Writing Fiction: A Sample Roadmap To Learn Your Craft
The road to real success in fiction runs through mastering your craft.
This was the first thing I discovered when I started to research self-publishing. I again traced it back to J. A. Konrath, in a 2010 post “How to Make Money on Ebooks.” Rule Number 1 was “Write a Damn Good Book.”
And, as typical of almost all advice from everyone, the post doesn’t say how to do this, but instead rolls off a laundry list of mechanics you also have to take care of. Like formatting, where to publish, and so on.
This riddle then remained.
Yet the bestsellers (who have their own genre, called “Bestsellers”) are those who sell a million books every time they release one. Because every book they write is a “damn good book.” The author has been at this long enough and has produced enough to write truly great stories every time. The author mastered their craft. They write to produce the best possible reader experience.
Below these are the genre fiction writers, who are working on mastering the specific genres people want to read. This is the Chris Fox advice of “writing to market.” Nothing wrong with that. It’s part of the learning process. Sticking within obvious reader expectations is safe.
Below the genre fiction writers are the wannabes. Nothing wrong with that. You have to want something in order to get it.
Unfortunately, you have to learn Sturgeon’s Rule, that “90% out there is crap.” The bulk of the advice on how to succeed at writing is full of overused tropes. The wannabe’s and genre fiction writers are most subject to abuse from this stuff. I swallowed all this (temporarily) while I tested it. And believe me, the sheer bulk of the stuff out there is crud.
Writers need to know where the top end is, and then shoot for it. You do this by studying successful authors who have mastered their craft and also tell other people about it. You also have to learn when to quit following a teacher when you quit learning - or find they only really have opinions.
As I write this, I’m working through a stack of around 270-some books I’ve collected by writers (and “authorities”) about writing. I still expect the 90% crud law to hold.
An interview of Dean Koontz ended with this kicker at the bottom:
“YOU WROTE TWO BOOKS ON WRITING POPULAR FICTION. IF YOU WERE TO WRITE ANOTHER TODAY, WHAT ADVICE WOULD BE DIFFERENT?
“Probably 99% of it. I was young when I wrote those books, and in the hubris of youth, I thought I knew so much. Later, I learned that after decades of dedicated work, I knew about 1% of what I had thought I knew back then. The learning never stops.”
That last sentence is one that any professional at any sport, craft, or occupation knows: The learning never stops. One prolific genre authors said repeatedly in his courses that the difference between the semi-pro genre writer and the pro bestseller is that exact point. The semi-pro’s quit writing (and selling) when they figure they know it all. That is why only a few authors of the many that wrote pulp fiction in the 40’s made the jump to paperbacks in the 50’s. The pulps died, and even paperbacks had a hard time at first.
You even see this in the wannabe’s. They quit writing when they get fascinated with selling high-priced courses though marketing instead. (And touting six Amazon non-fiction ebooks that became momentary bestsellers is no incredible accomplishment, compared to million-selling hardbacks holding a place on the NYT list regularly for decades.)
You want to be able to make the writing-ability jumps, from tier to tier, particularly in these days of self-publishing and books that never go out of print. We are facing a true glut of books now. Added to that is Amazon’s continuing efforts to dominate the book market and squeeze all possible profit from their books and authors and publishers. It’s only going to get worse on their platform from here on out, due to those factors - especially as they devote more space to ads. The authors and publishers that survive will be building their own, platform-imdependent brands.
That building won’t happen on the back of advertising alone. Facebook itself is dying. Both their and Amazon ads are going up in price, more taking more space. As more authors depend on buying ads to keep their sales up, ads will buy less and less, costs sky-rocketing. More overhead, less author income.
The authors that survive will be building their own audiences with quality content, damn good books, consistently.
The secret is to be learning constantly from dissecting the books you read, and making each book you write better than the last - or any you’ve written before.
That is your simple roadmap.
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