All ‘sad-old-man-eating-a-cookie’ images were created with the assistance of DALL·E 2

I apologize for neglecting my author’s blog. I hit a few mental health road bumps in life and I allowed them to slow me down. It won’t happen again. I intend to blog regularly going forward, and the first book in my new series, Teenage Totalitarian-Resistance Movement From Outer Space, is coming soon. As a reader of my blog, you’ll be the first to know when it’s released.

Anyone who knows me personally knows that I live in a Toyota Sienna, not only because of my complicated financial situation—I owe the banks a lot of money—but also because I enjoy the rent-free freedom of Van Life. I’m writing to you from the parking lot of the Walmart in beautiful Florida City, Florida, but as soon as I wrangle up enough cash to gas up, I’m free to relocate my home to anywhere in the continental United States that tickles my fancy. I’m thinking San Diego. And with my fiftieth birthday, the big five-oh, coming up at the end of this month—yes, I am Halloween baby—I’m only getting better with age. I’m a public speaker by trade, specializing in resilience and entrepreneurship, and I’m certain that soon I will again be booking paid speaking gigs, hopefully ones offering cash advances. I remain endlessly optimistic about the future. The next fifty years are sure to be the best fifty years of my life.

So to celebrate the return to my author’s blog, I’m going to provide my “Top 10 Rules for Writing Genre Fiction.” But this is more than just a list of rules for writing genre fiction; it’s a list of items intended for review before beginning any genre fiction writing session, containing both important reminders for better writing, and a few items to help you get into the right head-space before you begin writing. 

Also please note that, where needed, for the purposes of example, I reference a fictional work of fiction titled Cookie Bitch, which is the story of a middle-aged man, Craig, struggling with a cookie addiction that sends him daily to the cookie bar at his local Whole Foods where he suffers taunts from the staff who have labeled him Cookie Bitch.

Let’s begin…

1.
Plot before you begin writing.

Use whatever story structure you like, but plot the full arc of your story (acts, sequences, and story events) before you begin writing. Each chapter should contain at least one story event, and each story event should fall within the bounds of a single chapter. A story event culminates with something meaningful happening that drives the story forward. You should be able to summarize a story event in a few lines.

The manager at Whole Foods confronts Craig regarding their overnight parking policy. Craig draws first blood.

A sequence is made up of two or more story events which culminate with something even more meaningful happening that drives the story forward. You should be able to summarize a sequence in a few lines.

Craig’s disagreement with the staff at Whole Foods (over his constitutional right to frequent their store and live in his car in their parking lot) escalates to violence. Whole Foods wins the battle when local, corrupt law enforcement take their side, but the war has only just begun

An act is made up of two or more sequences which culminate with something still more meaningful happening that drives the story forward. Again, you should be able to summarize an act in just a few lines.

After his banishment from all Whole Foods locations nationwide, Craig descends into darkness; he considers suicide. After a wise old homeless man shares his story of a similar conflict from his youth with the F. W. Woolworth Company, Craig is inspired to soldier on. He makes his way to Whole Foods HQ in Austin, Texas for a final parking-lot confrontation with the lawyer that signed the Cease And Desist Trespassing letter.

2.
Plot each chapter before you begin writing that chapter.

You should of course plot the arc of your story before you begin writing your story, but you should also plot before each chapter. At a minimum, you should document what is at stake in your character’s life at the open of the chapter, how it will be resolved, for better or worst, by the close of that chapter, and where that will leave your character, emotionally, physically, or otherwise. If nothing is at stake for your character, or if nothing changes for your character from the beginning of the chapter to the end, then nothing meaningful happened. The chapter must have a purpose beyond exposition.

Craig, calm and gentlemanly as always, is finally forced to strike back against the taunts from the Whole Foods staff. They’ve gone too far with their Cookie Bitch remakes. But instead of owning their mistake, they file false complaints against Craig with their manager, and they damage his car. Craig was willing to forgive, but now he is resolved to respond (with violence if necessary).

3.
Outline each chapter before you begin writing that chapter.

Working from your chapter’s plot, you should begin each chapter with by completing an outline. Treat each chapter as a self-contained story and complete an outline of the chapter before you begin writing the chapter. This outline is a very shorthand, truncated version of the chapter. You don’t need to describe anything, and you don’t need to worry about transitions. Instead, describe what you’ll write when you begin writing, including back and forth arguments, blocking out fights, and maybe some fast descriptions. When you outline first, you greatly decrease the chance that you’ll become stuck in your writing, wasting your time and effort. With few exceptions, genre fiction requires that you produce content quickly, so, if you want to write faster, you should know what you’re going to write before you begin writing.

4.
Use plain and simple language.

Your writing should be easy for fresh eyes to read and comprehend. Avoid flowery language. For example:, “Alone in his car, Craig guided the cookies into his mouth hole in a manner akin to a heroin user guiding the needle to penetration of the epidermis,” could instead be, “Alone in his car, Craig ate the cookies.”

5.
Use active voice, not passive voice.

Active voice is when someone or something performs an action: “Craig stumbled up to the cookie bar, ignoring the verbal abuse from the Whole Foods staff.” Passive voice is when someone or something has an action happen to them: “Craig was verbally abused by the Whole Foods staff as he stumbled up to the cookie bar.” A simple trick to accomplish this is to avoid variations of the verb “TO BE.” There are eight forms of this verb: be, being, been, am, is, are, was, were. Note that it is not necessary or advised to avoid variations of this verb in dialogue (and narration too depending on the voice of your narrator) because TO BE verbs add authenticity to your writing; this how people talk in real life.

6.
Show, don’t tell.

Your writing should be vivid so that the reader experiences it without you having to say it directly. For example, telling the reader, “Craig felt shame after eating all the cookies,” could instead be conveyed through showing with, “As Craig tilted the empty cookie bag into his mouth to capture the remaining crumbs, his eyes met with his reflection in the rear-view mirror. He looked away quickly.” It is not necessary that you always show instead of tell—it’s good too achieve a mix—but don’t tell when you could just as effectively show.

7.
Know the world of your story and its characters.

Cliché is defined as “(in art, literature, drama, etc.) a trite or hackneyed plot, character development, use of color, musical expression, etc.” If your world or characters do not exist vividly in your mind, you might, without noticing, resort to cliché to complete descriptions and dialogue, but the reader will notice. If necessary, for each character create a character profile, including not just basic details like age and height, but, more importantly goals, dreams, values, likes, inclinations, dislikes, etc. And, if necessary, also create some world building notes, including not just the technologies, geographies, and ecologies of your world, but, more importantly, cultures, attitudes, taboos, superstitions, history, etc. Holding a vivid image of your world and characters in your mind is necessary to convey a vivid image of your world and characters through your writing. Without it, your world will appear flat and all your characters will sound alike.

8.
Don’t mistake character for characterization.

Characterization is just personal details about a character. True character is expressed when choices are made under pressure, despite characterization. Character can contradict characterization. In a good story, character changes from the beginning of the story arc to the end. For example, at the beginning of Cookie Bitch, Craig, a kind man with unhealthy relationship to food, lacks both courage and confidence. By the end of Cookie Bitch, through a believable unfolding of challenges and opportunities, Craig had willingly transformed himself into an uncompromising, unapologetic, and potentially dangerous person. Did he set fire to the Whole Foods HQ? Is he now so transformed that he is capable of murder? It is left to the reader to decide.

9.
These other simple rules-to-remember have been condensed into a single rule because I want this to be a Top 10 list. Top 10 sounds better than Top 17:

• Use adverbs sparingly. They almost always end with an “ly”. Quickly. Angrily. Beautifully.

• Use creative dialogue tags sparingly. Mostly just stick with “said.”

• Stay in your genre and make things for your fans!

• Stay on genre with the conventional tropes, cover art, and blurbs for that genre. Follow all established conventions for your genre.

• Start an author’s blog and blog regularly. Provide value through your blog.

• Don’t be soft. Don’t give up on yourself. Remember that errors are only steps on the path to success.

• Don’t worry about perfection.

10.
And finally, before each writing session, take five minutes for some deep breathing, and visualize a successful writing session. And have fun!