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Writing conflict into your fiction may sound as simple as adding tension. Yet conflict and tension are not the same thing. Writing Tip for Today: How do conflict and tension differ, and how can we write better conflict into our stories? Conflict v. Tension Tension keeps readers wondering what will happens next. It’s that sense […]
You craft your story or novel, paying special attention to developing your character. While this is great, the bottom line in fiction and memoir is that character does not drive a story. Conflict drives a story. Writing tip for Today: Let’s take a look at dramatic tension in fiction or memoir: What is Dramatic Tension? […]
Unforgettable stories and characters must be more than some quirky or autobiographical details. If you give your lead character the right kind of conflict, readers will stay glued to the page. Writing Tip for Today: Not all fictional conflict is created equal. Here are some tips for writing effective conflict: So What? In fiction we […]
Are your character’s inner and outer conflicts balanced? Conflict is uncomfortable. Yet a story written without conflict will struggle to attract readers. Writing Tip for Today: Writing conflict is more than a bunch of stuff blowing up. Writers must learn to balance a character’s inner and outer conflicts. Here are some ideas: Outer Conflict Let’s […]
When writing your novel’s middle, do you feel discouraged? Stuck? Wondering why you thought this story would work? You’re not alone. Even accomplished novelists often struggle to connect a brilliant beginning to a satisfying end.Writing Tip for Today: The first and third acts of your story will be shorter than this yawning abyss called “the […]
Many novel writers agonize over the plot, and that’s a good thing. But did you know that a typical reader cares less about what happens in a novel than how and why?Writing Tip for Today: Your main character holds the keys to your reader’s sympathy. And sympathy for the main character almost always equals a […]
Novelists often hear that their character’s conflict must be balanced. What does this mean?Writing Tip for Today: Every character has both an outer life and an inner life. The outer conflict you give this person should be important enough to affect far more than only that character. But all action and no emotions makes this […]
A character who only acts is perceived as shallow. A character who only thinks is a navel-gazer. In a novel, the inner and outer lives of a character must be balanced. How?Writing Tip for Today: The character’s inner/outer lives are both evident to the reader, which in my opinion, gives fiction an advantage over cinema/theater. […]
Seattle novelist Jennie Shortridge addressed the Willamette Writers last week. Her topic, Character, touched on many of the same things most writers mention, but one aspect stood out. She talked about identifying your character’s wound.Writing Tip for Today: I’ve stressed that novelists must know what they want, what stands in the way and what the […]
New writers often are told to read. If you read in the genre you hope to publish in, analyzing published work is a good way to decide if your stories are close to passing muster.Writing Tip for Today: Here are some other ways you can analyze novels to understand their structure: Find the main conflict. […]