Can Good Writing be Learned?

 by The Write Readhead

Can good writing be learned?  Can it be taught? These questions have been hotly debated in writing circles for eons. Some say of learning to write, “Nope. You either have it or you don’t.” Others say, “Of course, writing can be taught. It is no different than any other skill.” And yet others would say that it can be taught but that some writers have more of a knack for it than others.

 Well, if you have ever been told that you can’t become a good writer unless you have the natural ability to do so, you are not alone. Just ask best-selling writer James Scott Bell who was told by his early writing instructors that his writing was dull and lifeless.  Not only that, but when he asked them how he could fix it, they told him he would have to figure it out himself. Then, when he asked how he could learn how to fix it, they told him he couldn’t.  Not giving up, he then asked if there were any good books on the subject of writing that might help. Their collective reply went something like this: “No. Books on writing are worthless. You either have what it takes or you don’t.” He got the message loud and clear: he didn’t have what it took to be a writer.

Nevertheless, thanks to his determination and will, he never let it destroy his dream of writing, even after becoming a successful trial attorney.

For Bell, it all changed one date night when he and his wife went to the movies and saw Moonstruck. Let’s just say he was just that—moonstruck. He came away from the movie knowing he was destined to be a writer and set out to write his own Moonstruck. So he went home and began the arduous task of writing a script. Six scripts later, he had it—his Moonstruck.

With a great deal of good fortune, his script found its way to a Hollywood agent.  And just what did the Hollywood agent say? Wait for it. . . .  “It’s got a good plot, but the characters don’t jump off the page.” At that, Bell claims he heard a sound coming from his heart similar to that of helium leaking out of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. Though deflated and a bit discouraged, he knew what had to be done; and so began his quest for the jump-off-the-page character, which, I might add, required learning.

And you know what? His writing education paid off. Today, James Scott Bell is the best-selling author of over twenty novels and over twenty books on writing, and is a much-sought-after writing instructor.  

So, can good writing be learned? Pick up a couple James Scott Bell books and decide for yourself. Whether your struggle is with character development, dialogue, description, or a number of other writing challenges, with a little determination and elbow grease, I believe you can become the best writer you can be.

Strength of Will Produces Strong Characters

 

By the Write Redhead

Back when I was beginning my studies for my creative writing journey, I read a book on how to create story people; and while I don’t remember all the details, I remember this: besides having quirks, every character in your story has to want or desire something. And if you think about it, what a character wants or desires can tell you a great deal about that character.

James Scott Bell, in his book Writing Unforgettable Characters, takes it a step further by saying, that beyond just having wants and desires, a good character must have the strength of will to get what he or she wants. Bell even defines a novel as “the record of how a character, through strength of will, fights against death.” As he explains, the death does not have to be physical, although many a story has characters that must indeed fight against the prospects of physical death.  The death can be that of a job, a romance, or any other hope or dream.

When I think of strength of will in a character, one character who comes to mind is Scarlett O’Hara in the novel Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.  If you are familiar with the story at all, you know what I am talking about. For those unfamiliar with the story, it a story about the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner in Georgia who becomes hopelessly in love with a man she eventually figures out can never be hers.  Scarlett’s fight against death begins when the object of her affection, Ashley Wilkes, announces his engagement to a woman whom Scarlett deems to be plain and homely and completely unworthy of him.

She spends the entire story thinking, scheming, and planning ways to get Ashley to relent and admit that he loves her so that they can live happily ever after, despite myriads of other men who would love to marry her.  In fact, she does marry three different men in an attempt to provoke Ashley to jealousy. And although Ashley does near the end admit that he does indeed love Scarlett, who has entered the war as a nurse just to get near him, he tells Scarlett that he cannot leave his wife which serves as the final blow.

After being slapped by this reality, she finally comes around to the fact that she does actually love her current husband, Rhett Butler, more than she realized.  But things are not that simple. Just as Scarlett is having her moment of clarity, Rhett has grown weary of his pursuit of her heart and has decided to give up on the relationship. When she begs and pleads with him to give her another chance, he utters those most famous last words in cinematic history: “Frankly, my Dear, I don’t give a damn.” Hence begins Scarlett renewed sense of will and her determination to get it all back. The story ends with Scarlett still fighting but for different reasons. She now must fight the death of her relationship with Rhett and the loss of her beloved family plantation. And while the reader knows all of this is a long shot, the reader still believes it to be possible simply because of the strength of will already demonstrated by Scarlett.

Other examples of characters demonstrating strength of will include Frodo from Lord of the Rings, Mitchell Rafferty from Dean Koontz’s The Husband, and John Matherson in the novel One Second After to name a few.  

In closing, think back to some of the most memorable characters you have come across in your reading. What were their desires or goals? Did they have the strength of will to achieve them? It is not enough to just give your characters wants, desires, and goals. The audience has to believe that the characters have the strength of will to attain them.

 

James Scott Bell, Writing Unforgettable Characters. Woodland Hills, CA: Compendium Press, 2020. Pg. 5

Novel Beginnings: Deciding on Viewpoint

One of the most important things you must decide when beginning your novel or short story is deciding which character or characters you are going to view the story through.  I call it deciding on which pair or pairs of eyes you want to see the story with.  There are basically three types of viewpoints (it can get more complex) in fiction writing:  the omniscient viewpoint, single character viewpoint, and dual or multicharacter viewpoint. 

With the omniscient viewpoint, the author writes from the perspective of the removed observer.  This viewpoint allows the author to get into all the characters’ heads at once.  This viewpoint is the least engaging and should be used sparingly.  I will write more about viewpoint in future blogs.  For now here is an example of the omniscient viewpoint from Gary Colvin’s novel, The Last Fisherman: 

The Whalehead trolling drag lay only thirty yards outside the shoreline.  It allowed Jim and Sammy to view an intriguing rocky beach and dense forest all day long.  A family of Bald Eagles on the island also added their daily activities to the enjoyment of the two fishermen.  One moment the big birds sat majestically on a perch, and the next moment they soared gracefully through the air with extended talons to catch fish.

While the observation of nature in action brought pleasure to the fishermen, the trolling drag also produced good catches of salmon.  When Laurs appeared on the scene the first week in August, the crew on the Miss Laura knew they had chosen the right spot.

In this passage we find that we are viewing the story through the eyes of a distant narrator who seems to know what is going on inside the heads of both characters and tells us.  We know that both fishermen enjoyed the Bald Eagles and that they knew that they had chosen the right spot. 

 

On the other hand, single character viewpoint simply means that you are viewing the story through the eyes of one particular character, usually the protagonist.  Here is an example from the novel Try Darkness by James Scott Bell:

I stopped off at the Ultimate Sip.  Pick McNitt made me what he called a Darwinian. “If you can survive this, you’re one of the fittest.”

It was like all the espresso beans in Los Angeles in a single cup.

“Wow,” I said.

“Exactly,” McNitt said.  His big moon face was beaming under his snowy beard. “You think it’ll sell?”

“Oh yeah,” What’re you going to charge?”

“Five bucks.”

“A little high, isn’t it?”

“All the writers will buy it. I’ll tell ‘em they can be the next Balzac.”

“Balzac?”

“You know Balzac. Guy drank about forty cups of black coffee a day. Had his servants wake him up at midnight, got to his writing table, and wrote until exhausted. Then he’d start with coffee and keep going.  Wrote a hundred books that way. Before the age of fifty-one.”

“What happened when he turned fifty-one?”

“Died”

“How?”

“Caffeine poisoning.”

“Ah.”  I took one more sip and started to feel like I could jump over the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Notice that Bell never lets us know what McNitt is thinking or observing, only what he says.  We are not allowed into McNitt’s mind because he is not the viewpoint character, Ty the protagonist is.  It is through Ty’s eyes that we see McNitt’s moon face and snowy beard and know how Ty feels after his last sip of coffee.

Deciding upon whose eyes you want your reader to see your story through should be done before you begin writing to save you a few headaches.  Of course, there is always room for a change of mind throughout the process.

   

In my next blog, I will discuss handling multiple viewpoints within the same story.