Lori Duff Writes

I stand by the proposition that everyone has an interesting story to tell.

I also stand by the proposition that not everyone has the ability to tell an interesting story interestingly. Some of y’all speak in first draft and I really wish you’d consult with an editor before you subject me to that version.

Think about it: it’s an old saw in the writing world that the first draft of anything is terrible. Show me a writer who thinks his or her first draft of a work is great and I will show you a victim of the Dunning-Kruger effect.[1] It’s hard to see the first draft of novels now, because almost everyone writes on computers and the first draft gets written over. But if you look at the handwritten first drafts of the Great Novels Before Computers, they’re barely legible due to the scratch outs and inserts and rearrangings.

See, for example, this page from the handwritten version of A Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood:

Granted, we don’t all have to speak in Great American Novel every time we open our mouths. That’s not a fair standard. Most of us can’t write in Great American[2] Novel no matter how many drafts we have to get it right.

But when we’re storytelling? Goodness gracious, give some consideration to your audience. At least once every few minutes think to yourself the things that authors are taught to ask themselves: does this advance the plot? If not, leave it out.

I get that, you say. But you need some backstory to understand what I’m trying to say. This may very well be true. The story may not make any sense if I don’t understand the relationship between the parties, or if I don’t have a basic understanding of auto mechanics or the home menu on Microsoft Word.

Here’s some more tips from the writing world:

1. Don’t assume that I don’t already know the relationship between the parties, basic auto mechanics, or have a working knowledge of MSWord. It’s condescending and why millenials invented the word “mansplaining.”
2. Just tell me what I need to know. If I need to know the relevant parties are cousins, just tell me they are cousins. Don’t tell me Sarah and George had two children, Matthew and Phyllis. Phyllis had three children, and Matthew had two. No three. No, two. I can’t remember the other child’s name. Something biblical, I think. Or maybe one of those old English king names? And old, standard name for sure, Anyway, Matthew’s son is Henry, and Phyllis had a set of twins—are their names Jack and John or was it Jacob and John, no, wait a minute, it’s Josh and Jonah, and anyway, her daughter is Emma. So anyway, Emma and Henry are the ones I’m talking about, and they’re what, second cousins? Third cousins? First cousins twice removed? How does that work? This is what’s called an info dump and on paper I’d skim it but out loud I’m forced to sit patiently with a pasted smile on my face.

And before you even start the story, consider your audience. Every story is interesting to someone, but not to everyone. Stories about World War Two are fascinating to World War Two buffs, but not to people who wanted to claw their eyes out during high school history classes. Stories about other people’s love lives are bread and butter to a certain kind of person, and boring and unimportant to another. And that’s okay. That’s why the target audience for Tom Clancy books and Danielle Steele books are not the same people. Different strokes, yadda yadda. But don’t force a Danielle Steele fan to listen to a recitation of a Tom Clancy book and vice versa.

It all comes down to what your mama probably told you when you were a child, and if she didn’t, I’m telling you now:

Think before you speak.  

[1] The Dunning-Kruger effect basically says that you have to have a certain amount of knowledge and skill to know when you suck. See Dunning–Kruger effect – Wikipedia

[2] Or British. Or Bolivian. Or Botswanan. Or whatever.

Buy my book, Devil’s Defense, or the audiobook, preorder the sequel, Devil’s Hand, and/or find me on Substack.

Lori Duff

Lori B. Duff is an award-winning author who practices law on the side.  Her latest book, “If You Did What I Asked in the First Place” was awarded the Gold Medal for humor in the Foreword INDIES awards in 2019. You can follow her on Twitter at @LoriBDuff and on Facebook. For more blogs written by Lori, click here. For more information about Lori in general, click here. If you want Lori to do your writing for you, click here. If you want Lori to help you market your book, click here.