In The Writer magazine, novelist Caroline Hwang told how she had written a hundred pages of a novel but felt they weren't right. She was taking a class from E. L. Doctorow and asked for his advice. He asked her a key question:
Was she writing something she would want to read?
She says, "It cut me to the quick, because I wasn't. I was writing something I would have read as a grad student, but my taste had changed radically. As a reader, I skim over long descriptions of dust motes swirling in the sunlight, so what was I doing writing them?"
She changed her tone to the much lighter and amusing one that characterizes her debut novel, In Full Bloom.
The origin of that novel also is interesting. She orginally wrote an essay for Newsweek about how her parents expected her to marry a Korean man. Several hundred people with similar stories responded to that article, which showed her she was on to something. She decided the theme of her novel would be how to please your parents and still please yourself.
(You will find many more tips on writing your book in Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon or your other favorite online or offline retailer. Find out more at www.yourwritingcoach.com)
