This is a very good article on failure, and the artistic process in general. I think the biggest take-away for me is the passage: "Think of it like this: If you have three finished short stories and the first doesn’t sell you still have two more in circulation. If you write one short story and … Continue reading REBLOG: YOUR PILE OF FAILURES
Category: Shared Writing
Share: The Bus Test
Here is a great tool for writers: the bus test. It is a quirky way to measure the value and emotional depth of your characters. I do not agree that a reader has to "become" a character. In fact I find that idea preposterous in most cases, since fictional characters are by their very nature … Continue reading Share: The Bus Test
SHARE: How to Produce an Emotional Response in Readers
Here is an article by Donald Maass that describes different ways of drawing emotion from your readers. Maass does a good job of explaining the three main methods of showing emotion: inner mode, where the narrator tells us what the character is feeling; outer mode, physical reactions to the situation; and other mode, which Maass describes … Continue reading SHARE: How to Produce an Emotional Response in Readers
SHARE: 8 Shows That Will Make You a Better Novelist
This is a really neat article that shows you can learn as much about storytelling from television as from reading standard novels. In the end, writing is just storytelling in a different form. For me, TV and film have always been a major source of inspiration for my writing, which is probably why I tend … Continue reading SHARE: 8 Shows That Will Make You a Better Novelist
SHARE: Dealing With Rejection: 5 Bulletproof Strategies for Writers
This is a pretty good list of strategies for overcoming rejection. This post deals more with freelance and non-fiction type writing, but the same strategies can be applied to fiction publishing as well. This author suggests the publishing cycle can at times be like a "cosmic tennis match." I couldn't agree more. I still think … Continue reading SHARE: Dealing With Rejection: 5 Bulletproof Strategies for Writers
SHARE: Bards and Sages Fiction Score Card
Okay, I think this is pretty cool. Often it is very hard to divine how publishers evaluate the stories they receive. One publisher I have interacted with--including having a story accepted by them--goes out of their way to explain their view of good, acceptable writing (here are comments on the problems of first-person narrators). This includes … Continue reading SHARE: Bards and Sages Fiction Score Card
SHARE: 9 Tips to Become a Better Self-Editor
I stumbled on this great little list of editing tips and thought it worth sharing. Many of these are common ideas, but it doesn't hurt to see them again and reinforce them in your mind. Some of these are basic review techniques, others are larger exercises that function more to train you as a writer. … Continue reading SHARE: 9 Tips to Become a Better Self-Editor
SHARE: List of Fantasy Cliches
While looking around for publishers to send my work to, I stumbled on this post which is linked to in Silver Blade/Silver Pen's submission guidelines. I have posted about cliches before. These are one of those things (like adverbs) that editors get unjustifiably hung up on. Like first-person POV and present tense and adverbs, cliches … Continue reading SHARE: List of Fantasy Cliches
The Rules of Good Microfiction, REBLOG: TLT – Wildfire in lavender
Story writing gets harder the shorter your story gets. Regardless of its size, a piece requires several things in order to be a complete story: characterization, crisis, and resolution. You could call it the CCR rule of short story writing (as in, if you don’t heed the rule then who’ll stop the rain?) This proves … Continue reading The Rules of Good Microfiction, REBLOG: TLT – Wildfire in lavender
REBLOG: A Crash Course In Suspense
Victor has some good points here about building suspense. Particularly in fantasy and action, suspense is vital to keeping the reader engaged. Readers do not want to given everything easily, suspense is emotion and emotion is why people read.
As Victor suggests, foreshadowing is a good tool for building suspense. Letting the reader know something is coming. But you don’t want to reveal too much. There’s a delicate balance between making it visible enough for the reader, but not letting on about the meaning to early.
I would add that slowing your prose is a good method for building tension. Once you have a danger present, you can add a few extra lines to stretch out the resolution. It leaves the reader wondering what will happen, leaves them begging for the result. I often do this by focusing on the character’s breathing or feeling, getting a bit stuck in the drama and fear, before letting the situation resolve. It doesn’t take much, just two or three sentences, but the impact can be significant.
On building emotionally fulfilling suspense.
Suspense is mostly about seeing something coming before the character is aware of it, and getting excited on behalf of the character.
There are innumerable ways to show the reader ominous happenings are on their way.
Effective Suspense (Good Writing):
The clouds about LuEllen swept apart in strange patterns, as if beaten by conflicting surges of wind. A roar that rumbled like thunder made the ground under her horse tremble. LuEllen’s chestnut mare threw her head up; her forefeet lifted off the ground.
LuEllen leaned into her mare’s neck, and made soothing chucks with her lips; she stroked the shining red neck. Her mare’s eyes were rolling, showing white, and the mare’s hooves rose and fell with anxious thumps into the grass.
A strange, other-worldly rumble, like the keening song of a whale, echoed through the clouds above the shadowed valley; LuEllen looked up, and…
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JM Williams 