Vince Lombardi and Lou Holtz were my writing coaches
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I remember the late Vince Lombardi, not for his winning
seasons with the Green Bay Packers, or for winning the very first two Super
Bowl’s, but for his winning spirit and his ability to inspire those on his
teams as well as those of us on the side lines. I remember Lou Holtz for his winning
years as head coach of Notre Dame in the late Eighties and early Nineties but
also for his keen insight into what it takes to win on the field and throughout
life. While I didn’t play for either Lombardi or Holtz, the life lessons they
taught inspired me, just the same. As I started writing the principals they
taught stayed with me. Following are a few quotes from the greats that I apply
to to my novel writing.
1. “When all is said and done, more is said than done.” Lou
Holtz. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard the phrase, Show, don’t tell. This was a difficult concept for me in my early
writing days. When your character is doing something it shows character,
strengths and weaknesses. When all is said and done, say little and do a lot.
2. “Never promise more than you can deliver, but always
deliver more than you promise.” Lou Holtz. When you start a story at a
breakneck pace, the reader is expecting the pace to increase as the story
progresses to the climax. To many stories start out like a dragster on a
quarter-mile run and end up low on fuel by the end. Give the reader what you
promise.
3. Lou Holtz more than once told his Fighting Irish players.
“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do,
and attitude determines how well you do it.” Not all have the ability to write
great novels, some have the ability, but never do, but if you decide to write,
attitude is the key to how well you do
on the next Moby Dick, or Grapes of Wrath.
4. “You are never as good as everyone tells you when you
win, and you’re never as bad as they say you are when you lose.” Lou Holtz. This is so true when you receive a critique on
your writing. Not every review you receive is helpful, some are downright
painful and some are unwarranted altogether. Treat every review as an
opportunity. Honestly assess whether the review was justified. For instance, if
someone didn’t like the story because it was poorly researched, poorly edited,
or poorly executed, that’s fair criticism. On the other hand, if the complaint is
the book is priced outlandishly high and the person wouldn’t buy it until the
price was lowered, that’s like saying Picasso wouldn’t go with the furnishings
in the room, so don’t buy it. Personally I wouldn’t pay a dollar for a Picasso,
but others are willing to shell out millions. What value do you put on a work
of art? Art is truly in the eye of the beholder.
4. Vince Lombardi is known for telling his players,
“Gentlemen, we will chase perfection and we chase it relentlessly, knowing all
the while we will never attain it. But along the way we shall catch excellence.” No
matter how well a book written and edited, there seems to be an error left
behind for a reader to discover. This is where an author has it better than a Da
Vinci or Picasso. Imagine telling Picasso, “You have an eye out of place,” or “the
lips are all wrong.” Even so, as brilliant as Da Vinci was, I doubt he got the
Mona Lisa right on the first take. I’ve heard there are many other similar
paintings depicting the character in the Mona Lisa, but there is only one that
received critical acclaim. We, as authors, can go back and fix what our readers
tell us is wrong, up to a point. I take every word left out, or if, and, or but
that is out of place seriously, and if the errors are too many, it’s time to
get a new editor, and I’ve done that before. After all, I’m paying for a
service and I should get the expected value from it. And my objective as an
author is to entertain the reader, not make copy critics out of them. The
lesson here is to strive for perfection and settle for excellence.
5. A picture is worth
a thousand words. Neither Holtz or Lombardi said this, that I know of, and
I know it’s an over used cliché, but I needed to throw it in to make a point. The
old adage, Don’t judge a book by its
cover, just doesn’t cut it in the digital age. I’m beginning to realize the
value of a professionally designed book cover, and I am slowly working through
my novels, replacing the covers with professional art. The first impression of
a book might merit a second glance. Check out the new cover on THREADS OF THE SHROUD, and let me know what you think.
6. “The only place success comes before work is in the
dictionary.” Vince Lombardi. There is no better place to let a potential reader
know what your story is about than in the brief description of the story often
found on the inside flap, the back cover or in the book description. This is
where your target audience is captured. If the description doesn’t leave some
compelling questions to be answered it probably won’t entice the reader to go
to the next step and read the first few pages of the book. It seems no matter
how many times a description can be written, one more time makes it better.
Work hard on the description.
7. “The measure of
who we are is what we do with what we have.” Vince Lombardi. The first three
pages of any story are critical. I remember my mystery writing instructor
saying, “If there is a rifle hanging over the fireplace in the first scene, it
better have been used to shoot someone before the end of the chapter.” The
story needs to build from the start. How a story measures up is dependent on
what it is given in the start.
8. “Gentlemen, this is a football.” Vince Lombardi is said
to have told his players. I’m sure everyone in the locker room knew what a
football was, but Lombardi was illustrating a point that we sometimes forget.
When things aren’t going right we may have to start over. A well written book
is like a winning football team. The readers are the fans and also our critics.
They tell us the value of our work. When a book isn’t winning, we need to know
why. Perhaps it’s time to start over.
Finally Vince Lombardi, left us with this. “The quality of a
person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence,
regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.”
