Writing Focus

FOCUS

If we want to write a novel or a short story or a magazine article, eventually we need to focus our writing on that. One way is to choose as our model the novel, story, or article that we like the best.

READ

For the aspiring author, writing-- regularly and often-- claims the top priority followed closely by reading. Read the classic authors and those outstanding in the type of writing you desire to do. Read first for pleasure then read to answer the questions that arise from writing. How does the author hook us, play us, and reel us in? Compare your favorite authors. Then try to imitate them. It is not so easy to imitate them.

If you’re interested in writing novels you may want to walk through the large print area of your library. It is like the rest of the library only smaller easier to walk through rapidly. Look for authors with lots of books. Pick one author and scan the titles. Choose the title you like the best or choose the thinnest book. Do this for five other authors. These authors have published many books that the library has bought; they must be doing something right. Read all of these books. Some may be books you don’t normally read. That’s good. Reading a romance, western, mystery, or thriller will shed light on writing the type of novel you want to write.

If you’re interested in short stories, choose five books of collected short stories. For magazine writing choose five of the best selling magazines. The idea is to gather examples of the successful popular writing in the form you have chosen.

How do these authors compare with your favorite author? How do they start? How are they trying to draw you into their story? Write the first paragraph of your story in the style of each of these five authors. Don’t spend a lot of time doing this. Just read their beginning paragraph; write a paragraph. Write, write, right now.