Turtledove are the main ones for me.

One of the Challenges in Writing Fantasy Short Stories

One thing on every writer's mind as they are planning and writing a short story is word count. In almost every instance the shorter the work, the easier it is to find a market for it. It’s a balance of words, quality, and the story to be told.

In any case, there are more markets that accept 5000 word short stories than 7500 word stories, and even those that indicate they will look at a 7500 piece state it has to be really exceptional to be published. Consider in context what is being said, since I believe all publishers sift their submission pile for what they believe are exceptional stories. The longer the story, the higher the hurdle for it to reach publication.

Now consider writing a fantasy story. The writer has to introduce the reader to the created world, explaining ‘how it works differently’ as compared to the reader’s mundane, everyday world. The world building has to be packed within the context of the story, keeping it moving forward. Tell the readers just enough to make sense, enabling them to understand. Allow the reader fill in some of the blanks where ever possible.

An example to illustrate: A writer doesn’t need to explain how bug spray works (and its limitations) on a cockroach menace. The average reader can see the landlord in his mind’s eye removing the cap, pointing the can and pressing down on the nozzle, while avoiding inhalation of toxin. But a writer of fantasy may have to explain how a net stung with iron beads might be used by the royal gardener to snare the little fairies that have been stealing the blooming royal snapdragons.

In both examples the character is trying to get rid of pests, but the former dealing with the cockroach infestation would require fewer words than the latter dealing with the fairy menace. Maybe it would only require thirty words spread over a few sentences, but that adds up quickly when considering a word count limit of 5000. Why include the episode about the iron affecting magical creatures? Maybe it’s a way of establishing the rules or laws of that world for when a larger, more dangerous magical foe comes into conflict with the protagonist—so that the full explanation isn’t necessary, possibly right in the middle of intense action.

Maybe that’s part of what interests readers of fantasy, the discovery of new worlds and creatures, and how they interact. But there’s more than just how the fantasy world differs from the reader’s everyday experience. The story also has to include characters the readers want to follow through their interactions and adventures. And creating characters and telling the action of the story takes words too—if at all possible everything tucked nicely into the 5000 word (or less) box.

And that’s at least one thing that provides an additional challenge when short fiction with in fantasy setting.

Accuracy: Firearms in Fiction

All too often I’ve come across writers working on a first novel involving a character carrying and using a firearm, and they (both the author and the character) simply refer to it as "a gun" and "my gun. "

Sure, it depends on the context. A steamy romance where the main character comments that she keeps a gun in her desk drawer just in case is different than a hard-boiled mystery where a police detective ventures into inner city neighborhoods every day packing heat.

In the context of some stories, writers don’t even narrow the gun used to a revolver, hunting rifle or shotgun, but they write as if the individual is competent, if not an expert with the firearm they’re using.

Quite often, upon asking a writer whose manuscript I am reviewing what type of firearm the character used in a particular scene, the response often is, “I don’t know.” That is usually followed up by, “I don’t really like guns,” or “I don’t know the first thing about guns.” Then they ask, “Does it really matter?”

I think it matters. The limitations of a firearm based on the caliber or the effective range makes a difference. Can it be carried concealed and if so, where and how will that affect the character’s wardrobe? Failure to incorporate such basic knowledge could annoy, if not turn off, an entire segment of an author's the potential reading audience.

Does the writer have to own or be an expert in firearms to include them in their fiction? Absolutely not. But an author, for example, who researches in great detail the layout of a city where the novel’s action takes place shouldn’t brush aside proper research on the firearms intimately involved in the novel’s action.

Online research is a good place to get the basics. Visiting a local gun store with questions will often net in-depth answers. An uncle that’s hunted whitetail deer every fall since he was twelve could provide enough details about how a shotgun works, its recoil, types of shells, strengths and limitations to enable the prose to be both authentic and accurate. In my experience it’s a rare instance where someone balks at helping an author with content in an area where he or she is experienced and knowledgeable.

A little research effort can pay great dividends in the depth, quality and authenticity of a writer's manuscript.

Sometimes It's a Matter of Perspective

Digging in and directing enormous effort on writing a manuscript, driving to get it finished can cause one to lose focus on the big picture. There is nothing wrong with dedication and making persistent progress toward completion, but sometimes a writer has to step back and get out of the weeds.

Getting too close, without an occasional step back can cause a writer to lose touch with the story’s direction. Dialogue becomes stilted, descriptions become wordy and ineffective, losing color, opportunities for effective characterization are overlooked, and the plot direction bulldozes ahead according to the established outline, often leading to a dead end. Some might call that dead end ‘The Wall’ or the dreaded ‘Writer’s Block.’ In any case the result is that the story stumbles off kilter until it utterly stalls.

What to do? Take a couple weeks off from the project. Work on something different and then come back, reread and revise, take a few notes, then move forward. If possible, have a crit partner or willing trusted reader give the manuscript in progress a look and provide insight and suggestions.

Then chances are you’ll be once again up and out of the weeds.