Work on Longshot continues apace, albeit slowing slightly over the last few days: the manuscript is now at 68,000 words, spread across 40 chapters. That makes the story considerably lengthier and more complex in plot, characterization and structure than my previous work, including Resonance. At the same time, I'm also striving to make it better than my earlier stories. To that end, in addition to general research for the novel, I've been reading to improve my writing: fiction, non-fiction, and work specific to writers. Within the latter, I found the following, from Stephen King's On Writing, particularly useful, and thought others might appreciate it also:
1. If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.
2. Stories consist of three parts: Narration, which moves the story from point A to point B; Description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and Dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech.
3. The situation comes first. The characters - always flat and unfeatured to begin with - come next.
4. Whether it's a vignette of a single page or an epic trilogy like Lord of the Rings, the work is always accomplished one word at a time.
5. The most interesting situations can usually be expressed as a what-if question.
6. The best stories always end up being about the people rather than the event.
7. With a passive verb, something is being done to the subject of the sentence. You should avoid the passive voice.
8. Talk, whether ugly or beautiful, is an index of character.
9. Description begins in the writer's imagination, but should finish in the reader's.
10. The road to hell is paved with adverbs.
11. Never use "emolument" when you mean "tip".
12. Set a daily writing goal. As with physical exercise, it would be best to set this goal low at first. I suggest a thousand words a day.
13. Call that one person you write for "Ideal Reader". He or she is going to be in your writing room all the time.
14. If you can do it for joy, you can do it forever.