How To Write Good: A Lightly Salted Guide to Stepping Up Your Wattpad Game.

A Story's Story - An Alternate Forward

We're writing in a time when the gatekeepers of book publishing have little power, and you can scrawl whatever the hell you want into a loose shape and throw it on Amazon with all the devil-may-care attitude you can muster. It's your story, and you deserve praise for bravely writing your book and brandishing it for all the world to see.

What I'm about to say is a hard pill for many to swallow: this is not a net gain for the craft.

I first learned this studying media production. When Photoshop became generally available for everyone, not just people who trained in design, two things happened. Everything had a bevel, and everything had a drop shadow. The software provided a filter that did the work for the user, and it was a quick way to look as though you possessed skills you never fostered. The problem? The designs were still garbage, they just had bevels and drop shadows.

Now that books can be published without restraint, there have been thousands of new authors publishing works that - and I apologize in advance for the bluntness of this statement - never should have seen the light of day.

I'm not saying that out of meanness. If I was going to go there I'd bring up your dysfunctional family and question your taste in music.

Stories used to pass through a gauntlet that determined not only whether a book could sell but whether it strengthened the reputation of the publishing company and the author. Critical eyes scanned every letter of every page putting pressure on authors to reach a level of skill sufficiently beyond the median. 

Was it a mill designed to generate a gross profit? Is it still?

Yes.

But don't blind yourself by denouncing their inherent greed. Consumers (as in people who consume, not pawns on the capitalist gameboard) rate the value of your work by investing their money and their time. It's in the best interests of everyone to publish the level of product that will turn readers into fans.

It's not selling out. There are plenty of people who crave the story you have to tell, but even a great story can fall dead at the feet of an avid reader if it's not told well. That's why there are rules that separate the art of writing from slapping a keyboard until you have 30,000 consecutive words. So my purpose in writing this short essay is this...

What incentive do you have to refine your craft when there's no resistance between you and the claim that you're a published author? And what value does that word have if just anyone can do it?

I'm not denigrating self publishers - I'm on the verge of releasing my own self-published book - but if you don't respect your own work enough to intensely challenge yourself, I fear there are few others who will do it for you, either out of fear or a desire to seem "nice" and "supportive."

I'm not that kind of person. 

I won't trash people for the sake of trashing them, but I'm a full blooded Irish redhead with 4 older brothers and a napoleon complex, and it's not in me to hold back. That's why this book exists.

I began writing this a couple of years ago as a catalog of ideas so I wouldn't have to re-type everything each time the subject came up, but it's received a very flattering welcome and I think you people deserve more than I've given. In the weeks and months ahead I hope to refine this book until it's something that will not only poke the bear, but tame it, put a saddle on it, and teach it to carry you into battle.

Onward, soldier. It only gets worse from here.