As someone who has been making those bestselling lists for not just years but decades, she has the knowledge and the drive. When she speaks, you listen because she not only knows how to write a good book, she is a former attorney who is also very savvy about the business of novel writing.
Her best advice – keep writing,
and writing and writing. Get your books
in front of the public and keep them there. That means constant work and it is
obvious that is exactly what she has been doing for more than 30 years. She aims for at least three books a year now,
she says.
But there is more to writing than
just getting the material out there. The author needs to pay attention to the
basics – like good beginnings and endings.
First, the book should get off to
a good, quick beginning. That means
starting the story very quickly, a lesson I have often taught my writing
students in classes I’ve taught over the years.
The Inciting Incident sets the
story in motion and no reader wants to wait around for it. In these days of
quick action, the writer needs to make things happen very quickly or the reader
will be moving on to some other interest.
But she goes beyond just the
opening of the book. Joan Johnston made a suggestion that really got me to
thinking. She says that each chapter should also begin with something to hook
the reader. This was like a light bulb moment, because I suddenly realized exactly
what she was saying because I’ve seen her do it over and over in her books. It
is what makes them so difficult to put down.
She suggests keeping the reader
hooked at the start of each chapter by asking a question that makes them want
to go on. They need to know the answer so they will keep reading. She also
suggests other ways to hook the reader at the beginning of the chapter. Try creating
a crisis or threat or perhaps making the reader anticipate something big that
may be happening in the next few pages. No
doubt about it – the reader wants to keep going.
These things should be close to
the first paragraph of the chapter or in the first paragraph. Again, don’t make
the reader wait. Promise them a good story ahead and they want to read on. She
also mentions that we need to set the scene and then bring in all the senses to
place the reader in the story.
And she suggests doing all this
in a simple, uncomplicated way that includes looking at word choices. Keep them
simple and be careful of metaphors and similes. She also carries that writing
instructor caution: SHOW DON’T TELL.
Another great way to keep the
reader engaged is by also hooking them at the end of a chapter. Consider those
same elements as a way to keep the reader going from one page to the next.
She provided us with examples
from some of her work, and then gave us copies of her books and instructed us
to find other examples. It didn’t take long. We were able to see exactly what
she was talking about and how simple the art of hooking the reader could be in
the hands of a master creator.
All it takes is reading one Joan
Johnston novel to hook the reader on her style and her stories. Her next book,
Sinful, another in the Bitter Creek series comes out next week. I’ll be
looking for it!