Write Short Stories to Write Books...

 

Fact: Most people who start writing a book never finish.

'Why is that?' you ask.

Because they never became skilled at finishing a work. Over and over and over again.

Crafting the Critical Start. Through the Mushy Middle. To the Climactic End. Resulting in the Dénouement, or Resolution.

Beginner pianists know the drill. They play the scales... up and down, and up and down, and up and down 'til their fingers bleed.

Beginner welders know the drill. They clean, tack and bead, clean, tack and bead, clean, tack and bead.

Bakers know the drill. The gather the dry ingredients, the wet, sift and stir, gather, sift and stir, gather, sift and stir.

Are you sniffing the drift, here, peeps?

It's because you never practiced completing a work over and over and over again that you can't finish a book. 

A flash fiction piece, a short story, a novella, a novel and an epic length tome have something in common: Crafting the Critical Start. Through the Mushy Middle. To the Climactic End. Resulting in the Dénouement, or Resolution.

In my writer's process group, I had the members finish a one-page flash fiction story, to be handed in at the following meeting, two weeks later. And I had them complete this task all year long. We'd hand them out, read them and offer constructive feedback, and slowly, slowly, slowly, every new writer became better and better and better, and produced faster and faster and faster. By the time they tackled their book-length work, they knew the plot/character evolutionary drill, like a pianist knows the scales, like a welder knows to solder, like a baker knows to mix.

The old adage, You need to write a million words before any of them are good, kind of holds true, as long as with plunking down those words you COMPLETE works; however long or short, in whatever topic you choose. Your brain needs the formation practice. You need to crawl, then walk, before you can run, right? Why should writing a book be excluded from this universal human experience?

HOMEWORK: Set yourself a goal. Produce a one-page flash story that has a beginning, middle and end, on any topic other than your book topic, and know your deadline for each is every two weeks, and do this for the next year. IF you are determined and diligent enough to improve your craft, take up this dare. Remember what your Mom said? "Practice Makes Perfect." (Yeah, *sigh,* I'm sticking my tongue out, too, but darn if that great woman knew a thing or two...)

I assure you that you and your future completed book will thank me, and your Mom. 

Until then, you may make a voodoo doll in my likeness. I have a high pain threshold for pins. ;-)