hemingwaywantabes

Ernest Hemingway never knew Stephen King, but I will bet the bearded master would have enjoyed King’s gift for storytelling. And King’s use of the language since both wrote gifted prose designed to involve the reader in every aspect of the story.

In King’s book, On Writing, he shares insight as to why reading examples of descriptive prose is so important: “Good writing . . . teaches the learning writer about style, graceful narration, plot development, the creation of believable characters, and truth-telling. A novel like Grapes of Wrath may fill a new writer with feelings of despair and good, old-fashioned jealousy—I’ll never be able to write anything that good, not if I live to be a thousand—but such feelings can also serve as a spur, goading the writer to work harder and aim higher. Being swept away by a combination of great story and great writing . . . is a part of every writer’s necessary formation. You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you.”

Recently, I attended the American Library Association Convention with my wife Lu, a linguistics librarian at Michigan State, and heard a modern mystery writer, Stephen J. Cannell, the creator and producer of many hit television programs including “Rockford Files,” and more recently the author of fifteen successful novels, describe how he reads new books in his genre to better understand how successful writers tell their story. He is a fan of both the plot-driven story, and the character-driven story, but no matter the style, Cannell stresses the importance of involving the reader from page one on through the book chapters. Otherwise, he noted, the writer loses the reader, and soon the book is abandoned without the full impact of the writer’s theme unfolding.

Hemingwaywantabes, if you want to become a better writer, read what successful authors are writing whether the focus is fiction or non-fiction. Make notes, jot down ideas, and be certain to watch the flow of the story, how the characters are described, how they interact, and most important, how the writer keeps you involved in the story with such intensity that you hate to do anything but continue reading the book. Hook the reader, and then reel them in with exciting words that captivate. Doing so triggers your having written what is called a “pageturner,” a book that is guaranteed to attract publisher interest.