Forget About the Words

My first novel.

Several years ago, I gave my publisher my first manuscript. Weeks later, she schooled me on my writing inadequacies.

On the way home from that verbal flogging, I stopped to see a friend. As a talented professional writer, she translated my publisher’s critique into language I understood. Then she gave me some advice.

“Don’t worry about the words,” she said. “Worry about the feelings. Get the feelings right, and the words will take care of themselves.”

I taped her wisdom to my computer. I read it hundreds of times as I reworked the manuscript. Sometimes, I’d stare at a convoluted paragraph and replace it with a simple sentence.

When I published my first novel, two advanced readers asked, “Why’d you kill the dog?” referring to an early chapter in which an abusive father had killed his young son’s pet.

“How’d you feel when you read it?” I asked.

Both described their emotional connection to the boy and their anger and disgust—also an emotional connection—toward the broken hateful father.

“That’s exactly what I wanted you to feel,” I said.

Those feelings set the arc for the rest of the story. They gave both characters a place to go. The words were simple, but the feelings were transformative.

When you write, make your reader feel something.