Back to Basics: 10 Things Every Writer Should Do in Their Novel Photo: brendanovak.com The following is a guest post from bestselling author Brenda Novak. In writing about the keys to penning a hit novel, Novak reveals a valuable point: It often boils down to nailing the core storytelling basics. 10 Keys to Writing a Bestselling Novel: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. —New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Novak is the author of more than 45 books. *And speaking of that: WD is participating in this year’s auction! You’ve Got a Book in You by Elizabeth Sims Are you writing a book or novel for the first time? You might also like:
Creating Conflict & Sustaining Suspence Creating Conflict and Sustaining Suspense by Lee Masterson "Dan stood on the wet paving, his arms limp by his side, his jaw hanging in horror, as he peered through a crack in the curtains. Before him a man crept towards the figure of his wife as she lay on the sofa. "Leave my wife alone," his mind screamed silently. His mouth formed the words but no sound would come. On the sofa his wife smiled and opened her arms invitingly. He wondered how hard it would be to murder his best friend." Did that little excerpt leave you wanting more? Conflict is the driving force behind all good fiction. Many new writers believe that adding conflict to a story is as simple as inserting violence into the plot line. Let me give you an example of writing without conflict. Dan arrived home from work. Now, tell me - would you like to see 400 more pages like this? Did you happen to notice that Dan's point of view is exactly the same in both examples? Risk Empathy Raise the Stakes It's time to raise the stakes. Phew!
Brent Weeks | 1. General Writing Advice a. Tips b. Outlining c. d. I.When is Enough, Enough? e. f. g. I. II. III. IV. h. i. a. i. I know a guy who hated even the thought of writing until he was 40, and since then he’s worked for Hollywood and written TV shows, movies, and novels. ii. b. i. Here’s the thing I do. You might find the book goes in a different direction than you thought it would. c. i. The first thing is to write the book. ii. I think Writer’s Block hits when you have either a lack of confidence in yourself, or in the story. See? d. As it so happens, as I write this, I’m deep into the process of editing, so this has been on my brain a lot. First, if you want to be a pro, act like a pro. If you’ve written the first draft, you’ve done something that thousands of people who say they want to be writers will never do. Done? Before, you had nothing. Re-read your book. When you see all the problems laid out in front of you in an honest fashion, you may despair. Have some faith in yourself. Then go back and fix. Done yet?
Plunge Right In... Into Your Story, That Is! by Rekha Ambardar One of the things you're required to do when taking swimming lessons is to jump in at the deep end of the pool, dive under water smoothly, and rise up to the surface. For most swimmers, diving under the water and then swimming to the surface poses hardly any problem; it's the jump at the deep end that unnerves one. Most of us prefer to ease in unobtrusively from any other area of the pool and loiter at the deep end, pretending that we did jump in. Somehow, this tendency of easing into the pool is the analogy that compares with the fictional technique of beginning storytellers -- an absolute no-no in fiction writing. Begin with Action In my short mystery story, "A Message from Beyond," recently published by Orchard Press Mysteries, the opening scene shows the heroine, Myrna, gazing longingly at shiny brochures describing delectable spots in Italy and Spain. No matter how informative your backstory, it's the onstage action that holds the reader's interest.
The 5 Biggest Fiction Writing Mistakes (& How to Fix Them) Take advantage of our Instructor of the Month deal and get all of James Scott Bell’s bestselling books on writing (and more) for one heavily discounted price. Order Now >> The best fiction writers write like they’re in love—and edit like they’re in charge. First drafting should be a wild and wonderful ride, full of discovery, dreams and promises. Having reviewed hundreds of manuscripts over the years, I’ve identified the five mistakes that most regularly turn up. 1. Chief among the most common problems, in first chapters especially, are scenes presenting characters who are perfectly happy in their ordinary worlds. But readers actually engage with plot via trouble, threat, change or challenge. Seconds before our truck slams into the tree, I remember the first time I tried to save a life. Or it can be something quieter, a single item that is off kilter, as in the opening of Sarah Pekkanen’s The Opposite of Me: Lights were never on this early. I decided this was too happy. “Oops,” Stan said.
CALLIHOO Writing Idea Generators: The 37 Dramatic Situations The Thirty-six (plus one) Dramatic Situations Georges Polti says that all stories boil down to just 36 dramatic situations and takeoffs of those situations. Somebody else out there added #37. If you're stuck for a situation, try this. A situation appears below randomly (in bold print). (Note: In several cases, specific gender in the original descriptions has been replaced with non-specific gender. Your situation: 27. Still stuck for plot ideas? Cosmic Thoughts | Oblique Strategies | Random Science Fiction Story Ideas Ten rules for writing fiction Elmore Leonard: Using adverbs is a mortal sin 1 Never open a book with weather. If it's only to create atmosphere, and not a character's reaction to the weather, you don't want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people. 2 Avoid prologues: they can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. 3 Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. 4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said" ... he admonished gravely. 5 Keep your exclamation points under control. 6 Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose". 7 Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. 8 Avoid detailed descriptions of characters, which Steinbeck covered. 9 Don't go into great detail describing places and things, unless you're Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. 10 Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
Stupid Plot Tricks Excerpted from my lecture on Stupid Plotting Tricks By Teresa Nielsen Hayden Start with some principles: A plot doesn't have to be new. It just has to be new to the reader. Looked at from this angle, the Internet's various lovingly-compiled cliche lists are a treasury of useful plot devices. 1. 2. Alternately, you can go here and have them generated for you. You're going to make a plot out of them. 3. 4. 5. 6. Did I hear someone murmur that this is overkill? Overkill is good for you! Flee, puny humans! ©2000 by Teresa Nielsen Hayden, TNH@panix.com 25 Things Every Writer Should Know An alternate title for this post might be, “Things I Think About Writing,” which is to say, these are random snidbits (snippets + tidbits) of beliefs I hold about what it takes to be a writer. I hesitate to say that any of this is exactly Zen (oh how often we as a culture misuse the term “Zen” — like, “Whoa, that tapestry is so cool, it’s really Zen“), but it certainly favors a sharper, shorter style than the blathering wordsplosions I tend to rely on in my day-to-day writing posts. Anyway. Peruse these. Feel free to disagree with any of these; these are not immutable laws. Buckle up. 1. The Internet is 55% porn, and 45% writers. 2. A lot of writers try to skip over the basics and leap fully-formed out of their own head-wombs. 3. Some writers do what they do and are who they are because they were born with some magical storytelling gland that they can flex like their pubococcygeus, ejaculating brilliant storytelling and powerful linguistic voodoo with but a twitch of their taint. 4. 5.
Conflict Test 1. Does one of the characters have to change in order for the conflict to be resolved? _____ Yes, Score 1 _____ No, Score 0 _____ Both characters change, Score 2 2. Can conflict be resolved with a good, honest heart-to-heart between your characters? _____ Yes, Score 0 _____ No, Score 1 3. _____ Yes, Score 1 _____ No, Score 0 _____ Ask this question to someone else who’s read your story. 4. 5. _____ Yes, Score 1_____ No, Score 0 6. _____ Yes, Score 0 _____ No, Score 1 Score 9: Perfect SCORE!!!!