It's so simple. Yet so hard to follow.
In my very first edition of
Writer's Digest to arrive at my door is an excellent article. I dog eared every page of the article and marked up several lines of invaluable advice. One of them got double underlined.
"Never annoy your readers." Steven James, Writer's Digest p. 22-25, Mar/Arp 2012
I agree wholeheartedly. I've also done it. Annoyed my readers, that is. I remember my friend Tracy giving me back her critique of the umpteenth draft of
Bloom and begging me in a clearly annoyed voice {well, that's what I picture. It was a conversation via email}, "
Why, why can't Finna and Liam be together? Why can't they at least kiss?"
Indeed, why not? Of course I had my reasons, but as a discussion with Tracy ensued, I realized that keeping them (relationship-wise) apart didn't mean I had to frustrate dear people like Tracy.
James goes on to write,
"Sometimes I read books in which the author withholds key information from readers, presumably in an effort to create suspense. But failing to give readers what they want doesn't create suspense, it causes dissatisfaction."
I don't know how many times I've lamented with a writer over the fine line we, as authors, have to walk between giving too much information (if I had a nickel for every time a critiquer wrote "cut back story" in my MS's . . .) and not giving enough.
So what's the solution? One more bit of advice from James' article:
"As you write, constantly ask yourself what the readers want at this moment of the story. Then, give it to them--or surprise them with something even better."
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In an effort to mix and mingle in a rather personal way with
their readers, author Theresa Sneed and author Betsy Love are spearheading a
new and exciting writer podcast called, Sweet
Peas in a Writer Podcast, which airs April 4, 2012 at 5:00 pm,
with new podcasts following every Wednesday. Theresa and Betsy will have
recorded a month of podcasts before the first one airs and are covering topics
such as brainstorming for book ideas, the writing process, and not waiting—but making time to write. Their intention is
to take their readers from the beginning of finding ideas, creating captivating
storylines, and the importance of revising and editing, all the way through
publishing and marketing their work. Each podcast is around fifteen minutes in
length and comes with a writing tip and a writing challenge for the week. The
third Wednesday of each month is a live podcast with a variety of guests like, Linda Mulleneaux, editor for Walnut Springs; Marsha Ward, author, and creator of ANWA;
author, Amanda Sowards; and Lisa Mangum, author, and editor at Deseret Book,
among others. All podcasts will be transcribed and posted along with the links
for each podcast at sweetpeasinawriterpodcast.blogspot.com.
