(Re)Readable

When you started writing your novel (short story, poem, how-to book), did you give any consideration whether what you were writing down would be rereadable?

Most of us think about making a book enticing enough to get a reader to read it once, to choose it over all the other offerings on the Barnes & Noble shelf or Amazon.com page view. But, shouldn't we, as authors, want to make a book rereadable?

I have a confession:

I've reread J.D. Robb's Conspiracy in Death upwards of 20 - 30 times. In my adult life, it's
probably my most reread book, though a couple other books in the series, or possibly Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich come in pretty close on its heels.

Why do I reread books? I know a lot of people who don't. Surely it's not because there's nothing good out there to read. I have a list of books I want to read longer than my arm, so I know there's new material out there.

I have several reasons why. First, there's something about the character(s) I really love. This is why I typically read a lot of series in the first place. I sort of know what I can expect, and there's not a steep learning curve where new characters are concerned. I already am familiar with them.

The story offers something that not just every other story does. For instance, in Conspiracy in Death, I almost always come to tears when, near the middle of the book, the main character, Eve Dallas, is ordered to turn in her badge by her superior. In another favorite reread, Portrait in Death, I get a huge kick out of a scene where Eve gives her husband, Roarke, a sedative (which is a bit that is done a lot in the early books in the series, just usually in reverse--Roarke gives it to Eve.)

With both of these things, I'm usually observing things a little more closely than I did on the first read or two, which means I am honing in on details and learning something I can use in my own writing. Sometimes, I just catch things I didn't notice before. This happened on my most recent reread a couple weeks ago of Portrait in Death, when I spotted something I'd never noticed before (which I can't recall at the moment.)

Then, there's the lazy me. The part that is tired, weary, or maybe even sick. I need something to distract my brain, but reading something new doesn't appeal to me. That's when I go for an old favorite. I may even start reading a book a few chapters in. (I've skipped the first 50 or so pages in Conspiracy several times.)

I just hope right now that when Homebody, Cora's Song, or Beyond Dead are on the shelves, some of my readers will want to reread them.

A brief aside...

I managed to find the stats section of my dashboard for Word Wanderings this week... I was a little stunned to see some of the countries where I've had visitors this from in the last week. So, to my readers in Iran, Slovenia, Russia, China, Brazil and the rest of the places I've spotted, I thank you wholeheartedly for stopping in. (And, of course, I thank those that stop in from the good ol' U.S. of A., too.)

Question of the week:

My question for you is two-fold: Where are you reading Word Wanderings from? And, do you reread books? If so, what are your top rereads?

Until next time,

Constant Improvement

Not too long ago, I decided I was going to sit down and edit my WIP. Though well intentioned, I procrastinated, deciding I was awfully tired--it was getting later at night. What I ended up doing was looking at some drafts of some maybe-future projects if my WIP gets picked up and I can turn it into a series.

While I realize that all of these were first drafts, I noticed something rather profound in each of the portions of books I read through. If you knew when I started writing each book (some were within weeks of each other), you could see a progression--an improvement--in my writing.

Wow.

This realization came just a couple weeks after I got a sort-of crit from a friend of mine who had read parts of my WIP's earlier drafts, then had read a first draft of another project with different characters. She had told me in the critique that while the portion of the story she'd read wasn't for her for various reasons, she was struck by the fact that my writing had greatly improved since she'd read some of my earlier projects. Huh! How cool is that?

My point is this: while I've constantly been attempting to improve my writing, it hasn't been a case where I sit down at my computer, open up a blank Word document and consciously think to myself, 'I'm going to make this better than my last project.' It's been that I'm constantly writing, constantly thinking of ways to improve my stories, constantly reading writers, editors, and agents blogs or books on the craft, as well as examples of good writing from those I'd like to share the market with. It's been immersing myself in my craft at every opportunity. And, even when I get discouraged, I may step back for a while, but I always come back, ready to write, edit, and grow my characters.

That's what a writer does.

On the day that I wrote this post back in March, two separate blogs had posts (or links to older posts) that really set in motion my thinking about this. I'd encourage each and every one of my readers to go read these blogs: Jody Hedlund's post Reaching for our Dreams, and Rachelle Gardner's Rants & Ramblings guest blogger Dan Case, Try Quitting. While not necessarily directly related to today's topic of improving your writing, both blog posts illustrate a lot about a writer's need to improve.

My question to you today is this: Have you noticed improvement in your own writing over the months and years? Has it been a conscious effort, or just the fact that you've been writing so long and can not only recognize 'junk', but also know how to fix the 'junk'?

Until next time,