Learning Novel' Writing from Agents and Editors

What year and date was it? Where were Tom and Bob when the comment was made? It is the author’s responsibility to extend the courtesy of time and place’ setting to the reader in everything that is alluded to in both real time and in "flashbacks," and do yourself a a mighty big favor by leaving "foreshadowing" to the motion picture industry.

Another must in good novel development is balance between dialogue and narrative. If you insert too much dialogue, you’ve written a script for a movie or a screenplay; too much description and your sci-fi’ narrative then reads like a non-fiction book.

Mingled into the delicate mix of dialogue and narrative are such significant elements as theme, suspense, drama, author’s writing’ style, writing voice, tone, conflict, setting, action, adventure, plots, subplots, grammar skills, creativity and character’ definition. If the author can weave all of these intangibles into a viable series of chapters of seventy-five to one hundred fifty thousand’ words, then he (or she) has advanced from being a writer of manuscripts and stories to a novel’ author.

Above all else, the concept of "show and tell" is not limited to elementary schools. It is also vital to authors of novels. The author objectively "tells" the story but the characters conversations and actions "show" the story. Show is better than tell. And a good novelist knows the difference between active and passive voice and prefers the former to the latter.

Generally, stories come across as more believable when written in the first person. The author’s big problem then becomes how not to overtax the reader with the repetition of the pronoun, I. Most novels are written in the third person but I have written two in the first with the main character recalling the story as "a testament" of what had truly occurred. Good fiction must always read as if it were good non-fiction.

Presenting a novel in the third person (speaking about the characters) gives the author a choice. The narrator (author) telling the story can objectively advance the tale as the "detached presenter" revealing events either in chronological order or arranging episodes accompanied by flashbacks and/or foreshadowing. Flashbacks are more desirable (remember to include setting) because they promote "show," where "foreshadowing tends to orchestrate "tell" and leans one in the direction of "author interference."

This next part is rather tricky. The third person method of writing could also utilize the "omniscient narrator’" technique. The storyteller knows all about the characters, even some things the characters don’t know about themselves. You can’t be both the "objective narrator" and the "omniscient narrator." You have to choose one or the other and stick with that approach throughout the novel. The "omniscient narrator" method points the author in the direction of "author interference," which is literary quicksand that must be avoided at all costs.

"Author interference" is something that all good writers can recognize and sidestep. Stay the hell out of the story you are telling. Allow one of the characters to possess your attitudes and opinions if you feel they must be expressed, but by all means, don’t editorialize. You are writing a novel and not an essay or an opinion’ column for the local newspaper. And by all means, don’t be preachy in your narrative that appears in between character’ dialogue, and if one of your characters has your attitudes and opinions, make sure that he or she is not too preachy, too!

Give some credit to your readers. They have minds of their own, and they are hypothesizing, evaluating and deducting conclusions as your story progresses.