Hello, writers. I once read that 1/3 of Americans write. I suspect that maybe really 1/12 of Americans write and and 1/4 of them say they write and mean that they are going to start soon. Of the remaining 2/3, at least 3/4 (that is half of the total) wonder why the heck anyone would write when they don't have to hand it in.
Oh, and I'm still on the math kick.
So I was having coffee in a neighbor's kitchen yesterday and she asked me one of the questions that people ask writers.
So do your books have a moral, then?
I said no, not really.
Children's writers especially dread being accused of having morals. Children's editors feel the same way. The reason is that children don't like books with morals. Certain adults, however, love them. The amazon chats are always burgeoning with parents seeking books that have morals for their children. Barnes and Noble even has a special aisle in the children's section of Books With Morals.
Which is kinda weird because really just about all books have morals.
In fact thinking of the novels I've read recently I can only think of one that didn't. And really it did have a moral, just not one I agreed with.
But smart writers bury their morals, and smart readers dig them up again. If they want to.
Actually I think that moral is related to Theme. Theme is a nebulous thing. The theme of your novel (which tends not to show up till the rewrite sometimes) is something big and issue-y that we humans have decided ought to be reacted to in certain ways. Often it can be summed up in one word. Death! Love. Revenge. Home. Loss. Sacrifice. But if you start from there ("I am going to write a novel about Sacrifice") then chances are you'll get frustrated. Better to start with character, or plot.
Heck, better to start with setting, even. Don't even think about the theme till you're done with the first draft. Your subconscious has got your back. It will make sure there's Theme.
When you uncover the theme, then you can work things around to make sure that you're saying what you actually believe (or wish you believed). Put in some symbols to represent the theme and how you feel about it, how people in general often feel about it. Not too many symbols, you don't want to drown the reader. But just something that keeps reappearing-- maybe a door with peeling paint, an exit sign, a goldfinch. Then readers will uncover them and...
...this is the part that gets to me. They'll also uncover other stuff that you put in there that has to do with your theme. And they'll be perfectly right when they say that that's what it is. It's just that you never noticed it was there.
So by the way, what are the questions people ask writers? Feel free to add to the list:
How much money do you make? (phrased obliquely)
Where do you get your ideas?/Do you just wait for inspiration to strike?
Does it cost you a lot to have those books printed up?
Have you written anything I might have heard of?
How long does it take you to write those things?
So you must make tons of money, huh?
Write On! will be a regular Thursday feature (8 pm ET) until it isn't. Be sure to check out other great lit'ry diaries like:
sarahnity's books by kossacks on Tuesdays
plf515's What Are You Reading? on Wednesday mornings.
cfk's bookflurries on Wednesday nights.
Your happy writing links for the week:
50 famous author put-downs
The 2010 Hillerman Mystery Contest is for a mystery novel set in the Southwest (though you yourself need not be)--deadline is June 1, prize is a book contract w/$10k advance.
For cfk: Juggling multiple protagonists (the fourth part in what may be a manymany-part series; click along for the rest of it)
How writers build courage (modern method)
How writers built courage back in the day
A physicist talks about time travel.
Update: And The Rejectionist interviews our own Deejay Lyn
Never, ever sign anything with any agent or publisher whom you haven't checked out at Writer Beware or Preditors and Editors.