QUESTIONS

I've had a busy week, but several emails have come in to me lately with questions so I'm going to take some time here to answer a few of them.

Q: I keep hearing 'write what you know.' What if I haven't traveled or had a lot of experiences, but I want to write about them?

A: I've heard that expression for years, too, but I'd modify it to "write about what interests you." Stephenie Meyer has found huge success lately with her series about vampires, yet I'm quite sure she has no firsthand knowledge of vampires. The Internet is a wonderful thing, giving us the opportunity to do endless research and to become, in effect, experts in almost any subject. You want to write a John Grisham-like thriller about lawyers, but you're not a lawyer? Research the subject until you feel like an expert, and it will show in your writing.

Q: What does 'show don't tell' mean?

A: One of my favorite quotes about writing is "Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass," by Anton Chekhov. That pretty much sums it up. Don't tell your readers that your character is heartbroken over her lost love. Show them her tears, her withdrawal from friends and family, the bad choices she makes in an attempt to cover her pain.

Q: I'm on my first chapter but can't seem to get past that point. I just keep rewriting it and rewriting it.

A: I always suggest powering through your first full draft, just to get it down on paper. If you try to get chapter one perfect you'll spend the rest of your life on it, because there's no such thing as perfection.

Q: I like to read fantasy and want to write it. But does fantasy really sell?

A: Don't write what you hope will sell. Write what you love to read, and what you truly want to write. Writing is hard enough work as it is. But hard work or not, it should still be fun. If all you're thinking about is if, somewhere down the road, it will "sell," you're ruining the experience for yourself.

Q: I don't have time to write every day. Sometimes it's a week or more before I can get back to my book, then I have to reread almost all of it to refresh my memory on it.

A: I know how hard it is to write every day, but a week or more is too long between writing sessions. You'll lose the thread of your story in that time, and will spend most of your time trying to catch up. Set a writing goal for yourself and try to stick with it. If you know you can't write every day, then set your goal at four times a week (or whatever you think is doable), an hour each time. If you write best in the mornings, then commit to writing for an hour in the morning, four times a week. Just try to be consistent. Make writing a habit.

Q: My serious book has lighthearted undertones, but a friend who read it said she was confused by this. Should I stick to one or the other?

A: Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling is a good example of a book that's filled with humor, yet is also very serious. Larry McMurtry handles the combination of humor and heartbreak with Pulitzer Prize-winning (Lonesome Dove) skill. His novel Terms of Endearment is no doubt a tearjerker, yet it's also very funny. If your book is about a serious subject, you don't want it to be unrelentingly dark. The lighthearted parts are a good way to give your readers a breather from all that drama. And beware of sharing your work with friends and family before you're finished. You'll get too many conflicting opinions. If you start trying to please everyone, you'll end up pleasing no one.

"Writers seldom write the things they think. They simply write the things they think other folks think they think." Elbert Hubbard.