My Writing Philosophy
Stories should be enjoyed. Stories need movement--action--change. In order for the reader's
eye to move through the story, the words and actions must be direct. Elmore Leonard says that
he doesn't write the parts that readers skip. I want to find the fluidity of Elmore Leonard.
The highest level of fiction teaches truth that is difficult to learn in any other way. Orson Scott
Card's Lost Boys taught me that doing evil to others is worse than dying. This was a lesson that I
had heard, but apparently I had not clearly listened to up until I read his book. I want Orson Scott
Card's gift of revealing truth through storytelling.
Readers should experience fiction emotionally. They should love some characters and hate others.
If the writer first finds this love and hate and if that writer is highly skilled, readers will emotionally
commit to the story. I aspire to develop Dean Koontz's relationships with characters and to pull
readers into these relationships as Koontz does.
Fiction should transport the reader to another reality. I wish to transport readers to realities such
as Tolkein's Middle Earth, Anne Perry's nineteenth century London, John Kellerman's modern day
Los Angeles, and Mark Twain's Mississippi River.
This is my view of what makes good writing. Maybe it is impossible for a writer to achieve all of
these things. But, as Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown said, "That's what we're here for--to do the
impossible."
John Arkwright
October 26, 2007
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