Being a Better Writer: How to “Find” a Lost Reader or Editor · 11:46pm Feb 21st, 2022
Welcome readers, to another Monday installment of Being a Better Writer! I hope that your weekends were as full of fun and learning as mine was. By Saturday night, my brain felt like a rubber ball that had been stretched, twisted, and then turned into a pretzel before being bounced off of a few walls. This was largely due to information overload thanks to yet another excellent—I would even say stellar—Life, The Universe, and Everything writing symposium. There is no convention quite like LTUE out there in the world, and this year LTUE came back from the previous COVID year with a smash turnout and tons of newcomers eager to expand their writing skill and knowledge.
Yes, it was fantastic. The panels were incredible and covered a massive swath of topics (as you can see if you check out my post-LTUE writeups), the panelists themselves were excited to share their wealth of knowledge no matter how esoteric (and amazing), and the attendees were full of great questions and thirst for writing knowledge.
Top to bottom, absolutely fantastic. If you’ve never made it the LTUE and you’re at all interesting in improving the craft of your writing, you absolutely should put it on your calendar. If you couldn’t make it this year, that is a shame … but there’s always 2023 and beyond. Whether you’re a guest of honor, a panelist, or an attendee, LTUE is the place to be for writing knowledge and experience.
And yes, all copies of Axtara – Banking and Finance and Shadow of an Empire that were available in the vendor hall sold out. I really couldn’t ask for more! Though, if I may talk about my portion of that experience for a moment, there was more. One attendee stopped by the signing booth to tell me how much they had loved Axtara and couldn’t wait for more. Another individual stopped by the vendor booth selling it after buying it the night before to let the proprietor know (which was then passed on to me) that they’d stayed up late the night before reading it and had already almost finished it, and how much they loved it. And at my last panel of the conference, a fellow panelist pulled out her copy, slapped it down on the table next to me, and asked me to please sign it.
Okay, humblebrag over. And I wasn’t trying to brag, honestly. It was just … those were some great highlights from my weekend, and I wanted to share them.
And I guess yeah, if it encourages anyone to mosey on over to my book page and pick up a copy of Axtara or something else, well that doesn’t hurt either.
But enough pontificating! As awesome as LTUE is, we’ve got writing to talk about! And today we’re going to be answering a reader request regarding editors and readers, and what we as writers must do when they get lost.
So hit the jump, and let’s get learning.
(puts quarter into the slot)
I'd like to see an article on how to *lie* to your readers. For example, mystery stories have no end of lies, particularly the Agatha Christie type where the reader doesn't know the murderer until the end. (Not so much the Columbo type where they *do* know, but the joy is watching the ball of yarn unwind.) Most of the time, a writer will use multiple POV characters (the Honor Harrington series springs to mind) so the reader can follow along as the lie is crafted, sprung, plays out, recoils, etc... The Harry Potter series doesn't. Practically every character or event appears to be one thing and turns out to be another, pet rat or accomplice to murder, wanted murderer or loving godparent, vicious hateful tyrant or Mom's ex-flame, and the author holds very tight to the single POV (although with cheating through visions and asides). It relates to this article, since a reader is easily kicked out of a comfortable conclusion by suddenly introducing elements that disprove it.
The flip side of this is the daisy-chain plot reversal that ruined a lot of the Star Wars sequels where the watcher thinks they know what is going on... and suddenly the tables are turned until the watcher thinks they know what is going on... and the tables get turned again and again and again.