Here are some thoughts about writing that I'd like to share.
Formula
I love writing with a specific preconceived formula. Three act structure, fifteen point structure, the elements that show character change, the “oh so essential” dark night — it’s all great. But if I had known as much about structure and storytelling imperatives as I do now my first book wouldn’t exist. My first book is a very compelling read. But it is that way because of the characterization and the basic strangeness of the plot. It follows almost no typical structure. So I don’t think that a good book must follow a formula. There are countless examples of books that don’t.
Characterization
Some characters jump off the page and some don’t. I think when characters feel stodgy it is generally because the story is stodgy. People don’t read books to hear characters talk about the weather. The characters are the drivers behind the wheel that controls the plot. That’s why I think plot and character is a dance in which sometimes one leads and sometimes the other does. But if either one stops dancing for too long the entire story trips over its feet.
Plot
I got good with plot because of my love of film. For most of my life I have been ascertaining the reasons why some films are good and others are bad. It is for this reason that my second book feels so much like a Hollywood movie. Plot is both an intellectual and intuitive process. Most movies you learn where the plot has gone wrong and why. If you can apply that same knowledge and feeling to your own writing, you will find your writing is a lot stronger.
Separate Drafts
With my first book I completely rewrote the second half of the book because I started with almost no outline. It is possible to bring a book to completion without an outline, and the book can be as good as one that started with an outline, but it requires a lot of rewriting. A lot of writers swear by not outlining. I used my first draft as my outline and I found it worked fine. With my second book I knew I would have to have a concrete sense of where the story was going. With my third book, coming out in a year, I know I’m not writing any of the novel until I have the book outlined down to the sentence.
Theme
Some writers say one should know their theme before they start writing. Others say add it after. As someone who writes more for theme than for plot and character, I found that I had to worry about my theme being too present instead of not present enough. Thematic statement is what I love about writing — that kernel of truth that you get a in some novels and at the end of a short story. It’s also what makes so many movies so great. So I had to worry about whether or not my themes were too dominant in the story. In the end, I didn’t feel either of my books came off preachy.