I’ve shared a few lessons from readers and it struck me that it would also be helpful to include some positive ideas. Complaining about every book I read makes me sound like quite the jackass.

One thing I love to see in books I read is expertise. When you can tell that somebody knows what they’re talking about, when they can describe something with such detail that they’ve clearly become an expert—that rocks. It doesn’t matter if they’re actually an expert or they’re just really good at faking it. However they do it, I love it.

One example is in Ashfall by Mike Mullin. And it happens several times throughout the book. I may not believe him about the weight of ash, but he shows his expertise in other areas. The main character, Alex, knows his taekwondo. He knows how to handle a bo staff and knows how to take down a much larger opponent. And it’s presented in a realistic, I-learned-in-a-safe-class type way. He’s horrified when he accidentally kills an opponent and compares striking someone in the face to hitting the punching bag. Not only does the writing describe these skills in a way only an expert could, but he works in those details in a realistic way that’s authentic to the character (Note: Don’t work in details just to show off your research).

Later Alex encounters Darla and she knows her way around the farm. When she skins a rabbit, jury rigs a toilet, or makes a homemade smoke house, it’s completely believable.

I remember another example from Open Heart by Frederick Buechner that I read an excerpt of in college. It so perfectly captured a high school classroom that years later I had to track down the book and read it. I first read that passage more than a decade ago and I still remember it. Expertise doesn’t necessarily have to be skills, it’s the experiences that make your writing completely believable.

I could read good expertise writing all day long. It doesn’t matter if the skill is accounting or unloading a truck, if you do it right it can be mesmerizing.