Let it breathe. These words, by romance author, Beverly Jenkins, were spoken to a roomful of seasoned and newbie authors looking for inspiration and sound advice as they work on their storytelling craft.
The annual Writer’s Digest conference, held in New York City, gathers top selling authors and experts in the field of writing to offer their personal experiences of rejections and, ultimately, successes in the publishing world. After a two-year hiatus, the conference was held in person from July 28 through 31 with seasoned professionals and varied sessions leaving attendees spoiled for choice.
The opening key note speaker, Beverly Jenkins, is the recipient of the 2017 Romance Writers of America Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award in addition to other authorship accolades. Her words of wisdom were summed up, once again, with “Let it Breathe,” her final message before allowing time for questions.
Beverly Jenkins quoted Albert Einstein, “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” with her first of several remarkable insights into her writer’s journey. Some of my favorites:
“There is no right way to do this writing thing. Whatever process works for you.”
“Not everyone is going to support you in your writing.”
“Don’t let the success of others make you feel less.”
“You don’t have to write every day!” (Note: Did I really hear that one? I am compelled to underline it!)
“Know the tropes of your genre. You can’t bend the rules if you don’t know them.”
“Our words are not made of gold. Be open to criticism.”
“You need a social media presence…readers gather online.”
But with these sage words, and many other bits of advice, she closed with “Slow the story down. You can go deeper.”
As a screenwriter, I’ve completed a handful of scripts and studied with industry professionals at Act One: Writing for Hollywood and, before that, in college. My senior thesis was the completion of two screenplays when I originally signed up to write one. My professors were taken aback that I doubled my work load while other students were looking at ways to cut back on their determined goals. But I wanted to take advantage of that time to write on deadline. For my defense I pitched these scripts to producers played out by my thesis director and another professor in the English Department’s Film Concentration program. The “one-minute equals one-page” format became my creative discipline. Beforehand, I had written a few short stories with one published in literary magazines and two as finalists in the Writer’s Digest short story contest. I’d also written plays that were staged in both a reader’s theatre production and a one-act play festival.
And now, at the 2022 Writer’s Digest conference, on a warm summer afternoon, I sat and pondered the keynote speaker’s words, “let it breathe.” She said it almost like an afterthought without further exploration, other than “you can go deeper.” I’m still reflecting on those words as I develop and write Book 3 of “The Miriam Chronicles.”
When it comes to descriptive passages, I’m not a deep diver. I don’t like lengthy details, and I’m never really sure how much wordage to use to frame the next plot point or widen and lengthen character development. I’ve read books that elaborated on a scene, whether an action or thought, to the point where I felt the story needed resuscitating. As a byproduct, I’m more aware of the writing than the actual story. Maybe it’s me, but when I read a bestselling author that spends nearly two pages talking about shoveling coal into an iron stove, I’m ready to tear my hair out. But then there are the books with one dimensional characters with little to no depth that come across as stock or stereotypical and merely foils for plot points. IF I had to choose between the two, I’d probably go with the coal shoveling scenario, because at least I can imagine being warmed up by the iron stove, right?
My last publisher said, after reading a few chapters of my second book’s final draft, she felt she had whiplash. She said things moved too quickly. But I wasn’t sure how to slow it down because I prefer briskly paced page turners. But, I don’t want readers to feel like they are on a runaway train or bumper car chase. I’d much prefer a roller coaster ride with slow buildups and the rush of a steep descent from an apex. And that’s the challenge with my stories, especially since I’m more a plotter than a pantser. I have the visual sense from screenwriting that pushes me to leave out description at the expense of “letting it breathe.”
If I set my mind on an example of going deeper into a story, I’d start with the evolution of Eustace Scrubb a youth in “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” of the “The Chronicles of Narnia” series by famed author C. S. Lewis. Eustace is given to exposing his nature of self-centeredness and avarice. He falls asleep atop a mound of treasure in a dragon’s cave. When he awakes, he too is a dragon trapped in his own greedy desires. We journey with Eustace through this tortured awareness of his own weaknesses. When he cries, as the dragon, I feel his pain and slowly remain by his side throughout his transformation back to being human. For me, this is going deep into a story and no one does it better than C. S. Lewis in several instances throughout the books in “The Chronicles of Narnia” series. His stories breathe without stalling out.
One bit of consistent advice from authors is to “read, read, and read.” But the challenge for me is that reading gives me more conviction that I’m on the right (and write!) path with my storytelling choices. I’ve read books recently that started out very strong, totally engrossing, and then slid into a mid-way slump. The boredom settles in, but I finish the book because that’s ingrained in me.
I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way with detail. It depends on what the characters are living out, the genre, the tropes within the genre, the tone, and, ultimately, the central theme of your story. And don’t forget your writer’s voice, because that will ring through if your story has depth.
In closing, I found yet another dimension to “Let it Breathe” with an online article by Joe Bunting at thewritingpractice.com. He states, “…sometimes you just need to breathe, to look up from your keyboard, stretch the kinks out of your back, and say, Wow, I’m writing.” Writers create, and there’s life to every breath and every word. Happy writing!!