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We’re done! But I thought you might like a re-cap and a table of contents. The 31-day Think Like a Writer series challenges writers to write at least 750 words each and every day for a month. I used the website 750words.org, but you can do it with pencil and paper or on your computer. [...]
This month, I am trying to Think Like a Writer and write 750 words a day, practicing my writing, much like a musician plays scales daily. Today, I will be a Grinch, a mean one. Why? Because fiction is built on conflict: without bad things happening, the reader is bored. A bored reader equals failure! [...]
The following are the top posts of 2011 on Fiction Notes. Checklist of 17 Character Qualities 43 Book Trailer Sites to Inspire, Instruct and Share 15 Days to Stronger Characters 29 Plot Templates: Know the Readers Expectations Before you Bust Them How to Create Whacky, Interesting Character Descriptions that Stick with a Reader Outline Level [...]
Use Outlines to Revise Fiction Organization of a nonfiction piece of writing is paramount. Ideas and/or should build upon each other is an inevitable progression that leads to understanding. For fiction, the outline is the plot structure, events unfolding in an inevitable progression that lead to entertainment. When you use a narrative structure for creative [...]
I am thinking about doing NaNoWriMo this year, joining with thousands of others in trying to write 50,000 words–a novel–during the month of November. You can’t count any words written before November 1, but I know I can’t do this if I don’t work on a plot before the mad rush officially begins. So far, [...]
Guest post by Carol Fisher Saller Writing Eddie’s War, which consists of 76 prose-poem vignettes, wasn’t easy. I’ve chronicled elsewhere the trouble I got myself into by writing the scenes every which-way in random order without first outlining a plot or getting to know my characters. I’d think of a scene and write it—mostly little [...]
Debut Novel: Spreadsheets Used for Plotting and Revising a Novel Introduced first in 2007, debut children’s authors have formed a cooperative effort to market their books. I featured Revision Stories from the Classes of 2k8 and 2k9 and this feature returns this year with the Class of 2k11. Class of 2008 Class of 2009 MORE [...]
I am working on a novel revision for an editor and I expect to turn it in by Monday. But today, as I was reading through one last time to polish everything up–oh, my gosh!–there’s still so much work to do. Last Minute Revisions At this point, it’s not major structural changes or big plot [...]
Using the 3-Act Structure: Adjusting Expectations Most writers use a 3-act structure and for good reason. It works. Act 1: 25% of the length, sets up the story conflict and ends when the main character (MC) commits to doing something about the conflict. Act 2: 50% of the length, develops and deepens the conflict and [...]
OK, so I have this revision to do and one key element of it is to deepen characterization and relationships. Uh, oh. My weakness! How did the editor know that it was my weak area? Even after spending agonizing hours on characterization, I’m still not hitting the mark. Which left me stumped on this revision. [...]
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