Learning how to write emotional scenes is one of the single most important feats any writer must rise to. We want fiction to make us feel something. I’m not talking just a little twinge of satisfaction here or there. I’m talking full-on emotional experiences: tears, laughter, cheers, even rage on occasion. Scenes in which characters […]
August 15, 2022 by 54 Comments CharactersHow to Write Emotional Scenes (Without Making Them Cringey)
June 24, 2019 by 50 Comments NarrativeCritique: 4 Ways to Write Gripping Internal Narrative
The old joke about how “the book was better than the movie” is a reflection of several attributes written fiction offers over visual fiction. One of the main ones is the ability to get inside characters’ heads via internal narrative. Narrative, by its very nature, is narrated by someone. Usually, that someone is the protagonist. […]
May 6, 2019 by 84 Comments NarrativeCritique: 8 Quick Tips for Show, Don’t Tell
The key to immersive story experiences is convincing readers they’re right there with characters. They’re smelling the ash in the air, tasting the rain, feeling the churning gut, seeing all the same colors, hearing all the same notes. When narrative writing accomplishes that level of verisimilitude, it has the ability to move readers beyond their […]
March 25, 2019 by 46 Comments Narrative4 Pacing Tricks to Keep Readers’ Attention
Part 21 of The Do’s and Don’ts of Storytelling According to Marvel Stories live or die on their pacing. Great characters and concepts are the heartbeat of good fiction, but even the greatest can struggle to keep readers’ attention if the pacing is off. Pacing is a lot like tone. It varies depending on the type […]
September 24, 2018 by 74 Comments Narrative3 Tips for Improving Show, Don’t Tell
When looking for a new book to read, there are a couple quick tests I do to determine whether it seems like I can trust the author to know what they’re doing all book long. The first and most important of these tests usually requires just a quick glance across the first page to see […]
July 30, 2018 by 74 Comments Narrative2 Simple Pacing Techniques That Grab Reader Emotions
Whether or not we care to admit it, much of what we do as writers is manipulation. With careful characterization, we manipulate readers into believing the characters lived before the book began and continue living long afterward. We create settings they long to escape to and plots that keep them wrapped up until long past […]
November 20, 2017 by 35 Comments NarrativeTips for How to Choose the Right Sentences
What is writing but choosing the right words in the right sentences in the right paragraphs in the right pages in the right chapters? But even though words and sentences are the smallest of integers within our storytelling, they’re actually one of the most complex. How do you choose the right sentences? Is it a process […]
August 11, 2017 by 17 Comments Narrative10 Steps to Perfecting Your Writing Style
“I always have a point of view. It may not be right, but it’s my own.”—Baz Luhrmann Four years ago, I watched Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby on the big cinema screen. As the film ended after 143 minutes, a long silence settled over the auditorium. It was a silence I had never experienced before, almost a […]
August 4, 2017 by 27 Comments NarrativeHow to Write Your Characters’ Actions with Clarity
Have you ever tried to watch an old film? Not a digitally remastered edition or a corrected copy, but a genuinely old film, silent and sepia-toned. Some frames are misplaced or backwards. Some aren’t there at all. You can follow the action well enough, filling in the gaps where they appear—but that doesn’t mean you […]
July 17, 2017 by 42 Comments NarrativeWriting Voice: 6 Things You Need to Know to Improve It
Writing a book isn’t just a discovery of the story, it’s also a discovery of yourself. Who are you, really? The answers you find appearing on the screen with each word you type can be surprising. And nowhere is the truth about an author revealed more unequivocally than when you open your literary mouth, loosen […]
