Intelligence

Writers need to be smart. 

No-brainer, right? Most people need to be smart for their day to day lives. It's one of those things that has always been necessary.

But for writers, there are a few key areas where we need to have...

Intelligence

1. Reading and understanding our characters

They're not allowed to hide anything from us. We have to know what's going on inside their heads at every moment of every day, and they're not allowed to even try hiding anything. Characters need to be real, and we can't play dumb when it comes to writing them. Readers will see right through it if we try to create an idiot character who doesn't make any logical or heartfelt decisions. They need to be real, or we've lost the illusion of this story ever actually taking place.

2. Creating realistic plots

This one is difficult for a lot of us, so don't worry if you haven't mastered it yet. There's only so much bad that can happen to any one character. Everything can't be bad for just one Joe while every Jane is happy and fine. It needs to be evened out, so there are problems for everyone -- because there are problems for everyone. If we want our readers to see our stories as real, they need to read as being real. So play it smart, even it out, and keep that level head.

3. (for us sci-fi/fantasy writers) Creating believable worlds

My favorite part about science fiction and fantasy is that I get to create a whole new world. Sometimes it's a different planet, other times it's this world with a few tweaks and changes -- and to me, that's the whole fun of it. But I can't just create a random world with no rules. Things have to make sense according to the way we know them here, or they won't make sense to my readers. I can't show them pictures of what I'm seeing in my head, so I have to find a way to describe things in a way that they'll be able to see them too.

But that's the whole fun of it, and the whole reason for reading far too many science books in my lifetime. Star Trek helps too, if you want to take the lazy route. ;-)

4. (for you real-world dwellers) Re-Creating the real world

Though it's not something that I often have to deal with, it is something that I read a lot. Most of what I read is not actually science fiction. It's fiction, set in this world, in this day, with people doing things that I do every day. That's what makes fiction so difficult. Things have to be realistic. Writers, you need to know what's going on in the world around you if you're going to write something that's in this world, in this day. If you don't understand the way the world works, your readers will be able to sense it. They want to feel secured by your story, not thrown out naked in the wilderness.


The moral of the story is, keep it smart. Know what you're writing, know your characters, know your story like you know your own life. After you've written it and it's all said and done, then you're welcome to forget.

Try asking me what happens in the middle of Telekinetic. I guarantee I don't recall it all.

[love]

{RD}