Category Archives: Writing Tips

Today’s Writing Tip

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Sometimes your story may begin years or even centuries before Chapter One. In other words, if it reflects the ramifications or aftereffects of some previous event, it may require some background information to put it into context.

More than likely, this won’t involve the main character. If it does, then it’s really not a problem to start with Chapter One then skip ahead. Another way to handle it is by using a prologue. I’m sure you’ve read prologues before that made no sense. In some cases it may remain a mystery even when you finish the story. In other words, they should tie into the story, even if it takes a while before the reader makes the connection.

The main thing is that you should start Chapter 1 with your protagonist. Essential background information can be easily included as a prologue.

Today’s Writing Tip

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I’ve harped on this numerous times, but I believe it’s important enough to bear repeating. Know the different types of editing, especially if you hire an editor. Otherwise, you may be disappointed or not get your money’s worth. Here’s an outstanding blog on the subject.

If you think that one person is going to entirely rewrite your story into Best Seller material think again. Maybe some will, but that’s something you need to have a clear understanding of from the start. Otherwise, they may do no more than correct your typos and misspellings. If you’re really lucky, maybe they’ll fix those misused homonyms as well.

Rewording sentences may not be part of the deal, much less paragraph designation, or any number of other things.

There are too many people out there who think they’re editors when all they are is someone who knows how to read and, if you’re lucky, spell. It’s best to only hire an editor who has been recommended by someone you trust. It isn’t a guarantee to ask an author of a well-written book who their editor was, either. Perhaps the author is so skillful that their editor had little if anything to do!

As so many parts of being an author, choosing a competent editor is not simple. Make sure you know what you’re getting and that the person knows what they’re doing. Furthermore, some editors may entirely rewrite your story when that is not what you wanted, either! I’ve had editors completely change the meaning of a sentence with their supposed “editing” when I was a technical writer at NASA.

I’m afraid this turned into a bit of a rant. LOL! Obviously it’s something about which I have strong feelings. It’s all about communications, folks. As a writer, that should be your forte. Comprendez-vous?

Today’s Writing Tip

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I’ve posted blogs here before about the many different ways you can say “he said.” There are literally dozens of them, many of which help convey emotion and imagery that avoids dreaded adverbs. This is all well and good, but today I’m going in an entirely different direction and that is a way to avoid it entirely.

There are many ways to indicate who’s speaking without saying “he said” or one of its many synonyms. Describing a facial expression or gesture clearly associated with the speaker is often effective. This can integrate action with the conversation and make it come alive as opposed to sounding like your reading a screenplay.

Here’s a short example from my WIP:

When the echoes of his booming baritone faded, a tense silence remained. Someone rang the doorbell, all of them jumping in startled response. Sara exhaled hard through her nose, turned on her heel, and opened the door, finding herself face to face with Gretchen.

“Excuse me,” she muttered, and stomped down the steps to the driveway where she stared helplessly at Liz’s car. She rolled her eyes, wishing she’d listened to that prompting to drive her own.

Moments later, Liz was beside her, arm around her shoulders. “Are you alright, honey?” Sara nodded. “My goodness, you sure hit a nerve! Angela had mentioned that Bob can have an ugly temper, but I’ve never seen anything like that before!”

“Yeah. Sure wasn’t what I’d call Texas friendly, was it?”

Liz laughed. “I’ll say not! C’mon, I’ll take you home.”

See what I mean? In that entire scene I only used a “said” synonym (muttered) once.

Today’s Writing Tip

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I don’t know about you, but I don’t like to stop reading in the middle of a chapter. Thus, I will often press on, even when I’m ready to quit. However, if the chapter is inordinately long, I may make an exception. Readers who often read in short sessions, perhaps while waiting for a bus or in the dentist’s office, are likely to appreciate short chapters. On the other hand, marathon readers may not mind those that go one for a substantial number of pages.

I think it’s a good general rule to maintain comfortable chapter lengths. If you find a chapter has multiple section breaks, maybe you should start a new chapter instead. Readers like myself prefer to stop at a chapter’s end. If it drags on and on, it can be frustrating.

This is not to say that ending a chapter with a cliffhanger is verboten. Quite the opposite, you want your reader to keep turning the pages. The trick is to find the sweet spot between them. If the chapters are relatively short, it’s more likely your reader will go ahead and plunge into the next one than if its length looms over their head like a major commitment.

Today’s Writing Tip

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Yesterday I mentioned how understanding what constitutes a point of view character can be difficult for a new writer to grasp. A story that has one primary protagonist often does well with the story being told through their eyes, whether it’s told in first person or third person.

Omniscient viewpoint gets into all the characters’s heads simultaneously. This can confuse the reader if not done skillfully. Before resorting to this, make sure it’s really necessary and the most effective before using it. If you need to get inside other characters’s heads to describe their motivation and/or show their contribution to the plot, this can be done with separate chapters and/or sections. That way the reader can keep it straight more easily.

One way to get a handle on describing what other characters are thinking or feeling is to pay attention to what you see on television, whether it’s a drama or a sit-com. Very few get into their actual thoughts through voice overs. However, unless the actors are entirely incompetent, their expressions and body language tell you exactly what’s going on in their head. The next time you watch your favorite show, think about how you would describe in words the various ways the actors portray the character’s emotions. This is what you want your reader to visualize, what they would see if your novel were a movie or TV show.

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Another thing that can be a real challenge for new fiction writers is the concept of point of view. Even if you’ve read a thousand novels in your lifetime, until you start to write a story yourself there are certain things that don’t come naturally. One of them is point of view, which is the person who is telling the story, or through whose eyes it is being observed.

Consider point of view carefully. If you really want the reader to relate to your protagonist, the story should be told through their eyes, even if you’re using third person narrative and not first person. If you have a single viewpoint story, then your main character is the only person whose head you can get inside for their opinion or feelings. The opinion or feelings of anyone else can only be expressed through what the main character observes, i.e. their physical reaction.

 

Today’s Writing Tip

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For a story to stick with a reader, it has to have emotional impact. This can be one of the most difficult techniques to learn. In conversation, we will typically simply use an adverb but that usually won’t actually convey a sense of the emotion effectively.

Learn to render emotions as opposed to using a simple modifier. The best way to understand this technique is to think of the physical symptoms that accompany a given emotion. For example, compare the impact of “He fumed with anger” to “His eyes flashed daggers, fists tightening at his sides.” That will work whether or not its your viewpoint character. You’re simply noting what is observed.

If it’s your protagonist’s viewpoint, you can try something like: “His heart raced, fury surging through him like a fire storm.” This is more personal and wouldn’t be appropriate for a non-viewpoint character.

There are various books written on how to render emotion so that gives you some idea of what a challenge this can be. Yet it is a skill worth acquiring because when you make your reader feel something, they’re more likely to remember it and, by association, you as the author.

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One common mistake of inexperienced writers is to rely too much on prepositional phrases. This is not to say they should be avoided entirely, only that they should be scrutinized to decide if they’re needed or whether the sentence can be reworded to avoid them.

In many cases, they can be eliminated by making it possessive. For example, instead of saying “the trunk of the car” you could say “the car’s trunk.” Other times they’re redundant. For example “He strolled through the trees in the forest, enjoying the aroma of pine needles.” In this case, “in the forest” is most likely not needed if you’ve set up your scene already. Depending on the rest of the scene, “of pine needles” could be a candidate for deletion as well. Or, as noted earlier, make that “pine needles’s aroma”.

The main thing to remember is if anything is redundant, zap that sucker out of there!

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As writers we all have our own style and part of that is our use of words. We all have our favorite, which we tend to overuse. One I have to watch out for in my writing is “massive.” I don’t know what I like that word so much, but it tends to be what comes to mind first.

Always check your manuscript for over-used words and phrases, not only your personal favorites but common phrases such as: so, just, in order to, therefore, however, or any of your personal favorites.

It’s also easy to fall in love with a newly discovered word, then use it so much it annoys your readers. Remember the “spice analogy” for big, $5 words: A pinch of cayenne may be just what your stew needs, but over-doing it is going to backfire and be more of a distraction than story “flavor enhancer.”

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Today’s Writing Tip

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I’ve mentioned this before with regard to your character’s occupation. This goes slightly beyond that to the entire story environment if all or even part of your story takes place in the military. Most of us know someone who has been in some branch of the military. Of course they all have their own personality and in some cases rank designation. For example, the lowest rank differs for all of them, though some, such as the Army and Air Force start to overlap as they go up the ranks. The Navy is different all around.

Make sure you use rank, terminology, and dialog correctly. Rank is easily checked online. Terminology is a bit more of a challenge and should be given a sanity check by someone who knows. Authenticity adds to the flavor and credibility of your story while missing the mark erodes your credibility as a writer.