Successful Stories and Editing

Before every editing pass, I ask myself what have I got wrong and what might I improve.

Membership of the former is not necessary for membership of the latter. There’s always been elements where I think I’ve executed them well but can see room to even better. Part of me worries that’s the sign of a writer who’ll never get anything out but as long as I continue to learn, I can - and probably should - ignore that worry.

This current pass is mostly about a few last teething issues in the subplot and minor characterisation. The prose, main arc, major characters and worldbuilding seems to be mostly there. I’ve been told by multiple published authros that the opening three chapters work. It is a strong foundation but still I look. The market is cutthroat, the bar is high, and hopefully one day I must stand by this book in public. 

To know how to improve though, one mist first know what the desired end goal is. “A really good book!” Okay, great. What makes a really good book. “Fascinating characters, good prose, unpredictable yet satisfying stories”. Okay, that’s closer, but what makes a character fascinating? Makes prose good? And hey, didn’t you just finish reading your book of the year which was on a lot of levels, very predictable but succeeded anyway? This question is one that can produce more questions ad infinitum if the writer wishes it to. At some point, they need to put their foot down and say “This answer works for me”. That moment needs to come before all fire and inspiration for the project is gone.

This is an attempt to produce that answer on story.

I think that if there is one quality all great stories share it is focus. The storyteller has, consciously or subconsciously, found something that matters to them about the story and they will not shut up about it. In doing so they give their story intensity and passion, cohesiveness and theme. It can be taken too far, it can lead to the sort of bloated storytelling you see in Wheel of Time. But if steered, it will make stories come alive in readers’ heads. I know what I want my story to be. I don’t know whether that focus is in every scene though. That’s something I want to do.

What else? 

Great stories live on a knife’s edge of surprising us and doing what we expect. Think I’ve got that. They constantly make us ask questions. Well, I got plenty of questions from the betas, and not just “What made you think this was a good idea you nimrod?” And while most of them do need some sort of answer, the best questions are those that live on in the mind after the book is done and the answers are only hinted at.

Honestly, having dwelt on it, I’m not sure what else there is to say here. Good stories fascinate us because of the surprises and emotional thrills and the things they have to say about the reality we know. There’s a thousand ways to get there but the end goal in terms of impact is similar. I know what sort of thrill I want to give.

Now it is just about making sure it is there in every scene it should be.