Don't Read Dead Authors

It happens at least once a term.  The feedback is that a section is too wordy, too descriptive, and you're busily defending your work on the grounds that Dickens did it like that.  Trouble is, Dickens is a Dead Author.  He's not a good example for you to follow because he's not a new author getting his first book published now.  

Established authors are nearly as bad as dead ones.  If I pick up a new novel by Anne Tyler, Nick Hornby, Ian Rankin or Jilly Cooper, I've got a fair idea of what it's going to be about, where it's going to be set, what sort of people the main characters will be, and what the style of writing is going to be.  If the opening is a bit slow to get going, I'll stick with it because I know I enjoyed their previous books.  

The rules are different for the unpublished to the previously published.  That's just a fact. So you should read first time novelists, and as you're reading, you should be working out why were they chosen off the slush pile.  What are their special qualities?  I'm not suggesting that you should follow what they did (for lots of reasons but not least because the market will have moved on by the time you've finished writing your novel), but it will give you an idea of what the market is looking for and how much better you've got to be to get noticed.  

 

The First Book I Bought

I've been moving books around ready for the painter to decorate the hall and landing. It's taking for ever because I keep stopping to read bits. One of the books I came across was the very first book I ever bought for myself, using my own money. I can remember the shop clearly, a little gift shop in Barnes with a small book section. I was waiting for my mother to buy something, and browsing the books when I discovered Venetia by Georgette Heyer.

I can't remember what prompted me to buy it - it's not a great cover - but I can remember the thrill of reading the first few pages, the initial difficulty in understanding her style, then suddenly 'getting it' and avidly devouring the whole book at one sitting. I felt I had discovered a new world, one that had nothing to do with school or family, or even friends. Private, delicious, my own.

Holding that old battered copy of Venetia in my hands, the characters flooded back: beautiful Venetia, dashing Lord Damerel, the abominable Mrs Scorrier. And with the characters came echoes of sparkling dialogue, witty ripostes, vivid descriptions. I turned to the first page and started to read...