Revise: Remember the 4 Sources of Conflict

Conflict, the type that motivates and moves a plot, comes from four sources.
Yesterday, an editor asked for revisions on a very short piece which was meant for a kindergarten or first grade audience. The editor didn’t like the competitiveness between siblings. But when she contemplated taking out that conflict, she correctly understood that the story [...]

Dialogue Talk

Doing the character checklist this week, I realized that I hadn’t written much about dialogue. Oh, I have a couple times.

Develop Sympathy with Character Traits 9

Use Character Traits to Make Your Character Sympathetic
Yesterday, we looked at 9 character traits that can be used to develop sympathy for your character. Today, we’ll look at using those traits in your story. It’s not enough just to tell yourself, or write on a checklist, that your character has these traits and is, therefore, [...]

5 Plotting Mistakes

This entry is part 4 of 8 in the series Build a Stronger PlotDo you make these 5 plotting mistakes?

Are you too nice to your characters?
Low tension. Give characters large, overwhelming obstacles to overcome. Of course, you love this dear fellow you created and like any good parent, you want only

3 Ways to Salvage a Scene

So, I’m writing a new scene and it’s not working. Why isn’t it working?
Scenes Need Action
After writing a draft and realizing it was lousy, I re-read the synopsis of this scene. “E realizes that he needs to accept M’s help.”
What’s the main verb in that statement? Realize.
That’s a poor scene synopsis and [...]

Events NOT Worthy of a Full Scene?

In writing or revising a novel, it’s always a balancing act, deciding which scenes to fully develop and which to skip, to skim, or to forget.
Events NOT worthy of a full scene?
Backstory:
Take, for instance, the story of the three little pigs. You could begin with the courtship of Mr. and Mrs. Pig, the birth [...]

Revising the Outline

When do you start revising your novel? I start by revising the first draft of my novel’s plot outline, synopsis or treatment.
Revise Early and Late
As soon as I’ve written the first sketchy outlines of a novel, I’m revising. I’m looking for many things:

Does the climax resolve the setup?
Are the main characters together in [...]

Revising Scenes

I’m back in the trenches here, revising scenes.
I’m looking at a single-spaced page of my current WIP. I’ve done the Scene Box Test only to find that there are four boxes on this single page. That means four scenes.
Yes, a scene can be accomplished in a single sentence or single paragraph, but I [...]

5 Secrets about your Characters’ Secrets

What is your character’s deepest, darkest secret? What is it that s/he doesn’t want anyone to know?
When you write a novel or revise a novel, YOU must know these things.
5 Ways to Use Secrets to Develop Characters

Using the Secret as a Plot Twist
When we find out that Luke Skywalker’s father is Darth Vader–the revelation [...]