Writers are taught many rules by the greats. But should we believe them?

Avoid adverbs

Stephen King famously said “the road to hell is paved with adverbs” and urged writers to eliminate them. Three years ago, I wrote in defence of these much maligned parts of speech.

Now we have some objective analysis of the truth or otherwise of the dictum. Ben Blatt analysed the more than 300 novels that reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list since 2000 and the 100 most recent winners of literary awards. He compared these “professional” authors with a sample of 9,000 “amateurs” who had written novel-length fan fiction. The professionals used around 114 adverbs per 10,000 words, compared to 154 by the amateurs. So there is a correlation between fewer adverbs and literary success. As you can see from the graphic, I used 44 adverbs per 10,000 words in my current novel.

However, Stephen King seems to be wrong about eschewing adverbs, if you take him literally. He used an average of 105 across 51 books.

 

Never open with the weather

Another great writing dictum Blatt explores is Elmore Leonard’s “never open a book with the weather”.  The graphic below shows that Leonard did this 4% of the time across 45 novels.

Keep it short and simple

Bestsellers today, according to Jodie Archer and Matthew Jockers’s The Bestseller Code, use shorter sentences and simpler words. And it seems true that sentence length and complexity has gone down.

Sentences in Jane Austen’s 1811 Sense and Sensibility averaged 23.2 words and in Charles Dickens’s 1859 A Tale of Two Cities 17.7 words. They both require a reading age of 14-15 years.

By contrast, J.K. Rowling’s 1998 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, with a reading age of 12-13 years, came in at 11.8 words. Stephanie Myers’s 2005 Twilight was a lightweight 9.6 words per sentence and demanded a reading age of 10-11 years.

While the complexity of language has gone down, the size of novels has gone up. In the era of mass publishing between 1850 and 1950 shorter novels arrived but they grew in size again after the advent of long-haul travel and the airport blockbuster.

Ever wanted to know how judges make their choice in literary competitions? Here is the answer.

I can’t promise that this is true of all contests, but the Farnham Short Story Competition uses a format to ensure consistency of assessment between stories and between judges.

• Is the submission formatted readably, and without typos, spelling and grammar mistakes? Reject entries that are poorly formatted, inadequately proof-read, and full of spelling and grammar mistakes.
• Overall, is it a good story?
  • Does the story work?
  • Did it move or enlighten you?
  • Did you enjoy reading it?
• Character and point of view.
  • Does the author create believable, memorable characters with the uniqueness, complexity, and individuality of real people?
  • Do the main characters undergo change?
  •  Does the dialogue work?
  • Is point of view handled consistently?
• Plot and structure
  • Does the opening draw you in, setting up a clear dilemma?
  • Is there a clear and compelling storyline with an arc of conflict, crisis and resolution?
  • Is the plot original?
  • Is there good pacing?
  • Does the ending satisfyingly resolve the opening dilemma?
• Theme
  • Does the story contain a central or dominating theme?
  • Does the author make this idea concrete through the characters and their actions?
  • How well is the message integrated into the story?
• Setting and atmosphere
  • Are historical and geographic details sufficiently and accurately developed to give the story realistic or appropriate atmosphere and setting? Can you visualize the places being described?
  • Is the setting an integral part of the story
  • Does the story contain anachronisms or inconsistencies?
• Writing quality
  • Is language skilfully used?
  • Do specific details appeal to your senses and hold your attention?
  • Are character and detail “shown” rather than “told”?
  • Is there a good balance between narrative and dialogue?
  • Does the author use precise, active verbs and avoid overuse of adjectives and adverbs?
  • Is rhythm used effectively?
  • Are metaphors and similes fresh and effective?
  • Are recurring motifs and/or symbolism used to create additional layers of meaning?

This list is an attempt to summarise the elements of good writing. You can find the full judges scoring sheet at FSSC judges scoring sheet -ilovepdf-compressed

Congratulations to this year’s winner, Julie Evans, and to runners up, Katrina Dennison and Jacky Power.