Tried and True techniques

Naturally, I need to follow up with a few tried and true techniques. Use these to ensure that you encounter the fewest problems with your book.

1) Use one point-of-view. Choose one character as the main focus and keep him or her "on camera" at all times.

2) Use the third person. It's much easier to describe a character's thoughts and reactions in the third person. The same thoughts in the first person tend to sound narcissistic. Try it--write a paragraph with "I" and then rewrite it with "He" or "She." See what I mean? Don't be seduced into attempting the first person by John Banville's sinuous novels, unless you have a personal voice that enraptures all that wander near. Not for beginners.

3) One genre at a time, please. Readers get cranky if you mix them too much. Readers feel betrayed if they think they're enjoying a romantic novel, but zombies wander in by chapter six. Not to mention the risk of ruffling the feathers of publishers and booksellers who won't know where to place your book.

4) Plot twice, write once. And then cut by a third.

I'll have more tried and true later. Tonight I am thinking about an article I just read in Wired magazine that asserts that all the deep questions have abandoned general fiction and taken residence in Science Fiction. Maybe we should take that up tomorrow?