Karen from Silicon Valley emailed an interesting question today:
I'm about to begin the 2nd draft of my romance novel... I've been reading (E. L.) Doctorow and (John) Updike, and I see that they do a lot of narrative.
That means, she wrote, that John Updike's books, which are considered to be literary, often have 3 - 4 pages of writing that's largely description, explanation and internal thought, followed by 4 -5 sentences of dialogue. Which leads to Karen's question:
Would it be all right, and acceptable, for me to write my chapters in that style?
Why We Need Models to FollowIt's a great idea for us writers to look for published books we can use to help guide us in how to write our stories. Doing so gives us important information about:
1. what topics publishers are looking for
2. manuscript length
3. the structure and format, which tend to go in and out of fashion, i.e., short chapters, multiple segments within each chapter, stories with first-person narrators, multiple points-of-view, etc.
Apples to ApplesWhen choosing books to emulate, however, writers should choose stories like their own.
For example, if Karen is writing a romance, rather than choosing to emulate books by literary authors, I'd suggest she visit the
Romance Writers of America website, which explains the various types of romances that make up the romance writing market along with links to publishers that print romances. Those publishers usually list their submission guidelines, which give a lot of helpful information regarding manuscript word counts, subjects, writing styles, etc.
Then I'd suggest that Karen choose a romance printed by one of those publishers, and particularly, a story like her own. That will tell her what her future audience wants.
Romance writers, for example, tend to appreciate stories that:
• have a very clear writing style that does not require much analysis to understand
• introduces the main character and his/her future love interest, along with the main character's basic dilemma, within the first chapter
• chapters that are relatively short and include a lot of dialogue
The last answers Karen's question: pages of narrative with little dialogue are probably not appropriate for a romance audience.
Generally, if we love certain types of books — thrillers, romances, memoirs, literary like those people read in book clubs, etc. — we should seriously consider writing in that vein. The type of books we like to read indicate the way our brains work. If we write the type of books we like to read, we're much more likely to write stories that appeal to those audiences, meaning people like us!
If Karen likes literary books, she could, for example, decide to make her book a literary love story along the lines of
Cold Mountain.
Lastly, choose books that have been published recently, because those are the ones that reflect what publishers want now, as opposed to what they wanted three years ago, 10 years ago, decades ago, etc.
Thanks for the question, Karen.
Happy writing!
Posts
