I don’t know if I stopped writing because my arthritis was acting up or my arthritis is acting up because I stopped exercising. Either way it’s a vicious cycle. Once again as I find it hard to write due to being physically uncomfortable I am reminded of the connection between physical and mental, and emotional and spiritual for that matter. We are only as strong as our weakest link. So is my story.
I may have a new fresh plot but it it’s overwritten and filled with boring clichés it doesn’t matter. Some chapters may be beautiful and moving, but if others are so dull readers would rather pluck out their eyes than finish we have a problem.
I recently read a book which confused me. The beginning was telling, and back story. There were a lot of lists and it felt as if the author was glossing over things in order to get to the juicy part. I almost quit reading but continued because I wanted to know why it had been published. The story and writing did improve in the second half though I still felt like the story didn’t go as deep as it could have. If it had all been written like the last half it would have been a good book. As it is the best I can say is “Meh” and I have to think of how close I came to not finishing it.
We need to keep our book healthy as a whole. If parts of it are great you may be all right, you may even be published, but if the best a person can say is “meh” there won’t be any word of mouth raving which is what every author wants for his book.
Look at your book, do you have scenes you feel contain necessary info but you gloss over them when editing because it’s not a critical part or because it’s good enough? If so you need to rewrite it. Include the information in a way that propels the story forward and leaves the reader needing more. Spend as much time editing and perfecting the information scenes as you do the action, beginning and end. Find your weakest links and fix them, whether it’s a scene, dialogue, action, or emotion.
What are some weak links you've seen in literature?
Oh dear... the meh moment... had a few of those... and I've read a few books that made me want to throw them against the wall they were so bad.... but its a bit like seeing a bad movie, we keep going in hopes that it'll get better. Makes you wonder about humans doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteWe're eternal optimists, always hoping it will get better. As I find more and more books with less and less time to read them I'm feeling less guilty about not finishing novels. Though still, months later, I will often wonder how did that end, did it get any better and I will have to resist the urge to go check it out of the library again.
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