FEATURED AUTHOR: G.S. Du Plessis
G.S. du Plessis is the author of two heart-wrenching Afrikaans historical romances - Senorita Carmena, and Genevieve. Although these two titles are set in two very different worlds, du Plessis' passion for her work and her characters shines through.
Here she muses on being a novelist.
Lawrence Durrel once wrote: “It doesn’t matter whether you’re first rate, second rate, or third rate, but it’s of vital importance that the water find its own level and that you do the very best you can with the powers that are given you… It’s utterly immoral to be slothful about the qualities you have.”
This is good advice. Not only for writing a novel, but in everyday life.
That being said, I want to motivate myself and every other writer (and yes even authors!) out there to write. Somebody once told me that if writing is the first thing you think of when you get up in the morning and the last thing on your mind when you fall asleep at night, then you are a writer. In the words of James Scott Bell – the itch to write will not go away.
James Scott Bell (best-selling author of Breach of Promise, Deadlock, A Greater Glory, and several other thrillers) speaks of the BIG LIE that robbed him of his best writing years – the myth that writers are born. He comes to the conclusion that writing can be taught (quite correctly in my opinion). He was sure that he could not write and went to law school – and still – the itch to write would not go away.
And he did what I did, and I am sure many other novelists out there do. He bought books on writing skill. Because being a good writer can be taught. Red Smith wrote that writing is very much like bricklaying. You learn to put one brick on top of another and spread the mortar thick.
Not every writer will be a best selling author. But as Laurence Durrel said – be the best you can be with the qualities you have. Never insult your reader by providing them with less than best quality writing. Never frustrate your publisher by submitting manuscripts that are crawling with typing-, spelling- or grammar mistakes. That is unacceptable and just plain immoral!
The world of books and publishing is changing. We live in an era where self-publishing is possible. At the press of a button you have information galore at your fingertips. But being a writer is about loving books. Writing is about reading good books and bad books – if you must. That is how you become a skillful writer. And be observant of life around you. Charlotte Brontë wrote, “Novelists should never allow themselves to weary of the study of real life.” Wilbur Smith’s Publisher, Charles Pick once told him to “…read widely and look at the world around you, travel and live your life to the full, so that you will always have something fresh to write about.”
By publishing a book you are promising the reader something and you should never disappoint them. Mickey Spillane said: “Your first chapter sells your book. Your last chapter sells your next book.”
Do not try to copy other writers, or their style. Develop your own. There is only one type of story in the world – your own (Ray Bradbury). No one can tell your story the way you would. And write what you know – feel what you write. More advice from Charles Pick to Wilbur Smith was to “Write only those things you know well.” That way you are able (with your specific qualities) to transport your reader to a world away from his or hers. And that is why we (or at least I) read.
While you should keep your readers in mind when writing, you should really be writing only for yourself (Charles Pick). If a singer gets on stage, and is in no mood to sing, there will be no feeling in the performance. It will be flat and without joy. It will leave the audience wanting, robbed of enjoyment. If you write without feeling, or enjoyment, the reader will pick up on it and never read another one of your books. If you are lazy – usually this manifests itself in long paragraphs of describing instead of showing – you will frustrate your reader. No writer can afford to do that.
What is important in the end is to be read. (Joseph) Hilaire (Pierre) Belloc wrote: “When I am dead, I hope it may be said, ‘His sins were scarlet, but his books were read.’”
So go out and write. Aspire to become authors, and if that is not meant to be, remember if you
write you are still a writer. But be the best you can be. “For those who have tasted the profound
activity of writing, reading is no more than a secondary pleasure.” (Henri Beyle – French novelist, 1822).
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