Blogger: Michelle Ule
Sitting in for Rachel Kent and the rest of the Books & Such agents as they prepare for our biennual writer’s retreat next week.
I’m not reading the same way I used to. How about you?
Has that 10,000 hours you’ve spent learning how to be a good writer gotten in the way of your reading pleasure? Click to Tweet
I remember the first time I started to look at a novel through the eyes of a novelist.
I had begun writing what became my first (awful) novel, furtively typing as fast as I could while my three-year-old was imprisoned downstairs with Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. I had 90 minutes to write each day, choosing to sacrifice my toddler’s brain cells for some much-needed creativity for myself.
In the evening, I read aloud The Little House on the Prairie books to my three boys, ensuring my future daughter-in-laws would one day thank me for exposing the guys to such a wonderful series.
As I read one night, however, I couldn’t help notice how many words were on the page.
I looked at the boys and wondered if they had any idea how long it took to type so many words? Click to Tweet
I began to pay attention to how Laura Ingalls Wilder (or Rose Wilder Lane if you prefer) used language and individual sentences.
My mind had awakened. I was a writer now; word usage, sentences, paragraphs and how they looked on the page made a difference.
Fast forward to now.
I’ve detailed here and here the lengths I go to examine words and their usages. I examine specific “weak” verbs and pay attention to using words too many times in a paragraph, a page, a book.
I can’t help myself any more—I see what writers are doing now, when I read their books.
And way too often I don’t like it.
I’ve just finished a fast skim of a six-year-old YA novel by an author I remember liking when I spent more time in the YA section (when my boys were teenagers). I found the novel interesting because I’d just visited a museum exhibit on the subject. I expected this author to have lots of interesting information.
She did not disappoint.
However, her writing distracted me.
I wasn’t but a couple of pages in before I was rearranging sentences, taking out superfluous words and wondering why she kept repeating herself.
(Do you have to do that when writing YA? I don’t think so).
Honestly, I got so distracted by the writing, I started to lose track of the story.
I ask you.
Is that MY problem, or hers?
(Where was the editor?)
Perhaps I’m on heightened alert because I’m still coming off the high of completing my own novel, but this is the danger that comes when you’re highly sensitized to the writing process.
It’s been ruining the read for me for years.
How about you?
What’s the solution?
Will it get any better with all the books currently being published with a minimum amount of editorial oversight, or, worse, no editing at all?
Do you even care, as long as the price is low?
I admit, I have a degree in English Literature so the quality of the writing is important to me. I’ll even forgive a dull story if the writing is impressive. Click to Tweet
I’ll even trudge through a book I’m not interested in if the writing intrigues–always hoping, of course, the plotting will live up to the wordsmithing.
For example, I’m not quite sure I understand what Michael Chabon is writing about half the time.
But his word usage! Oh, my! Sample this:
“The overcoat was a trademark of his. It was an impermeable thrift-shop special with a plaid flannel lining and wide lapels, and it looked as though it had been trying for many years to keep the rain off the stooped shoulders of a long series of hard cases, drifters, and ordinary bums. It emitted an odor of bus station so desolate that just standing next to him you could feel your luck changing for the worse.” ~Wonder Boys
That sentence is complicated and full of energy. It’s also alive!
Am I alone in this disappointment with my reading life? How many of you readers have been affected by the time you’ve spent working on the writing craft?
How are you overcoming the disappointment and/or choosing the books you read these days? Click to Tweet
Michelle, I’ve also had my reading experiences forever changed. Now that my first MS is nearing the end of the self-editing phase, I notice distracting writing habits more than ever in novels I’m reading.
I find myself wanting to tighten sentences etc. But I’ve also grown to highly respect good. If I can get lost in a story and forget about the writing technique of the author, I’m so impressed. These will be the books I’ll go back over a second and third time to learn how they did it.
I read the Little House on the Prairie set to my daughter and two sons when they were younger. What my sons found distracting was all the references to good food. 🙂
Blessings ~ Wendy ❀
I’m agreeing with many of you in that the key to surviving some of the writing is to read good literature.
Jamie down below, has edited all of my work and she and I often discuss books we like or don’t like and why.
She also gave me “permission” to quit reading a book I cannot tolerate any longer.
And Wendy, all those references to food, particularly in Farmer Boy, is because Laura nearly starved (see The Long Winter) and she loved hearing her stories about her husband’s far more bountiful–and stuffed–childhood!
When I think of Laura Ingalls and food … I think of the Little House Christmas television episode where Mr. Edwards brought Laura and Mary a single peppermint stick … their own cups … and he brought Ma sweet potatoes! And those simple gifts lit up their lives. 🙂 Darling. And Mr. Edwards crossed a river, I believe, in an ice/snow storm … and he looked like a frozen popsicle. Carrie thought he was Santa! 🙂 Do you remember that?
Michelle,
Last week I read “When You Reach Me”, a Newberry Medal book and was surprised by occasional slow-moving narrative, but I was amazed at the authentic voice in the dialog. It got the highest award I can give – I wish I had written that book!
Now that is my standard – Would I be pleased with myself if I had written this? Since I usually read library books, I restrain myself from making edits!
Thanks for the suggestion, Sheila, I’ll have to look for it.
There aren’t many books (or movies), I respond to with, “I wish I had written it,” but those words have come out of my mouth. You’re right–the highest accolade!
I don’t really have this problem – I’m concentrating on storytelling, and consciously letting go of trying to adopt elegant word usage. (My nickname, Mongo, does not go well with ‘elegant’, anyway.)
After seven years of virtually nonstop writing, I don’t look critically at others’ works when I’m reading for enjoyment. Story’s everything, and I’ll overlook craft.
I do believe that there is a danger of trying to “write for other writers”; while the perceived level of craft has seen ostensible improvement, the quality of storytelling has gone downhill. “The Road” won a Pulitzer, but as a novel, it’s opaque. Kind of like painting; While the critics loved Mark Rothko and Jasper Johns, the public went to Norman Rockwell and, later, Thomas Kinkade.
Consider that which was written in the 40s and 50s; there was no prohibition against adverbs and weak verbs, and some of the loveliest examples of the novelist’s art date from that period. Nevil Shute, Robert Ruark, and Herman Wouk would be giants today, but their stories would likely be edited into unreadability.
I’m personally not impressed with Chabon’s example. It’s complicated, and rings false, as no thrift-shop would sell such a garment. It would be handed down from one hard-luck case to another.
The paragraph also becomes a rabbit-trail; one might have forgotten that which one had read prior to deciphering the Character of the Coat.
Far better to say something like, “He wore an old overcoat whose odor was sufficiently rank to encourage more than a polite distance.”
You’re right on Chabon, and I couldn’t find the quote I really wanted when seeking it, but it’s the use of language and turn of phrase that delights me with his work. It is like looking through a thicket, however, to figure out just what is going on!
I’m interested in plot myself, and that’s what I read for, so a detailed description of whatever, doesn’t hold my interest long. It’s too bad–google-brain as I’ve become–the old masters just don’t hold my interest as well anymore.
I also stumbled when I open to the first page and it’s one long paragraph. I rarely read further.
I’ll agree with the “opening with a long paragraph” thing – if I really want to read the book…I’ll skip it!
I was thinking about the bias against adverbs, and while they can be overused, the bias is definitely overdone.
Nevil Shute often used the words “dully” or “heavily” to describe speaking in discouragement.
An example –
“It’s all right,” he said heavily.
That’s an economical description of an emotion wrapped into relevant dialogue.
But the modern writer/reader would red-flag ‘adverb’, and try to find an actionable way of describing the same thing. More words, and a distraction from the emotion conveyed by tone to a more physical description.
Such as –
His head drooped, and his shoulders sagged. “It’s all right”.
Same effect, but it’s verbose and becomes more of a ‘stand-alone’, interrupting the story’s flow.
When I started writing I caught myself reading for things like that, and then realized that I was going to drive myself nuts unless I completely separated my writing and reading minds. It wasn’t easy, and took a high degree of situational awareness, but it has paid off, in that I can read unhindered by critiquing.
“Prohibition against adverbs and weak verbs” … that is a lovely way to phrase it! 🙂
We loved Nevil Shute all those years ago when we read him, but haven’t revisited lately (Most of his heroes are engineers!), so I cannot say. It is important, however, to read the current literature because styles do change.
Great post, Michelle!
Yes, I can relate. And I think you’re right. I think we’re more in tune to editorial kinks when we and our critique partners have edited the dickens out of our own work. (You know there’s something amiss when the CMOS is your coffee table reading. And… you enjoy it! 🙂 )
I try to savor the reading experience when it comes to my favorite authors and long-awaited reads. After all, with a great story, I tend to be more forgiving.
There are some no-nos I see frequently though. For instance, this: “this”. (That ol’ period hanging out past the quotation marks.) Or something like this: “hero’s” when the author obviously meant the plural “heroes.”
One of my favorite novelists in the 1980’s and 90’s wrote beautiful, but weighty description. It went on for page after glorious page. I adored it. I suspect now editorial viewpoints have changed.
Oh–for a great resource, folks really should follow Jamie Chavez. Her blog is a gold mine of information.
(And yes. I did edit this comment as I typed. But feel free to grade me. I know you will. 😉 )
Happy Weekend!
Your point is well taken, Cynthia, writing styles have changed.
I doubt some of the great writers of the 19th century would be publishable today. Some of this is because reading and entertainment has changed–we’re a more visual generation used to the fast action of movies and television.
The placement of the period outside of the quotation mark, I believe, is how it’s still done in Britain, so that may be part of the issue, there.
Yes, yes, yes! Writing and self-editing has killed my joy of reading in many ways. It’s difficult to turn off the internal editor and to sit back and enjoy the story. I keep thinking, “My critique group would have caught these problems in a heartbeat.”
Yep. I give it a chapter or two and then often have to quit. One book that drove me simply crazy was prize winner Thomas Keneally’s The Daughters of Mars. The story of WWI nurses from Australia stationed in Egypt was interesting except in a 700 page novel he only used quotation marks about 100 times.
Do you know how maddening it was to read something like that? How hard is it to include quotation marks? And why did the editors let that stand?
Craziness. But I had to read it for research. I’ll never touch him again, however, even if he did write Schindler’s List.
I give you that one, Andrew. Lots of plot, insane writing style.
(This is my opinion, of course. :-))
Yeah, becoming a writer had ruined my reading life in many ways. I notice stuff now. I find myself less satisfied with works that thrilled me just a few years ago. But I find myself on the other end of the spectrum than you with my literary demands. I want a plot. A real live plot that is fun and exiting and that has people…actually doing things. I will drag through beautiful writing, noting how gorgeous it is, and still hoping that the writer can scrounge up a plot for me. Or with a romance, I like the love story, but find myself frustrated when no one is in at least a little bit of peril. But yeah, I notice word usage an awful lot more than I used to, but emotional telling and lack of plot are my greatest frustrations.
I’ll sit next to you, then, Kristen, and read over your shoulder. 🙂
I make it a point to read really good fiction, so most of the time I am able to retain my reading pleasure. If a book is so bad I’m mentally editing, it’s usually too bad to keep reading, and I quit. 🙂 (Sometimes I blog about them, though.)
Congrats on your latest novel!
This so applies to me. I will rant when a writer head hops now! It also ruins movies and television for me. Just last night, I reminded my husband that the “bumping into each other when they meet for the first time” cliche was happening on Parenthood.
I can’t watch simple mysteries anymore, because I always figure them out and I spend the whole movie or show bursting to tell. (But I don’t. Most of the time!)
I also find myself wondering what was happening in writer’s rooms on certain shows, and I try to figure out where they are heading with a certain plot.
If I’m reading good fiction, I hopefully don’t notice the writing and I escape into the story. However, I like to read things over and over, so I will eventually start thinking about the writer and why they made certain choices. Reading so much has definitely made me a better writer, though, so I can’t complain!
I’ve noticed frustration, as well, with implausible story lines. How many coincidences do there need to be? But I’m impressed you can figure out the “who dunnit!”
I still love reading, even as a writer. I find it inspires me, especially when I read something particularly excellent, to keep pushing myself to improve. Even when I read something that doesn’t resonate with me, I think about why and keep a mind on my own work to consider if I need to revise something that isn’t working. However, like Kristen commented, I do read with a much more critical eye and I am much more invested in stories with plots that move rather than long, beautiful descriptions. I might flag the page to go back and re-read the pretty parts, but as a whole, I want stuff to happen! I think this is good for us writers though…we need to see what’s out there and how we can use it to our advantage — the good and the bad.
Good point, Lori Ann, about learning from both the good and the bad. 🙂
I don’t have that problem… I CAN’T have that problem! 🙂 I write non-fiction (finance and the economy) and have to keep three blogs wowed with words. That requires being up to date on what’s happening (and why).
Reading for pleasure? Haven’t done that in ages. Once my book gets published, who knows? Maybe I’ll be able to read for pleasure while I’m on the book signing tour 😉
I understand how you feel, William but I find reading something else refreshes and extends me and my writing. I hope you find some wonderful pleasurable writing some day!
I hear ya! Happens to me all the time, and most often with self-published stuff.
Happened earlier this week, in fact. I tried to read a book I had been excited about. Barely made it into chapter two. The conflict hadn’t even kicked into full gear yet, which actually wasn’t the problem. The author broke a lot of rules, and did it badly, IMO. She used the heroine’s inner narrative to deliver backstory dumps and explain things to the reader. None of it read in a natural way.
So I quit. Couldn’t do it. The next book I picked up, though, hit ALL of my romance sweet spots and I devoured it. Finished it about an hour ago, and I’ll be buying the rest in the series. I never stumbled over the writing once, never found myself wanting to rearrange sentences, never wished she’d used a different word.
When I find authors where my writer brain shuts down, I go back to them over and over and over. It’s magic!
Very disappointing, especially if it’s a book you looked forward to reading!
Michelle, there’s so much truth in this post. Along with what others have said in their comments, writing fiction is affecting my job as a librarian when it comes to reviewing fiction for the library. As a librarian I need to take off my fiction writer/learning craft hat and don my librarian hat–reading the book through the mindset of the readers who would find this book on the shelves of our library.
But such an awkward position at the library–you have to purchase what people want. There’s a whole list of authors whose books I’d never touch!
Which, I suppose, proves the point that everyone has different taste.
I prefer character-driven over plot-driven novels. I love getting to know everyone deeply, from their preferences to their peculiarities. But dialog-free pages can be torturous. Seasoned, thoughtful writing delivers a satisfying read. Thank you so much for this post!
Reading rejuvenates my writing muse. If the writing isn’t so great, I tell myself, “This person got published. There’s hope for me.” And I try to see what else in the story led to publication despite the less-than-stellar writing.
Of course, the best experience is when the writing is wonderful. I can enjoy the reading experience, and at the same time, try to pick out what makes the writing marvelous. I’ll never hesitate to steal excellent technique from other writers if I can.
Either way, I return to my own writing with renewed zeal. Any writer who doesn’t read is like a musician who never listens to music. A very sad thing indeed.
Your attitude is to be applauded, Elissa!
Well, I can say that I haven’t noticed bad writing, bad grammar. I suppose I’m still at the stage of continual learning, so I try to soak in all I can. I have noticed different writing styles though … the last book I read was so quick … actions were quick … and discovered the writer had been a journalist, so it all made sense. And I loved it. Different from what I had read in the past, but I loved it. Different methods of writing are intriguing.
But I love tearing my own work apart. It’s crazy how that first draft can be such a mess when you know right and wrong … how did I miss that? Why did I do that? So I enjoy going through and trying to improve my own. And I can only hope that my first drafts will improve in time so they won’t need “so much” editing! 🙂
It’s the pruning process and I like it, too.
Your post and everyone’s comments make good reading. Thank you, Michelle.
I can forgive bad grammar in a great story. But business letters, oh my! I mentally rearrange every word/sentence/paragraph between the Dear and the Sincerely. All the while thinking, “somebody got paid to write this?”
I probably am more forgiving of business letters because I understand admin assistants may not be writing professionals.
But, I do make corrections in my mind. On bilboards, too! 🙂
I am definitely more aware of errors and poor grammar since beginning my writing career. They aggravate me to no end. I can, however, put up with them if the story is good and the author makes me care about the characters enough.
Because you can overlook the errors when you’re immersed in the story.
I understand that completely.
But I always wonder about the editor . . . and sometimes check to see who it was (authors tend to thank them).
Disregard Janet’s picture on that comment . . .
Because you can overlook the errors when you’re immersed in the story.
I understand that completely.
But I always wonder about the editor . . . and sometimes check to see who it was (authors tend to thank them).
I try not to be critical, but I think reading differently is a given. We’ve immersed ourselves in learning the craft and honing our skills. And because of that diligence our emotions are piqued when we read.
When I set a book down long enough to scramble for a pen and write down a direct quote from a story, I know I’ve discovered a gem. Whether shocking or eloquent or life-changing, I must not forget, therefore I inscribe it in one of my many quote books. Burning Sky by Lori Benton made me do this numerous times.
More recently I read an article about New Zealand in a travel magazine. Excerpt below:
“I step off my cottage deck into the night, walking barefoot on the shimmering hoarfrost, lured by the eerie sight of mountains, clouds, and trees illuminated in a full moon’s golden, flint-toned sepia.”
I feel like I’m there with the writer. And isn’t that what we want when we read? To be transported? To be transformed by what we learn or see?
Lovely, but as the old adage goes, you have to prove you can work with the rules before you can break them . . .
OTOH, if you can wow me with the writing and story, I’ll overlook the intransigence!
Kanye West maybe said it best: “I feel like I’m too busy writing history to read it.”
Give me both a great story and good writing! No need to sacrifice one for the other. When I’m immersed in a good book I’m not conscious of mechanics.
I also agree with Andrew’s comment above that adverbs can provide strong emotion in a simple, concise fashion but often get a bad rap. They are after all one of the eight parts of speech for a reason. Adjectives are often maligned as well. Used wisely and precisely they’re super.
I can’t seem to turn off my inner writer/editor when I’m reading for pleasure. When too many issues pop up, it does distract from the story and diminish my enjoyment of the book.
Oh my word, I so know what you mean, Michelle. I go back and read books I loved 5 years ago, only to discover way too much “telling” and an overabundant use of exclamation marks!!! (see what I did there?)
Even more recently I was reading a YA book on my Kindle and have found 7 typos so far. This book is published through an imprint of one of the bigger publishing houses. Sadly, my writing does get in the way of my reading at times. Whatever happened to just enjoying a great book without stopping to write down a good word the author used or picking apart sentence structure?
I suppose we just have to learn to separate our study of the craft from our writing when we can. Otherwise we might forget why we wanted to be authors in the first place 🙂