Self-Analysis of My Fiction

Sometimes I get on a health kick. I’ll eat healthy foods, take more walks, and go to the gym regularly. When these health kicks last for a few months, I lose weight, sleep better, my mood is improved, and generally in all around better health. The change does not happen on the second day of my health kick, or the third, fourth, fifth. It takes a couple of months before I notice a major change. But it does happen. One day I look in the mirror and say, “dang looking good”. Most people have had this experience.

I’m thinking writing is probably the same. I’m not going to sit down tomorrow at my computer and find out that I’m a great writer, or even that I have vastly improved over my last story. It is going to take work, and it is going to be a slow process. But just maybe I’ll look at some future story and say, “dang this is my best so far”.

What is the literary equivalent of eating healthy and going to the gym? I think the first step is being honest with yourself. Here is what I see as my major weaknesses.

1) Stop rushing to publish. Edit the story several times. Let it sit for a day or two and edit again.

First action item is that I will not publish a story until I have let it sit for 24 hours, then edited at least twice, and let it sit another day, and another edit.

2) I am happy with my plots, but it seems I’m rushing through just hitting plot points. He did this, then that, then the next thing, and conclude. Rat-a-tat-tat.

Next action item, I will force my self to add depth to my characters. Even if I end up cutting some of it out later, I’ll add emotion or motivation to each scene. It will no longer be good enough for my lead character to just get the job done, as my Math Teacher always said, “show your work”.

3) Add poetry to your prose. I don’t mean actual poetry, but the words need to sing a little. Don’t just say “There was a heavy snow”, instead say something like “The ground was covered with a white blanket of snow”, ok, bad example but you get my point. But guard against purple prose, nothing worse than a paragraph that does not add to the story.

Action item, review work choices. Is there a better choice? One that gives the reader some variety.

4) Read more, and not just major authors, but other Vocal stories. When I read other Vocal stories, I see things they do I like, and I should do more often. I also see a lot I don’t like and then realize I’m making the same mistake. The important point here is that there are a lot of Vocal authors who are at the same level as me (also a lot who are way better). But the ones that are at the same level or slightly above, it is easy to learn from them, because they are making the same mistakes I am, and I’m not blind to the mistakes, because I don’t have ownership in the story.

Action item, read Vocal stories carefully, with a more critical eye. Do not think of it as just doing a read for read bargain. Look for parts you like and dislike and think about if you are doing the same thing.

5) I’m very weak technically. I’m an atrocious speller (had to ask Alexa how to spell atrocious), also challenged by grammar and punctuation. This is just something I must accept. No matter how hard I try, I’ll never be strong in this area. That does not excuse me from improving, even if it is only going from awful to bad.

Action item, make time each week to study some part of grammar, punctuation, capitalization, etc.…

There you have it. I’m going to try and go on a literary health kick. Wish me luck.