Dec 09 2008
A Writing ‘Don’t’ from “Little Women”
My last post highlighted several writing tips gleaned from Louisa May Alcott’s classic tale, Little Women .
The writing elements I noted as exemplary were:
- Use of dialogue to build characterization
- Effective use of narrative
- Appropriate language for intended audience
- A great ending
Today, I’d like to share one writing ‘don’t’ from Little Women . This does not imply the author fails in this area. Rather, writing is necessarily different today.
My writing don’t is:
Don’t try to teach your readers a lesson (at least not in a painfully obvious manner).
Many of the story’s episodes serve to teach characters obvious lessons. Meg learns not to be taken up with her appearance; Jo is taught to be more patient with her sisters; Beth overcomes her painful shyness; Amy learns to swallow her pride when she is caught smuggling a banned treat into school.
These morals work in Alcott’s era when times were simpler, which is why we enjoy reading this type of literature. However, we can’t get away with the same type of writing today. Children’s book editors especially hate anything that seems preachy.
While most books have an overall moral, it must be delicately woven through a story instead of immediately obvious to the reader.
