Your characters are the anchor in your story. It’s the character relationships that add believability and relatability and allow readers to get emotionally involved, and hopefully see themselves in the characters.
Category: writing fiction
The REAL Goal of Skillful Writing
How do you create a story that readers want to read? It’s about the REAL goal of skillful writing.
Writing Inspiration – Get a Club
There are authors and writers who feel the need to wait for writing inspiration to come knocking at their door in order to produce creative work. Unfortunately, you may have a very long wait. Writers who write all the time know that as Jack London put it, “You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to…
Writing and Mountain Climbing
“Because the creation of a novel is akin to a mad scramble up a mountainside layered with loose pebbles, any handhold or solid ground you can find will be a blessing.” ~ Walter Mosley The article where I got this quote from (link below) deals with Mosley’s writing style which doesn’t include character sheets or…
5 Basic Functions of Dialogue
In an article over at Writer’s Digest, the author explained that ‘real’ dialogue doesn’t spell everything out. So, what does this mean? Well, people communicate with more than just words and often there’s a lot left unsaid in a conversation. Narration or the protagonist’s thoughts can fill in the blanks. Here’s an example from “Crispin…
Writing a Book – Bait and Switch Editing
Contributed by Melinda Brasher Bait and switch tactics don’t usually work well in writing. Of course, surprises and twists are good, but if you write a romance and market it as a psychological thriller, you’ll disappoint readers. If you start a novel as a realistic, contemporary mystery, and near the end reveal that the real…
Grab the Reader’s Attention
Contributed by Team Member Suzanne Lieurance You can be a best-selling author! Is that true? Maybe. Maybe not. But I’ll bet I got your attention with that statement. And that’s exactly what you want to do if you hope to write novels and short stories (even nonfiction articles) that sell – grab your reader’s attention…
Writing Fiction – What is Foreshadowing?
Foreshadowing is a literary device used to make the reader wonder. It gives the story a sense of mystery or anticipation. It can also create tension. According to Literary Devices (1), using this device, “a writer gives an advance hint of what is to come later in the story.” Foreshadowing is a great device to…
Fiction Writing – Do It Right
I’m reading a book on writing fiction. It’s “Writing Fiction – The Practical Guide From New York’s Acclaimed Creative Writing School.” It’s written by the Gotham Writers’ Workshop faculty and Alexander Steele is the author of Chapter One, Fiction: The What, How and Why of It. Steele explains, “Promising ideas + hard work = good…
Making a Fiction Story Work – 5 Key Elements
Think about the last time you read a story that stayed with you. A story that made you feel. A story that took you on an adventure or had you sitting on the edge of your seat. A story that made you cry or laugh . . . or think. These types of stories have…