The Motivational Editor

Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published

characters

6 Steps to Story Development

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spinning platesWhen you get right down to it the major goal of the fiction writer is to keep the reader reading.

And like the performer who spins plates at the top of a stick, writers must spin several plates too—characters and character arc, plot and plot development, conflict, dialog, show vs. tell, and pacing. If we focus on only one aspect of story development and neglect the others, the story falls flat.

But that’s a lot to deal with. I certainly can’t get my brain wrapped around all those things at the same time as I write.

So what’s the answer?

Focus on one at a time, using these 6 steps. [Read more…] about 6 Steps to Story Development

What do football and fiction have in common?

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football field
What do football and fiction have in common?

The first thing we as writers must accomplish with our story is to hook our reader. But if we merely hook them, the reader can get away. So we must also then compel them to read on to the middle and then right through to the end of our story.

We spur our reader to the middle of our story by creating a compelling lead character with whom our readers bond. Next, [Read more…] about What do football and fiction have in common?

Who’s the big bad wolf in your story?

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Big bad wolf chasing 3 little pigsWhat was the big bad wolf’s goal in the story of the 3 little pigs?

To have dinner. He needed to eat and the 3 pigs met the bill. The wolf was doing what came naturally to him.

There was nothing evil about eating the pigs, but of course to the pigs, who stood to lose their lives, the wolf was evil.

At the heart of every story is a protagonist with a goal. It doesn’t matter what the goal is, just that it is essential to the character and without reaching it he/she suffers great loss—physical death being the ultimate loss.

In the case of the wolf and the three pigs, each faced the same loss if they didn’t meet their goal—death.

What would the story have been like if the wolf told it? [Read more…] about Who’s the big bad wolf in your story?

How to Ensure Your Characters and Plot Don’t Flat Line

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Heart beat flat lining.Is it possible to sell a story that is high on action and adventure, but has flat characters?  Yes, though it isn’t easy.

What about a story that is flat on plot, but rich with three-dimensional characters? If your plot is flat, your reader (and that agent or publisher) has no reason to turn the pages. (Look out trash can.)

Your story stands a much better chance of being published if both the plot and characters are well developed. (Tweet this.)

I’m a writer whose strength is in [Read more…] about How to Ensure Your Characters and Plot Don’t Flat Line

9 Aspects of Dialog, from Author Cecil Murphey

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When I heard New York Times best-selling author Cecil Murphey (90 Minutes in Heaven) was doing a workshop for the writers group I belong to, I wasted no time in signing up.

How better to learn about writing than to be taught by a multiple, best-selling author? During the day, he taught on dialog. Here’s part of what he shared.

In all novels, dialog must accomplish 1 or more of the following tasks.

Dialog:

  1. Must have a purpose.
  2. Advances the story, furthers the action.
  3. Develops/shows the character.
  4. Shows emotional state of speaker.
  5. Conveys needed info succinctly.
  6. Brings immediacy to prose. Makes readers feel they are part of the scene. They “hear” the dialog with the character.
  7. Builds suspense and intensifies plot.
  8. Controls the pace of your story. It’s a speed control device.
  9. Can sum up: a character can explain in a few sentences to another person who wasn’t present during the action.

Thank you, Cec Murphey, for your permission to share these 9 aspects about dialog! 

In the coming days, I’ll be diving deeper into writing dialog. In the meantime, how do you feel about dialog? Love it, hate it, dread it? Leave your comments below.

 

Get Rid of Superfluous Characters

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boxing knock out, get rid of superfluous characters

In his book The Art of War for Writers, James Scott Bell says,

[E]very character in every scene must have an objective, otherwise he shouldn’t be there. Replace him with a chair.

Review your WIP. If you find a character(s) who is superfluous? Do as Bell suggests, rewrite the scene and cut the character.

Now reread the scene. Is it stronger, weaker, mediocre? Revise until you are satisfied. It may mean putting the character back in, but do that only after you’ve determined his/her objective.

Point of View Defined, Part 2

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Point of view. Think about those words and it will help you.

From whose perspective are you viewing your scene? Whose feelings and thoughts are being expressed in the scene?

Example from my present WIP:
Chase stared at Karl with what he hoped was a questioning, please-continue look in his blue eyes, but Karl just sat there like a dog refusing to fetch. He took a deep breath, clearly concerned and struggling for words.

Explanation:
We are in Chase’s POV. He is describing what he does (stared at Karl), and because he can’t see his own face describes what he hopes he’s trying to convey (a questioning, please-continue look). Chase goes on to describe Karl’s behavior (doesn’t respond, takes a deep breath, Chase sees concern on Karl’s face and discerns that Karl is struggling to find his words).

Practice: Whose POV is this in?
The breath Chase had been holding escaped violently, involuntarily. Abby’s mouthful of coffee came sputtering out all over her lap and across the corner of Karl’s desk. Karl pulled a handkerchief from his suit coat breast pocket and handed it to Abby. She wiped her mouth and then swiped away the coffee from Karl’s desk. (Leave your answer in the comments section.)

Review several pages of your work in progress. Are you showing the observations and feelings of more than one character in one paragraph, one page, one scene? Rework accordingly.

Would you like some feedback or help? Copy a paragraph from your WIP into the comments section and we’ll discuss.

Related articles:
Point of View Defined

Debra L. Butterfield © 2013

Do You Really Understand Point of View?

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I regularly notice that writers incorrectly shift from one character’s point of view (POV) to another. That is, they give us more than one POV in the same paragraph. I know I did when I first began writing fiction, and I continued to struggle until I got my brain wrapped around what POV is.

Nancy Kress in her book Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint defines it thus: “whose eyes we view the action through, whose head we’re inside of, whose feelings we experience as that character feels them.”

Let me show you how it works with something from my book Claiming Her Inheritance.

POV done incorrectly:
Leslie sat directly across from Chase, her head down, elbows on the table, face in her hands. Her silky brunette locks fell forward, brushing the table. Chase could see the slow rise and fall of her shoulders and hear the deep breaths she took in, held, and then released.

Explanation:
Because Leslie’s name comes first the reader falls into Leslie’s point of view without even thinking about it and sees Chase sitting across from her. The reader may even imagine herself in Leslie’s face-in-her-hands position, her silky hair softly brushing against her face, and feel Leslie’s emotional discomfort. But in the third sentence the POV shifts to Chase because now we are seeing what he is seeing, hearing what he is hearing.

POV done correctly:
Chase watched Leslie directly across from him, her head down, elbows on the table, face in her hands. Her silky brunette locks fell forward, brushing the table. He could see the slow rise and fall of her shoulders and hear the deep breaths she took in, held, and then released.

Explanation:
The difference is minor in actual words, but where point of view is concerned it now all comes from Chase’s POV. We are seeing and hearing what he does.

It’s best to keep each scene in one character’s POV. When shifting it is best to do it at the beginning of a chapter. If you shift within the chapter, you’ll want to add a line space with a few asterisks centered on the line to help the reader know there is a shift coming.

Do you have a question about POV? Leave your questions and comments below.

Related articles:

Point of View Defined, Part 2

Debra L. Butterfield © 2013