T h e C o u n t r y A u t h o r

Muscles, bones, and organs make up the human body. In order to maintain health and vigor, these elements must work together right down to the cells. If one cell fails to act normally, the entire body is affected. A manuscript—composed of words, sentences, and chapters—can be viewed in the same way. If the wrong words are used, or sentences not structured properly, the entire story will suffer.

To create a novel pleasing to the eye of a reader, each part must be correctly implemented so that it complements the whole. Using the right words in the right sentences in the right chapters keeps our writing organized and professional. This is what makes our writing “creative”.

As I embarked on my writing career, I didn’t know about some of the key ingredients necessary to create a sound manuscript. It didn’t help that I never took a creative writing class. I pretty much learned by trial and error, which is okay if you don’t mind taking a few chances and risk walking away with egg on your face. I feel like I did just that with my first novel. While many of my readers never mentioned the mistakes I’ve made, a few did and that’s all it took.  I began to look at myself as a terrible writer and questioned my calling in life. Fortunately, I’ve since learned a few things about writing and met some authors who have mentored me. God used these great people to remind me what I’m meant to do. Now I’m excited to carry on with my mission to inspire others with the written word, and believe me, I’m not going to make those same mistakes again.

Here are some of the key elements we need to consider. They are the bones, muscles, and organs of writing:

GRAMMAR

It’s hard to know where to start in listing everything it takes to write well, but I’ll start with what we’ve all learned in English 101: proper grammar.   A good resource I like to use is the Guide to Grammar and Writing.  This site covers everything from adjectives and adverbs to prepositions and pronouns. It also offers helpful advice regarding punctuation, sentence structure, and vocabulary.

VOLCABULARY

The English language contains thousands upon thousands of words, and the population in general utilizes only a fraction of these. I love exploring words and one of my favorite tools is the thesaurus. Our writing can go from mundane to glorious with just a simple word change. Take, for example, a humble word like “thing”.  The thesaurus in my MS Word program has a rather large list of words to replace it. Object, article, item, entity, and gadget are a few of the synonyms on the menu.  Wouldn’t one of these words be more colorful to use instead of “thing”?

PUNCTUATION

Periods, commas, dashes. These small, seemingly insignificant marks can make a huge impact if used correctly—or incorrectly. We all know when to use a period—I hope, but when it comes to commas, dashes, and those lovely three dots, well, it’s not so clear-cut.

SENTENCE STRUCTURE

Good sentence structure will keep your writing tight and help you avoid run-on sentences, too many words, and confusion. I read an article recently that talked about “weasel words” . These are words that are often used but should be omitted.

PARAGRAPHS

Paragraphs, when properly implemented, gives the readers a short rest between thoughts, action, and dialogue. Avoid long-winded paragraphs, and learn to use short, stand alone paragraphs (single sentences) to add a nice beat to your scene.

SCENES

Most authors use POV (point of view) to begin and end a scene. A new scene can also develop from a change in scenery/location.

Here’s a good article by Brandilyn Collins that will help you produce sound paragraphs and scenes.

CHAPTERS

When to begin and end a chapter can be quite tricky. Some authors will devote a chapter to one character. Everything within a chapter will be in her POV. Chapters are also divided by a location, goal, or conflict in the story and will include several POVs.

NOW FOR THE CONNECTIVE TISSUE, NERVOUS SYSTEM, AND BLOOD VESSELS:

This is what keeps all the parts from floating around inside the body, allows the brain to talk to the parts, and keeps everything nourished. I’m talking about characters, their goals and motivation, and the stuff that prevents them from getting what they want, in addition to the setting the character finds him or her in.

CHARACTERS

Characters, whether POV or secondary, gives a story substance. When a novel has strong characters a reader can connect with, they’ll keep turning the page. Characters without, well, character, don’t hold water. They sink and take the story along with them.

GMC = GOAL, MOTIVATION, AND CONFLICT

These are the elements that give your characters a reason for being there (in the story). They keep the story flowing while maintaining a reader’s interest. Every main character needs a goal and a motivation that keeps them striving to meet that goal. There also needs to be conflict (or disaster). Something that happens that knocks the character off his path and keeps him from attaining the prize.

CSD = CONCRETE SENSORY DETAIL

CSD adds flavor to an otherwise dull scene.  Concrete refers to the specifics. Instead of saying: She drove up in an older model car, you could say: She drove up in a fire-engine red 69 Camaro. Sensory refers to our five senses: sight, smell, touch, hearing, and tasting. If you weave these throughout your scene, it’ll come alive for your reader. Detail refers to the small things we might notice about someone or something that better connects the reader to the setting or character. Linda Clare wrote a great article that explains CSD and gives examples showing how to implement it.

SETTING

This is where and when a scene takes place. The nature of the setting as well as the era will have an impact on how the character acts and the conflicts she encounters. Setting is not limited to a place, but also includes conditions such as weather, amount of light, etc. Think of a cold, dark room as apposed to a light and airy one. Each condition gives off a totally different vibe.

If I left out anything (I’m new at this, remember?), feel free to add it by leaving a comment. I welcome everyone’s feedback and I’m sure others will appreciate it, too.