There are some of us who have enjoyed writing since we were children,
and each year, by writing something in school, it improved. For some of us, it
continued until we graduated college and began working. Some of us entered the
work force taking jobs, which required us to write, whether it was procedures,
handbooks/manuals, or news stories. But all of these are non-fiction, and each
one has a set of “rules” that need to be followed to write something well
enough to be acceptable.
As for myself, while my regular job did not require me to
write, for eleven years I wrote articles [commentaries/viewpoints] of what was
happening in my community and my feelings about it. When I started to write
these items, my writing skills were not honed. I didn’t have my ideas organized
in a tight manner, although my writing had been informative. By the time I’d
written my last item, I’d become quite adept at it.
When I started to write fiction, I somehow drifted to
writing a contemporary romance story with a paranormal element running through
the storyline, but after almost 9 years I still hadn’t completed it. That is,
until someone suggested I should write for a much younger audience, which is
what I did, cumulating in my first YA Paranormal/Time Travel/First Kiss romance
novel entitled I Kissed a Ghost.
Anyway, making the transition from non-fiction to fiction, I’ve
had to learn a new set of rules on how to write. Most of these involved
dialogue, showing not telling, where before I just told. I now had to learn
about the use of tags. I had to learn not to be overly descriptive of
something, but allow my reader to create the image for themselves in their
minds. In the beginning I found it hard to break my old writing habits. Now I’m
finding myself with these habits essentially gone. The biggest issue I still
have and am trying to get a good handle on, is POV [Point of View]. Regardless
of what’s happening or being said it has to be in one character’s perspective,
and you can’t flip-flop between two characters within a scene. There needs to
be a transition from one character to another.
All these things have helped me mold myself into the author
I’m today. I’ve also learned there are additional rules within a genre,
depending on the sub-genre you’ve decided to write in. These rules apply to the
dialogue spoken, which needs to be true to the time period you’re writing in,
as well as how your characters are dressed, and their titles, if any, as is the
case with the regencies sub-genre of romance novels.
So as you can see, writing is not merely a string of words
you put together. There are rules that need to be followed if you’re to be well
received by your readers.
If you have any questions, I’d love to hear from you.
Contact via Facebook @ Pen Name Only
I’m a retired NYC civil servant who has been married for 19
years with no children. We have two cats, a senior Maine Coon with diabetes,
and a 10 year old calico. For my second romance novel I’ve returned to writing
the Contemporary romance I wrote about in my post.
You can also find Robin Leigh Morgan @
GoodReads: http://www.goodreads.com/RobinLeighMorgan
