I’ve been doing a great deal of developmental editing lately and that entails often pointing writers to examples or books that discuss strategies for whatever they’re struggling with. I thought I would share a few of my go-to reads for various kinds of writing help. Help for structuring your plot You know all the partsContinueContinue reading “Recommended Reads: Plotting”
Category Archives: Resource
Formatting
Just a quick hit today, that hopefully will be a popular post for people to return to again and again. Q: How do I format my writing for an editor, agent, or publisher? First, understand that an editor, agent, or publisher is going to be working on your manuscript to make improvements. Manuscript format forContinueContinue reading “Formatting”
Story building: tone
This is part 2 of 2 posts discussing pacing and tone, crucial elements of story building. Go here for a deep dive into pacing. Today’s topic: tone. What is tone? Narrative tone is the feelings created by the words the writer (or speaker) uses that surrounds and embeds itself into the story, giving it anContinueContinue reading “Story building: tone”
Story Building: Pacing
A story is considered complete if it contains complex vivid characters with goals moving in a setting described through all or at least many different types of sensory details, and the plot logically follows from an inciting incident, through several logical complications, reaching a climax, and settles many reader questions by the time the concludingContinueContinue reading “Story Building: Pacing”
Scene building: middles
Today we’re going to discuss building compelling “middles.” Between the beginning and the end, most of the story happens. Popularly, the “muddled middle” or “the slog,” this is the bulk of your story’s plot before the climax. After the climax is generally the shortest part of your story, tying up loose ends, and characters pattingContinueContinue reading “Scene building: middles”
Let Dialogue Speak for Itself
Is using “said” dialogue tags good or bad? What about using “snapped” “shouted” “whispered” or “questioned” or even the many adverbs often added to said, like “laconically” “dramatically” or “softly”? I’ve talked before about attributions in dialogue, so what I want to do today is drive home the idea of making your dialogue so sharp,ContinueContinue reading “Let Dialogue Speak for Itself”
To POV or not POV
Today I’m going to talk about ways to figure out if a character in your story needs to have a scene written from their point of view. First, POV is more than just using third person (he/she/they) or first person (I/we us/them). It is about choosing a PERSPECTIVE — a lens through which readers willContinueContinue reading “To POV or not POV”
Setting as Character
Here’s more advice about developing your story’s setting. I’ve discussed setting in several previous blogs: That Can’t Happen Here, Plan your setting, and Creating setting. So you’d think, what else can possibly be said about setting? How about making your setting a character? Making it so full and richly detailed, and integral to the wayContinueContinue reading “Setting as Character”
When Characters Won’t Act
Last week in my Build-A-Book Workshop, we were discussing developing main characters and a story plot. Previously on this blog, I have discussed plotting in Plan Your Story. That was a bit of “down and dirty” to get ready for NaNoWriMo. Figure out a character goal and several obstacles along the way that your characterContinueContinue reading “When Characters Won’t Act”
Scene building: Endings
Listen to this post on Spotify. Today’s topic is not about how to end your story, but rather how to end a scene so that it carries the reader through the emotions just riled up and makes them turn the page eagerly to see what happens next. A scene should unfold at a pace thatContinueContinue reading “Scene building: Endings”
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