Small Things: Techniques and Ideas to Burnish Your Text
John Sandford (Thrillerfest, July 10, 2013)
- About to release his 23rd Prey novel – Silk and Prey
- Publishers want to see completed manuscripts
- Avoid echoes (i.e., word repetitions) and
- Do a search for empty words (eg., large, big, small) like empty calories
- Likes to put spaces between sections – adding white spaces make the text easier to read
- Check that your references are accurate (eg., time and distance)
- Google Earth is a great reference for distance. He uses it a lot.
- Main character has to be solid – describe them, but not just what they look like…
- To describe his main character, Lucas Davenport, he has him take time dressing. The man is a clothes horse and takes great care in his looks, so it makes it easy for Sandford to describe him physically and at the same time show his character’s personality.
- Work the 5 senses – odor is critical especially if it’s bad
- Sensory details can be added at the last minute
- He pays particular attention to the first and last chapter and makes sure he adds the sensory comments.
- Usually writes between 25 and 30 chapters – Expects to add 200-300 words per chapter in his revision
- Know your physical places (Sandford uses his own home over and over again for a house setting so he doesn’t mess up where things are from scene to scene)
- Always have a specific model of a physical place in your mind
- When revising be careful to not make unnecessary improvements (His example was he once replaced the word gun with Glock, but it screwed him up because Glocks don’t have a safety, and one was referred to later in the plot. When people later complained he leaned on the fact that some after-market editions have a safety added.)
- Try to avoid factual info in dialogue – it’s not how people talk
- Dialogue is for levying the narrative – it loosens the text – makes it feel right
- Check the dialogue in revision – is it stilted?
- Remember people talk in short hand not long sentences – it has to sound right
- Again – most important chapters are the first and last – they must be emotionally engaging – Action should start in the first paragraph
- Last Chapter – want to end with a bang, have the reader smile, humor’s good too
- Always have a wrap up chapter – like a tight little knot – succinct
- Don’t let the end peter out
- After all things said “There isn’t any one way of doing things.”
- He figures revisions improve his work by 20%
- When asked by a member of the audience whether he recommended we have professional editors review our work before we submit it he answered: “No.” You can get too many cooks in the kitchen – you have to learn how to finish the book on your own.
- “I want people to not want to stop reading.”
Please note: If any of these notes don’t make sense, the fault is mine. John Sandford delivered a riveting lecture. I scribbled as fast as I could while my mind reeled with thoughts on how I can improve my writing.