If you’re fumbling for the right word to describe a noun, then this useful tool could be just what you need:
Describing Words – Find Adjectives to Describe Things
I put in ‘Author’—it came up with many describing words, including ‘French homosexual’ (!), ‘ambiguous royal’ (?) and ‘often dull’ (never!).
Then I saw ‘blasphemous and bloody minded’—that’s me!
Put together by Joseph Rocca, check out his eerie word counter and analyser called Count Wordsworth.
I found this guide to writing in the third person omniscient and third person limited interesting and useful:
How to Write From Third Person Omniscient and Third Person Limited Viewpoints
I write in third person limited, including multiple points-of-view.
The omniscient viewpoint is said to be dated, but one author who always uses it is John Irving. He flips between third person limited and third person omniscient, which can be delightful and also a bit distracting, as he’ll suddenly appear on your shoulder whispering in your ear that he knows something that’s going to happen to the protagonist before they do—or you as the reader do—and can you work out what I mean, you slowcoach?!
If you want to be a best-selling novelist, emulate Dan Brown.
He admits that “I throw out about 10 pages for every one that I keep.” I’m not surprised…why not the tenth page too?
If you’re unfamiliar with Brown’s writing style, have a look at this review of his latest book Origin.
His success proves my theory that books are like food. More people eat junk food than eat healthily. Dan Brown’s writing is the equivalent of junk food, hence his popularity.
Writing may be joyful, but making a living from your words is a long, hard slog.
I returned to creative writing in 2013, since when I’ve self-published 45 titles as ebooks, written a dozen unpublished short stories and novellas and five crime novels. I’m glad that I didn’t upload my first Cornish Detective novel in 2015, as it would have disappeared like a fart in a tornado! Self-publishing is great, because it allows anyone to become a published author…the trouble is, millions do.
I’ve just endured the malarkey of querying literary agents and will be moving on to promoting myself by social media posting and blogging. This feels like dodging between the wrong ends of telescopes, to peer up the lenses to see if, far, far away someone is looking down the other end examining me… maybe showing an interest in my writing.
No one said it would be easy. That I’m a stubborn oaf might finally be playing in my favour, after 60 years of banging my head against a brick wall! My métier is being rejected by literary agents without being disheartened. My hide is as thick as a rhinoceros.
It’s good to have armour and a positive attitude, for looking at the careers of famous authors shows what a struggle they endured. Steven Pressfield is the author of The Legend of Bagger Vance and historical novels. His The War of Art and other books on writing are inspirational, especially when your creative spirit is flagging.
Steven Pressfield spent 27 years writing before achieving success, working minimum wage jobs, wandering aimlessly from state to state, couch surfing and sleeping in his car.
Author, literary agent and writing guru Noah Lukeman warns that it may take ten years before a writer gets anywhere. Lots of famous authors persevered for years until their first book was published.
Whenever I feel weary, I remember this advice from Danish journalist Jacob Riis:
Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
This week, a cartoon popped up in my Quora feed, that reminded me of why I’m glad to be a writer, as it helps me to live in the moment.
As Franz Kafka said: “So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time beginning.“
I know there are miles to go before I sleep with the contented thought that I’m successful as an author, but the long and winding road still beckons me.
How about you?
Where are you headed? Towards a traditional publishing contract or self-publishing?
How long have you been on the writing road?
What success have you had, so far?
“So does stepping off a cliff: make sure you’re facing in the right direction before beginning” – Paul Whybrow
My chosen writing genre is Crime fiction. It’s the second most popular genre, after Romance/Erotica, so seemed to be a sensible choice for me as an unknown writer. I’ve read a lot of crime novels and true crime stories, so knew what I wanted to do with my novels.
Danish-Norwegian novelist Aksel Sandemose said “The only things worth writing about are love and murder.” A bold statement, but if you think about it, most great novels tackle these things. Even if a story is classified as fitting the History genre, such as Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall the plot is full of passion and grisly death.
I originally intended to write a novel that would be highfalutin Literature, but then read that Literature is the hardest style of book to sell, so I migrated to genre writing. I think it’s easier to be taken seriously with your heavyweight manuscript if you’ve already infiltrated the literary establishment by attending conferences, writing courses and winning a short story competition or two.
Apart from my crime novels, I’ve also written short stories and novellas, poetry and song lyrics. I’m halfway through a series of four novellas about an American Civil War veteran. Writing Historical fiction needs even more research than my contemporary crime stories, which has made me wary of doing more. Mind you, I well understand why crime novelists set their stories in olden days, where the most advanced technology is a magnifying glass, as it avoids the complicated nightmare of CCTV, Social Media, DNA, smartphones, surveillance by governments, computers etc.
I’m similarly wary of writing Science Fiction, as it strains my scientific knowledge. I wrote one novella which was set on Mars, and in the three months it took to complete, the Mars Exploration Rover kept on making discoveries forcing me to amend my plot. But, I was pleased in a cosmic way, when a fictional detail about dust devils I’d put in proved to be true!
Fantasy fiction intimidates me, probably for the very reasons that those of you who write it love it. That is the building of worlds, with all of the complexity involved. I have trouble enough understanding the world I’m on, to want to construct a different one.
I’ve just introduced romance to my Cornish Detective series, which will be a challenge to integrate into the next story. I’m looking forward to it, as my protagonist’s new love interest is as much a thorn as a rose, with a shady past that he doesn’t know about.
All the same, I can’t imagine myself writing a conventional Romance. Nor would I tackle Erotica, though each of my crime novels includes an unusual sexual incident (I’m trying to get a bad reputation!). I’m not prudish about sex, but it’s a crowded market.
I’ve had a few ghostly experiences, which I incorporated into a novella, but writing at length about a friendly or hostile ghost doesn’t appeal. I’m more scared of terrors in real life, so have never been intimidated by Horror stories. That’s not to say I wouldn’t write one, as it’s a real challenge to create a mood that ratchets up the tension, before throwing the reader into a situation where they’re afraid to turn the next page.
I’d never write Religious/Inspirational fiction, though I hope that my readers find the occasional uplifting and thought-provoking passage in my crime stories. With religion, I cleave to what the Dalai Lama said:
I’ve written about sixty poems for children, aged 5-10, which I enjoyed doing and that my young readers liked. I may pen a story but am intimidated by the craft of writing for young readers. The simpler a story becomes the more complicated the repercussions; it would be a great responsibility for me to communicate messages about life to children.
Writing funny fiction that would be classified in the Humour genre is more appealing. I prefer situational humour to slapstick on the page. I loved reading Patrick deWitt’s French Exit which brought a wry smile to my face, with its absurdist and rather dark plot. Humour is so subjective, but I’d like to have a go at amusing readers.
There can be resistance from readers loyal to what you normally write, should you attempt to shift genres, which is when pen names emerge. I previously posted about being trapped by genre, but some successful authors hop around between genres.
There’s only so much time to write, so it’s wise to play to one’s strengths.
Writing is a brilliant way of getting to know yourself, finding out what you really believe. It’s pieces of you that you’re putting down on the page.
What wouldn’t you write?
I’ve long wondered what would happen to my writing career if any success I had trapped me in a genre. By that, I mean, what if the short ghost stories I’ve written took off in the public conscious and my literary agent and publisher pressured me for more—even though I wanted to concentrate on my Cornish Detective novels?
It would make sense to do so, as a recent report by data analysts Nielsen Bookscan found that crime and thriller novel sales rose by 19% between 2015 and 2017.
Despite this, it feels like authors are treated like circus animals, expected to do a limited repertoire of tricks. As an example, one of my favourite authors, John Connolly recently published an imagined biography of comedian Stan Laurel, called ‘he’.
I loved it, but sales were average, for Connolly is famed for his private investigator novels which feature supernatural elements. He’s also published a couple of collections of short stories that step outside the crime genre, as well as a lovely novel The Book of Lost Things that reinterprets fairy tales.
I wondered how much arm-twisting he had to do to be allowed to write something different. I loved them, but again, sales were average.
Indian author Kiran Manral unwittingly pigeonholed herself, for her first novel was called The Reluctant Detective, so there was opposition to her subsequent work not fitting the crime genre.
We’re all librarians at heart, with the world organised by categories so that we can find stuff. At the very least, books need to be shelved, so where do they go? Are they Chick Lit, Science-Fiction, Historical or Erotica—and heaven help you if you’ve written a genre-busting novel that straddles all of these!
Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes said: “Don’t classify me, read me. I’m a writer, not a genre.” But that doesn’t take into account the tactics of book publisher publicity departments trying to market a book.
Writing under a pen name is one way around this problem, with the pseudonym disguising that a beloved author of fantasy novels about a wizard is now penning crime novels…
Agatha Christie wrote six romance novels using the pen name Mary Westmacott. Benjamin Franklin, American polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, conned a newspaper publisher into printing a series of charming letters seemingly penned by a middle-aged widow named Silence Dogood .
Michael Crichton was already published under his own name when he started churning out stories by John Lange, Jeffery Hudson and Michael Douglas. Stephen King was initially held back by his publisher’s policy of only releasing one title a year, so he persuaded them to print some of his stories under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. Dean Koontz had a similar problem with his publisher and has used at least ten pseudonyms.
As a comment on this situation, one of the recurring characters in my Cornish Detective series, a crusty male newspaper journalist called Brian ‘Hot’ Toddy writes flowery romances under the pen name of Violet Flowerdew.
It’s fun to imagine well-known authors attempting to write in another genre. Think what a historical romance written by Lee Child would read like—would it ring with echoes of his Jack Reacher thrillers? How about a political thriller written by E.L. James?
Do you ever pause to wonder if you’ve placed your eggs in the wrong basket?
While reading newsletters from publishing sites and authors’ blogs this morning, it struck me how peculiar some writers’ names are.
Even the most famous of authors haven’t seen their names passed on into common usage. Have you ever met anyone called Bram (Stoker), Hunter (S. Thomson) or Ayn (Rand)?
Other old-fashioned names are seeing a resurgence in popularity. Apparently, Willa (Cather) and Anaïs (Nin) are increasingly common for girls…the latter without the correct diaeresis over the letter i.
Willa Cather
Oscar (Wilde) is chosen for boys these days—perhaps as a sign of people being more comfortable with different sexualities—or indicative of a rise in ‘stage mums’ wishing to propel their son into the Hollywood film industry!
I’ve never known a Kingsley (Amis), Ogden (Nash), Danielle (Steel), Dashiell (Hammett), Ambrose (Bierce) or Harriet (Beecher Stowe), though these were more common in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Dashiell Hammett
Some writers are known by the initials of their forenames or they add initials to their moniker to make themselves sound distinctive. J. K. Rowling is the best-known modern example, though that was subterfuge on the part of her publisher to conceal that she was female, as it was thought that boy readers wouldn’t take to a story about wizards written by a woman. This sort of marketing deceit is referred to as ‘gender neutral’. I noticed that saying J.K. quickly sounds like “Jake” which adds to the deception, though the J comes from her first name of Joanne, and, as she doesn’t have a middle name, she chose K in memory of her paternal grandmother Kathleen. She likes to be known as Jo. I wonder how many books she’d have sold as Joanne Rowling or Jo Rowling…or would word of mouth praise have carried her books to bestseller status anyway?
Other authors who added initials to their names include Ian M. Banks…he added the M for his sci-fi books and it came from his intended middle name of Menzies. The reinventor of the Doctor Who series screenwriter Russell T. Davies added the T to distinguish himself from a newsreader of the same name.
If you choose to go this way with your author’s name, then how you punctuate your initials can cause repercussions.
Pen names are common among writers. I started out calling myself Augustus Devilheart, but came out of hiding to be just me. I have a middle name—John—which I never use, though official databases list it.
All the unusual names I’ve encountered with authors, made me wonder what strange name I could add to Paul Whybrow. I was born in a cottage in Walkern Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Walkern is a village three miles from Stevenage. Thus, I could become Paul Walkern Whybrow. I don’t know if that makes me sound distinguished or archaic! It makes me think of a Wyvern, which is a two-legged dragon so I could use Wyvern to distinguish any fantasy writing I may do.
Do you use your initials in your writer’s name?
Do you have a pen name?
Is your name unusual enough to be a marketing aid?
What made-up middle name would you add to your identity as an author?
I spent the first two weeks of 2019 lost in the intricacies of re-editing the first novel I wrote. Using the Word Search function to track down multiple uses of ‘this’, ‘thought’ and ‘realised’ feels less like writing and more like looking for a needle in a haystack.
I’ve edited The Perfect Murderer countless times before and it’s all been at this nit-picking level. It’s hard to appreciate how I’ve improved the manuscript, but I know this tedious work needs to be done. I went to bed most nights feeling disenchanted. I relaxed by reading before turning the light out. With three novels on the go, I gave up on one where the author repeatedly used the same verbs, adjectives and adverbs. I groaned when I saw he’d written the word ‘little’ four times in two pages. Did anyone at his publisher edit this?
I contemplated returning to editing my manuscript, confident that my book will be a damned sight better prepared than a well-reviewed published novel!
It’s easy to become disheartened as a writer, and I’ve previously posted about the doubt that afflicts us and the resilience we need to get through.
After I completed editing, I returned to the querying and self-promotion trail, which I’m not really enjoying…but, there’s no choice.
I’ve decided to adopt a fresh attitude to my endeavours, inspired by the tongue-in-cheek lyrics of an old Don McLean song, which was the earworm I woke up with this morning. Instead of nervously seeking validation for my writing and trying to be an interesting chap through blogging and social media posting, I’ll be viewing myself as totally irresistible!
I don’t know if this will work, but why worry, when I can be happy?
What do you think?
Woody Allen said that: “My One Regret In Life Is That I Am Not Someone Else.”
Assuming reincarnation and time travel are possible, which author would you come back as?
They can be dead or still alive…and feel free to change gender, nationality, sexual orientation, religion, etc.
This fantasy question is rather different to being asked which authors you’d have to dinner. For instance, when I think of my writing heroes, irrespective of their talent, some of them had unhappy lives. I might still risk it, as I’d be fascinated to see how their creative process worked.
My choices would be:
Of the dead
* Rumi: the Persian poet, revered for his love poetry. I wonder what his love life was like. He had a decent innings surviving until the age of 66…impressive for the 13th-century.
* Guy de Maupassant: A great short story writer, who rubbed shoulders with such luminaries as Alexandre Dumas, Gustav Flaubert, Ivan Turgenev and Émile Zola. Sadly, his own story was short, for he died of VD in an asylum at the age of 42.
* Richard Brautigan: A writer of bizarre comedic stories, a real maverick, but dead by his own hand at the age of 49, his body not found for a month.
Perhaps I should change gender. French writers Anaïs Nin and Colette led fascinating and erotic lives, surviving until the ages of 73 & 81.
Among the Living
Shape-shifting into the careers of living authors would be interesting. I note that all the writers I’ve chosen have retained the common touch, not abandoning their humble roots.
* Larry McMurtry: his output is impressive, with his books adapted into respectful movies and television series. Lonesome Dove is a great Western. He’s a used book-store owner & cat lover.
* Dennis Lehane: brilliant novels that win awards and are turned into decent films, which is something of a miracle. Also wrote episodes of The Wire.
* James Lee Burke: an illustrious writing career, and he’s still actively publishing in his 80s. I like how he stays true to his characters, writing series of novels about them. Daughter Alafair is also a best-selling crime author.
* Alice Hoffman: my favourite author of Magical Realism, which she inserts seamlessly into her tales of characters struggling against the odds. Great at showing how what someone considers to be magic provides them with the courage to endure.
Who would you be? One of the Brontës? Charles Dickens? William Shakespeare?
Or someone contemporary and still living, such as Hilary Mantel, Margaret Atwood or Paul Auster?
Just think of the fun you could have getting these famous authors to write something radically different!
Written three years before her death at the age of 88, Ursula K. Le Guin contemplates her life as a writer.
My Job
Since keeping house and raising kids
don’t count as jobs, I only ever had one.
I started out as a prentice
at five years old, and at near eighty-five
in most ways I am still one,
being a slow learner. And the work
is quite demanding.
The boss who drives the shiny yellow car
and those nine sisters up there by the spring
are tough, but fair. There’s times
you can’t get them to listen,
but they’ve always got their eyes on you.
They don’t let botched work pass.
Sometimes the pay is terrible.
Sometimes it’s only fairy gold.
Then again sometimes the wages
are beyond imagination and desire.
I am glad to have worked for this company.
Ursula K. Le Guin
(from Late In The Day: Poems 2010-2014)
