What is Good Writing?

As I'm thinking about which project to work on next and begin to work on getting over the hump that is starting a new project, which I'll work through eventually, I thought I'd talk about what makes good writing in my view.

These days, the internet is full of people always ready to lend a 'helping' hand and 'guide' you with your writing. People also seem to think there's a magical formula that guarantees success. And said formula normally involves following generic 'rules' that someone, at one point or another, spouted. What is forgotten is that these rules are all advice and they are simply something that works for the author in question. There's nothing worse than a novice writer trying to pass all of the things such as 'show, don't tell' etc. off as rules either.

So, I'm here to tell you that there's no magic formula for success. And to tell you that when someone starts mentioning rules, you are to discard the notion that rules exist.

Actually, there is one rule that exists. What is it? Do your best to make sure the reader gets something from your book, even if they don't particularly enjoy the story.

That's the only rule there is that needs to be followed. Even grammatical rules can be bent. Grammar is just a tool for communicating and where one places a comma, as an example, will be subjective a lot of the time.

Right, so what makes good writing?

I believe it's one thing. The ability to make readers feel something other than 'this is shit'. Even if someone doesn't enjoy your story, I'd still consider it a job well done if the person felt something for the characters etc. or questioned things.

See, what people don't tell you when they're spouting all this stuff about rules is that you can follow every guideline out there and still end up with a polished piece of crap. For instance, I'm not sure this is a piece of advice that is passed around often at all, but have you heard that short stories are supposed to only have one point of view character? I've seen it mentioned once at the very least. Though I think the words used were mostly 'they generally have one point of view character only'.

Anyway, I don't subscribe to that notion. A short story is between 1,000 - 7,500 words and my short that was recently published is 3,597 words. In that story, I change point of view 'three' times. And there are six scene 'breaks' overall in the narrative.

Next, let me show you something of mine that breaks grammatical rules. Please note it is very rough, hasn't been edited really and will not be published. If it ever is, the story will be rewritten.

I walked out into the yard, area miserable an wet. Teens stood all around. With back against wall, I watched an it seemed like they'd not noticed me. Or that they'd grown bored of me. Found myself hoping. Would life be easier now?

I looked down. Been noticed. Had hoped too soon. Any moment now.

'Oi, fatty!' yelled mister popular.

Kept head down. But the yell came again. Closer. 'Talk to me when I speak to you, fatty.'

'No...'

'No?' Heard him laugh. Shoved. Head banged against wall. I winced. Didn't fight back. Didn't look at him. 

Then leant forward, after being hit in stomach. Could hear laughing again. Then a teacher shouting. 'You're lucky, fatty.'

Found breathing hard, but was glad. He ran off an teacher helped me up. 

The above piece I wrote in an effort to accurately capture how someone who's slow or mentally ill might think. The punctuation marks on 'an' to show a letter was missing were left off intentionally as well. And the sentences are choppy to try and capture the character's thought processes. I think the words 'mister popular' took me the longest to write. I think I must have sat there for about twenty minutes, thinking about how the person would be referred to.

So, never ever be afraid to experiment with things, no matter what anyone says. Experimenting is how we improve as writers and you'll be stronger because of it. I don't believe following formulas is the way to become a strong writer, no matter what the writing gurus say.

Oh and while I've talked about opening hooks before, don't think you always need to start with a bang in the first 1 - 3 sentences or paragraph. I remember being treated as someone completely new to writing because I didn't do so once, even though if I'd finished the project, the beginning would have made perfect sense. In the first paragraph of that project, a character had moved to a new village and is shown staring at his new home in the distance before grabbing a coffee (the intrigue would have started as soon as he got inside the cafe, about three or four paragraphs in say, and may have started around the fifth sentence actually), thinking he's going to be able to keep to himself and hide from the rest of the world. At the end? He'd have been staring at that same house and reflect on how he never did achieve peace (most likely, the house would have been burnt down), after so much death had happened around him. 

The lecturing I'd received was 'what's interesting about the house?' 'If it's not interesting, you've chosen the wrong starting point.' 'Trying to rearrange words is no good, because you're trying to prevent the titanic from sinking. It's a boring opening no matter how you slice it'. (This from 3 sentences)

My reaction to that? I simply walked away. They can have their rules and short attention spans. You always have the story description to fall back on too, which people tend to forget. And well, I sincerely hope a lot of readers would give your story a while at least. So, good writing isn't always about catching the reader's attention in the very first sentence, either.

The above isn't to say getting an opening hook in straight away is bad though. But the thing is that some pieces simply don't call for it. It is important to try and catch a reader's interest as soon as possible though. (It's just that I don't believe it has to be done in the first sentence/paragraph)

Whenever I hear the hooking advice as well, I sincerely question how many great pieces of writing have been abandoned because the opening wasn't 'hook'ish' enough for people with the attention spans of a gnat. Or been passed up by editors for that reason. I'd ask how many of the great classics open with a bang as well. I think I showed the opening to a fair few classics in the post about opening hooks and I don't believe the opening hooks were that strong at all, if I remember correctly.

Incidentally, I am actually continuing to work on that project, but it's taken on a different form, with the basic idea remaining the same. It's just that some aspects weren't working. The beginning's changed as well, but not because of the feedback received. But I think the project is going to be a long one (as in lengthy, like novella - novel length) and, as such, I don't wish to discuss it in case I don't finish it.

I think that's about all I've got to say anyway. I've got about seven or eight projects I want to write and I need to figure out which I'm going to work on. I need to progress a fair bit, before I start feeling enthusiastic and the beginnings normally take me a while to get right. (I don't leave content editing till the end, you see, though I do sometimes remove/rewrite scenes in subsequent edits. I need it right, practically straight away.) Even short stories tend to take me a while to write as well, I'm afraid. I'm hoping I'll be able to get it to a point where I can get around several thousand words written in a day. Right now, it's more like several hundred.

On Opening Hooks & First Sentence Rules

There seems to be a 'rule' that you need to hook with the first words/sentence. As with all rules, it's advice. I'm here to disprove that it's a rule, as some books simply don't call for someone to end up dead or whatever in the first sentence. Some are slow builds and character driven.

It is, however, good advice. You do want to grab the reader's interest as quickly as possible or else there's no reason for them to read on, but you shouldn't feel you need to do it with the very first sentence by any means. Sadly though, I don't have a good estimate as to how long you normally have. First page/paragraph - the end of the first chapter? I'm just guessing here. (I'd quite heavily lean towards the first page/paragraph though, as it varies from reader to reader on how much time they'll give you.)

Really though, before I continue, what you need to ask yourself when writing something and wondering whether the hook needs to come in the first sentence, is 'if a reader cannot read beyond the first sentence, are they the audience I need to worry about with this particular book?'

With that out of the way, let me show some excerpts from published works (opening paragraphs) and people have to remember you also have the book blurb/description to fall back on as well:

Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in posession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.'

Rebecca, by Daphne De Maurier (isn't there a 'rule' where you shouldn't start with a dream, by the way?)

'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive, and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me. There was a padlock and a chain upon the gate. I called in my dream to the lodge-keeper, and had no answer, and peering closer through the rusted spokes of the gate I saw that the lodge was uninhabited.'

Pegasus, by Robin McKinley (despite the character having a pegasus, I'm not sure I'd treat that as starting with a bang by any means)

'Because she was a princess she had a pegasus.'

The Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien (granted, you could say that it's interesting that someone's going to be celebrating their 111th birthday, but it's a fantasy story. Not that interesting. You could also say the 'part of special magnificence' is interesting, but really, is it very hook'ish?)

'When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.'

Wizard's First Rule, by Terry Goodkind (first published work and a bit of a dull opening if you ask me with it talking about vines)

'Dusky variegated leaves hunkered against a stem that wound in a stranglehold around the smooth trunk of a balsam fir. Sap drooled down the wounded bark, and dry limbs slumped, making it look as if the tree were trying to voice a moan into the cool, damp morning air. Pods stuck out from the vine here and there along its length, almost seeming to look warily about for witnesses.'

Watchers, by Dean Koontz

'On his thirty-sixth birthday, May 18, Travis Cornell rose at five o’clock in the morning. He dressed in sturdy hiking boots, jeans, and a long-sleeved, blue-plaid cotton shirt. He drove his pickup south from his home in Santa Barbara all the way to rural Santiago Canyon on the eastern edge of Orange County, south of Los Angeles. He took only a package of Oreo cookies, and a large canteen full of orange-flavored Kool-Aid, and a fully loaded Smith & Wesson .38 Chief’s Special.'

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer (I know this example will be looked upon favorably, but it's valid)

'MY MOTHER DROVE ME TO THE AIRPORT WITH THE WINDOWS rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt— sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka.'

Fifty Shades of Grey, by E L James (again, another example that will be looked upon favorably.)

'I SCOWL WITH frustration at myself in the mirror. Damn my hair— it just won’t behave, and damn Katherine Kavanagh for being ill and subjecting me to this ordeal. I should be studying for my final exams, which are next week, yet here I am trying to brush my hair into submission. I must not sleep with it wet. I must not sleep with it wet. Reciting this mantra several times, I attempt, once more, to bring it under control with the brush. I roll my eyes in exasperation and gaze at the pale, brown-haired girl with blue eyes too big for her face staring back at me, and give up. My only option is to restrain my wayward hair in a ponytail and hope that I look semi-presentable.'

And just for kicks, while it's from Dean Koontz, do you know that 'rule' about not starting with the weather?

The Taking, by Dean Koontz

'A FEW MINUTES PAST ONE O’CLOCK IN THE morning, a hard rain fell without warning. No thunder preceded the deluge, no wind. The abruptness and the ferocity of the downpour had the urgent quality of a perilous storm in a dream.'

And have you heard that 'rule' about not starting with dialog? (I've got an opening I'm rather fond of myself that starts with dialog, but I'm nowhere near ready to write the story yet.)

The Vision, by Dean Koontz (admittedly, it's not something that would normally be said, but still)

'‘Gloves of blood.’'

Origin, by J. A. Konrath

'“Where is it?” Theodore Roosevelt asked John Stevens as the two men shook hands. Amador, Shonts, and the rest of the welcoming party had already been greeted and dismissed by the President, left to wonder what had become of Roosevelt’s trademark grandiosity.'

Blaggard's Moon, by George Bryan Polivka

'"On a post. In a pond."'

So, what all of this comes down to is it's best to not take anything you read online as rules. The best bet, when you're stuck, is to pick up a book off your bookshelf and read. That's not to say there's absolutely no value in what's said though. Like I said above, it's good advice about hooking from the first sentence, but it depends on what you're writing. Just grab the reader's interest as quickly as possible. Also, do your best to not let people influence your writing, by trying to 'coach' you or 'tell' you how things are done.

Ultimately, just pick the starting point that feels right 'to you'. Not to others.

And to end this, I'll leave you with a link to another blog post on someone else's blog that discusses opening lines. There's also this link.