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 […]
April 25, 2010 by 63 Comments Editing Your Novel10 Ways to Write Skinny Sentences
If brevity is the soul of wit, then economy is the energy of prose. Let’s hear it for skinny sentences! Don’t get me wrong: I love complex, twisty, beautiful sentences. As Aleksandar Hemon pointed out in an interview with The Writer magazine: I like to push language toward poetry, to activate the dormant possibilities inherent in it. […]
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, […]
February 10, 2010 by 19 Comments Novel EndingsHow to Write an Epilogue That Works: 5 Tips
Want to learn how to write an epilogue that works? First, you need to understand why so many epilogues don’t work. How Not to Write an Epilogue Epilogues, like prologues, are, by their very definition, extraneous. As a result, they’re often unnecessary. Too many epilogues are self-indulgent happily-ever-afters by authors who want to make sure the reader […]
February 7, 2010 by 43 Comments Plotting Your NovelPlot vs. Character: Which Is More Important?
Authors debate plot vs. character, as if the two were gladiators, waging war on the sands of the Coliseum in some winner-take-all death battle. Both sides of the debate claim a definitive superiority for their chosen gladiator, and for the most part, the battle splits nicely down the lines of literary and commercial fiction, the […]
November 22, 2009 by 52 Comments Novel EndingsHow to Kill a Character—And Avoid Hate Mail
Some of the most powerful stories in literature and cinema have a surprising common element: The death of a main character. At first glance, this would seem to be an instant turnoff. Why hang with a character for 300+ pages only to watch him get knocked off in the end? But the truth is, when […]
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. […]
July 27, 2008 by 54 Comments NarrativeShowing and Telling: The Quick and Easy Way to Tell the Difference
Arguably the most important rule of fiction is the age-old Show, don’t tell! Sounds simple, right? And yet many inexperienced (and some not-so-inexperienced) writers struggle with this foundational principle of showing and telling. After all, isn’t all of writing telling? Every word we write is for the express purpose of telling the reader what he’s […]
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 17, 2008 by 4 Comments Story SettingsOne Thing the Movies Can Teach You About Setting
Often, setting is so integral to a story that it becomes a character in itself. Fantasy, science fiction, and historical stories all demand detailed and precise settings. Most mysteries will demand at least one scene set in a police station or morgue. Many thrillers and suspense stories have found great success by confining their boundaries […]
