It’s generally accepted that agents and editors dislike seeing dream sequences in your story. This is because a story opening that features a dream is a story opening that almost always fails to present a strong hook, character, setting, conflict, or frame. Although there are certainly exceptions to this rule, your wisest move is generally […]
September 18, 2011 by 42 Comments Beginning Your Book5 Elements of a Riveting Opening Line
The opening line of your book is your first (and possibly last) opportunity to grab your reader’s attention and give them a reason to read your story. That’s a gargantuan job for a single sentence. But if we break down excellent opening lines, we discover a number of interesting things. One of the most surprising […]
August 31, 2011 by 17 Comments Beginning Your BookWhy the Human Element Is All-Important to the Beginning of Your Story
The beginning of your story is a checklist of must-have elements. One of those elements is providing readers with an immediate personal connection to the characters. In some stories, this can be difficult, since complicated plots and settings often demand the author lay down a foundation before exploring the human side of the characters. But […]
July 20, 2011 by 18 Comments Story SettingsHow to Illustrate Characters Through Their Surroundings
One of my favorite parts of watching a movie is the opportunity to spy on the characters’ familiar surroundings. Their homes, their bedrooms, and their offices all present wonderful insights into personality. The visual medium of film allows for all kinds of details to be included, some so minuscule or subtle most viewers probably won’t […]
July 17, 2011 by 47 Comments Novel EndingsDeus Ex Machina: Latin for “Don’t Do This in Your Story”
By the time you reach the end of your book, you’re sometimes out of steam, sometimes out of ideas, sometimes sick of your story, and sometimes just plain wrong about how to end it. As a result, you might find yourself walking through yellow caution tape into the pothole of deus ex machina before you […]
July 13, 2011 by 25 Comments ForeshadowingKeep Slow Scenes Moving With Tension and Foreboding
Not every scene in your stories can be set at a fever pitch of excitement. Just like your own life, the lives of your characters need to balance the tense, dangerous, exciting moments with moments of calm reflection, everyday activities, and seemingly safe retreats. Without these slower scenes, your book runs the risk of feeling […]
June 29, 2011 by 38 Comments CharactersWhy Nice Characters Equal No Conflict
In life, we often think of likable people as nice people. But, in fiction, that’s not quite how it works. In fiction, nice characters are conflict-sucking vampires out to sap your story’s life’s blood and leave it pale and limp in your reader’s hands. Ouch, huh? Naturally, we’d like most of our characters to be […]
June 15, 2011 by 24 Comments BackstoryDiscover the Perfect Place to Insert Backstory
How is an author to know the perfect place to insert backstory? Sooner or later, most authors feel constrained by the technique of opening a story in medias res, when we know readers won’t fully comprehend events unless we’ve first given them an understanding of the important backstory that preceded the opening. But by the […]
May 29, 2011 by 78 Comments Novel EndingsDo You Have to Write Happy Endings?
In the 2003 film adaptation of Peter Pan, Wendy describes the stories she’s been telling the Lost Boys as “adventures, in which good triumphs over evil.” In response, Captain Hook sneers, “They all end in a kiss.” Like Wendy and the Lost Boys, millions of people escape into the world of fiction to find happily-ever-after […]
May 25, 2011 by 14 Comments CharactersHas Your Protagonist Changed? Prove It!
Personal transformations are always at the heart of strong character arcs. Our protagonists are faced with trials that force them to acknowledge their own inadequacies and then, usually, change their ways in a manner that allows them to overcome both their faults and, as a result, the bad guy. This moment of personal revelation and […]
