Writing Tips
What is your story about? Each genre has its own set of rules: word count, number of pages, etc.
YOUR CAST of CHARACTERS
A) Star of the Show - protagonist
B) Villain - antagonist
C) Love interest
D) Mentor - wise old woman, best friend, grandmother, grandfather, etc
E) Bit parts - the walk-on cab driver, waitress
WHAT IS THE THEME of your Story? WHAT IS YOUR POINT IN TELLING THIS PARTICULAR STORY?
Romeo & Juliet - Great Love Defies Death.
Beyond the Quiet - a repressed widow learns to live.
No matter what story you want to tell, always remember the #1 Rule in storytelling:
NEVER BORE YOUR READER!
Stay off your soapbox or you will lose your reader. If you absolutely must lecture on your theory of life, go into your bathroom, stand in front of your mirror, and talk to your heart's content. For your novels, however, learn the fine art of subtlety. Everyone runs when a windbag enters the room or takes over the pages in a book.
PLOTTING/STRUCTURE
Story Structure is the stumbling block in many writers’ adventure. Is there a basic plot? Yes.
Basic plot: character A wants something and character B tries to stop him. According to Aristotle, there are three sections of a story: the Beginning, Middle, and End; or,
Act 2: Character decides to fight back and his adventures begin. Trying to solve his problem only gets him in deeper
Act 3: Crisis, then facing the dragon for a final show-down
Plot Points not only help you plot, but when they are used correctly, they increase the dramatic action for the reader. After all, a writer's goal is to keep the reader turning pages.
POINT
of VIEW (POV)
Who is telling the story? Reader needs to identify with your character.
A) First Person Narrative - not as popular with
general audiences: I watch the boat skim the waves...
B) Second Person - again not as popular: You are
waiting for your husband/wife/children to come home. They’re late, and you're
checking the windows every three
minutes...
C) Third:
1) Single - one person all
through the book: He walked to the window, pulled back the drape, and stood
watching for their Camry to turn into the driveway. It was almost midnight...
2) Multiple - two or more
Points of View which means two or more major characters. To avoid head-hopping,
give each major character his/her own scene/chapter
3) Omniscient - all knowing,
also not recommended as the reader can't identify with a particular character
EXAMPLE: Inside the
little church, a hallway divided two rows of pews. Mrs. Green, a redhead, sat
on the left. Mrs. Jones, her auburn hair not quite as vivid, sat on the right.
Both women wore hats from the forties, each with a veil mysteriously shading
their eyes. No other woman wore a hat. During the service, Mrs. Green and Mrs.
Jones kept glancing at each other, as if each woman wanted to make sure the
other was paying more attention to her than to the minister.
SHOW, don't TELL
Show, don't Tell is the most repeated phrase in writing classes and how-to
books. It's also one of the most difficult techniques for a writer to master,
yet it's critical for reader identification. But what does it mean?
When you TELL about something or someone, you're stating a fact as you know it.
But does it mean anything to the reader? Does he/she feel anything by your
statement? Chances are, the reader will not. Therefore, to connect with the
reader, you must learn the technique of SHOWing in your writing.
EXAMPLE: You want to introduce Mr. Jones to your reader.
What is the best way?
A) You could TELL the reader about Mr. Jones:
Mr. Jones liked children.
Did the reader feel a connection to Mr. Jones?
How about this one:
B) You could introduce Mr. Jones to your reader by SHOWING his actions.
Every Saturday, Mr. Jones gathers the neighborhood children and takes them to
the park. Three Saturdays ago, he taught them to fish. Another Saturday, he
gave instructions on swimming and diving. For those few hours each weekend, he was
the father he'd always longed to be.
While (B) may be better, it's still narration. The best way to SHOW how Mr.
Jones likes children is to dramatize a specific Saturday in a SCENE with action
and dialogue. Then the reader can SEE Mr. Jones with the children.
SCENE
Scene is the building block of your story. Story consists of scene, sequel, and
narration, repeated over and over until the end. A scene is a single unit of
action, taking place in real time. Each scene must have:
A) Goal - what is the character trying
to accomplish? A story needs a scene goal and a story goal.
B) Conflict - who or what is trying
to stop your main character from reaching his/her goal?
C) Failure,
or Disaster –
character’s attempts to reach his goal fails. Dramatically.
SEQUEL
Sequel is a time to reflect, to let loose the emotions from the devastating
scene. Slam the door, go on a crying jag, wail and moan to your best friend, or
retreat behind closed doors, whatever is in the nature of the character you
devised. However, a book full of moaning is tedious, so Character must decide
how to proceed. Therefore, the steps for sequel are:
A) Reaction - wail, moan, or cry
B) Dilemma - what do I do now?
C) Decision - new goal: I'm going to get
that new job, no matter if my boss likes me or not. First thing tomorrow, I'm
going to make an appointment for an interview and show him/her what I can do.
DIALOGUE
Getting your characters talking is the heart of your story. It's where the
action takes place and holds the most interest. Many readers skip over
narration to read the dialogue, no matter how you've slaved to write that exact
word. But when you must write narration, stay true to your character. You do
not want to sound like an English professor unless your character teaches
English. Nor do you want them to be illiterate, unless you're writing another Grapes
of Wrath. It all depends on your character and story.
Do not, under any circumstances, use dialogue to 'info dump' backstory into
dialogue.
Use contractions, the way people speak. Keep dialect at a minimum. Use tags and
beats.
STYLE
Style is more than the way you string words together. It's also how you present
your story to the reader. Be sure to vary each scene/chapter as well as
sentence length. How quickly or how slow you present your story is called
PACING. A historical romance, for instance, moves along at a slower pace than a
mystery/suspense, and once you learn pacing, you'll be able to control whether
the reader flies through your manuscript, not wanting to put it down, or
whether the unfolding is so slow the reader falls asleep.
TENSE
a) Present: she looks into the mirror. What will the
other girls wear? She tugs at her skirt, wondering if it is too long.
b) Past - more popular: she looked into the mirror. What
would the other girls wear? She tugged at her skirt, wondering if it was too
long.
SETTING
Never bore your reader with lengthy description. Try setting that scene or
describing that character by following the rule of 3: Use no more than three
sentences, but think about the wording in those three sentences. Pick out the
most striking qualities of that character or scene and concentrate on telling
the reader about them. Many of us go beyond the three at times, but practice
honing your descriptions to the qualities most important.
One of the major ways to avoid confusion in your writing is to use the
journalistic five W's: Who, What, When, Where and How.
EMOTION
While emotion is critical to connecting to your reader, under no circumstances
do you need your character emoting all over the page - it will resemble an
old-fashioned melodrama. Remember, less is more.
Example:
Instead of saying your character feels sad, WRITE IT SO YOUR READER WILL CRY.
How to accomplish that? Craft. Technique.
SUSPENSE
Suspense is not just for mysteries. Without some kind of suspense to your
story, your reader will yawn, think of bedtime or all of the other chores
he/she should be doing. The book goes down and your next one will sit on the
shelf. You want your reader to stay up all night turning pages; you don't want
to put him/her into a coma.
How to make your material engrossing? Technique, the craft of knowing how
to create tension and suspense.
OUTLINE
To outline or not to outline. Do you really need it? One writer outlines extensively using index cards and colored markers. Another simply lists chapters and their one-line content. One former instructor writes his story then, during revision, outlines using stepping stones/plot points. You must find what works for you.
Do you know what Stepping Stones are and when to use them? If not, check my Plotting Help section.
MINI-SYNOPSIS, or Your Jewel
Your Jewel is your story condensed into one hundred dynamic words or less. It's great for query letters, blurbs. Make sure you hit the Stepping Stones/Plot Points so the agent/editor can see you know classic story structure.
EDITING
A famous quote says, "Writing is rewriting." How long it takes you to produce a publishable manuscript depends on several factors:
A) correct grammar, punctuation and sentence structure
B) use of all five senses to give the reader the full experience of the fiction world
C) a cool-off period after the first draft
D) and, most important of all, an excellent editor.
No one can write a mistake-proof manuscript, but a manuscript full of errors is a sure way to get it rejected. If you can't afford a professional, perhaps a retired school teacher or someone good in grammar may be willing to proofread your manuscript - but be careful. S/he may be excellent in spotting wrong word usage or incorrect grammar, but do not rely on her/him for true story editing. Unless they've had extensive writing classes, few proofreaders recognize a Point of View drift or misplaced Flashbacks. Instead, consider joining a writers' critique group. Most are willing, even eager, to trade manuscripts for critiquing. Even then, they may be beginners who can proofread, but they may not know modern story structure. Even if one or more of the members’ knowledge is is extensive, realize there’s just not enough time at a meeting to go into structure detail. Plus, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to check while viewing a few pages at a time. But for what they DO offer, the experience may be priceless.