Where Should a Second Chapter Start? on October 12th, 2010 by Fiction Editor Beth Hill and last modified on October 12, 2010 We’ve all read advice about the first chapter—how and where to begin a story; what makes for strong openings, depending on the genre; what not to include in the first paragraph or page of chapter one; what to include in a novel’s opening. We understand that a good opening chapter sets the tone and introduces lead characters and gets the plot rolling. We know almost as much about the final chapter, the final paragraph, and the final words. Yet, where’s the advice for chapter two? What do we do to move from that compelling first chapter—the one that’s seen more rewrites than all other pages combined and multiplied by 10—and into the meat of the story? We certainly want to continue the tone we’ve established. Sure there are. Where should a second chapter start? 1. 2. Start your second chapter with spice or delight or fun. After the invitation of chapter one, draw the reader deeper into your fiction.
Epithets: Fandom's Designated Hitters NOTESPart of the "Variety Is the Spice of Life, and I Need Some Tums" set of essays. For the others, see:Purple Fanfic's (total lack of) Majesty | Said Is Not a Four-Letter Word For a list of epithets used in various fandoms, see my epithets page. written December 2004 by Arduinna An epithet, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is "a characterizing word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing". They're a very popular writing device. What's So Bad About Them? Epithets are one of the biggest weak spots in fanfic; they show up in droves in every fandom, diluting story after story. (For a list of many, many epithets used in many, many fandoms, see my Epithets page.) While there are certain situations where an alternative to a name worksbetter (see Are They Ever a Good Idea? Why do something that seems so boring? A name encompasses everything about a person. And yet, epithets abound. The archaeologist - the person who has a degree in the study of antiquities Daniel
201 Ways to Arouse Your Creativity Arouse your creativity Electric flesh-arrows … traversing the body. A rainbow of color strikes the eyelids. A foam of music falls over the ears. It is the gong of the orgasm. ~ Anais Nin Creativity is like sex. I know, I know. The people I speak of are writers. Below, I’ve exposed some of their secret tips, methods, and techniques. Now, lie back, relax and take pleasure in these 201 provocative ways to arouse your creativity. Great hacks from Merlin Mann of 43 Folders
8 Ways to Write Better Characters The very first novel I, aged 20-something, wrote, is unpublished and will stay that way. An ensemble coming-of-age story of four teenagers, its weaknesses are legion: tame story line, thin action, unimaginatively rendered settings, hackneyed themes (though I will say the dialogue wasn’t bad). Having now published seven novels, I look back on that manuscript and realize that underlying the shortcomings I just mentioned lies its principal flaw: poor character development. The kids just don’t pop. So I’ve been pleased to read reviews of my latest novels (the Rita Farmer mysteries) that praise the characterization—and I’ve been struck by the number of them that cite the realism of my characters’ relationships. Let’s consider, to start, the categories of relationships we might write in our fiction: Romantic Parent/Child Siblings Aggressor/Victim Rivals/Adversaries Best Friends Boss/Employee Caregiver/Receiver Cop/Criminal Partners (in business, crime, etc.) … and so many more. Here’s how. 1.
Said Is Not a Four-Letter Word NOTESPart of the "Variety Is the Spice of Life, and I Need Some Tums" set of essays. For the others, see:Purple Fanfic's (total lack of) Majesty | Epithets: Fandom's Designated Hitters written December 2004 "Said" Is Not a Four-Letter Word by Arduinna Many people seem to be afraid to repeat the word "said" in dialogue tags -- the phrases that explain who's talking, and in what manner. I just found a story where I stopped reading after a few paragraphs, and started skimming and counting. These characters didn't talk to each other. Tiring, isn't it? said cajolinglysaid sweetlysaid softlysaid gentlysaid brusquelysaid grufflysaid lovinglysaid tightlysaid loudlysaid innocentlysaid admiringlysaid brightlysaid smuglysaid severelysaid criticallysaid gliblysaid drilysaid unkindlysaid cheerfullysaid provocatively Sometimes it's even worse: people think that even the variant words don't provide enough emoting on their own, so they add adjectives. The alternatives, though, demand attention. "Said" tags:
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.
7 Essential Elements of Character Creation Last week Nikki Jefford requested a post on developing characters. There are many different approaches toward developing characters for a story. Last year I wrote a post on different ways to get to know your characters which might help anyone getting started. The techniques I included were the use of visual aids, character questionnaires and family trees. No matter what method an author chooses to adopt, there are a number of elements that are essential to include in the creation of every character: The name: Many writers will start with a name and build on the character from there. The appearance: There are a lot of factors to consider for the appearance of a character: their height and build, how they project themselves, if they have any scars or tattoos, and so much more. The motivation: The easiest way I get to know my characters is to find out what drives them. The use of language: The way a character speaks can be enormously revealing. --I was recently tagged by Tiffany Garner.
Science and Technical References for Writers - books, journals, software programs A Note About Recommendations Access to Science and Technical References * updated! A Note About the Recommendations It is easy to find layman's information, coffee-table books, and popular references that are useful for school projects--bookstores and local libraries are full of them. In general, recommendations for those types of books are not listed here. The recommendations listed here are for the technical reader or for the writer who wants to understand a particular science or aspect of that science in order to get the details correct in his or her literary work. You do not have to have a university degree in the discipline in order to understand the material in most of the recommended references, but you should have at least a general science education. It is important to remember that science is not static--our body of knowledge changes on a daily basis as technology and time provide us with more and more opportunities to examine and revamp our ideas, theories, and "facts." Disease
Writing Character Profiles Enter your e-mail to get the e-book for FREE. We'll also keep you informed about interesting website news. "I have searched the web and used different worksheets, but none have come close to your worksheets and descriptions of (what to do and what not to do). Both courses I have taken have with Creative Writing Now have been amazing. Each time I have learned something new. "As usual - I already love the course on Irresistible Fiction, rewriting a lot and improving greatly even after the first lesson. “Essentials of Fiction proved that I could indeed write and I wrote every day, much to my boyfriend's dismay (waa sniff).” - Jill Gardner "I am loving the course and the peer interaction on the blog is fantastic!!!" "I'm enjoying the weekly email course, Essentials of Poetry Writing. "Thank you for all the material in this course. "I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the lessons and feel they were very helpful in introducing new ideas and perspectives to my writing.
Show, Don't (Just) Tell (Dennis G. Jerz, Seton Hill University) The 100 Most Important Things To Know About Your Character (revised) Quote from original Author(Beth):This list came about when, one day while struggling to develop a character for an upcoming Hunter game, my lovely roommate Nikki looked at me and said something like, "Wouldn't it be cool to have a list of questions you could go through and answer while you were making characters, so you'd make sure to consider all sorts of different elements in their personality?" I agreed, and that very evening we sat down over hot chocolate and ramen noodles to whip up a list of 100 appearance-, history-, and personality-related questions (which seemed like a nice even number) to answer as a relatively easy yet still in-depth character building exercise. Later on, we went through the list again, took out the questions that sucked (because there were a lot of them) and replaced them with better ones. What you see before you is the result of that second revision. Just don't email us specifically to tell us how much we suck. - Beth
Where to Find Ideas for Writing a Story Ideas for writing a story It always seem like there are too many writing ideas or not enough. When you don’t have time to write, ideas come hurtling out of nowhere. Sometimes, they come so fast, you can’t even write them all down. Then, when you sit down, stretch your fingers, and lean over your keyboard to start typing, nothing happens. Chances are, you’re not really out of ideas; you’re just not in the mood to write. Luckily, ideas for writing a story are all around you. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. What kind of stories do you write? About Melissa DonovanMelissa Donovan is a website designer and copywriter.