Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
I often have discussions with authors about craft, or writing technique, vs. having a great story. Obviously, the formula for a good book includes both.
Craft refers to all the mechanics of fiction: plot, characterization, dialogue, pacing, flow, scene-crafting, dramatic structure, point-of-view, etc.
Story refers to the page-turning factor of the plot itself—what, exactly is happening to the characters, and how are they responding? How compelling is your story, how unique or original, does it connect with the reader, is there that certain spark that makes it jump off the page? Is it sufficiently suspenseful or romantic? Is the author’s voice strong and distinct? It’s much harder to quantify than craft, and harder to teach.
Of course, the two elements are intertwined, but it’s helpful to artificially separate them, in order to understand why a book is either working—or not. Sometimes it seems to me that craft refers to the mechanics, while story is the magic that only the writer can bring.
Lately I’ve noticed amongst my stacks of rejected queries an increasing number of projects that show strong technique, but no originality or heart. In a way, this is good because it shows that writers are paying attention to their craft. They’re taking the time and making the effort to learn to write, which is fantastic.
But it’s heartbreaking to me at the same time. It’s disappointing to get that lifeless feeling of a boring, derivative, or unoriginal story, perfectly executed. Just this week I read some sample chapters from a new writer, and I was impressed with the technical excellence. Nice dialogue, perfect POVs, showing not telling… the craft elements were all there. But the story itself involved an overused plot, an uninteresting protagonist, and major predictability. It felt like it was written by a computer program, and it made me sad. I am not sure how to teach someone to not only learn the craft, but to also write from their heart. Write with authenticity, write from the depths of personal experience. And work hard to create a compelling story that people actually want to read.
As aspiring authors, we need to pay attention to both aspects: craft and story. I think some writers find craft easier, and others find story comes more naturally. It’s up to you to understand where you stand as a writer, where your strengths and weaknesses are, and make the effort to keep working on both sides of the equation.
And when you read published books that don’t seem to “follow the rules” of craft that you’ve worked so hard to learn, try to determine if maybe that book got published because of the story, rather than technical perfection. (Or it might just be that the author has established a loyal following that enjoys their particular style of storytelling.)
If your storytelling is powerful enough, readers will forgive an awful lot of flaws in technique… and so will agents and editors.
But all the perfect “craft” in the world can’t make an unimaginative book shine.
If editors and agents are looking at your samples and immediately criticizing your craft, be aware this means they aren’t able to see a fabulous story in there. Either it doesn’t exist, or it’s camouflaged by your lack of expertise in fiction technique.
So writers, speak up. Where do you stand? Which is harder for you? How do you approach both sides of this craft/story equation?
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I love this! This is such a great explanation, differentiating between the two and how story and craft weave together. As of now, it seems like the story comes easier for me because I select something that presses my heart. However, looking for that next idea that grabs my heart can be a challenging and frustrating time … you want to know your next path and know it now. 🙂 The searching and waiting can be hard. My last two project ideas fell into my lap because I wrote articles on them, and I spun my stories off those. The first one–I was certain of the idea. The second one–it took me a while to settle on it, but once settled, I have fallen in love with it. 🙂 But the craft is definitely harder because there is a mass amount to learn. But I’m really enjoying the learning process. I have B&S and the writers here to thank for that.
Great post, Rachelle. I suspect you’ll get a LOT of comments, and it’ll be interesting to follow them.
* I don’t worry about craft, for two reasons –
1) I’m pretty secure in my execution. I studied craft for a long time, and while lifelong learning is a great idea, time is limited, and I’d rather devote my energy to development of the story. I know I can write;not perfectly, but well enough now to support a story.
2) Craft is something of a moving target; what’s considered good writing now would have been dismissed as coarse, rash, and rushed a few decades ago. Consider the poor, benighted adverb…it’s de rigeur to heap scorn upon its sadly drooping head, but there are few better ways to quickly convey emotion, to wit –
“Well, thanks for considering it,” she said dully.
* For describing the emotion of disappointment, with a tinge of hopelessness, ‘dully’ is unmatched. (Though it is set up a bit by the opening “Well,…”)
* In closing, I find that most of the books I can’t finish may be very well-crafted, but are simply duller than rock, while the ones I can’t put down have stories so compelling that I don’t notice the errors in craft. Those are extremes, of course, but they contain the truth to which I aspire.
Yes, Andrew … the stories you just can’t put down … it’s all about the story. 🙂 Sure seems that way. The craft, if done well in combination, seems like the perfect icing on the cake–the ever-so-moist cake that could completely stand alone. 🙂
Andrew–I agree with your statement: “Most of the books I can’t finish … are simply duller than rock, while the ones I can’t put down have stories so compelling that I don’t notice the errors in craft.” With so many discounted e-books out there, I find myself reading more untested authors, and making a quick decision on whether it’s worth it to read to the end. And the ones to which I can’t get back quickly enough aren’t necessarily the ones most technically correct.
I’m with you, Andrew. I’ve developed a hybrid style that leans heavily toward current style but uses the old style when more appropriate. All show and no tell and rigid adherence to never more than three POV characters doesn’t satisfy me as a reader, and I doubt it truly satisfies many others looking for rich stories filled with three-dimensional characters in complex plots that feel like they might actually happen.
I also think the total ban on adverbs impoverishes the language. I use them very sparingly, but sometimes nothing else can accurately convey a subtle emotion or the specific way a character is acting.
For me, story seems to come easy. I’m writing romantic historicals that are quests and sometimes thrillers. My brain seems to naturally generate a story arc with plot twists that my betas say kept them reading longer than they planned because they were caught up in the action and characters that led my betas to ask if I’m going to do a sequel with a particular character. I’m very thankful that I seem to naturally do what craft books, like James Scott Bell’s “Plot and Structure,” try to teach. I suspect it could be very hard to try to teach myself to develop a good story if they didn’t seem to almost give birth to themselves. The quests are spiritual quests, and I often get the feeling I’m not creating the story myself at all.
I’ve been pouring my effort into improving the other aspects of craft to fit the current style in the marketplace, not because it’s better than the older style but because I want the books to sell today (although “Pride and Prejudice” is proof that the old style still sells extremely well). There are lots of great books to help with that. I can tell I’ve gotten much better in the last year, and I’m still improving with every draft. I expect that every writer, even an excellent one who is multiply published, can always improve some part of her/his craft.
“I expect that every writer, even an excellent one who is multiply published, can always improve some part of her/his craft.”
*Yes, Carol. I had a multi-published author say that exact thing to me … she said she never stops learning, and that when she gets her manuscript back, it’s all marked in red. And she was so sweet, so pleasant, so happy, so thrilled to be writing …. I walked away with the fact that the learning process never stops. And that’s okay. She was very encouraging. 🙂
We need roots and wings.
Craft=roots, story=wings.
Great way to put it, Shirlee!
Love this, Shirlee. 🙂
Perfect plan, Shirlee. 🙂
Thank you for this post. I feel like I struggle with the “magic” part of writing. When I began writing a few years ago, I was well aware of my shortfalls when it comes to teqnique, and I over compensated. I’ve spent so long learning about perfecting my craft that I’ve lost sight of what really makes story telling good. I’ve worked so long and hard to complete a book, but never gotten there because each draft is lacking something. I now see the missing element is heart. I think it’s time for me to take a step back from always reading up on teqnique, and go back to just writing what I love. I think I’ve leaned enough by now that the teqnique will be innate ?
I agree Dana, if I’m not passionate about the story, if it doesn’t have honesty and heart, then it’s going to be very difficult for me to write. Sometimes I’m tempted to do something in a story because I think it’s what readers would want or what’s expected, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I’d rather be true to my story and hope there are others out there who see it the way I do. If not, that’s a bummer I guess but it’s ok.
Something that is fun to do with regard to story magic, is to interview children about what makes a story awesome. It really gives you a glimpse at the magic. When I read to my boys I ask them about the different things that they love. It is so enlightening. Some things are obvious though, 2 of my boys are reading Suzanne Collins’ Underland Chronicles and who in their right mind wouldn’t love the idea of their own giant bat to ride into battle? Magic, that is magic right there.
Hmmm… I’ve been told that I have a strong voice and good technique but that I need to work on the character’s problem right from the beginning and not dawdle around. So I am striving to improve my character motivation.
For me, I think craft comes more easily than story. I have been learning how some personal stuff has probably hindered some of my heart from coming through in my stories. The craft feels easier for me to grasp than the story/voice element of writing. I’m working to grow in this area now.
*Thought provoking post, Rachelle!
Thank you, Rachelle, for reminding us to find the “write” balance between story and craft. I can forgive foibles if the book makes me forget I’m reading fiction. What bliss it is to be drawn into a story world.
I struggle with craft—but your post has given me hope to press on.
Holy Week Blessings to everyone ~ Wendy Mac
Rachel, this is one of your best blog posts. I am aware of all the elements and try to address them properly. I think it’s working, but it will be up to others to decide if I am. I am especially sensitive to flow and pacing and put a lot of effort into those. For me, story is paramount, but without the craft it won’t keep my attention; this applies to my own work, as well as other’s.
Good post, Rachelle.
>>>I suppose story-telling comes a bit easier for me than craft. That may be because I see various craft techniques as unnecessary. For example, head hopping doesn’t bother me at all as a reader, so I tend to do it in my writing. And, as an engineer who writes technical papers, telling is much more important than showing, so I suppose I fall down on that as well. I’d much rather read “Mary was angry” than wade through “Mary banged the pan on the stove, then flung it at John.” Not to mention the extra words it takes to describe rather than tell.
>>>If that’s what I prefer to read (apparently contrary to several hundred million other readers), then naturally I write that way.
I’m with you David! You’re not the only one who prefers “Mary was angry.”
David, I have no problem with Mary being angry as long as she doesn’t chip the stove and make a hole in the wall when John ducks in time. I hope she wasn’t using a cast-iron pan.
*You’re right about it taking a lot more words. I rewrote a telling-style novel of 91K words into a showing-style version of 115K words. However, it did ratchet up the emotional impact in a way that I like, and the more demonstrative style is definitely fun to write.
David, I agree that there is an overemphasis on showing versus telling. I believe that a good balance between the two makes for a more interesting read, and am trying to achieve that in my work.
David, I’m with you on the showing/telling. I struggle with this and wonder if my story is too dry because I’m not taking three sentences to say what can be said with one. Like you, I don’t care for this in books I read and will skip pages or stop reading if it’s overdone. I guess it’s all about balance
For me, I totally and completely failed at craft for a good 2 years before I got the hang of things such as POV and telling.
I never seem to have a shortage of story ideas, though, and wnder how I’ll get them all down.
One summer my teenage daughter and I made a road trip from CA to CO to Idaho and back to CA. She made up this amazing story that had all the elements of a Ted Dekker book, intrigue and surprises right and left…outside the box thinking. She never finished the story but it was pure awesomeness. The story is that way. I read two new brand new authors, straight out of the shoot last summer. Both had compelling story lines and I featured them on my blog to help the ladies out. However, one book added too much extraneous material, and the other had too many inconsistencies and mechanical errors. The problems were not enough for me to stop reading
either book, I loved their stories, but it truly detracts from the readers’ full delight of reading pleasure. I’m more critical now, of course. A boring book, though, I usually will not finish unless I force myself to do so or feel I should because I spent my hard earned money on it. It’s never fun to be disappointed in a book that we have anticipated reading.
Perspective. Thanks, Rachelle.
What an enlightening explanation of story and craft.
*I am hopelessly right-brained so creativity and story come easier for me. Craft is something I have to stay very focused on, kind of like driving. Have I wandered aimlessly, forgotten my destination or taken short cuts to nowhere? When in doubt I refer to my library of writing manuals and hope the instructions aren’t clear as mud.
*Now, don’t even get me started on the rules of punctuation and dangling participles. Ugh. Sometimes that is so left-brained confusing I might as well be tackling Algebra.
I had to think twice before posting this. Craft? Story? Just give me the page turner. The first Christian novelist I read(and one of my favorites) starts a reasonable amount of her novels with back stories – a technique that I was told doesn’t work. And I will always read her books. Why? Because the stories are powerful. End of story!
Hi, Michael. Who is the author you like so well?
Carol, here goes her name… Karen Kingsbury…
I have much more time invested in editing my current MS than what I put into the first draft. I imagine that’s a common tale.
Talk about work …
It definitely helps when passion pushes the writing, but sooner or later the craft part must happen. Readers demand it, and I understand completely.
I think the main thing to remember is where we get our inspiration from, and to use that inspiration for good purpose.
I loved this post so much, I returned to read it a second time today, Rachelle. When we write from our heart, we’re honoring God. For me, I couldn’t imagine writing any other way. Thank you for this.
I’m so glad you liked it!
True, Rachelle–so very, very true. Thanks for posting.
Ever since reading this, I’ve thought about it off and on, and I’ve come to the conclusion that part of the magic in writing is in the perspective of our characters. It’s been said that writers must write as great actors, and I agree. If we cannot capture our character’s varying emotions, which arise through the situations we place them in, we cannot begin to capture the magic of writing. Of course, as has been mentioned, we must place our characters within plots that allow us to interest our readers. Our life experiences surely play a role in that regard.
And I’ll include this … what better inspiration than the perspective that is the magic–and the majesty–of the cross?