Between the Lines

Scott Kelly is the author of Frightened Boy, the highest-rated book on BookRix (5 stars out of 5 on Idea/Concept, 4.88 for Spelling, 4.74 for Expression/Language, and 4.76 for Design/Layout). We asked him to share some of his best writing tips:

How I Write, by Scott Kelly

Here’s how I write: by putting letters in consecutive order.

First, I find a concept or theme that interests me. These usually fall under the umbrella of what I consider to be “strictly human” problems, because that’s what I think literature should be about. The three tenets of the “Strictly Human” problem are as such: identity, perception, and death. Only we conscious meatbags face these philosophical and psychological problems.

Second, I try and think of the most interesting way possible to approach that issue. In my novel Frightened Boy, I wanted to deal with issues of perception. In order to address that, I decided to work the artist M.C. Escher into the story – because he was a master at twisting perception. I wanted to draw in the perceptions that were being thrust upon me in my life at the time; Bush was president and fear permeated the air, choking me. So I set the book in a world where every terror-mongering story you might find debunked on Snopes.com was true. Every bird had avian flu and every stranger was a rapist, murderer, or worse.

Third, I drew my characters. Characters that are a part of me, but also a part of the fabric of the themes I’ll be weaving them into. Clark is my narrator, so it’s important that he be an alien to the action. That handles the exposition – it’s new to the narrator, so as he learns about it, so will the reader. Keeps me from having to situate thick rocks of data into my stew and expecting my readers to gnaw through them. Likewise, Escher is a solipsist who believes that all reality stems from his own mind, and that nothing is real – and sometimes it turns out that way. Again, we can see the issue of perception at play.

Fourth, I began to think about each scene and how to make it as exciting as possible. Here, I place myself in the director’s chair and make-believe I’m Quentin Tarentino. Books have to happen a certain way – introductions, narratives, plot lines, etc. But how we present them is what makes us great, or good, or awful authors. In Frightened Boy, I worked under the belief that the most interesting way to write an action sequence is from the point of view of the person being rescued, not the one doing the rescuing. So I made my narrator Clark a real coward – that way, when the action unfolds, he’s in the center observing it.

Lastly, my secret weapon: editing. Kurt Vonnegut once said that there are two types of writers – bangers and thinkers. I’m a banger. Thinkers lay out every line very carefully, usually by hand or with a typewriter, and don’t place a sentence until they know it’s perfect. Not me. I see my first draft as a giant block of wood; I bang it out with as little filter as possible, usually set to music that helps set the mood I’m going for. Then I whittle, and whittle, and whittle. I don’t let anyone see my first or second drafts. By the third draft I’ve usually approached every single paragraph under the view of “what am I trying to say here? What’s the most entertaining way to say it?”

And that’s just the beginning of the editing process. To see more of it at work, please visit http://www.the-novelist.com

- Scott Kelly

  By:  Carmen Ana

  Many people confuse being [a] great [writer] with the fact that you have to be published. No. Being great involves that your readers live through your work, that it becomes real and convincing to them, even when it is fiction.

  Writing a great story involves many things.

  1. Your work must be convincing and real to you first.

  This means that you must live your characters in order for you to give them life in your tale. Let me get clearer in my meaning: You MUST become your character, feel and act like them. When you are in tune with that character, then you will write with their passion, personality and feelings. You’ll be writing from your heart with your character in mind and your readers will sense it also.

  2. Write a background for your characters.

  Yes, I know, there are times I don’t need one to make my story flow. But! There are times when secondary characters can become very important to the story, but when we don’t make a background for them, we end up going back to rewrite and fix our glitches we could have avoided. Background also helps us get to know our characters better, making them more real to us.

  3. Analyze your plot and storyline.

  Have someone read your work. If you or they can see how your story is going to end before the fifth chapter, be humble to accept you have a weak plot. Give twists to your story, stump your readers and make them work hard in guessing your ending. If you don’t do this, I guarantee you will have unsatisfied readers.

  4. Check for inconsistencies.

  This is one that we need to be very careful [about] when overlooking our work. I have seen characters change their personalities with no reason. For example, if you have a strong-headed independent woman in the first few chapters, then have her become weak and dependant without something happening in the tale to trigger that change, you are being inconsistent. If you’re writing a tale about someone who’s never seen the outside world and you’re using similes with modern things the character has never seen or heard of before, you’re being inconsistent. If you have your character speaking with an accent, then later on he’s not, uh-uh you’re being inconsistent. If you have a character in a party getting it on and then he/she appears somewhere else without an explanation, then you have another boo-boo to fix.

  5. SHOW, don’t TELL.

  It’s not a sin to tell a little in a story, and it even happens to the best of us. And if we never told at all, that would great! But too much telling kills the story. For example, instead of telling your readers your character is mad about something, portray it by the use of descriptive actions and dialogue. Your readers have a brain, and believe me, they like to use it. So, show your readers how your character thinks and feels about something by using the above method, without telling them every little detail. It can be annoying to find too much telling in a book.

  6. In fiction and fantasy anything goes, as long as there’s a logical
explanation to it.

  When inventing the use of technology and sci-fi gadgets, don’t become the scientist who wants to explain the slightest detail of their invention nor who invents things that make your readers roll their eyes and say, ‘Yeah right, whatever.” Nowadays almost everyone knows how time travel, teleportation, laser guns, space ship, identification scanners, etc. works. All you want to do is show your readers what your new device looks like and what it does, without going overboard with your explanations. This also goes with new mythological creatures — please do not overdo it.

  7. Writing skills.

  You can have strong characters, one heck of a plot and story idea, but if your writing skills are poor or terrible, then you’re getting the boot. I personally have improved tremendously, but I still have my misusage of words and awkward sentence structures to deal with. But I know that without going through them tediously and fixing it, my writing would get nowhere toward getting published. So if you’re one who needs help, take writing classes, be determined to work hard and learn how to get better and better. Be humble to accept constructive criticism to heart and apply it.

  My fellow writers, it is good to see you all working hard to share your work and improve. I want to thank BookRix for having me here and for giving us this wonderful site that presents our work professionally and beautifully. May we all continue to grow as writers and human beings.

  Always remember, the future of your writing depends solely on you. So don’t give up!