{"id":307,"date":"2012-05-24T17:25:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-24T17:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/blog\/2012\/05\/24\/thursdays-tips-intentional-writing\/"},"modified":"2015-11-25T12:23:15","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T19:23:15","slug":"thursdays-tips-intentional-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/thursdays-tips-intentional-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday’s Tips: Intentional Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\nOne of our jobs as writers is to ensure we\u2019re saying what we
\nmean to say. That we\u2019re intentional about so many things. Here are some elements we want to be intentional about:<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWord choice. <\/b>The
\nlonger we write, the more exacting we are with ourselves. We used to overlook simplistic
\nnouns or verbs, figuring we\u2019d \u201cfix\u201d them or enliven them in our second draft.
\nBut the longer we write, the more we concern ourselves with the right word for
\nthe situation from the outset. This diligence pays off in the later drafts
\nwhere we can focus on the big-picture elements. As you\u2019re writing, ask
\nyourself: do my words represent what I\u2019m literally trying to say? If not,
\nrethink and rework them. Editors will help with this, but handing in a strong
\nproject upfront saves time and gives your writing an advantage. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nTheme and message. <\/b>Please
\ninclude well-developed themes and messages in your stories. Feel free to communicate
\nthem in clever ways. But, ask yourself: am I conveying the theme I intended to
\nconvey? Be intentional about this as well. Also, our goal is to be subtle with
\nour message. Let your readers draw the lessons as they can. Jesus used story to
\nhelp change lives, but he didn\u2019t explain every detail. He let his listeners (or readers
\nof the Bible) deduce their own takeaway value. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nLogical flow<\/b>. Readers
\nwant to make sense out of your story world. They want to lose themselves in the
\n\u201cfantasy\u201d of your fiction. If the story doesn\u2019t progress logically, they can\u2019t.
\nAsk yourself: am I presenting the story in a logical way? Show action first,
\nreaction second. Don\u2019t describe how someone sounded before they spoke. Speech
\ntags should follow speech. Keeping secrets is fine, so long as your readers
\naren\u2019t totally lost. It\u2019s a tough balancing act, but with practice you\u2019ll be
\nable to retain secrets and <\/i>readers. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nEntertaining<\/b>. Don\u2019t
\nlose sight of this sometimes overlooked item. We\u2019re not writing non-fiction. We
\nare writing fiction. Fiction entertains. Be intentional about that. Anytime the
\nwording goes toward preachiness, catch yourself and revert to writing fiction. Giving
\nour readers an emotional, entertaining read will make them loyal to us, bringing them back to our novels in the future. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWord count.<\/b> If
\nyou have a word limit for your current project,
\nmake each word count. Don\u2019t use \u201cfluff\u201d (i.e. redundancy or too much
\ndescription, etc.) to fill in the spaces. Also, readers prefer not to wait
\nuntil the very last page for a resolution to the story question. They may think
\nthat\u2019s too rushed.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nGenre choice.<\/b> Do
\nyou know what genre you\u2019re writing in? Genre informs story content because it\u2019s
\nrooted in reader expectations. Editors, agents, marketing specialists,
\npublication boards all need to know what genre you\u2019re writing in so they know
\nwhom they\u2019re targeting with your novel. Confirm your genre and then write to its norms. A key here is to read extensively in your chosen genre. If you
\nwrite Christian romance novels, read a multitude of them because that will give
\nyou intel you won\u2019t gain elsewhere. While you\u2019re reading, study the elements
\nthat make the story work, that make the story flow, that satisfy the reader.
\nStudy what\u2019s acceptable in the Christian marketplace (which varies greatly,
\nespecially in this genre, from the secular marketplace), etc.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nWriting time.<\/b> You\u2019ve
\nheard it before. Writer\u2019s write. So be intentional about when you\u2019re going to
\nwrite every day. Writing every day helps writers grow in their craft, find
\ntheir voice, etc.  <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nCraft study. <\/b>Give
\nyourself opportunities to study <\/b>writing
\ncraft, through whatever methods: writing conferences, workshops, how-to books,
\netc. Good writers continue to grow in the craft as long as they\u2019re writing and
\npublishing work. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nThese are just some areas where intentionality is important.
\nCan you think of others?<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of our jobs as writers is to ensure we\u2019re saying what we mean to say. That we\u2019re intentional about so many things. Here are some elements we want to be intentional about: Word choice. The longer we write, the more exacting we are with ourselves. We used to overlook simplistic nouns or verbs, figuring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[504],"tags":[138,10],"class_list":["post-307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editing-writing-advice","tag-thursdays-tips","tag-writing-craft"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pelicanbookgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}