TECH: 101 Tips (23)

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting 10 June 2009

Writers' Digest, October 2004, pages 26 to 33, has a collection of short "nuggets of wisdom" related to getting published. Maria Schneider is the author of the compilation. Take a deep breath, and here we go:

"Read the fiction you don't currently read. At first you may find it weak or boring. But remember, plenty of readers appreciate that which looks to you arty or contrived. Step back. Read objectively. Literary novelists and commercial novelists alike may find in each other's way of writing useful and powerful craft." Donald Maass

Whoops. Missed a day. Let's see. This seems like reasonable advice. Read outside your genre, and consider why those tools and tropes work over there. Can you borrow them and use them at home? How about doing a bit of cross-genre mix-n-match? Remember, you may not think you like... how about romance, military thrillers, or something. But it's clear that there are readers out there who do like it, otherwise it wouldn't be in the bookstores. So be honest -- what is it about that romance that works? Why do military thrillers sell? Take those lessons to heart, and use them in your writing.

Heck, you might even want to read Harry Potter or something like that and see just what all the fuss is about.