Categotry Archives: Writing Technique
76,806 Words
Sometimes things just come together for you. The book I just wrote was like that. Not so much the ending, which I changed three or four times as I went, but just the way the book came together as a whole was great. I’ve got a couple of Works In Progress that are like pulling teeth. To have one whip together so fast and so clean from a start with so little to go on was really fun. This manuscript […]
Thursday Thirteen #16: Discoveries While Writing A Miss for Mark
I tried a different technique on the book I just finished writing. I started with a detailed outline on a spreadsheet that included GMC for hero and heroine, plot, subplot, POV notes, and emotional arcs for each scene. I was hoping to cut down on plot holes and revisions. Here’s what I discovered. 1. For the way I write, 67 scenes is way too many for a 90,000 word book. I ended up ditching or condensing about 1/3 of […]
How to Reduce Ossification in Writing
For me the most effective way of getting over ossification is simply to give it some time. When I’ve finished another project and come back I often see the story with fresh eyes. This allows me to get over the firm belief nothing really needs to be changed, and to see clearly what should be preserved Unluckily people like Ericka aren’t always going to have time because they are under contract. I think most of them are going to […]
Workshops on FanLit Forever
A while back I asked if anyone would be interested in having me run a workshop in The Workshop board on FanLit Forever. The response was a resounding “Yeah, sure.” Despite the fact I am a rank amateur who has never run a workshop in her life, I’ve decided to go for it. Maybe, with luck, we can talk a published author into coming in and doing it right. Actually, I’m going to run two at the same time. I’m […]
Anchors – Part II
Each of the examples in the previous post comes from the beginning of their respective books. Notice that in Exhibit 1 we not only visualize the tarmac of a parking lot, we see it as cold and slushy from a warm winter or early spring day. We see high-end cars, and some sort of sports-oriented type building even though she didn’t specifically tell us to fill the parking lot or mention brick. When we get into the building, we are […]
Central Conflict
Yesterday I said “It’s the way a character reveals him or her self through the struggle with the central conflict that keeps us turning pages.” The first time I heard that sentence it simply went in one ear and out the other. But it kept coming back over and over again. Apparently there is something to it. So let’s look at it. Conflict is important because it generates questions which can be used as hooks. When you have a central […]
Alice's Take on GMC, Part I
GMC stands for Goal, Motivation and Conflict. To get the real scoop on GMC you need to refer to Debra Dixon. She literally wrote the book on Goals, Motivation, And Conflict and does lectures on it for Romance Writer’s of America both in the RWA Chapters and at National. The point of the book and lectures is that every effective character comes equipped with at least one set of goals which are motivated by the character’s beliefs and that the […]
Where to Start A Story
Readers who haven’t tried their hand at writing tend to belittle the problem of where to start. They don’t see the characters lives starting out before the first word, or the little silly things like the way a character spends a day. The characters don’t live for them the way they might for a writer. From inside the lives of the characters it isn’t so clear where an event really begins. So how do we bridge the gap between the […]
Hooking Readers
A hook is anything that makes a reader want to read more. Hooks are generally found at the beginning and ending of scenes and chapters. They are what give you the cliffhanger feeling. Most of the time hooks are questions the writer intentionally places in the reader’s mind. Probably the most common is, “What’s going to happen next?” Having been both panned and complimented for my hooks, I think I have a reasonable idea of how they work. The best […]
Don't Sweat The Little Stuff
Yesterday I gave examples of why details are important in writing fiction. This week I tell you not to worry about them. What? Make up my mind? Paradoxically, I believe both are true because of two things. 1] Details are easy to layer in and can be layered in at any point in the writing process without creating huge problems for a story. 2] Too much concern over details at the wrong points in the writing process can cause writer’s […]
The Life of Your Story Is In The Details
The devil may be in the details, but so is the life of your story. This was not a lesson I learned easily. It was darned hard for my critique partners to get my head out of the clouds so I could focus on the five senses. To this day I have to remember to go back and add more. Details make a huge difference. I’m afraid this is the sort of thing most people aren’t going to believe without […]
Pacing
Early in my writing efforts I believed good pacing was simply to get the action going as fast as you could then keep it going as fast as possible until the end. How exhausting for both reader and writer. Pacing needs to have an ebb and flow in order to keep a reader’s interest. The rate of the ebb and flow should match the tone of the story. A slow paced Romantic Suspense may find it harder to keep readers […]
Dialogue Tags and Stage Direction
Dialogue tags are indicators of who is talking. The most common dialogue tags are “he said,” and “she said.” Dialogue tags can get as purple as “he whispered desperately in her tender ear.” Actually, they can get even worse, but who wants to read it? Stage direction is when the author tells the reader what the characters are doing as they talk. “He placed a hand on her shoulder.” or “She winced.” Are stage direction. They can also be used […]
Themes – Making a Point
One of the most common mistakes I’ve seen in amateur writing has been the failure to make a point. I can only guess how often editors must suffer through pointless fiction. Most of the time the authors who are doing it doesn’t even realize their story has to make a point. They seem to think simply placing two characters on the page is all that is needed to create moving scenes. Hah! If you do not have a central theme […]
Prologues
I guess I’m just in the mood to pontificate. Don’t worry, I’ll be back to gerbil fair soon. This one’s for you, TessaD. If you read Romance novels you’ve probably read a ton of prologues and never even noticed. Reaching across my desk for my recently – read – and – not – yet – removed – from – the – house pile, I see that in the last two months I’ve read 17 books. Most are romances but a […]
