There is a restaurant in Manitou Springs, CO, Adam’s Mountain Café, that has the best chicken salad ever. Just plain ol’ chicken salad, but with its one or two secret ingredients—wow.
Fantasy and sci-fi author David Farland tells a story about an author he met at a writers conference. She admitted to him that she felt “a bit like a pretender” because she’d never spoken on a (writing) panel before. “I told her that when we are new, all of us worry that we will be seen as pretenders. I then opened her book, read several pages, and noticed a couple of jaw-droppingly good metaphors.”
What’s her secret ingredient? Apparently, metaphors.
Truth is, every type of mystery has been written. Romance—check. Historical romance mystery time travel—been there, read that. Coming of age? Yes. Fantasy? Yup.
Ask yourself: What ingredients can I put into my story that are unique to me? How do I entice readers to hunger for the next page, for more of my work? What are my personal strengths? How can I find them?
- Start with your critique group members and beta readers. Ask what they like best about your story.
- Write down what you love about stories you read, and why.
- Divide a piece of paper into two vertical columns. Title one column Secret Ingredients. For example:
- Description readers can smell and experience
- Pacing
- Voice
- Characters so alive, you can’t help but be pulled into their story
- Setting
- Title the second column Mixing. How can you play up your strengths in your writing—how can you incorporate your secret ingredients?
- Study how your favorite author incorporates his special ingredients into his standout novels.
- Attend a writing conference or a presentation by one of our RMFW members.
- Research, and then purchase, a how-to book that hits home, that inspires you how to add your uniqueness to perfect your recipe—your bestseller novel.
Farland continues, “Do you see things that you could do to make a novel better than others who are writing in the same vein? Is there something in the story that whispers to your soul, Do it this way? Take it in directions that no one has ever seen before!”
Creating incredible salad dressing—where lingering garlic-sweetness rests upon your tongue leaving you with a desire for more—doesn’t come from chopping garlic. It comes from considering what you want the final product to be and do. It comes from many ingredients, and hard work—mixing and mixing again.
Is there one key ingredient that is the foundation for all your creations? David Farland suggests, “Start with putting in your whole soul.” Because without passion, what’s the point of writing?
This is great advice.
Reading critically is one of those skills that I see a lot of new writers ignore. At some point, more writing advice isn’t going to help. It comes from your reading practice as much as the writing.
Finding out how others do what they do — or fail in the attempt — is one of the key elements to improving craft.
One of the things that I do is look for the stories that aren’t being told. Sometimes they’re “old style” stories that might have gone out of fashion, or stories that hammer the same tired tropes in the same way. Old stories are still good stories — they just need a fresh take. Tropes get tired but they can be refreshed with a new perspective.
Great piece. Thanks for sharing.
Nathan,
Thank you!
How right you are regarding a fresh take. Look at the movie industry.
Appreciate your comments.