A while back I presented a talk about writing, and to prepare myself I sat down and tried to come up with a list of writing advice that has worked for me. I thought it might be of interest to other folks so here it is:

Five things I recommend most highly:

READ: This is, in my opinion, THE most important thing to do if you want to write. Read books. And I mean all kind of books, not just the type or genre you like best. When you read, think about your reactions. What is it about your favorite books that makes them so good? What things don’t work so well?

OBSERVE: Good writing feels real (even fantasy!). Reality is based on strong grounding details. One of the most important things you can do as a writer is to learn to really observe the world around you. Pay attention to smells, colors, textures, sounds, and take notice of the different ways people talk and walk, and how it feels physically when you are sad or happy. Think about what details define a physical place or an experience. If you make a habit of this, you can store up a treasure-trove of details to use in your writing. (Observing is also a great place to get story ideas!).

WRITE: Most people can’t pick up a violin, step onstage and play a concerto. Likewise most writers are not going to sell the first thing they write. The important thing to remember is that nothing you write is truly wasted. It’s all part of the learning process. So keep writing!

STAY DETERMINED: That learning process might take a long time. And it’s tough. A lot of writers end up tossing away whole novels. And even when you finally write something you believe in, the process of submitting to literary agents or editors usually involves a lot of rejections. I received over a hundred rejections before I finally found my agent and editor. It is hard to get your book or story published. But it’s impossible if you give up. So stay determined!

FIND OTHERS: Staying determined can be a lot easier if you have the company of other people who will understand your frustrations and cheer you onward. It’s also really helpful to find other people who are willing to read your work and offer feedback. These people might be a local writing group, or members of one of the many online critique groups out there.

And here are six things that can stand in your way:
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There’s an interesting discussion going on over at The Five Randoms on book endings.

Some of my (quite random) thoughts, reposted here:

I do think good endings are very important — a good beginning will make me keep reading a book, but a bad ending will definitely spoil my experience of an otherwise good book, like a terrible dessert at the end of a delicious dinner.

I am a sap so I do enjoy a good, well-deserved happy ending. But I don’t need one to be satisfied by a book – I loved the ending of THE TIME-TRAVELER’S WIFE (it made me cry, one of only three books to do so that don’t feature sad things happening to dogs). I particularly love it when the main character doesn’t get exactly what she/he started the book wanting, but realizes that what they do end up with is better, even if it’s bittersweet.

There’s also the issue of unresolved plot threads, whether in a series, or not. I know some folks have been less than thrilled with the ending to THE HUNGER GAMES due to certain aspects of the story being unresolved, but I actually quite liked it. I felt the issues I cared most about were resolved, and the other issues were left in a state that felt fair to me, given the actions and nature of the main character. But as in much about writing, it really does vary from book to book and reader to reader.

One type of ending that I encounter regularly in my favorite genre (fantasy) that I think is often mishandled is “the big magical shebang” where some giant spell goes off, or some portal opens, or some otherwise large-scale magical event occurs and everything gets resolved against a fantastical lightshow backdrop. These can be well-done (and I must admit I have one of these at the end of my second book) but a lot of the time I feel sort of like the author got too overwhelmed and just decided to throw in a bunch of FX to distract the reader from the actual plot resolution.

I am a sucker for books where the ending somehow reflects or resonates with the beginning, either physically (characters return to the same location) or thematically (the questions/issues posed in the opening paragraph) or both. So that you could hold up the first paragraph, and the last paragraph, and sort of see the entire book captured there. This is something I aim for in my own books.

And lastly, one thing that will make me want to throw a book across the room is when a character is killed off at the end and I feel like it’s only being done because the author wants to show the reader that “things are serious” (this rule applies to TV and movies too, Joss Whedon). I can understand that desire, but it generally just feels like cheating to me.

What about you guys? How do you feel about endings? What do you look for, and what turns you off? What are some of your favorite endings?

I’ve been doodling around with ideas for the next book, while CIRCUS GALACTICUS is off with a few brave readers. I’m generally never short on kernel ideas for books, but the last few years especially have taught me that “cool idea” does not equal “book I should start writing NOW”. The thing I really need is “cool idea + fully-fleshed character”. So I’m trying to be aware of that.

But another thing I’ve been thinking about is how I can push myself with this next project. What do I want to do better? Are there new things I want to attempt?

Here are some of mine:

1) Third-person POV. I used to write in this all the time, but lately I’ve been using first for everything. When I try third, it feels sort of like playing the piano — I haven’t played since I was 12 and I am rusty. But I know it is possible to pull out beautiful music, if only I put in the time to practice.

2) Beautiful prose. I adore beautiful prose. Reading a book where you want to say lines over and over because they are so striking and evocative and lovely. I still value plot and character first and foremost, but I still aspire to crafting writing that sings.

3) Emotion. I hardly ever cry reading books (last time was THE TIME-TRAVELER’S WIFE, unless you count books where sad things happen to dogs, which always get me sniffly). But I love it when they do, and when I feel the love and pain and joy of the characters so sharply it makes me sit up and gasp. I would love to write the sort of compelling romance (or other deep emotional relationship) that I look for as a reader.

4) Complex mystery. I love twisty-turny plots with hidden layers and unexpected reveals that make you smack your head because they make perfect sense but you never expected them. Books where you go back and re-read for more details, to see all the cool bits you missed.

What about you guys? What sort of things do you want to push yourself toward as a writer (or any other sort of artist)?

No, I don’t actually have one. Though adorable dog + beloved husband + excellent reading material + tea + chocolate works pretty well.

There’s been a bunch of excellent posts around the internet lately, talking about writerly self-confidence and angst, envy, happiness, and everything in between. And it’s something I’ve been thinking about quite a bit since selling my books. So although I don’t have a recipe for happiness, I do think I’ve started to understand myself a little better. I’ve still got a ways to go, but I wanted to put a few things down here, for myself, and for anyone else who might find them useful.

I remember very distinctly going into a bookstore in November of 2003 (while I was in the middle of drafting Fortune’s Folly, actually!) and feeling a physically painful yearning: I wanted my book to be there. I wanted other people to read my stories, and enjoy them. To establish that connection with readers. And I did believe that if I could sell my book, that yearning feeling would go away and I’d be happy.

Then I picked up a book (it was Kai Meyer’s The Water Mirror, which takes place in a fantasy Venice) and felt this huge wave of self-doubt: Fortune’s Folly also involves a fantasy city inspired by Venice and all I could think was that I was an unoriginal hack. In fact, I just went and found the old livejournal post from that day. Here’s an excerpt:

So many wonderful authors. So many beautiful words and fabulous characters. I’m having a crisis of faith in my ability now. My characters are flat and unlikable, my prose stinks, my plot is silly, etc.

At least I had some inkling of what was really going on, since I also said:

But it’s happened before and I know this too shall pass. Hopefully by tomorrow. I need my positive energy…

It took a lot more yearning and a lot more self-doubt (and a lot of rejections!) but I finally did sell Fortune’s Folly in early 2007. I was over the moon, thrilled, excited, dancing around the house. It was definitely one of the happiest experiences of my life so far.

And yes, I think on the whole I am happier today, in 2009, than I was in 2003. Part of that is thanks to knowing my book is out there, that I made my dream happen, and that people are reading it. The very sharpest pains of yearning have been dulled. I can’t remember the last time I lay awake at 2AM wrestling with existential angst. And there’s plenty of non-writing things have also made me happier: moving to a state and city I love where I am near my good friends, adopting a dog, taking more control of my fitness and health, planting a garden. I’m even reading better books! A lot of it, though, is just plain recognizing that life is valuable. Time is valuable. I’m better now at prioritizing what really matters to me and mine, and cutting out what isn’t.

But I also still yearn painfully for things I don’t have (starred reviews, awards, foreign rights sales, etc.). And I still dip into valleys of doubt, in which I am convinced I am an utterly untalented hack. Realizing that I was still going to have to battle envy and self-doubt was one of the least pleasant discoveries of the past two years. I spent a good amount of energy being angry at myself for not being happier.

Thank goodness for the internet, though, because it’s connected me with so many wise and wonderful fellow writers and book-lovers, and I think I am finally starting to get a clue how to make this work. The thing is: wanting more is part of human nature. It’s what drives us to build space shuttles and create symphonies. Seeing faults is part of human nature. It’s what allows us to experiment and develop the science to build those space ships, and to find the right notes that harmonize so perfectly.

So here’s what I do.

When I’m fighting with envy: The big key for me is recognizing that I don’t really want exactly what someone else has. I may envy J. K. Rowling’s success but I honestly don’t wish I had written Harry Potter. I love those books, but they aren’t mine. What I really truly want is for that thing to happen to me, for my own books to be good enough to make people love them. If I can twist it around in my mind just right, it turns the envy into a desire to improve my own writing, to try harder, to dare for more.

When I’m fighting self-doubt: There are two things that help with this. One is simply that I’ve gone through enough ups and downs to know that both are temporary. So when I am having a miserable day, I can look back and remind myself that I had a miserable day last month too, and it passed. The second thing I do is to focus on my enthusiasm, rather than my self-confidence. I thank my fellow writer R. J. Anderson for that realization, since she’s the one who first directed me to this excellent article. The thing is, I may not be confident that other people will like my work, or that it will sell, or even that my writing is up to snuff. But I know that I was enthusiastic about the story, that there’s something about it I love and want to bring out. So I focus on what excites me and makes little shivers run along my skin as I dream about it. If I can find the love rather than dwelling on the fears, I can usually move onward.

It doesn’t always work, but it’s what I strive for, and I think it’s helping me make my envy and self-doubt work for me, rather than the other way round.

How about you folks? Anyone else struggle with these things? How do you cope?

I love words (I know, what a surprise, right?). One of my favorite books as a kid was The Insomniac’s Dictionary, by Paul Hellweg. It lists all sorts of cool lists of words. Like words for collections of animals (a clowder of cats, a parliament of owls, a knot of toads) or lists of the longest words in the dictionary. I must have spent hours reading that book.

I particularly love discovering that a word exists for something I didn’t know had its own word. I’ve always loved the smell that rises up from the damp soil after a summer rain, but it was only a few years ago (courtesy of the fabulous A.Word.A.Day) that I found out there was a word for it: Petrichor.

And then there are the words that are just plain fun to say. Perambulate. Pulchritude. Jackanapes. Banana. Hornswaggle.

And finally there are the beautiful words. I’ve been reading through and loving this list of what are purportedly The 100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language, which I heard about from writer Alexandra Bracken (her debut fantasy Brightly Woven is due out in Spring 2010 and sounds very cool).

Some of my favorites from the list:

• dulcet
• ethereal
• glamour (but only if spelled with the u!)
• mellifluous
• penumbra
• serendipity

Some I would have cut (they are interesting, but not beautiful, in my opinion):

• encomium
• eschew
• fescue
• fugacioius (then again, I can’t even figure out how to pronounce it — maybe it does sound beautiful if you know the trick!)
• pastiche

I also found a name for a character in my circus book from among the 110 words on that site. Anyone care to guess which it is?

And which words do you folks like best? Are there any particularly cool words you’ve found recently?

The lovely Chandler of the Fumbling with Fiction blog has interviewed me — my very first blog interview! You can check it out here! She’s been interviewing a bunch of debut writers so check out the archives for more!

One of the questions Chandler asked was related to what I hoped I might achieve as a writer. I’ve been thinking about that question a bit more since responding, and also on a related question: what response do I hope my books might provoke in readers?

I am pretty sure there are authors out there who want to write books of staggering literary merit, books that reshape the way people think, or change people’s lives. And there are certainly authors out there writing books that do accomplish those things.

For my part, I have come to realize there are two main things I want my books to have (books I read, and books I write): I want them to have heart, and I want them to entertain me (and hopefully my readers).

Of course that all depends upon definitions: what does make a book entertaining? What is heart? I’m sure other people have different qualities that make a book entertaining, or give it heart.

For me, an entertaining book has a plot that engages (often with an element of mystery) and details that pull me in and make me want to keep reading. And a book with heart, for me, is one that connects me to the characters, or to humanity as a whole, and makes me feel like I understand the universe, and what life is all about, just a little bit better.

There are books that have entertained me without providing what I would consider “heart”. I will admit that I read Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, and despite the things I didn’t like about it (which were many) there was a definite pull that just made me keep reading. For me, it was the equivalent of the sort of popcorn-action-movies that I also love. I watch them, enjoy them while I’m there, and then forget about them.

In contrast, there are books like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which I read with just as much breathless engagement, but which also resonated on a much more emotional level. There was something more there (for me, at least) in Katniss struggling to keep her loved ones safe, in the characters and their connections to one another. It made me feel that glimmery-shifty feeling as if I were on the brink of some better understanding of what it means to be human.

There are probably books out I did not personally find entertaining that do have “heart” — but since I tend to put aside books that don’t engage me, I’m having trouble coming up with any examples!

So to sum up, my aim is to tell a story that makes readers feel connected, to explore and delight in the human experience and the marvel and mystery of the universe. But, first and foremost, I want to tell that story well, and make the reading experience fun.

So how about you folks? What do you look for in a book?
And if you are a writer, what response do you hope your books will provoke in readers?