What makes a writer great?

I enjoy reading Janet Evanovich's novels. She is one of the few secular authors that I read on a regular basis, simply because her novels are so well written. While some of the content would never be found in a Christian author's work of fiction, overall, the story plots are less offensive than a night of watching network television, and much more entertaining.

Mrs. Evanovich has written a book that describes how she writes. I was intrigued by the topic, and checked it out from my local library. The book was surprisingly entertaining and had more than a few helpful tips for writers. About halfway through the book, I began to wonder what the difference was between a great writer like Janet and the myriad of others who have enough rejection letters to fill a dumpster.

What exactly is it that Janet does differently? After studying one of her novels, I came to the conclusion that there are several reoccurring characteristics in her writing.

Character Development

Janet's Stephanie Plum character is notorious among her fans. Janet breathes life into Stephanie with a vibrant background and her qualities remain constant through each sequel. The characters in her books not only have relateable characteristics like a love for fattening foods, trouble with men and a family tree full of nuts, but they have small character flaws as well that endear them to the reader.

The gun touting, spandex wearing Grandma Mazure is one of my favorite characters. She lives for funeral parlor viewings and always seems to be the innocent center of heaps of trouble. Janet even adds a cross dressing rock star and an ex-hooker to her lineup of zany characters that lend a hefty dose of humor to her action packed plots. She takes the time to envision her characters in great detail and paints a vivid portrait of each character as the story progresses.

Pacing

Janet's novels are fast paced. She pares down any unnecessary scenes that do not take the reader into the next event. The story isn't burdened with long winded descriptions or boring lulls in the action, she keeps things moving along by eliminating anything that isn't vital to the story.

Humor

This woman knows how to write humor into a story. More often than I'd like to admit, I found myself spouting my coffee across the room as I read certain roll-on-the-floor-laughing scenes, like the time that Grandma Mazure accidentally shot the Thanksgiving turkey with a revolver. The humor scenes in her novels are unexpected and unpredictable. She isn't afraid to veer off the path for a short comical detour. The humorous scenes in her novels are remembered long after the story is finished.

Overall, Janet plans out her writing before she puts pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard. She tracks her plot line carefully and keeps her characters consistent while taking the reader on a wild ride of plot twists and turns. She keeps things real while adding just a dash of overblown, caricature-like personality to each character in order to create humor and interest. She keeps her readers in mind throughout the entire writing process and it shows in the finished products. We can all learn a great deal about the craft of writing by studying those who do it well. Who knows, maybe with a little polishing and some education about the writing process, the next great author may be sitting down to write a best seller right now.