The trick to writing good fiction is giving readers a reason to keep turning pages. Your goal is to tantalize them with the promise that good things are yet to come, and one of the best ways to accomplish this is to use foreshadowing. As the word itself suggests, foreshadowing casts a shadow of things to […]
May 26, 2010 by 31 Comments Characters3 Ways to Manage a Huge Cast of Characters
Ever read a book in which a huge cast of characters was dumped in your lap in a short amount of time? Confusing, isn’t it? Sometimes it’s even confusing to the point you put the book down and look for something more straightforward. As a writer, you want your book to be the straightforward one readers […]
March 22, 2010 by 47 Comments Structuring Your Novel21 Must-Haves for Your Story Structure (in 90 Seconds)
A writer’s life is busy. Sometimes we need shortcuts. And while there really aren’t any shortcuts, sometimes there are, at least, cheat sheets. Today, I’m going to give you a Mouse-ter Class in story structure—in all of 90 seconds. Ready? Strap in and take a look at the video below to see the foundational art of […]
March 11, 2010 by 25 Comments Beginning Your BookThe 4-Step Checklist for Your Story’s Opening Scene
Your story’s opening scene is always going to be tricky. It has to accomplish all kinds of goals in very little time and few words. Today, let’s look at the four things your story’s opening scene needs to check off its list–starting with the single most important one. The Most Important Job of an Opening Scene Arguably, […]
September 13, 2009 by 63 Comments Beginning Your BookThe “Establishing Shot”–and 9 More Ways to Strengthen Your Story’s Beginning
Just for the record: I hate beginnings. The first fifty pages of my novels are inevitably torture to write. I’m always sure I’ve lost my touch, convinced that every successful story in the past was a fluke, absolutely certain I’ll never make these opening scenes gripping enough to hook a reader. And it’s no wonder. […]
December 20, 2008 by 19 Comments Beginning Your BookSecret Storytelling Weapon: The Book’s Back Cover
What’s the first thing most readers look at when they pick up a book? If they’re anything like me, their attention is first snagged by the cover art, the title, and the author name, and from there they flip the book over and a take a gander at the back cover or the inside jacket […]
May 4, 2008 by 27 Comments Beginning Your BookCharacter: The Most Important Part of Your Story’s Beginning
If all of writing was as difficult as the first 50 pages, I probably would have wimped out years ago and found myself a new vocation. (Something easy and safe—like being a Walmart greeter or maybe the collector of the quarters from Laundromat machines.) Despite the fact that I already know every plot turn that […]
January 8, 2008 by 39 Comments Beginning Your BookWhen Not to Skip the Prologue
If you read last week’s post, “Skip the Prologue,” you’ve hopefully seen some of the reasons prologues are often a bad idea. Even prologues that escape being boring information dumps tend to delve into the dangerous waters of distancing a reader from the main story. Having invested their interest and emotion in a prologue, a […]
January 1, 2008 by 35 Comments Beginning Your BookSkip the Prologue!
Writers have an ongoing love affair with the prologue. You know, that chapter before a chapter inserted at the beginning of a book, intended to fill the reader in on important need-to-know info, so that he and the writer will be on the same page when they dive into the “real” beginning of the story. […]
December 17, 2007 by 16 Comments Beginning Your BookDostoevsky and the Art of In Medias Res
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s short novel The Gambler never reached the popularity and renown of his other works (Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, and Notes From Underground, most notably), but it deserves a spotlight of its own for several reasons. The most notable reason is undeniably its stunning and incisive portrayal of gambling addiction. Dostoevsky, who […]
