This week’s video shows you how you can mimic Jurassic Park in streamlining your narrative and keeping your action scenes tight. Video Transcript: Two admissions to start off with today. First, I admit the title is slightly misleading. The key to writing good action scenes isn’t action? What’s up with that? Because if action is the […]
July 5, 2015 by 59 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 42: When Your Story Stakes Aren’t High Enough
There are two different ways you can blow your story stakes–and both of them have the ability to ruin your book. Before we dig into the pitfalls, let’s take a moment to consider just what story stakes are. What Are Story Stakes? Your character’s stake in your story is his personal investment in the conflict. It’s whatever he […]
February 25, 2015 by 25 Comments ForeshadowingHow to Drive Your Readers Wild With Hints and Story Hooks—Without Frustrating Them
This week’s video shows you how to use hints and story hooks to keep readers turning your pages, while still timing your tension just right to keep from trying their patience. Video Transcript: We could argue that the single greatest job of a good story is simply that of convincing readers that something interesting is […]
November 26, 2014 by 37 Comments Novel EndingsDon’t Let This Sloppy Technique Kill the Tension in Your Story’s Climax
This week’s video points out one of the most egregious mistakes you can make in your story’s climax and how to make sure readers never look away from your exciting finale. Video Transcript: Imagine this: you’ve created an amazing story, full of amazing characters, who are clashing in an epic conflict. Your story’s climax has […]
March 21, 2014 by 28 Comments Writer's HelpSherlock Holmes vs. C. Auguste Dupin: 4 Ways to Improve Your Writing
Sherlock Homes rose and lit his pipe. “No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin,” he observed. “Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow.–A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Fighting words—within the detective genre, anyway. Yet the term “detective” had not yet been coined when […]
July 5, 2013 by 17 Comments Characters5 Ways to Limit Your Character’s Options – and Make Your Story Better
This post is by Mooderino. Given a predicament, a character in a story will have a number of options on how to proceed. As in real life, some of those options will be more sensible than others. Doing the sensible thing saves a lot of grief and trouble, which is why it is absolutely no good for […]
February 27, 2013 by 19 Comments Plotting Your NovelEpisodic Storytelling? Here’s Why
The term “episodic” is rarely a compliment when used for a novel. What it usually indicates is a herky-jerkiness to the plot, a lack of cohesion, and an overall story arc that doesn’t pull together into a concerted theme. Not exactly what most of us are striving for. What we want is for the plot, […]
December 5, 2012 by 18 Comments Plotting Your NovelWhat’s the Difference Between Conflict and Tension?
What is the difference between conflict and tension? I sometimes use the two terms interchangeably, not so much because they’re the same thing (they’re not) but because they’re kissing cousins that fulfill similar functions within the story. Conflict indicates a defined obstruction between the character and the goal. Two people arguing. Two armies fighting. Or […]
August 5, 2012 by 38 Comments Most Common Writing MistakesMost Common Writing Mistakes: Not Enough Story Tension
How can you keep your story moving forward in scenes that don’t offer full-blown conflict? No doubt you’ve heard the aphorism, “No conflict, no story.” But your characters can’t be clawing each other’s eyes out in every scene. So how do you keep readers hooked until you can pull out the big guns? The answer […]
July 4, 2012 by 8 Comments ForeshadowingDraw Out Your Story’s Tension—But Not Too Far
We delay reader gratification by foreshadowing something interesting to come—then not giving it to ’em and not giving it to ’em. The very fact that readers know the good stuff is coming (paired with their subsequent desire to see how it plays out) is usually enough to keep them turning pages. In fact, they would be […]
