Secrets Of Bestseller Kind Of Writing

Secrets Of Bestseller-kind-of-writing

I often say that my greatest wealth is my library of writing books. One day, I realized that only three of them ever mentioned the most important secret of good writing. A careful search turned up repeated discussions on the following: plot, dialogue, characterization, description, viewpoint, pace and tone, and voice.

Other topics turned up more discussions: how to write mysteries, how to write romance, how to write drama, how to format manuscripts, create believable characters, how to get paid, how to write the memoir, how to write the breakout novel, crafting scenes, editing fiction, and on and on. In all of that, I found only one paragraph on the greatest secret in writing a novel. It was only a half page, and in another book, honorable mention.

After years of studying good writing, I wondered how that could be when without it, stories are just paper dolls being pushed through a benign plot that never quite delivers.

What happened that caused your character to want something so badly that his or her action could have been only what was played out? That secret is called—MOTIVATION.

I'll use the books I consider well written, fascinating, and standing the test of time: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Scarlett O'Hara, her main character wanted a man who didn't want to marry her, Ashley Wilkes. And she was going to get him at all cost. He was her motivation to do every unthinkable thing she did. She married Ashley's brother-in-law to be near him. She went from Atlanta to Savannah to stay with Aunt Pitty to stay with Ashley's wife, so she could keep tabs on him when he would come home on furlough from the Civil War. She fought for Tara, her family's plantation, for the sake of Ashley. She snatched her sister's beau and married him to save Tara from a tax sale, knowing that Ashley was coming back from the war and would need a gentleman’s plantation. He could still be the southern gentleman if she owned Tara. She was over the top in love with a man who was never going to marry her.

Along with what drives a person to do what he or she does, we have to understand the back story that caused them to be like they are: Scarlett was a spoiled brat, a daddy’s girl, rich, charming and lovely, the daughter of an Irish father who doted on her and gave her everything she wanted. She was also used to getting the men she wanted. She wanted Ashley, but he wanted his cousin, a simple girl, genteel and quiet. Scarlett, though, was the one who all the boys wanted to sit with at the barbecues. Why not Ashley? Having ASHLEY was her motivation. Always Ashley!

Ashley married his cousin, Melanie, but that didn't stop Scarlett. She was determined to marry him, and we followed her through 700 pages to find out if she gets him. That was the heart and spine of that story. The ravages of war were just backdrops, staging.

From Scarlett’s background, all she did was naturally motivated. And knowing her motivation caused the tension. What motivates your main character? Let’s look at a few examples of motivation to release it into your writing habit.

The Color Purple, by Alice Walker: Celie wanted to have her children and her sister near her. It was all she had. All that she suffered with her father raping and impregnating her twice, caused her to feel ugly and black just like her father said. Out of that background, she was motivated to accept her husband’s continued physical and emotional abuse. Even her stepchildren abused her.

When we look at that back-story, we know she could have no sense of self-worth. The man she married allowed his girlfriend to come and live in their house and Celie cooked and cared for her. Celie never gave up looking for her sister and children, though. They were what mattered to hr. Finally, her husband’s girlfriend, Shug Avery, gave her a sense of self-esteem and courage. Then she created a clothes designing career. Her motivation was to stay alive so she could see her sister and children.

In my novel, The Mayor's Wife Wore Sapphires, Indigo Tate wants Black people to have a better image all over the world. She schemes her husband into running for congress to get her out of Compton and into Washington, D.C. society, where he could influence the funding of their training program in Compton. When that falls through, she schemes to get the press to make Compton a Black Camelot. Since she can’t get out, her city just has to become something special. She suffers every ridicule and tragedy because of that desire. Ultimately, she becomes the mayor and that motivation to succeed still burns hot within her.

When we look at Indigo’s background, we learn that she lived in a fine house until she was ten when her father gambled away the family home. One day the white sheriff came and threw the family out, and she had to move into a small, dark house with a leaking tin roof. She began to dream of respect. She promised herself that she'd never give up on becoming somebody--somebody significant. Somebody who could never be thrown out of her home. Nothing could stop her from wanting Compton to be Camelot, wanting her home to be one of the finest in America. She brought the opera, the symphony and the arts to town—all motivated by her need to heal the pain of being thrown out of her lovely home as a child.

What is your character’s motivation? Most beginning writers have no idea what their characters want. They just write a lot of events and the story comes to a big climax out of thin air. The ending has nothing to do with the character’s desire. The story can never add up to more than the sum of its parts. It never quite becomes an organic whole, where all the chapters have been melded together like wet cement edges.

I guarantee you this: If you will sit down and write what your character wants more than anything in the world, based on why they want it, your story will lead to a natural conclusion. It will last in the reader’s mind for a long, long time. People will tie into the story’s naturalness and stay with you to the end because they accept it as real. Isn't that what all of us writers want?

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You have my permission to use this article FREE if you do not change any part of it--my name or website address. If you use it, you are obligated to notify me at writelink3@yahoo.com. It bears copyright under the following website: http://www.urbanclassicbooks.com

Thank you.
Martha “Marti” Tucker
http://www.urbanclassicbooks.com/

BONUS : Self-marketing Techniques For Writers

One of the most effective ways to present your work to prospective clients is by having an online presence. As the world shrinks through the use of the worldwide web, you will find clients on an international basis may be interested in your work and in your ability to work for them.

First Step

By creating a website you have the opportunity to place testimonials, pricing structure, examples and a list or services you provide.

Because most writers have problems with self-marketing it is important to remember you are not necessarily marketing yourself, you are marketing the time-honored skill of writing. In many cases this assists writers in understanding that they don't need to be prideful they have been given a skill. Writer should be careful to make wise use of their skills for the mutual benefit of writer and client.

Blogging

The use of blogging has become a highly prized self-marketing tool. A blog will allow visitors to see you as a person and enjoy your personal approach to passing along information.

A blog can allow you to pass along services you can provide. You can also use a blog to pass along success stories and provide general examples of recent work you have accepted. You don't want to be too specific and should keep client confidentiality uppermost in your thinking.

Discover Your Strengths

If you are especially gifted in one type of writing make sure you list it as a specialty service you can provide. Never stop learning and improve on even your greatest skills.

Improve Your Weaknesses

If you are weak in an area of writing you can do one of two things, 1) give up and tell clients you can't do the work or, 2) learn the skills needed to become proficient in the skill.

Your clients don't want to hear excuses, they want to perceive you as their go-to writer who can get things taken care of in a professional and timely manner.

Research

Never be afraid of research. In an indirect way research can be used as a marketing tool. This tool can provide information on writing styles and markets to pursue.

Final Word

A writer should never stop learning. Understanding the usefulness of self-marketing is a means of learning a skill that will allow you to write with confidence knowing the skills you possess are connecting with others and fulfilling a genuine need.