The Writing Toolbox

Probably my second favorite thing after writing (and reading, and hanging with my family and friends, and eating, and playing games, okay so maybe it’s not my second favorite thing) is talking about writing with other writers. I love teaching writing classes that make writers go, “Oh, my gosh, I’ve heard of that forever, but for the first time I can really see how to use it to make my story better.”

In my experience, there are two main types of writing classes: the type that inspire you to write more or better or in a different way, and the type that give you hard tools to do that. I occasionally teach the first type of class, but mostly I focus on the second type. I feel like if you are going to invest your time and money in a class, you should come away with something you can use.

After I teach a class, I try to leave time for Q&A and one of the questions I get the most is, “Do you actually do what you just taught us in our writing?” Almost always, my answer is no or only sometimes. That might seem hypocritical. I am telling writers to do something I don’t. But the truth is that almost all of my classes that get the best feedback come from me analyzing something I do subconsciously and breaking it out in a tool that shows other writers how to do it.

Imagine, for example, an English teacher diagramming a sentence to teach their students grammar. Does the teacher break each sentence down that way when they write? No. They don’t have to because they already know grammar well enough that they don’t have to. But breaking it down for the students who don’t know grammar that well is essential for teaching them. And for the teacher, even if they don’t use it all the time, if they get stuck on particularly sticky structure, they have the tool to analyze it.

I teach a class called four part pacing that always gets the the highest ratings from my students. Several times I’ve had best-selling writers sit in on my class who come up to me afterwards and say, “I’ve never heard story structure broken down that way before, but it’s exactly how I write all of my stories.” They were using the tool all along, it was just subconscious.

One time I was on a panel with a very well known fantasy author. Halfway through the session he blurted out, “I don’t know why we’re talking about all this method and tool nonsense. Just write a great story.”

In one sense, he was right. If what you are doing is working for you, don’t change it. If your car is running smoothly, don’t poke around the engine with a screwdriver. But when your are struggling with your story, having the right tool to analyze and fix it is as important as having jumper cables when your battery dies. And the more you use a tool, the more it becomes ingrained in your normal writing flow.

They key to good writing is learning what works best from you, studying writing that you admire to see why and how it works, and adding tools to your box, so you can break them out when you need them.

Do you have any writing tools that have helped improve your work?