Tell, Don't Show

by Charlotte Hinger

One of the most misunderstood "rules" in writing successful novels is the instruction to "Show, don't tell." Sometimes a story moves more quickly when the writer uses the limited omniscience viewpoint. An engaging narrative voice using descriptive details can jump start mysteries. 

One of my favorite book about the craft of writing is The Successful Novelist by David Morrell. It includes an excellent chapter on viewpoint. He describes his struggles with the beginning of his novel, First Blood. The book is a literary novel, by the way. He warns readers it's nothing like the movie. And it isn't.

He tried limited third person through Rambo's eyes. It didn't work. He tried alternating third person between Rambo and Teasle, the relentless policeman. He still wasn't happy with the beginning. Then he came up with this:

His name was Rambo, and he was just some nothing kid for all anybody knew, standing by the pump of a gas station on the outskirts of  Madison, Kentucky. He had a long heavy beard, and his hair was hanging down over his ears to his neck, and he had his hand out trying to thumb a ride from a car that was stopped at the pump. 

Other best-selling authors begin books with limited omniscience.  

Consider this beginning from Tana French's best seller, In the Woods:  

Picture a summer stolen whole from some coming-of-age film set in a small-town 1950s. This is none of Ireland's subtle seasons mixed for a connoisseur's palate. . . ." 

Of the beginning of Elizabeth George's novel, A Place of Hiding:

Santa Ana winds were no friends of photography, but that was something you could not tell an egomanical architect who believed his entire reputation rested upon capturing for posterity--and for Architectural Digest--fifty-two thousand square feet of unfinished hillside sprawl today. 

In my historical novel, Come Spring, one of my early paragraphs began:

She was a frail watercolor of a woman, very slight, with yellow hair and pale, sensitive blue eyes that could become pridefully unreadable in an instant. In another setting she would have been lovely but the prairie sun was too strong for her. It bleached her out--her hair, her skin, her very soul--with its harshness.  

Morrell recommends experimenting with different points of view. 

One rule that I consider set in stone is this: If something works, it works.  

Keeping Track

 By Charlotte Hinger

Boy, do I ever wish I had started keeping track of everything connected with writing from the beginning. Some years back when I needed to assemble a Curriculum Vitae (CV) for a writing class I would be teaching. It was the pits to put together. 

A CV is more detailed than a resume. A CV should contain everything: publications, awards received, talks and presentations, service rendered, organizations. 

How was I to know anyone would care about this stuff? I had all the information in crates and boxes. Usually in pasteboard files and scattered here and yon with various contracts. Awards I had received were branded on my heart. And copies of publications, you bet. 

But all the talks and presentations, readings, promotions, panels I had been on---no way could I remember. Yet these references, too, were there somewhere in these boxes. I've written a substantial number of reviews and articles. Why wasn't the proof of this all in one place?

This is the year I have taken a vow to go through all my paper. There's no shame in saving everything and I refuse to apologize for it. In fact, when I wrote the acknowledgement section for Mary's Place, a historical novel that will be published in July by the University of Nebraska Press, I dug out minutes from a committee I served on thirty years ago to get the names of fellow members of the Interfaith Rural Life Committe when we were trying to help farmers cope with losing their land. But the information should have been easily accessible. 

One of the few books that addresses organizational systems is The Successful Novelist; Lessons from a Lifetime of Writing, Craft and Working with Publishers by David Morrell. Yes! The mega-award winning author of First Blood. Rambo, himself. 

The Successful Novelist is one of the best books about the craft of writing I've ever come across. I highly recommend it. It will also help you develop a system if you plan on staying in the game.

O for Organization

When I attended the Western Writer's of American convention last month, I had an opportunity to visit with David Morrell after a panel. David is the author of First Blood, a literary book which is nothing at all like the movie. There is some resemblance between Rambo in the book and Rambo in the movie, but not much. As to the actual story--no resemblance whatsoever.

David has a PhD in literature and left a tenured position at the University of Iowa to write full time. After our visit, I downloaded his non-fiction book, The Successful Novelist. I've read so many "how to write" books, that I wasn't expecting anything new. To my amazement, this was one of the best books on the art and craft of writing a novel I've ever read. I shouldn't have been surprised. This man certainly has the credentials, including a plethora of awards. 

When a book is this good I also want a physical copy. It will be here soon. 

Since I taught myself to write by reading books about writing, then optimistically attempting to do as the lessons instructed, I can say with some authority that older "how to write" books used be a lot more useful than contemporary books which are basically an overview of the industry. His book is the exception. It's wildly superior to books in print about developing craftsmanship.

The Successful Novelist is loaded with nuts and bolts advice. His chapters on plot, characterization, and structure are outstanding. 

Oddly enough, the chapter that threw me into a fit of anxiety was that of Frequently Asked Questions. The student wanted to know "Is it okay to throw drafts out after the book has been published?"

Morrell gives detail instructions for collecting and preserving various drafts. Forever. You start with a big box that includes all the drafts, correspondence with agents and editors, research, reviews and publicity materials. Everything. His advice is to save everything. At the end of each year, he sends copies of these materials to the Special Collections Department at the University of Iowa's library. 

Whew!

His advice threw me into high gear because I need to start organizing all of my stuff. After reading about his system, I found myself cherry-picking his methods. Yes to this. No to that. Absolutely yes to a file box with material regarding a specific novel. No to all the drafts. Wouldn't a memory stick work just as well? I don't have that much room. For that matter, why not scan all the information?

Thinking about it, won't get it done. I've tried that.