I will be attending Leipzig bookfair tomorrow, one of the biggest publishing events in Germany.
A very busy week kept me from going there early. Tomorrow will be very crowded and loud, but I cannot miss this occasion to meet, greet and mingle. Inspiration and lots of new ideas ahead! :)
Listen to section V of my short story “Martins Hort”
Kurzgeschichte “Martins Hort”, V from Alvah on Vimeo.
Gettin’ some wind beneath my writing
Writing two parts of a novel, three short stories, and several articles in parallel, I am ready to bury my last beliefs in the concept of multi-tasking…
But leaving aside that I am overworked and feeling confused at times. Funny enough I’ve noticed that with stress comes insight! (sometimes…)
Whether you are plotting a crime story, carving out your hero or writing an article that should be educational and entertaining at the same time, these three elements I distilled as my must-have 3 characteristics.
Carve them out if you want to please, convince or simply touch your readers.
So, my magic formula for good writing, I call it: “the creepy, the sticky and the sound.”
Here is what I mean by it:
CREEPY – Nothing too smooth is ever good. Not in life, not in love, not in a book.
It is one of those central wisdoms that can be applied to all aspects of life.
To get someone’s attention, tickle some emotions and last in your mind as rememberable, a tiny bit of the proceedings have to be gloomy, uneasy (a threat, a fear, a challenge beyond your comfort zone), a mystery, a bad character trait – or simply: something entirely unfamiliar.
STICKY – Putting a distance between your readers and the story by creepiness is not where the magic ends. Now you have to win them back!
You need them to stick to you. You need something that sticks.
It does not have to evoke fears nor make your dreams fly high. It can be kitsch. It can be beautiful. It is something catchy, something touching, a great picture, a love (or loss) story. A little bit too good to be true. Or something just wrong but feeling sooo good.
SOUND – And finally you have to win the ‘rational animal’ over with some really good reasoning.
Show your hard facts and good arguments in a clear structure.
These people who gave you credit for deep emotions and pretty pictures so far, they now need something for their busy brains to chew on. There is a truth in that people most of all need the right emotions to start reading your text. And maybe the right emotions are even enough for them to finish the whole piece. BUT emotions alone is never enough to make them recommend it to someone else, to look out for your next project, let alone to reread your oeuvre again!So: while creativity allows to break rules and realise your own style, there is no room for mess in the process and the craft of working the text.
This is the moment when you have to prove that you are not just a gifted but also a hard working writer!
I have been testing this hypothesis of my magic 3 against quite a few cases and found it valid all the time- so far. To be continued.
I will keep you updated. :)
I’ve teamed up with three of my amazing anthology-colleagues of “teilweise tödlich” for a joint reading last weekend in Hamburg.
Bianca, our lovely host and a real woman of power, invited us to read in her well-assorted, neat and atmospheric Scandinavian style bookshop + café, “Jussis Krimi-Café”.
The rooms were packed to the last corner with a book-loving audience.
Did I mention that we had a blast?! Well, we did!
Find out more about my fellow writers on their author pages:
Our anthology is available as softcover and e-book on Amazon or via our publisher Karina Verlag.
The book is available only in German right now (sorry!). But to console you I am happy to send to you one of the bookmarks (see above) I created especially for that night.
And check out a few more pictures from the reading in Eckard Klage’s facebook album.
A big thank you to all our readers, Bianca of Jussi, and of course to my author friends – you all rock!
Alva Henny Fiction 