Story Sensei

Maybe I’m just weird, but I like to know how different writers do their writing. I like knowing how they spend each day. I like knowing their process when they write a book, from idea to outlining to drafting to editing. Every writer is different in subtle ways, and I’ve discovered that a writer can discover what works best for them by seeing what works for other people, and then experimenting and trying it for themselves. Sometimes a process works, sometimes it doesn’t, but at least you’ve tried it to see. I spent a lot of time trying out methods to improve my productivity and enable me to write the best book I can. I thought it might be interesting to list what my book creation process is. Not all my methods will work for all writers, but I might do some things in a way you haven’t tried before, and it might be a process that ends up working for you. Stage 1) I usually start with the characters. I write the backstory and family first, and I jot notes in a file in Scrivener as ...

I just discovered a great resource for inspiration, reminders, and tips for writing. I’ve been in a bit of a plotting rut and so I do what I usually do, which is watch TV shows and movies. This time, I watched the audio commentary for one of my favorite movies, Captain America: Civil War . I didn’t realize that I’d get so many great ideas for plotting, characterization, dialogue beats, theme, mood, and setting by listening to the directors and the screenwriters comment as they viewed the movie. It not only gave me a springboard for my own plot and character ideas, but it reminded me of techniques I’d forgotten about, which helped me in my story structure and character development. It’s a shame that I’m only realizing this now, because it’s a resource I’ve always had, in the movies I’ve bought on iTunes, but never utilized. I’ll definitely be using this more in future. I hope this tip helps you guys, too—pick your favorite movie and listen to the audio commentary. You never know w...

I'm at Seekerville talking about adding conflict in every line . Camy here! I wanted to talk about conflict today, because we all could use more conflict in our lives, right? Especially now that it’s December and Christmas is around the corner? (Breathe ... breathe ... I’m just kidding! I mean, I’m kidding about us needing more conflict in our lives, not about Christmas being around the corner. And if you’ve still got your head stuck in the sand of denial about Christmas—you have only nine days left, sugar. Get cracking.) Anyway, one of the best things I picked up from a Donald Maass seminar was his injunction to add tension to every sentence on the page. Chime in and add your own before and after writing!

This article that I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. Troubleshooting a Weak Climax Ideas For Fixing a Disatisfying End to the Story If the climax of a novel seems off, here are a few common weaknesses that can be fixed. Sometimes a writer’s critique partners or first readers will comment that they didn’t like the ending of a story, or that the novel didn’t resolve well. While critique is always good, a vague “I didn’t like the ending” isn’t helpful for fixing it. However, there are a few mistakes often made but easily fixed to create a stronger climax. The Character Isn’t Boxed In Make sure you have taken away all other options for the character. If the character reaches the climax but still has several ways out, or a reason to not keep fighting toward the climax, it makes the character look silly or stupid. Work on your character motivations and increase conflict so that the character is forced into the bottleneck of the climax. A good way to box the character in i...

This article that I wrote originally appeared on Suite101 Creating an Emotionally Resonant Climax How to Bring a Story to an End There are four steps that can heighten tension and reader interest in the climax of a story. The Beginning of the End is often used to refer to the climax of the story, or roughly the last 25% of the novel (in terms of word count or page count). After building the tension and conflict of the middle of your novel, now you want a strong ending that will grip the reader, then provide resolution and release of tension. Give the Character a Certain Personal Principle It heightens the emotional effect of the climax to bring the character’s principle into the mix. Tying principle with external situations gives life meaning for the character, which can help heighten emotional and psychological resonance between the reader and the character. This is one way a writer can manipulate the reader’s feelings through fiction. Have the Character Keep His Princip...

This article that I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. Writing Interesting Valleys in Between Peaks Keep the Reader Intrigued Even If Conflict Has Ebbed In lulls in the novel, narrow the scene’s focus or change things up to keep the reading pace strong. Stories are a series of peaks and valleys, high tension scenes and low tension scenes, also known as Scenes and Sequels . You must have those lulls in order to give the reader a chance to catch his breath, and also to set up the next scene. However, while you must have these low tension scenes, make sure they don’t put your reader to sleep. Use Words and Phrases to Pace the Sequel In general, higher tension scenes have shorter sentences and a choppier reading flow to encourage a faster reading pace, so for lower tension scenes, use longer sentences and more flowing grammatical structure. Obviously, don’t go to extremes. Use your own better judgment in this. However, this can be a valuable tool to clearly indicate to...

This article that I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. Writing Conflict-Filled Scenes The Classic Scene as Described By Dwight Swain Dwight Swain’s Scene can be broken down into easy segments to enable the writer to write a high tension, interesting story segment. One of the most famous writing books is Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain, where he breaks down fiction writing into modules. One of his most popular techniques is Scene (described in this article) and Sequel. Swain describes a Scene as “a unit of conflict lived through by character and reader.” The key word here is Conflict. Goal The Scene moves the story forward by changing your character’s situation. To do that, the character has to want something different than what he already has: the Scene Goal. Basically, what the character is striving for in the Scene. He doesn’t necessarily achieve it, but he has to at least have an idea of what he wants at the beginning of the Scene. There are thr...

This article that I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. Increase the Tension of a Scene Building Peaks in the Story Build the story toward the climax by ramping up conflict in scenes. Novels are a series of peaks and valleys, the ebb and flow of tension. If the story were all tension, it would tire the reader out. If the story were all tension-less, it would be boring. A novelist should build the tension of the story in each peak and balance that with a valley. But each peak should build to a higher point of tension than the one before. Combine Conflicts Into a Single Scene Sometimes, a story will have several separate scenes, but each scene’s tension level is the same. Consider combining scenes. The addition of obstacles will make the scene worse and worse, ramping up the tension rather than having separate scenes of the same tension level. For example, a detective is searching for a lost child. In one scene, he confronts a drug dealer. In a second scene, he ...

This article that I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. The Value of the Unanticipated Sprucing Up a Blah Scene A writer can inject unexpected disaster into an uninspiring scene to take it from boring to brilliant. Many times, writers themselves know when a scene is lacking. They may have structured it well, conveyed just the right amount of information, and revealed wonderful characterization via clever dialogue. Yet they'll read the scene they've written and know something is off. While the solution isn't always lack of conflict, many times adding a specific type of conflict can lift a drab scene to one with sparkle. Add the Unanticipated A well-structured scene can still be boring if there's not enough conflict, or if the conflict is too predictable. Dwight Swain is the first writing teacher to publish about Scene and Sequel . In a Scene, the character has a scene goal and obstacles against that goal. Are your obstacles unique? Or are they predi...

This article that I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. Building Toward the Climax Increasing Pressure On the Protagonist of a Novel Make the middle of the novel ramp up the tension and conflict and set the reader up for the exciting climax. Many times, a sagging middle could be because the tension is not increasing, but remaining the same. There are several things to keep in mind to help the middle build tension and drag the reader along for the ride. Make Things Worse As you introduce more change and complications to the character, make sure that it all works to thwart the character from his external goal. Each obstacle should make it harder and harder for him to reach his goal, making his situation worse and worse. This increase in trouble will increase the tension of the story, and increase reader interest. Strive for the unexpected and unanticipated when you add conflict to the story. Drop surprising disasters on your character. This doesn't necessarily mea...

This article that I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. When a Scene Isn't Working Tips For Overcoming Writer's Block Here are three questions to ask when a particular scene seems stalled. Whether you believe in "writer's block" or not, there are always times when a writer gets stuck on a particular scene. It can almost feel like hitting your head against a brick wall. Many times, the writer's unconscious instinctively recognizes when there's something wrong with the scene. While not all scenes have the same problems, there are three questions a writer can ask himself that might help jump-start the writing flow. What Is the Character's Scene Goal? The character should walk into the scene hoping to accomplish something by the end of the scene. This is his Scene Goal. He may or may not achieve it—in fact, more often than not, he doesn't succeed—but he has this purpose in mind at the start. Also, the character should pursue this goa...

This article that I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. Avoid the Sagging Middle Tips to Write a Dynamic Center Segment of a Novel Here are a few principles to help a writer avoid a stagnant or slow-paced middle section of a novel. The focus of the middle of the novel is to push your character to the climax. If writers can keep that point in mind, it will help them craft the events of the middle section to be more driven and purposeful. Here are a few principles to write by. Strive For Constant Change Obstacles force the character to adjust his plans toward his external goal . Faced with each obstacle, the character has to decide what to do next. He makes adjustments, still with that external goal in sight. Then, another obstacle. More adjustment, more decisions. More striving toward his external goal, but via a different path. Then another obstacle. This is the ideal pattern for the middle portion of the book. It provides constant change for the character, which...

I guest blogged about plotting on the blog of my friend Pamela James : My Five Best Plotting Tips for Novelists Thanks to Pammer for letting me guest blog today! Now, just to warn you, not all of these will resonate with you because every writer is different and works differently in how he/she crafts the story. For me, sometimes every story writes itself differently! Oy! But hopefully these tips will help you if you get stuck. Click here for the rest of the article

Pam Hillman wrote a really great article detailing character conflict in a novel. She simplifies the concept of conflict but also makes it easy to grasp, a jumping off point for writers: I’ve started a new wip (work-in-progress) and while I’m excited and have a lot of angst and conflict planned for my characters, the core conflict between my hero and heroine doesn’t feel strong enough to carry the entire book. Or at least it’s not fleshed out enough for me to see it. So I started looking around for ways to define that backbone and nail it down. (Ouch, that sounds painful, doesn’t it?) Click here to read the rest of "Two Dogs. One Bone."

Feedback can sometimes be vague, can't it? I wrote an article that might help you improve your story when the feedback is not so helpful. This article originally appeared on Suite101. Increase Character Conflict Make Characters and the Story More Interesting By Increasing Conflict Here are some tips for making a bland or episodic story more interesting by introducing deep character conflicts. Sometimes, a writer will get feedback that the characters are unlikable or uninteresting, or the story is only “okay.” This is usually a good indication that the story needs more conflict. For popular fiction, the best type of conflict involves personal character conflict. Some writers refer to this as “throwing rocks” at your character. This type of internal conflict can also directly impact the external storyline, so you get maximum bang for your writing buck. Conflict will automatically create more interest for readers because they want to see how the protagonist responds unde...

I recently got a few questions on what episodic writing is. Earlier, I posted the link to an article on episodic writing , but I also wanted to address it myself. In this article, which originally appeared on Suite101, I talk about how to recognize it, and some things to get rid of it. Make the Character Proactive Rather Than Reactive Eliminate episodic scenes by giving the character an External Goal, Obstacles against that goal, and Forward Movement in the story. A story is more than just good writing. A story plot must have forward motion and a sense of movement that pulls the reader along. Sometimes writers will get feedback that their story “lacks purpose” or is “episodic.” What exactly does that mean? Episodic Writing is Reactive Writing in Vignettes. A character needs more than just to fall into an alternate world and face Scary Monsters. He needs to have a purpose and doggedly pursue that purpose. If he simply goes from one Bad Thing to another, the story lacks direc...

This article I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. The Key Elements Needed Before the Novel is Written In order to craft a more cohesive story, writers should make sure they have these five elements in mind before they start or very soon after they begin writing. There are many different ways to write a story, and no one way is the “only way.” Some writers write as the story comes to them. Some plot out each step before they start writing. Some do a combination of both. But there are five main elements of a commercial story that are crucial for ensuring a strong storyline. Writers should try to nail these elements down before they get too far into the novel. If they don’t, they might end up writing themselves into a hole, or the story might end up being very aimless and episodic. 1. Introduce the Main Character Make sure there is a focal character or hero. Even if there are two main characters, there is always one who is more important to the story, or whose journey is...

Originally this article appeared on Gina Conroy's blog , but a few people were deterred because for some reason the page takes a while to load. So here's the article in full. I run a critique service called the Story Sensei, and I’ve also judged a fair number of writing contests through RWA, in addition to coordinating the ACFW Genesis contest. I’ve noticed a few commonalities in the manuscripts I’ve critiqued and judged, and Gina asked me to share. So here is: The top ten mistakes I see in manuscripts: 10) Inadequate use of point of view. I’m not talking about head-hopping. I’m talking about a very distant use of point of view that doesn’t get the reader into the character’s head or feeling the character’s emotions. For a first chapter, especially, this is crucial. If the reader isn’t immediately sucked into the character’s mind and body, if the reader doesn’t care about the character, they’re going to put the book down. This leads to the next mistake: 9) Inadequat...

by Mary Connealy Click here for part two Once you have the internal conflict the characters begin to take shape. Because the internal conflict is often rooted in their past, their internal conflict is part of developing three dimensional characters. As you do that, you start to know how the h/h will react, what drives them, how will they speak and move. What sets them off, and what gets past their defenses? You know you’ve written a really good book when you dig a chasm between them so deep that it’s almost (did I say almost? I meant absolutely) impossible to breach it. I wrote a novel once where I thought I’d have to bag the story. I just couldn't solve their problem—they were both right—neither of them had any reason to give, each of them would actually be wrong to give in, and it didn't even make sense for them to give. You know you're on to something when the conflict is this juicy, this much of a stumbling block, the only thing that will get th...

by Mary Connealy Click here for part one It's easy to muddle internal and external conflict. The external conflict bleeds into the internal conflict and before you know it, it's hard to say which is which. Here are some examples of external conflict from my own books. External Conflict Sophie’s no-account husband taught her the hard way to do everything herself before he was hanged as a horse thief. Clay grew up in the Rocky Mountains with his fur trapping father and no women anywhere. Idyllic. Now he’s injured and at the mercy of a woman and her four daughters and not a one of them will mind him. In Petticoat Ranch I've created one of my favorite external conflicts. She’s been surviving with her own strength for years, starting long before her husband died. He’s barely spoken to a woman. All he knows is: The men are supposed to be in charge. She’s heard that too, but what if the orders he gives are stupid? For the perfect external conflict ju...