Your Story Conclusion Story endings are literally anticlimactic– that is, the conclusion comes after the climax scene. But you don’t want the end actually to be an anticlimax, an afterthought, something stuck in there so the reader will know the story is over. What an effective ending can do is give…
5. Scenes
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I know I’m not the only writer kind of obsessed with point of view, so I thought I’d talk about one aspect of POV — which character should narrate a particular scene. Often this is an easy decision, but if you’re having trouble making the scene as dramatic or deep…
CHARACTER AND SETTING INTERACTIONS: 10 QUESTIONS TO BUILD YOUR STORY PLACE Here is a quick exercise to help you explore your protagonist’s relationship with the setting. Just free-write on the questions. Look for conflict and character-building opportunities. Also look for possible events and places where events might take place. See…
Get out a scene you’re working on, and let’s see about drafting and then revising. A lot of writers bore themselves by planning a scene too much in advance. This scene, how about just sketching the very basic events? Try choosing a big scene, like The Reversal, or The Point…
Telling vs. Showing We’ve all heard the writing aphorism, “Show, don’t tell.” Yes, all the critics have the solution to vague, talky, directive stories and passages. Show, don’t tell! Don’t tell me Sarah is angry– show her kicking the trashcan over! It’s great advice. Today’s readers want a more interactive…
CHARACTER AND SETTING INTERACTIONS: 10 QUESTIONS TO BUILD YOUR STORY PLACE Here is a quick exercise to help you explore your protagonist’s relationship with the setting. Just free-write on the questions. Look for conflict and character-building opportunities. Also look for possible events and places where events might take place. See…
For some reason I decided I had to have a story where my sleuthing couple are at a cricket match and the batter gets “beaned” by the ball. Only it’s not a ball, it’s a meteorite. No prob! Of course, I know nothing about cricket or meteors either! But that’s…
I think of pacing as making sure that important events happen frequently enough that the reader doesn’t get a chance to quit reading. That doesn’t mean every scene has a turning point, but every scene has to have some event that affects the overall plot, or that scene is basically “skippable”. And every scene can help set up for a later turning point.
There’s a trend recently that calls for opening each scene “in media res”— with some kind of clever line (the “hook”), or sudden action or a line of dialogue.
This can be effective in drawing the reader in, but keeping her in requires more than clever lines. It requires a paragraph or two that anchors the scene in some specific place, time, and situation.