What makes a story 'well-written'?

What makes a story ‘well-written’?

I could tell you that it’s putting a colon ('two pricks' as Caroline Taggart and J.A. Wines call it in their style guide, My Grammar and I) in the right spot; it’s having a catchy headline with good alliteration (Shark snacks on Somali sunbather); or it’s a tale free of double negatives (he didn’t see no shark).

But I won’t.

The key, I believe, to well-written prose is… respect. By that I mean having respect for your readers and for yourself.

You wouldn’t invite guests to dinner and serve up a bowl of rice bubbles, so don’t serve up half-baked tosh to your readers and expect them to lap it up as if you were Shakespeare’s illegitimate offspring.

If you don’t respect your readers enough to take the time to research your subject matter properly, to liberate your text of grammatical and structural errors, and to construct an interesting story, they will abandon you faster than you can say, 'But, I thought you loved me?'

To show you readers true respect, you need to do a few things:

Your readers aren’t stupid, so don’t treat them that way

Don’t talk down to your readers, or inflict your opinions onto them. After all, people don’t like know-alls, nor do they like to be told how - or what - to think.

Just lay out the facts that are relevant to the subject matter - with finesse, of course - and let the readers draw their own conclusions.

For example, if you pepper your story with humour, don’t explain it away with a sermon. Tell the joke well enough and they will get it.

Show the reader what is going on in the story by using description and let them picture it for themselves, rather than telling them what is happening.

Dedicate adequate time to your work

In this era where text is compiled in 140 characters or less, words are reduced to single letters for faster messaging, and everyone wants everything completed yesterday, it is becoming more acceptable to churn out quantity over quality.

Stop multi-tasking (This also applies to those p-platers who think they are so clever they can apply lippy, text their boyfriend and drive safely in a school zone all at the same time!) and just focus on the job at hand.

Put yourself in the vacuum of that subject matter, stay there until it is ergonomically unsound to do so, and produce a sound first draft. Then, edit, edit again and edit again.

Only when you are certain that it is as good as can be do you hit the send button.

Put yourself to the respect test

When my mum dished out the advice ‘always respect yourself’, it went in one ear, rattled around amongst the teenage hormones and out straight out the other ear - along with ‘wear clean undies’, ‘don’t talk back to the teacher’ and ‘don’t do anything you can’t do in front of your father and me’. (Mmm, I never quite understood that last one.)

But, she was right (as always).

After all, you wash your body, brush your teeth and dress tidily (with those fresh undies, of course) when you go out in public because you want to make a good impression. You have pride in your appearance.

Think of your words in the same manner. If you send out scruffy work, it’s a lot harder to earn the respect of the people – your readers – you are trying to impress.

For more information about Pamela Wilson or WriteSmart, log on to http://www.writesmart.com.au/