The book I am now reading deals with the 99 year period between the Congress of Vienna and World War 1. It is not on The New York Times bestseller lists! I am sure you wonder why this essay begins with such an uninteresting topic, but bear with me.
In this 792 page tome, the author, in laborious detail, gives the historical record of all the European nations and the events surrounding their interaction with each other. During the course of this long book, The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815-1914, the writer, Richard J. Evans, manages to use vocabulary that is somewhat esoteric. But that is fine with me, for I have studied history in college, taught it in schools and have many other history books in my library. But if the average reader picked it up, some would be lost because of the specialized “lingo” used in the study of history. Words like “hegemony” and “imbroglio” and “despotic” are a few examples of such vocabulary which are scattered throughout the tome.
So what does this have to do with my writing a blog? Everything. When writing for a “mass” audience, an author must make sure he or she uses words that make clear what idea is being discussed. This does not mean that such essays must be as simple as our (now discarded) primers used to be. There we read sentences such as “See Russ run. See Jane run. See Russ and Jane run.”
Sometimes writing these blogs is difficult. My standard of writing probably (with apologies to Jane, who doesn’t like his work) is Ernest Hemingway. His books are usually filled with short, sparse sentences, using words that are easily understood by any who dive into his efforts. And yet, he does not stoop to the lowest common denominator, nor does he insult his more erudite readers.
Selecting topics to write about is also daunting. There are times when a subject leaps out at me, for the powers that be in this nation are continually doing things which demand questioning. When that happens, the research begins and developing the theme into a coherent argument commences in earnest. In high school, I thought of becoming a journalist, so this is my foray into writing as a career. Not much of a career, because so far no one is paying me for my efforts!
So if anyone who reads this is confused by what I write, please let me know so I can make my thoughts and ideas clearer. I would enjoy hearing from any of you, even if you disagree. After all, the dialogue between opposite points of view sometimes can be very enlightening.
About two years ago I began writing books about murder and mayhem. That becomes another problem, for instead of taking real events and commenting on them, an author of fiction must invent happenings and locales and people. At least when dissing Maxine Waters and Michael Moore we have an excellent idea of what they are like and a massive amount of evidence of what they say and do.
My first effort was titled The Slugger, chronicling the exploits of a deranged Cardinals fan who bludgeons to death a series of deluded Cubs fans. If any are interested, I still have a couple of copies for sale! One of the first problems was to figure out if such a scenario was plausible. A simple search for violence in sports fans will yield a host of examples of how passionate and vicious people can be when their team is involved. This is nothing new, for when the 1888 poem Casey at the Bat was written, one of the memorable lines was “kill him! Kill the umpire!” Novelists must always make sure their action could be true.
Because writers are told to write what they know, I set the story in the area of my father’s birth and early life, in north central Iowa. That meant many hours of research into the place and people around the town, which was greatly fictionalized. Small towns were also used, sometimes placed in different areas. But one of the greatest obstacles to effective writing has plagued me, in The Slugger and the four other stories I have written. That is how to make the characters believable. Most of my characters, in the early books were quite one-dimensional, not fully developed. My efforts to correct this deficiency have not fully been successful, but each story I believe it gets better.
Unless a person is writing science fiction or horror, action must also meet the test of whether or not it could happen. That is seldom a real problem, for the news media is full of people doing the most outrageous things, and acting like real dorks. One simple example is the bank robber who gave a bank teller a piece of paper demanding money, stating he had a gun. This note was written on his the back of his own deposit slip. With the stupidity and evil lurking in all parts of this great nation, action that seems somewhat ludicrous is always possible.
One of my problems is the plot. To me, such needs to be logical, almost following an outline. Since three of my stories deal with serial killers, does this plot line meet the test of logic? A couple of years ago, the FBI estimated that at least 30 to 50 serial killers are at large in this nation. A fictional serial killer just mirrors what is happening in our country. Even then, though, I feel the killing must follow a rational path, if only in the mind of the killer. Along with this is the identity of the perpetrator of the crimes. In my first effort, even I did not settle on who it was to be until about a third of the way through. When I got to the third book, foreshadowing indicated one person as the murderer, but when finally identified most would be surprised, a kind of twist at the end. This also featured victims modeled on some of my high school classmates, some of whom had treated me with less than kindness. My revenge was on paper! Take that, Jerry!
My last effort saw the killer unmasked late in the game also, although I had known who it would be early on in the story. All this brings us to a critical aspect of any story. What is the motivation of the protagonist? Or the antagonist? Sometimes the triggering event was fairly recent, but in a couple the causation was of long-standing. But even then, the narrative must be plausible for the reader to buy into the action.
Another of my problems is the beginning of the book. How does a writer “hook” the reader? Usually you want a striking beginning, one that will be remembered and will pull someone into continuing to read. We all know some of the classic first lines. “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” “Marley was dead.” “Call me Ishmael.”
A couple of my attempts was to place one of the killings in the first paragraph, as I despair of being able to write a line that will last for centuries in the annals of literature.
Painting “word” pictures is vital for any writer of fiction. To be able to describe a scene that the reader can “see” is a skill that needs to be honed. Perhaps the best I did was the killing of a high school principal, relating how the blood and the brains wee scattered about, with the weapon in plain sight. Included in that was the rather humorous reactions of two of the first responders. Not all authors can do this consistently; if they do, then their books will fly off the shelves.
Two more items need to be discussed in dealing with writing. In my long-ago youth, I did aspire to become a journalist. The instructor for the class assigned me to the sports beat, at least most of the time. It was drilled into us that good reporting meant making sure the five “Ws” were present in the stories we submitted. These, as you probably remember, are Who, What, Where, When and Why. For my stories, I interviewed students, teachers, coaches and the principal. I don’t remember the principal’s name, but I do recall he was bald before bald became beautiful. If reporters follow what we learned in our journalism class, there would be clarity. However, today many reporters want to insert their own bias, whether political, social or religious into their work.
My writing in the past 50 plus years has also encompassed sermons, written and delivered each week. However, since I have been preaching at the same place since 1970, I feel like Solomon wrote, “there is nothing new under the sun.” What can I write about and preach about that sometime in the past I have preached it?
Writing is a vocation and an avocation. I do appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts and opinions with those of you who read our blog. My promise is to do the best writing possible, and share my ideas.