A few weeks ago I was a guest blogger at the popular blog site Novel Journey. I thought I’d share here what I wrote for them (pssst… don’t tell anyone, but I’m a little behind on writing blog content…)
Like many married women, I wear a diamond engagement ring along with my wedding band. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of it and my gaze is arrested—most often when the light hits my ring just so, particularly sunlight. While I might not believe diamonds are a girl’s best friend, I do admit to being easily fascinated by something that appears to possess an endless sparkle.
A well-crafted story can be a captivating gem, too. A good story can catch my attention and provide a memory that seems everlasting—which is why such a thought prompted me to wonder if my stories could pass a diamond-inspired grading system.
The Four C’s of Grading Your Story Like a Diamond:
Clarity: Well-crafted stories have a sense of clarity that all the best diamonds possess. Readers may bring their own interpretation to a story but they’ll never be confused, frustrated or muddled by a story that works.
Carats: Well-crafted stories have just enough carats—in other words, their size is just right. There are never too many pages in a story that’s working for a reader! Some fans might think there are too few if they don’t want a story to end, but most readers of a well-crafted book will utter that satisfied sigh when the last page is turned, because the size is just right.
Color: Well-crafted stories are colorful. They mix fascinating characters with just the right setting and apparently insurmountable obstacles that somehow are believably and heroically overcome, bringing us to a satisfying end.
Cut: Well-crafted stories are cut to just the right shape, just as diamonds are. We may dream about writing outside the box, but for the sake of book buyers, publishing sales staff and PR workers—not to mention bookstore shelf-stockers—we need to write books that fit somewhere. Even when editors say they want something fresh and new, they still need to call it something so they can sell it to the rest of the publishing world. A mystery? A romance? Even more generic terms like General Fiction or Women’s Fiction call to mind a certain type of book.
More diamond elements for our precious stories…
Dedicated authors and their editors can spot that diamond-in-the-rough idea that can be expertly cut and polished into a marketable story.
A well-crafted story has a sense of timelessness, just like those endless facets of my diamond reflecting light. Characters are revealed to readers mid-stride, and readers recognize a sense that those people filling the pages already have a well-established life. Likewise, hopefully at the end of the story the reader is left with a promise of that character’s life going on and on.
A well-crafted story can be handed down, just as my ring will be handed down. There’s nothing better than to be told by a friend that a book touched them. Word-of-mouth advertising is every writer’s dream, because it’s the most effective.
And finally, well-crafted stories are priceless—yet so much more affordable than diamonds.
So if you’re wearing diamonds or just enjoy looking at sparkling jewels, let them inspire you to write a diamond of a story!
Join Me!