How do you turn your first drafts into passable prose? Watching out for writing rules that, no matter how hard you protest, you really shouldn’t break if you can help it. And when you’re first starting out, you may not be able to help it at all…

I’m going to come out and say it from the off: your first book will probably not be very good. That is, the first ever story you put fingers to keyboard over. Because, for the most part, this is untamed, uncured material, in which you’ve probably broken a load of laws and rules of the art. And that is totally fine; it’s part of the process. I have defied a number of writing rules myself; sometimes knowingly, other times, not so much. Indeed, even now, there are a fair few things I’d like to change about the work that I’ve since published.

I have always clashed with people who are quick to tear a first draft to shreds, as if it’s meant to be perfect first time around. The maxim I follow for the first draft process is: write with your heart, not your head. Get the story down on the page, and sort it out properly in the re-drafting process. I’ve often found those who don’t do it this way often kill their stories off before they’ve given it a proper chance.

All the same, it never hurts to alert you to some of the common, important writing rules that you may break even without meaning to. I have pinpointed five for the purposes of this article:

FACT DUMPING

Exposition is one of the chief elements of narrative. To give readers information necessary to understanding the characters and the story. However, especially in today’s literature, it ought to be given in moderation. Allow your readers to work more stuff out for themselves than just handing it to them on a platter (which we’ll discuss more further down). Massive blocks of backstory and description can put the modern reader off. There’s not much sense in delivering a lengthy chapter about the main character’s family history if there’s nothing really relevant in it. And if it is crucial to the story, think of another way to deliver the information. Spread it out across a number of smaller scenes, maybe via dialogue or action, for example.

USING ADVERBS

I have highlighted the use of adverbs on this blog before. There are occasions in which to use them is acceptable. If you’re describing the way a character has said something, but there is no specific verb of its own to illustrate it properly, then you have little choice. This is one of the writing rules I have tended to break continually (see — I just did it again). It is a crutch on which writers can lean on in the course of their drafting process. You can always find more interesting verbs or stronger ways to describe speech and action when it comes to editing.

SHOW, DON’T TELL

Prior to doing my Masters in Creative Writing, I used to think the Show, Don’t Tell rule was another one of those pretentious rules that reading addicts created and posted on the Internet to justify why they didn’t like something they read. It turns out this is actually the accepted approach in modern writing. Rather than tell your readers something or other about a character, make them do or say something in order for your readers to analyse it and come to the conclusion themselves. It creates new challenges for you as a writer, but also may open up new avenues in terms of narrative. Your story may go in a different direction to what you had planned.

CHANGING POINT-OF-VIEW / FOCALISER MID-SCENE

Another one I’m guilty of. And while I don’t justify it, I will say, when you read a lot of 18th and 19th century literature, as I do, there are a lot of scenes in which the character whose point-of-view you’re following changes. Sometimes for no significant reason. I’m currently reading Dostoyevsky’s Crime & Punishment, and I can tell you it happens quite often in that book. At times, it’s a minor, background character, whose perspective we view for a matter of sentences, for no especial reason. Because I was given to understand this as a bad habit, these days, I make sure I have designated a focaliser (or focalisers) for each chapter, and, when I make the switch, I make sure it’s as significant as a chapter break, so that the reader can follow it. Fans of the A Song of Ice and Fire books will know that George R.R. Martin takes it one step further and names the Point-of-View character for each chapter.

In short, try to follow one character’s perspective in a chapter. And if you must have more than one POV, make the switch make sense. When you come to read through your work, you’ll find you may have changed the focaliser without even realising. It’s something to watch out for.

OVERDESCRIBING AND OVEREXPOSING

This calls back to the first point about Fact Dumping. Many of my readers have commended me on my skills in descriptive writing. And it’s true, I do like a rich description for my characters and settings. But even I look back on The Berylford Scandals and recognise that I spent far too long in the opening chapters talking about how the Stirkwhistles looked and acted, instead of letting the narrative do that for me. So, in learning my lesson, for You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic, the characteristics and idiosyncrasies of the characters get revealed more gradually as the story goes on. Meanwhile, the initial descriptions are more to-the-point and (hopefully) don’t give too much away. I advise other writers to observe a similar approach. No one needs three adjectives per body part and item of clothing. If you must describe all this from the off, make sure it’s worth the reader’s effort. Otherwise you’re just going to bore them.

 WHAT OTHER WRITING RULES ARE OUT THERE?

Do you know any other rules or laws of writing that get broken, even by total accident? Let me know your pet peeves in the comments section.

Character names are sometimes a point of contention from my readers. And also a subject that gives rise to a number of questions. Not least: where do they come from?

I often get picked up on my character names. Even before The Berylford Scandals were a thing and the 10-year-old me was writing stories about French vampires… And much as I have visited this subject in a previous post long ago, I thought it worth another look. Especially as people often ask me where I get these, often unusual and ‘complicated’, character names from. This post explores some of the places I’ve found inspiration, and where you can find it too.

FAMILY NAMES

This really ought to be a goes-without-saying go-to for all aspiring writers. I often think that an interest in one’s own family history and the stories there associated is an invaluable asset to authors. If you deal in stories set in real-life settings, and in the past, as I do, then having a knowledge of your roots and what your ancestors got up to can provide a wealth of inspiration. Not least in giving your characters realistic but no less memorable names. Some of the fan favourites (the loves and the love-to-hates) were named after ancestors of mine. The Whitlockes and the Warwicks, just to name a couple.

PLACES

I took a leaf out of the book of everyone’s (or… well… still some people’s) favourite witchcraft and wizardry writer for this one. J.K. Rowling borrowed a number of place names to assign as surnames for her characters in Harry Potter. Snape, Flitwick and Dursley are examples. And you don’t have to use the place name in its exact form either; just use it as a base from which to manipulate. The Lancashire town of Urmston got modified slightly when it came to creating Mrs Urmstone in the Berylford books; the same goes for Hathersage in the Peak District, which was reworked a bit to become Haffisidge.

As a side-piece of advice: don’t just look to villages and towns and other such locations. Even something as simple as road names is just as valuable for inspiration.

MANIPULATING OTHER NAMES

Off the back of that previous point, a number of names that I created had relatively commonplace, or at least less flavourful origins. Take Lady Vyrrington, my chief Berylford anti-heroine, for example. She began literary life with a name at which I can barely write without cringing — Lady Selina Goodsby — before I decided that was hardly becoming of such a character. It needed gravitas and memorability. I settled on the final surname far quicker, beginning with Barrington, a fairly commonplace “posh” surname. It just took a bit of letter play. Barrington became Berrington, then Berrington to Verrington, and finally Verrington to Vyrrington. It’s original, memorable, and, if people actually take the time to read it properly, not actually difficult to pronounce.

RESEARCHING REAL-LIFE FIGURES

The former three suggestions work perfectly fine when you’re writing a story set in your home country. There’s no language or culture barrier to fight against; you know that these names will belong with such characters. So, when it comes to my current work-in-progress, You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic, set in Germany, I have no such luxury. I have had to do a bit more research to ensure the correct style and flavour get captured. Where better to find genuine German names? By looking into real-life German people from the period. Names such as Upfauer (manipulated from Hupfauer), Verschuer, and Seyß came to me this way.

BE OBSERVANT

As should be the case with everything you do as a writer: pay attention to things and people around you. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a full-time author or working an office job for 40 hours a week — inspiration for characters, events, stories… it’s everywhere. I keep a list of interesting and/or unusual names that I intend to use for future stories. For instance, just the other day at work, I came upon the name Argyrides. Something that I would never have dreamt up myself. But already I can envision it belonging to some antagonist… of Greek extraction… for a new story that may come to pass. And now that I have it, I’m damn well keeping it!

FINAL NOTES ON CHARACTER NAMES

Just a last bit of passing advice when it comes to naming your characters. Be mindful of period, style, flavour, and setting. This is where your all-important research skills will come in useful. Reading other works set in that time, with that setting, will give you more knowledge in terms of what names were fashionable at the time. Or the naming conventions observed by certain cultures. For example, you couldn’t have a story set in 19th Century Russia wherein the main character’s name was Alice. Alice becomes Alisa in Russian. Furthermore, the Russians observe a patronymic naming system, and so, at least at points during your story, for increased authenticity if nothing else, you or your characters would refer to Alisa as Alisa Mikhailovna (or whatever you choose to designate).

Like a lot of writing, it isn’t a simple matter of chucking any old shit on the page and thinking it works. There is so much more to it than that.

Got any other ideas? Let me know in the comments section. For more author news and views, my Facebook and Instagram pages are here. And drop a subscription to my YouTube channel to remain informed of the latest, plus some exclusives. Furthermore, my fortnightly podcast, The Dale Hurst Writing Show, is available to listen to here on Spotify.