 I didn't finish three series that I began recently. Each had unique reasons why I won't be reading beyond book 1, and I thought it could be interesting to lay out the reasons and analyze them so any writers (and I) don't make the same mistakes.
As always with DNF (did not finish) posts, I won't be sharing the exact books. I'd rather learn from the experience than shame an author or argue with fans. Series 1 This series is critically acclaimed and award winning. I've enjoyed other books by the same author. In fact, this book was well written overall, and I totally understood the hype. The problem is that it was so grim dark, I'm talking war crimes on the page, that I couldn't handle any more of it. I'm currently reading to escape the horrors of reality, and this was simply too heavy for me to enjoy the escape. In the author's defense, this series came out over a decade ago, and if I'd read it then I might have had a very different experience. This author couldn't have predicted this problem, so the main reason I DNFed can't be avoided. However, there's a second, more minor problem to highlight. The book opened with a very familiar situation: a teen girl who has some sort of disadvantage (financial, physical) gets into a war college where students sometimes kill each other for an edge. Sound familiar? I can name a lot of books with that opening right now. This author wrote it before the current best sellers existed, so it might have been a more unique opening at the time. One lesson I can take away as a writer is if you're going to do a common trope or pattern, then do something very unique and unexpected with it. And also sometimes the world isn't in the right moment for your book, and that's not a reflection of your book's quality. Series 2 This series is popular online, which is why I picked up the first book. Within a few chapters, I flipped to the acknowledgements section to see if it was professionally edited or not. This book was messy on the inside, grammatically speaking. There were entire sections where I couldn't follow who owned the dialog because of the lack of proper paragraph breaks. On top of that, the book had my least favorite trope of all time: a POV character knew something key to the mystery all along and just never thought about it. The ending was predictable, the main structural gimmick that moves the story forward is overdone, and the romance felt forced. I couldn't think of a single reason to continue reading the series. Lessons I can take away as a writer include: find a good editor, dig deeper for more creative choices than what comes to you first, put twists on popular gimmicks or find a new way to move your story forward, and give your characters a reason to fall in love that goes beyond how hot they are. Series 3 This series is also popular online, and one of my friends recommended it so I feel really bad not finishing. In fact, I didn't finish the first book. When I avoid a book and instead opt to do work for my job after hours instead, you know it's not the right book or series for me. The first problem was that the main character was in a psychologically abusive relationship upfront, which tends to be a no-go for me. I felt a trickle of a her desire for revenge though, so I stayed with it. Then near the end of Act 1, a new POV was introduced which had about a thirty page info dump. At one point, the info dump flashback had a flashback within it. At the start of Act 2, the two main characters meet and the personality of the female character was so wildly different in the man's POV that I wasn't convinced she was the same person. I know this book was meant to be enemies to lovers, but the main guy wasn't redeemable at all to me, and even though the main woman found him hot (a little too thirsty in her POV, to be honest) I just didn't get the chemistry. Lessons I can take away as a writer include: don't do info dumps, especially don't do info dumps within info dumps, and keep characters' external personalities consistent. If she banters when she fights in her POV, then she should banter when she fights in his POV too. And finally, if you're writing a romance of any kind, there has to be chemistry, just a little hope, even if it's enemies to lovers. But, there are also elements some readers will never like, and that can't be helped. So as a writer just remember that not every book is for every reader, just like not every flavor of ice cream is for every person. And that's okay! That's my DNF journey recently. I think I'll be switching genres for a palate cleanser to make sure I'm not just sick of enemies to lovers in dark fantasy settings. Have you DNFed a series after book one? What lessons were you able to take away as a writer? Let's discuss in the comments!
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I have several non-fiction books I've used as resources lately. Enjoy these mini reviews!
Beginnings, Middles, & Ends by Nancy Kress This book covers exactly what the title indicates, including offering help if any of those three acts are a problem for you. It emphasizes why each is important, what it must do, and how to transition to the next part. I felt like this book was a bit below my level of writing understanding, because I didn't highlight a single thing in it. However, for newer writers, some of the advice offered may be new to you so for the price ($12.99 for a paperback) it might be worth it. Mastering Suspense Structure & Plot by Jane K. Cleland This book won the Agatha Award for best non-fiction, so I bought it from the little indie bookstore that set up at a conference recently. The book is split in two halves: planning and writing. If you're not a plotter, and don't plan to try it, then half the book may not be for you. While what it discussed was interesting, I still didn't highlight anything, which to me is telling. However, if you're new to plotting and want to try out a technique for it, this book may be of great use. It was a little more expensive (the paperback was $18.99) but at least I supported an indie bookstore. The Negative Trait Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi I've talked about the various thesauruses by this pair of writers before, and they never disappoint. This thesaurus helps identify negative traits to give characters, because a perfect character is a boring one, and associates them with causes, behaviors, thoughts, and examples. Some of the causes include emotional wounds, which really helps make a character cohesive. I also liked that it listed both positive and negative aspects of these traits so you can write a character where these flaws are sometimes a strength. It's safe to say I recommend it. Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow Lives of Plants by Fez Inkwright I bought this one at an indie book stand at a Christmas market. The book is gorgeous and the topic is very in line with a new writing project I have. There's a section up front for history and then it's an encyclopedia of plants that are poisonous, associated with magic, or both. Each entry explains why the plant was included as well as interesting facts, and often an image. I left flags all over this book to come back to. If you're writing about these types of plants or are just curious, I highly recommend it. For the hardcover I paid $16.99, and supported and indie bookstore, so it was a win all around. Have you read any of these books? Which did you find most helpful? Let's discuss in the comments!  Steering the Craft by speculative legend Ursula K. Le Guin is a non-fiction writing craft book complete with exercises. She won so many top awards in the science fiction and fantasy realm that I knew I needed to see what her writing advice entailed.
Overview Steering the Craft is a mere 141 pages, but don't let that fool you. The 10 chapters each focuses on an element of writing. The exercises that appear at the end of each section include solo exercises and group exercises, which Le Guin recommended. These often included tasks to break the advice just covered by the chapter, then writing the same thing following the advice, especially if the topic was a bit more obscure. My Experience I followed along and did each writing exercise, which is not my usual pattern, since I read on my commute. However, this book I made sure to read at home next to my laptop. I loved the exercises, because writing something that broke the lesson just learned proven the lesson was right. I learn best through failure and this forced failure exercise style really hammered home the information much better than just having me try things correctly. All in all, the book and exercises took me about two days to get through. Is It Worth It? I paid $16.99 for my paperback copy from an indie bookseller at a writing conference. I'd probably be willing to pay more, honestly. This was one of the most useful craft books I've read in ages! I cannot recommend it enough to writers both new and advanced. You may think you know everything in this book, but the exercises alone are golden. This is bound to be a timeless resource! Have you read Steering the Craft and tried all the exercises? Which was your favorite? Let's discuss in the comments!  Story Engineering by Larry Brooks and Clue. Photo by Kate Ota 2024 I'd had my eye on Story Engineering by Larry Brooks for a while before I came across it in a second hand shop. My copy is covered in pencil underlining the most random words and phrases, but it's clear where the previous owner stopped reading, as the pencil disappears. A bit tragic that this other author never finished, but it was a win for me, because I got to have this book at last.
Overview Story Engineering: Mastering the 6 Core Competencies of Successful Writing is 278 pages (paperback) of explanations of what a story needs, why it needs that, and tips on execution. The six competencies themselves aren't shocking to seasoned writers, but each section discuss a competency in depth, offering examples or exercises. The book ages itself with references to the Da Vinci Code often and a joke about Bill Clinton, but otherwise the advice is fairly timeless. My Experience I highlighted something in most chapters, but the section I've returned to is about character. This book explained one, two, and three dimensional characters in a very practical manner that I'd never seen anywhere before. It changed how I'll see character dimensions forever, and will hopefully help me write deeper ones. A lot of the rest of the information, though useful, was information I've seen before. Story beats and what's happening in them, what is an idea vs a concept, voice, etc. All great reminders, but not exclusive to this text. My only complaint is that the book hyped itself a lot. It often repeated how the six competencies would make me a better writer--and then not explain what they were, and would go on about how important they were with no other explanation. It happened often enough at the end of chapters that I'd just skip ahead to the next one. Is It Worth It? I paid $8 for my used copy from a locally owned independent bookstore. That alone is worth it. If you're looking for a book that gives an overview of what makes a solid story and guides you on how to get there, this is a great option. It's not too in depth on any one topic, so it feels more introductory than I'd hoped, but there were still valuable ideas that helped me as a writer. Overall, I'd say this is worth the read to improve your writing craft. Have you read Story Engineering? What about the sequel, which is on my TBR, Story Physics? Let's discuss in the comments! As part of winning the Dark and Stormy short story contest with BARN this year, I got to read five minutes of my short horror story, Waxing Fame, at the annual BARN Dark and Stormy party. It was a fun and full event with amazing published authors from the area who read stories and excerpts of their work. There was also a great liaison from a local museum who talked about a serial killer in Bainbridge's history. Everyone who shared did a fabulous job, and it was a very entertaining night. My reading went well, partially because I'm used to public speaking, but I'm sure many other writers aren't. If you are preparing for your first public reading (or your 100th public reading) and are looking for tips, here are mine!
1. Practice practice practice Read your story aloud at home alone over and over again. You want to make sure you aren't tripping over names, phrases, scene breaks, etc. The more of your story you memorize, the easier it will be to follow my next pieces of advice. 2. Look up! Every now and then as you read (every 3-5 sentences, at most) look up from your paper and in the direction of the audience. Some readings you'll have lights pointed at you so you won't be able to see anyone specific, and other times you'll be able to see each and every face. If eye contact while public speaking makes you nervous, just look at people's eyebrows. Do a sweep, don't just focus on one person. This is most effective when done during dialog, especially anything you want to emphasize, like a prophecy, threat, or joke. 3. Stick to the time Whether you're in a line up with other writers, or you're doing a solo reading, your venue will probably ask you to read for a certain amount of time. Stick to it! Even if you have to stop in the middle of your story, it's fine to leave readers wanting more. They may buy your book or look up your short story to find out what happens. It also builds a good relationship between you and the venue if you're respectful of their request. If you're one of several people reading, sticking to the time is essential to make sure everyone gets a chance to share. 4. Fake It Til You Make It Nervous? The audience will notice. Even if you have jitters in your seat, when you get up to read, put on a smile and pretend you're the most comfortable pubic speaker of all time. Play act as someone else, a you from a parallel universe who doesn't fear public speaking. That can give you a level of distance from your performance so you can say "well it wasn't me the audience was judging, it was the character I was playing." You can also pretend the audience already knows and loves you and your writing. Whatever method of pretending you need to do, give it a shot. Deep breaths, smiling, and standing up straight can even trick your brain into calming down, so by the end of your reading you're not pretending to be confident anymore, you actually are. 5. Roll with the Punches Sometimes chaos ensures, such as something balanced on the podium falling while you read, or a disturbance occurring in the audience. You can pause to make sure everything's okay (certainly don't read through someone having a heart attack, for example), but if all's well, it's fine to laugh off little things or make a comment acknowledging a little chaos, and then dive right back in to the story. No need to point out small things like someone leaving, because maybe they're just going to the bathroom or taking an important call. Don't let interruptions, major or minor, derail you. If you've lost your place on the page, buy a little time with the classic "where was I?" until you find it, then repeat the last sentence before the interruption and chug right along. I hope those tips help you prepare for you next live reading. Have more questions or tips you want to share? Drop them in the comments!  Wilbur's reaction to everything: concern. Photo by Kate Ota 2024 One type of writing resource book I love is a reference I can go back to time and time again. The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is one such book (series!) that I keep next to me whenever I edit. However, I'm always on the lookout for more! I found 1,000 Character Reactions from Head to Toe by Valerie Howard while browsing Amazon and received it as a gift over Christmas.
Overview At just 88 pages, this book is a quick read. What you get is basically a thesaurus of body parts in order from head to toe (plus some overall things like skin). Each entry contains actions or sensations associated with that part of the body. Sometimes the action is linked to an emotion, such as cheeks burning with embarrassment. After each short list (which is never longer than a page plus a few lines) there are empty lines for you to write your own entries for that body part. My Experience I felt like each entry's list was too short. I also wanted more of them connected to a cause, like embarrassment, since a reaction is happening because something is causing it to happen. Some body parts were also conspicuously absent, so don't expect this to help you write a romantic encounter, for example. I think the empty lines are a good idea, because plenty of reactions aren't present, but it also made it look like the author didn't do enough of the research for you. Is It Worth It? This book is $5 for a paperback on Amazon and $0.99 on Kindle, though the empty lines for you to write on become useless on the Kindle. If you're trying to add more reactions and emotions to your writing, I think The Emotion Thesaurus is a better option, but if your budget can't accommodate a $17.99 Emotion Thesaurus at the moment, this book could be a good substitute or even just an entry into the concepts if the larger book is too intimidating. If your budget can handle either book, go with the more robust Emotion Thesaurus. Have you used 1,000 Character Reactions from Head to Toe? Did it help you improve your writing? Let's discuss in the comments!  A visual representation of a developmental edit. Made on Canva by Kate Ota, 2023 This week I'm discussing a new experience my writing group engaged me in: a developmental edit. I'd never done one before, so I read about what they entail and what to look for before starting the process and did another refresher after I finished reading the manuscript. I thought sharing my experience could help someone else who either has been asked to do a developmental edit, wants to attempt to developmental edit their own work, or is curious about what this entails.
What is a Developmental Edit? A developmental edit is what I think of as an "early stage" edit, so you're not polishing sentences, you're polishing structure and plot and character arcs. Big picture stuff that could cause you to change huge sections of the story. No point fixing a sentence in a scene that's about to be removed. A dev edit is performed after drafting (at the earliest) but before line/copy edits. In the case of my writing group, it was done in lieu of a beta read. If you hire a professional to do a developmental edit, it is generally done after beta reading. How Do You Developmental Edit? As I read, I tried to keep in mind the big picture items: plot arc and character arc. The story was pretty linear, so structure wasn't a big concern in this case. However, if reading a non-linear story, be sure to keep an eye on structure too. I made some notes in line, but not as often as I do for beta reads. I didn't correct every small typo I came across unless it affected my reading/understanding. After reading, I put together an edit letter. There are lots of outlines online for what an edit letter should contain, so I followed one of those to make sure I hit the big points: positive feedback, setting, characters, character arc, pacing, dialogue, and plot holes. I kept my feedback a big picture as possible--don't write an entire page about one setting's single problem, or one line of dialogue that didn't fit. Elements of the Edit Letter Positive Feedback: This is huge to include in a developmental edit. Since this writer was going to get edit letters from the entire group of us, that could lead to an overwhelming amount of suggested edits. It's crucial to include what worked well, so that the author knows what NOT to change, and so they don't feel disheartened if the edit letters are long or require a lot of work. Setting: Even if set in the real world, the setting will still matter to the reader. Include if you could picture the setting in each scene, what elements were often missing (think sights/sounds/smells/tastes/touches), and if you understood when the scenes took place (night/day, years, seasons, etc.). Feel free to call out great things here too, of course, especially settings you felt worked well in contrast to ones that didn't, so the author can look at their own work to see what they did and pull that into the less successful scenes. Characters: For this section, I talked about all the characters except the main character and their arc, which is the next section. Here is where you should things like the number of named characters (overall or in a particular scene were there too many? Too few?), the names of characters (were any too similar? Did the author accidentally use a celebrity/infamous/famous character name?), and the purpose of side characters (could any be combined? Did you mix any up? Was there someone you felt was missing?). Positive feedback can go here too, like naming a favorite side character and why, mentioning a great character moment, etc. Character arc and pacing: I followed Save The Cat Writes a Novel as my guide for when certain beats should have hit, and used that to inform me on pacing, though often I could tell by gut if anything was running too long or happening too soon. Save The Cat acted like a nice quantitative measurement to back me up and help the author figure out how much to move their beats. The same is true for pacing plot and pacing the character arc. They should be two separate sections in the edit letter, despite the similar method. Character arc is the beating heart of a novel, so be sure to pay special attention to it: did the character complete their arc successfully? Did they have a lowest moment? Was the character arc driving the plot arc or vice versa? (The "correct" answer for that one will depend on genre, though agents right now love to talk about character driven stories.) Dialogue: Feedback here should include whether the dialogue felt natural in general (there will always be exceptions, like a character who is using a second language might be a little more stiff), if dialogue from different characters felt too similar, and if the dialogue to narration balance felt correct. That last one will depend on genre and taste, but go with your gut. This is also a place for positive feedback: did anyone have a great one liner that made you laugh? Did any character have stand out dialogue in general? Plot Holes: A little more general than the plot beats discussed in the pacing section, the plot hole section is where you discuss other problems with the plot or world. Even if set in the real world, there can be holes (for example: you may have to tell your author that Interstate 80 doesn't go through Colorado, it goes through Wyoming). More often, you'll need to point out questions that come up around "why did the characters do X and never even thought of the much easier method Y?" You may, but you don't have to, suggest possible solutions. However, don't get attached to your ideas, as the author may come up with a different solution that works better for them. If there are other thoughts or comments you have left over, feel free to add more sections. For different genres, you may need other sections such as Romance, Magic System, Alien Culture, Mystery Elements, etc. Every story will be different, so feel free to write an edit letter that best suits the manuscript you're editing. In the end, you'll send your edit letter to your author and hope for the best. Keep in mind, everything you're written in your letter is a suggestion, not a legal requirement. If the author loves and incorporates all of your feedback, hooray! If the author ignores every word you wrote, well, it's their novel. Odds are, something in the middle will happen, and that's great too. All you can hope for us that the author takes away at least one thing from your letter to make their book better in their eyes. Some Quick Don'ts
Have you ever done or received a developmental edit? Was it worth it? Do you recommend your editor? Let's discuss in the comments!  Image made on Canva 2023 As promised last month, I'm going to share lessons from my first DNF (did not finish) of the year. And just in time for Halloween! Nothing scarier than a book full of promise falling flat on its face, right? I will not be naming the book, but to give context, it was on a list of best indie books of the year it was published, and the premise sounded fantastic. In fact, I'd hoped to use it as a backup comp to one of my novels. It's a self-published adult near future scifi, specifically biopunk. I stopped reading on page 120 out of 438 pages (27%). Rather than forget this and move on, I choose to take away lessons from books I didn't enjoy.
1. Choose Your Editor(s) Wisely If you're going indie, choose your editor or editors wisely. Some folks choose to forgo an editor, and that's your choice. However, if you pay someone to edit in any capacity (developmental, copyedit, line edit, etc.) make sure you choose someone who does a great job. Take advantage of offers to do a sample edit before you commit. If your novel is riddled with typos and plot holes, your readers will not stick around. 2. Don't Info Dump We all know not to do this, but in our own stories we always worry if the reader knows enough. Our beta readers might wonder about specific questions or ideas and we think we have to answer every one of them. However, if you info dump, your readers will know and will not be happy. We all need a certain amount of information to keep reading, but a trickle is better than a firehose to the face. Give enough to avoid confusion, hold back enough that they want more. We all do so much worldbuilding in the background, and it's tempting to shove everything in the novel, but remember the iceberg principle. Show enough worldbuilding to prove to the reader that there is much more below the surface--whether or not you actually wrote more below the surface doesn't matter. The book I DNF'd had such a giant info dump that I ended up skimming it--which is the beginning of the end for me when I read. 3. Avoid "As You Know, Bob" As you know Bob, or maid and butler dialog, is when two characters discuss something they both already know for the benefit of the reader/audience. This is made even worse when it's used to info dump. Your reader will know it's happening, they'll wonder why this conversation is happening, and they'll soon realize it's for them. That ruins the illusion of the reading experience. The book I put down had so much of this that I stopped trusting the author to tell me a good story. Maybe the plot was going somewhere interesting, but how the story is told is most of the battle. 4. Know Your Stuff If you're writing about something technical, let's say gene editing, you better be up on the latest developments. People who love scifi tend to also love science. Especially if you're doing a near-future setting, you need to know what's already happening. Otherwise, you end up sometimes creating an entire plot around science that's out of date, and your plot problems could be solved with science available right now. Your readers will know and will be annoyed. This was my biggest factor in putting down the book I DNF'd this time. It got science wrong that I did in grad school, and it was so wrong it made me cringe reading it. This lesson can be true outside of scifi too, for example people who know horse stuff will complain about horses written poorly in fantasy (there was a whole chapter about horses in Putting the Fact In Fantasy.) So if you include anything in your book that you don't know a lot about, be sure to do your research! Those are the big takeaways from the first book of 2023 that I didn't finish. What are some things that make you put a book down? Have you improved your writing by seeing what doesn't work? Let's discuss in the comments!  A retro cover of I, Robot depicting a scene from one of the stories within. Isaac Asimov is a famous mid-twentieth-century scifi writer of both novels and short stories. Aside from I, Robot, his most famous work is the Foundation series (which won the one-time Best All Time Series Hugo Award in 1966, kind of a big deal). He won many awards, and now some awards, magazines, and even robots are named for him. Most of his work includes robotics, and his three laws of robotics have been at the very least considered if not adapted by many who include robots in their own writing. If you're writing robots, cyborgs, or even AI in your scifi, you need to read iRobot. Plus, it's got some thriller and horror elements, and robots fit the Halloween vibe, right? So it's the perfect time to read it.
1) Just like Frankenstein, don't be afraid of a unique structure I, Robot, as it sits on a shelf today, is not how the contents were first presented. Now, it's a series of stories with an external story woven through that connected them all. Initially, these stories were published solo from 1940-1950. If all of the stories had been presented in chronological order with no external structure to guide me, I would have thought this was very choppy and didn't flow. The structure being handed to me up front made it easier to understand these were short stories stacked on each other in a trench coat. It may be a challenge to put together, but a unique structure could be just what your complex novel needs. 2) Play with your worldbuilding Each of the short stories delved into a different aspect of how the laws of robotics worked, or could inadvertently fail, and also included what was going on socially with how the world viewed robots. It was a really cool way to see how this world functioned and it was fun guessing at how the three laws of robotics would get messed up in each tale. If your story world has set laws (socially or physically), see how those laws interact, if they can fail, or if they can bend. Maybe your characters don't even understand the laws fully, so what they consider a rule is actually much more complex. Feel free to play and even write short stories about your world to get to know it more deeply. 3) Anticipate future social norms One thing I appreciated about I, Robot was that the main character, the robopsychologist being interviewed in the external structural storyline, was a woman. This was put together in 1950, and that character appears in the short stories too, so she wasn't just slapped in there for fun. While she was the only woman prominently featured as a scientist, she was so necessary. If I'd read this book and it had been all men in science despite the mid-to-late 2000s setting, I wouldn't have enjoyed it. If your writing is set in the future, think about how it will read in the future. Will that joke you made still be funny, or could it be harmful? (The gauge here is to "punch up, not down" i.e. make fun of the powerful not the people with equal or less power than you. Satire about the president: will probably age well; joke about the poor: no.) Will your inclusion of different genders (and think full spectrum here) be appreciated? Probably! So don't be afraid to think of the future socially just as much as technologically. (Though Asimov wrote a woman in STEM as a prominent character, note there were plenty of people reporting his sexual harassment of women during his lifetime. So, write as he wrote, but don't do as he did.) Those were my big writing takeaways from Isaac Asimov's I, Robot. If you're looking for the plot from 2004's I, Robot with Will Smith, you may end up disappointed. However, just think of that movie as another short story that would fit right in to the collection. It didn't surprise me that the Hollywood version was so different from the book, the same was true for Frankenstein! Have you read I, Robot or other Asimov novels and short stories? Have you learned any good writing lessons from him? Let's discuss in the comments!  The Amazon cover for the book features the green classic monster, not as described in the book. Fall is spooky season and one of the main Halloween monsters is of course Frankenstein's monster, sometimes called Adam. Since it is a foundational text to scifi--the very first scifi, in fact--I decided to read the original Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Rather than review it, I decided to write about what I learned about writing irom this classic novel (or really a novella, it was about 110 pages).
1) Don't be afraid of a unique story structure Frankenstein is actually a letter written by a sea captain to his sister about meeting Dr. Frankenstein and that man's story. So the meat of the book is "story within a story" since you know in the end things will circle back to that boat captain. At one point, the story becomes the monster's story being told to Dr. Frankenstein being told to the captain. Like Russian nesting dolls. However, this complicated structure was made very clear and even acted as foreshadowing of excitement when the start of Dr. Frankenstein's tale got a little dry. 2) Don't overdo the backstory While it may have been the style of the time, modern readers now don't need Dr. Frankenstein's life story to begin with his parents meeting. When I saw that was how the story began, I was dreading the rest. It didn't get interesting until Dr. Frankenstein left for college. So while it's good to read classics, keep in mind how very different the market is today, and don't accidentally pick up on very out of date style choices. 3) Build sympathy by showing what your characters wants most We were all a little afraid of Frankenstein's monster after his first kill, naturally, because he's not on the page much to defend himself. However, he makes it clear exactly what he wants: a lover. He is so intensely lonely and in need of contact that after he explains it, you can't avoid sympathy. There is even some sympathy for Dr. Frankenstein when he just wants to protect others. Get your readers to choose sides by showing a deep want and explaining why--and why they can't have it (yet). 4) Keep up with the latest innovations Mary Shelley was inspired by Galvanism and advances with electricity. If she'd only stayed aware of what was going on in the literary world, she wouldn't have run into the concepts that allowed her to conceive of Frankenstein. When looking for inspiration, look at innovations in fields that excite you: space, medicine, engineering, environmental science, oceanography, etc. Even keeping up with new historical finds in archaeology or anthropology, if you're more of a history/fantasy writer. You never know when you'll run into something that will inspire, so get out of your typical bubble. Those are my big takeaways from Frankenstein for writers. I will admit I was very surprised that a lot of classic Frankenstein tropes weren't in the original book--no castle, no Igor, no villagers with pitchforks and torches. He literally made his monster in his dorm room. (Try explaining that mess to your R.A.) I think he was even described as yellow, not green. So the Hollywood-ization of Frankenstein has clearly overshadowed the original for my entire experience. Kind of wild! Have you read Frankenstein? What were your writing (or reading) takeaways? What are some of your spooky season favorites? Let's discuss in the comments! |
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