Opening Lines

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 Novels,” [...]

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 [...]

Enrich a Story Plot

Last week I was wondering if I could combine two plots into one. One idea was for an Event and one for Characters. While I still think they could have meshed, the character story took off on it’s own into a short story.
Now the question is what to do with the Event idea, how to [...]

Novel Pacing=Constant Change

This entry is part 7 of 8 in the series Build a Stronger PlotFinishing up the series on plot: We’ve talked about the outline level of plot, plotting with scenes and now we’re at a finer granular level as we talk about pacing of a novel.
Pacing Helps Plot Succeed
Nick Lowe, in his article, The Well-Tempered [...]

Combine 2 Plots?

What to Write Next?
I’ve just wrapped up a few novel project, or else they are cooling down. It’s time to swim around and hope that I find some interesting bait and get hooked on the next novel. In fact, I’m eyeing two bits of bait right now and trying to decide if either will do. [...]

Shrunken Manuscript Reveals Novel’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Shrunken Manuscript Technique Helps Visualize Problems
Following my directions for shrinking, marking and evaluating a novel, here are some recent examples:

10 Checkpoints for Scenes

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 [...]

Scene Quiz: Harvard Bar Scene

This entry is part 8 of 8 in the series Build a Stronger PlotScene Quiz: From a Harvard Bar to Your Scenes
Yesterday, we talked about what you’d find if you dissected a good scene. Today, we’ll apply this information by studying a scene from the classic movie, Good Will Hunting. (Warning: Adult language) Then, you [...]

Dissect a Scene

This entry is part 6 of 8 in the series Build a Stronger PlotAnatomy of a Scene
If you dissect a scene, what do you find? Sandra Scofield, in The Scene Book: A Primer for the Fiction Writer lays out a simple, yet insightful discussion of this concept and it’s usefulness to a novelist.
Here are the [...]

Plot, Plot Layers, Subplot

This entry is part 5 of 8 in the series Build a Stronger PlotOK, you’ve narrowed down your story to a plot template and you know what characters, events, settings are implied by the story you are thinking about and the plot template. You know some of the pitfalls of plots. Now what?
It think this [...]