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Chapter 25: Whipping Your Work into Shape
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Another problem I frequently come across is when writers deliberately hold
back a vital piece of information from readers, usually because they think
this makes the story more interesting. Instead, it often leaves the reader
bemused.
When information is vital for readers to understand the story or the character,
put it in. Otherwise readers know something’s wrong, but not why, which seriously
interferes with their enjoyment of reading.
Imagine that something terrible happened to a character: perhaps she was
assaulted at the age of 14. This event is frequently hinted at throughout the
story, but even though the character narrates the novel, readers aren’t told
what happened until the end. But the character knows what happened, and
so, unless you’re using an unreliable narrator, readers should know too!
Sympathising with a character or understanding what she wants is difficult
unless readers know what drives her; holding back something major just
doesn’t work.
Making Your Writing Sparkle
During the editing process, you need to take advantage of any opportunities
you spot to improve the quality of your writing, such as replacing worn-out
words and phrases and removing any slack.
Weeding out clichés
A major aspect of editing is taking a fresh look at your work (as I discuss in
the earlier section ‘Looking with a Fresh Pair of Eyes’) and indeed to freshen
up your prose. Of course the opposite of fresh is ‘stale’ – the very definition
of a cliché – so as you read through your story, have your pen ready to mark
any obvious and glaring clichés. See whether you can come up with a better
or more original phrase; if not, just move on and return to it later.
Sometimes, in an attempt to avoid clichés and be original, writers come up
with some quite bizarre metaphors or similes! If these jump out at you when
you read, take them out and just use simpler expressions. Good style doesn’t
draw attention to itself in this way.
You can come across a whole situation that’s clichéd, by which I mean that
it’s not sufficiently developed. I’m sure that you can think of stock situations
that turn up again and again in films and novels, and play out in obvious
ways (the tart with the heart of gold, the hero action who never gets shot
no matter how many people shoot at him, the villains who take the time to