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Overview
What does it take to write a great novel? You don’t need to attend a creative writing course or follow the formula outlined in books on how to write. Instead, you can learn from great writers who have already done what you want to do.
Reading masterful novels isn’t enough to become a master writer; rather, it’s about reading closely and asking why. You’ll learn that writers pay attention to the tiniest details like word choice, narrator type or sentence structure. Once you start wondering those things while reading, you’ll be on your way to becoming a great writer yourself.
In this article, you’ll find out how to create a strong character that readers can relate to and identify with; how to become a great liar (because it’s important for your characters to lie); and why bad writing is like asthma.
Big Idea #1: Rediscover the art of close reading to get inside a great writer’s head.
Have you ever watched a child read? They seem to mumble every word they read. Why is that?
As we get older, we tend to be impatient. We want to read faster and consume more information than before. This leads us to skim-read, when we’re always looking for a quick fact or laugh. We devour words like junk food!
Skimming can be useful at times, but it’s not a good idea when you’re reading literature. You’ll miss important things like words that have powerful associations or subtexts that shimmer between the lines.
Great literature is full of meaning and depth. The more you dig, the more you’ll find. By slowing down your reading, you can experience it better and understand what the author was trying to say. In turn, this will make your writing even better.
So, how do you break the habit of skimming? First, find a clue to keep your eyes glued to the page. The author recalls how her English teacher suggested she pay attention to motifs of seeing and blindness while reading Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex and Shakespeare’s King Lear. Soon enough, she discovered that both texts were filled with curious patterns, parallels and connections as if the two authors had hidden them there for her to uncover. Whole new dimensions of meaning emerged in the texts changing her experience entirely.
By slowing your reading down, you’ll be able to discover what’s being said in every sentence. However, how do you know which pattern to follow? We’ll have a look at that in the next section.
Big Idea #2: Word choice plays a powerful role in plot and character development.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, there are currently 170,000 words in use. This means that a writer has many choices when it comes to finding the right word for his or her piece of writing. However, this also presents a challenge because he or she must find the perfect word among 170,000 other words!
As a result, every word in every great piece of fiction is the product of careful decision making. To better understand what makes a writer great, consider what other words they could have used instead and why they didn’t choose those words. For instance, look at how Flannery O’Connor begins her story A Good Man Is Hard To Find: “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida.”
The very first two words of the story are “the grandmother.” This is a way to introduce this character without giving her a name. We can also learn that this is going to be about family affairs, but not in an overly sentimental way. The grandmother symbolizes all grandmothers and more, which we’ll find out as we read the story.
The way people speak is just as important to their personality. It’s how we interact with our loved ones and express our emotions. The author has to capture this in his or her characters, which means using the right words for each one. Sometimes, even incorrect words can be a perfect choice for certain characters.
