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To think like a writer, you must learn to write in scenes as one of the basic creative writing prompts. A scene is a set of contained actions and most writers have sort of an idea about how it goes. But they go wrong in several ways. First, a scene is a series of actions [...]
Working on a novel revision, I realize that I need to refocus the relationship between two characters. The question is where to start. Grand Entrance for Your Character I once heard the late Sid Fleischman talk about the importance of giving a character a Grand Entrance. Think about a stage play, where a character sweeps [...]
30 Days to a Stronger Scene Table of Contents SCENE 1, introduced the idea of scenes and its basic elements. Here, we want to break it down even more into elements that you can use. Elements of a scene Scenes are made up of Actions, Thoughts, Dialogue and Emotions. In every scene, a character has [...]
Innocent Openings for Novels “Stories should begin at a point of innocence.” When I read that recently, I had to stop and consider: where should you start a story? Point of Innocence: Don’t Foreshadow the End The main point of this quote is that you shouldn’t start with something like, “It was the worst day [...]
12 Ways to Start a Novel First lines. We all obsess over our novel’s first lines, and rightly so, because from it the rest of the story must flow naturally and without a pause. Here are 10 strategies to use on first lines for your novel. I’ve illustrated them with the “100 Best Lines from [...]
Does your Scene Pass this Checklist? Where/When. (Setting) Did you orient the reader at the beginning of the scene? Does the reader know where this takes place: room in house, city, state, country, etc? Does the reader know when this takes place: time of day, season of year, place within chronology of story? If the [...]
I’m starting a series of posts about plot this week – as requested. Thanks for popping in or sending me emails with your preference! Plot and Character are Intertwined Before I start talking about plot, I have to say something about characters, the people who will be DOING and REACTING to the plot. Obviously, they [...]
Power Abs: Fixing the Sagging Middle of Your Novel This is part of a series, 30 Days to A Stronger Novel One of the hardest things about plot is to keep the middle from sagging. The opening is full of action, and the ending brings all the plot elements together into a big scene. But [...]
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