Better judge of other people's writing than my own: some writing advice

vote for my book campaign

I think maybe I am a better judge of what makes good writing than I am a good writer. Let me explain. As part of the Kindle Scout campaign, I get to nominate other books for publication from writers who are trying to get a break just like I am. So far, two of the books I nominated have been selected for publication, two are under review, and one was rejected.

Meanwhile, the views of my own campaign have sunk to near zero lately. I hope that in the 13 days left in my campaign, the visits and views will jump back up, and the book will be selected to be published.  I am not getting my hopes up. Apparently, my book is not all that exciting, and I think I know why. If I'm lucky, the people who have not yet looked at my book will do so in the last days of the campaign.

I know I have been writing about this campaign a lot, and I know I will be until it's over. I did want to point out some realizations that I have come to as a reader. First, the cover is really important. So is the title. As I looked at the books, the cover either interested me or did not. Next, I read the one line blurb.  In screenwriting, I've heard a lot about loglines and how producers won't even look at scripts that don't have a good logline. That is so true.  I can live with a cover that isn't all that great because I know that a lot of the people who are trying to get published have used whatever they can get their hands on to produce a cover. I will even read past the logline even if it doesn't interest me. (However, loglines like Star Wars Meets Little Red Riding Hood annoy the heck out of me and give me a good reason not to look at the rest of the book.)

Let me have an author intrusion here.  The way the campaign works I can nominate only three books at a time.  There are a lot of books to go through, and what I do is stay within the two or three genres I like. I usually look at the books whose campaigns are about to end because I can always look at the others later. The thing is, at times, four or five books have campaigns that are ending on the same day. I have to be selective about what I read and nominate. I look for certain things to make me want to read on. First, I look at the cover. Then the logline or blurb.

Back to my insights. As I said, even if the book's cover and logline (that's the term I'll use) don't interest me all that much, I will go ahead and read the short blurb. This might be what you would read on the back of a book in a bookstore or some of them are inside the front cover. If I have too many books to choose from, I won't read one if it doesn't have an interesting blurb. I don't have all the time in the world, or if I am buying books, all the money in the world.

I hope all of you writers are going to pay attention to this next piece. The next thing I look at is the first page or two. From my reading, I know there are a couple things publishers don't care for -- they aren't contract killers per se, but they don't create any buzz about the book -- one is the use of a prologue.  So many prologues are dumping grounds for exposition. From what I have read, it is better to bring in bits of exposition here and there throughout the book.

Another issue is grammatical mistakes. If I see a serious grammatical mistake, I'm liable not to read any more of the book. I'm not talking about typos. Most of those are easily recognized. I'm talking about things like using the wrong your or there or too.  I'm talking about tense shifts and subject-verb agreement problems. I wonder about a writer who doesn't know basic grammar.  Of course, I am a snob because I teach composition.

Another thing that turns me off is related to my prologue comment.  If a book is front-loaded with a bunch of exposition and interior monologue type stuff, it doesn't interest me all that much.  I can take it in small doses, but I like to see dialogue and action at the beginning of the novel. Today's readers, I think it's safe to say, don't have the attention span they used to. A book needs to grab them from the start. There is the old cliche: show don't tell. Don't say, John was mad.  Describe how John punches a hole in the wall. If you do that, people will infer that John is mad.  I have to admit that this is my most serious problem as a writer. I've improved some because I write screenplays, but it is still a major weakness with me.

Another thing I don't particularly care for are characters who don't have any positive attributes. Even villains have to possess some redeeming qualities. Also, even though I admire people who experiment with style, there are some experiments that just don't work for me. I also wonder if they work with publishers too. One thing along these lines I can think of is using the "You" viewpoint. To me, it becomes old after a short while. I think I have read one "you" viewpoint book all the way through.

How do I think my cover stands up? I don't think it does unless you have read the book. The black and white is kind of arresting, but I don't think the reader will get the connection between the cover and the title until after he or she reads the book. I like the title, Tongue Tied.  I try to come up with titles with double meanings or that have a little bit of irony in them. I think if you read any of my campaign stuff, you will understand where the title comes from.

My one sentence hook I think is interesting. People might be interested in a place where stories can kill you. My blurb isn't good I don't think. It isn't creative, and people who read it might think, oh gee, another fantasy story. With the excerpt, I think I have a good start.  The book begins with a public hanging, and in that bit of action, you learn why, and you are also introduced to the three main characters in a way that I think is interesting.  The rest of my excerpt drags though, and I wouldn't blame people if they stopped reading after a few pages.

If I might give one more piece of advice.  There is nothing that will kill your book faster than poor characterization and boring action. If you want to be a better writer, watch some movies and download some good spec scripts and then apply some of those techniques in your fiction writing.
So what do I think is the bottom line for my book. I think it's going to depend on if the people are interested enough to read it from my cover, title, logline, and blurb. I think if these catch their attention and they read the rest of the material, they will like the book. If the book isn't selected for a publishing contract, I can honestly say that I learned a lot from this whole thing.

Well, I think that's enough for now.