Story Sensei

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...

This article I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. Beginnings To Avoid Three Things That Weaken a Story Opening There are three aspects of a character's actions and decisions that can weaken the first chapters of an otherwise good story. There are many ways to start a story, and no "right" or "wrong" way. However, there are a few principles to follow that can help strengthen a novel's beginning. Here are three character traits that a writer should avoid in the first chapters. The Character Doesn't Decide to Fight. The phrase, coined by Dwight Swain, means that the character doesn't make that Decision which starts the story . If a character doesn't commit himself to his external goal: 1) the character seems passive, which makes him unsympathetic to the reader. 2) the beginning seems to drag, which might lose reader interest. 3) the reader has no reason commit to the story if the character isn't committed himself. Star...

From Teri D. Smith: How much liberty are we allowed in creating a new place in our settings? I have a 3rd book of a series set in a town in California. My opening scene takes place in a park, but I can't find a park in the town that's like the one in my head. Can I make one up entirely or can I use an existing park and "plant" some trees or a place for an outdoor concert? Camy here: It's fiction. The sky's the limit! Create new places with impunity! Now, since you're using a real town, don't call your fictional park the same name as a real park in the town. Make up a name so your readers—if they're familiar with the real California town the book is set in—won't get jarred out of the "fictional dream" of the novel to say, "Hey, that's not in XYZ park. This person didn't do her research!" If your setting—whether a house, park, building, or entire city—is fictional, make it obvious to your readers that it's fictio...

This article that I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. The Decision That Starts the Story Knowing How and Where to Begin Your Novel Start your story in such a way that the reader has to buy the book to keep reading. The beginning of a book is where the writer hooks the reader and reels him in. The opening page makes the reader keep reading, and then the end of the chapter is what gets him to buy the book. While that opening page is key, so is the end of that chapter. Avoid Long, Dragging Beginnings A long beginning will sometimes deter a reader browsing in the bookstore because the beginning may be indicative of the entire book. The reader wants to know what the book will be about, what it will be like, and they don't have hours in front of the bookshelf. They will want to know quickly. Therefore, as a writer, start as you mean to go on. Create the same climate in the beginning as you do for the entire book. Most importantly, don't make the beginning drag ...

I'm over at Routines for Writers today talking about Promotion! And before you click away, I want to stress that it's never too early to think about promotion! Hi there! My name is Camy Tang, and I'm thrilled to be guest blogging today! Now, before you look at the title and think it doesn't apply to you, let me tell you—I firmly believe that it's never too early to start promotion, especially if you are a serious writer, seriously pursuing publication. Your book contract might come next week or next year or in a few years, but if you already have your promotion and marketing set up, you're a leg ahead of all the other writers submitting to agents and editors. Yes, they look to see what you already have set up in terms of marketing! Click here for the rest of the article

From Sarah Forgrave: - I've got a series idea that would follow a family with three daughters and a basic storyline for each. I'm a plotter and planner, so I'm wondering if you recommend planning out all three or four stories at once so they're intertwined? Do you have any other tips on how to approach a series? Camy here: It depends on the storylines you're thinking of. If you'd like each story to stand on its own (which most of my editors have wanted, but may not necessarily be true for your editors), then my suggestion is to spend time really developing each character so that you know their fears, desires, wounds, etc. The characters' actual storylines for their novels might end up changing as you write each story, also, so this is a safe route to go--you have a good handle on the characters, but you're leaving yourself some wiggle room in terms of their stories. If you're thinking that you'd like the stories to be strongly intertwined, then ...

This article originally appeared on Suite101. Additional Tricks to Make a Character’s Past History Compelling Here are some more subtle ways to present exposition without obviously telling the reader. The previous article on backstory mentioned this: The key to presenting backstory in a way that is interesting to a reader boils down to one piece of advice: Make the reader want to know the information. Aside from the points in that article, there are also some other more subtle ways to accomplish this. Connect Information to Action This is a case of using both "showing" and "telling" in order to present backstory. The writer can first "show," in action, a character's personality, trait, or proclivity. For example, show Joe's strange aversion to the barn in a few short paragraphs of action and dialogue. This action will trigger an emotional reaction in the reader. Make the reader feel Joe's fear and dread as he stares into th...

From Sarah Forgrave: - Do you have any market research tips (i.e., What are some of the ways you check to see if your story has been done before or what books might be similar to your idea)? Camy here : Great question! Before I do every proposal, I check to make sure my story hasn't been done before. Often, I check this even before I write the story. First I make a list about my story: (1) Genre (2) Character careers (3) Villain career/type (4) Overall theme/plot premise (5) Setting (6) Targeted publisher/line Then I go online to Amazon or Christianbook.com (since I write Christian fiction, Christianbook.com is a smaller, easier database to search) and search for books similar to mine. I will usually start with the publisher or line I'm targeting and search within that parameter for all the other things. For example, for my Steeple Hill novel, I searched within all the Love Inspired Suspense books on Amazon for any novels recently published in my chosen setting, Sonoma, Califor...

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

I was over at Life with Missy: I’m so excited to be on Missy’s blog today! Missy asked me to answer the question, "Is it easier to write suspense because of the built-in conflict of a villain?" Actually, the presence of a villain in romantic suspense makes it a bit harder to write. Suspense villains tend to have very strong motivations for the evil and mayhem they’re causing, but that also means I have to make sure that their every action and decision is logical and works toward their ultimate desire. Click here for the rest of the article

I'm over at Seekerville today talking about crossover! A few people have asked me about when I first switched genres. I learned a few things along the way, and there's also something very important I realized—whether you're a Christian fiction writer who wants to cross over to mainstream or a contemporary romance writer wanting to cross over into romantic suspense, there are a few things a writer should do to give you a better chance of success. Click here for the rest of the post and to chime in to the conversation!

I'm over at Cheryl Wyatt's blog today talking about the Basic Building Blocks of Good Story Structure: Hey there! This is Camy Tang, and Cheryl is letting me guest blog today! She wanted me to talk about the basic building blocks of good story structure because I tend to naturally look at stories on a structural level. When I do telephone consultations for my Story Sensei critique service, most of my clients are looking for help to fix their novels’ story structures. Click here to read the rest of the article

A few weeks ago, Roxo left this question in the comments section of my Head Hopping article: Hi! Maybe it sounds a little stupid, but my question is: why deep point of view is better than omniscient point of view? In school we don't even learn about the former. It's not that I don't like it, I love it actually (deep point of view I mean) but I would like to know what is it that makes it better than omniscient. Thanks ! I answered in the comments section, but then thought that other writers might also be interested in the answer: Hi Roxo, It's not a stupid question! Deep point of view inserts the reader into the character's body, which often creates a more deeply emotional reading experience and consequently makes the book a bit richer emotionally. Epics told in omniscient point of view tend to be very sweeping in scope but sometimes a little shallow in terms of emotion. Most readers don't realize that the publishing industry has moved more toward deep point of ...

Forgive me if I gush but this is one of the best articles I've read in a long time, and I promise it's not because he quoted my book in it. His list of Rewards Per Page is absolutely stellar, because it's a very concise list of things I point out to my clients when I critique manuscripts. In future, I intend to point them to this article since it's so comprehensive and well written. How Rewarding is the ‘Reading Experience’ Provided by Your Writing? Measuring “Rewards-Per-Page” Can Give You an Indication of this Important Success Factor. Click here for the rest of the article

I was at Seekerville yesterday talking about talking to editors and agents at conferences: Camy here, talking about pitching (both formal and informal) since many of you are probably at the Romance Writers of America National Convention right now! I'm not a natural extrovert, but I force myself to be one at conferences in order to meet writers, editors and agents. I want to present a professional demeanor and make a good impression. That's kind of hard to do when my mouth has suddenly become the Mojave desert and my legs have rooted through my Nine Wests into the floor. Click here to read the rest of the article.

From contest entries and critiques that I’ve done, I’ve noticed that often people don’t quite understand what exactly is “showing” and what exactly is “telling.” So, I’m doing this series to give numerous examples so that you can see for yourself the various kinds of “telling” that can occur in your own manuscript, and suggestions for fixing it. This example is from my own proposal. It’s an Inspirational romantic suspense. (From Jorge's point of view) Jorge explained, “My brother still visits some of his old friends to try to get them to come to church with him.” “Oh.” Her eyes skittered away as she renewed her vigor in sweeping. She had never been comfortable talking about her faith. They’d rarely talked about God when they were dating, but she had said she was a strong Christian. The last paragraph is all telling. There’s a more dynamic and interesting way to show this information, plus you can use this as a way to deepen the point of view. I decided to anchor the information in...

Recently, a friend had witnessed a heated discussion between writers about the MLA Style book and the Chicago Manual of Style. She suggested I write an article on it. If you're not a fiction writer, this won't apply to you, but if you do write fiction, here's important information for you about style standards at major publishing houses. This article, which I wrote, originally appeared on Suite101. Grammar, Punctuation, and Style for Market Fiction Some Tips on Style Used By Publishing Houses Writers should be aware that the style books used at colleges may be different from the style book used by a publishing house for novels. Many colleges use the MLA (Modern Language Association) Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, also known as the MLA Style book. However, the style book used by most major publishing houses is the The Chicago Manual of Style . (At the time of this writing, this link is for the 16th edition. You should go with the most recent edition.) Fic...

This article that I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. Finding “Telling” and Fixing It How to Show Instead of Tell Here are some tips for identifying when a novelist “tells” instead of “shows” and how to fix it. Many times, writers hear the injunction, “Show, don’t tell.” But how to know when you’re “telling” instead of showing, and what do you do about it? Finding “Telling” “Telling” is always difficult for writers to discover in their own writing, so a writer shouldn’t be discouraged if he can’t see it during revisions. There are many online articles to explain “showing” versus “telling,” including this one which lists examples of “showing” and “telling.” Be aware that there are some instances where “telling” is needed rather than showing. However, in many cases, the “telling” is unnecessary and should be “shown” instead. Critique partners are good resources for pointing out “telling” in a manuscript. An objective outside reader will usually be able to find “t...

This is continuing my series on things to look for in your first page. Click here for part eight. Make every word count This goes back to how you only have one page to hook an editor. If that editor isn’t hooked by that first page, he or she will move the entire manuscript to the Reject pile without even bothering to go to page two. That being the case, you should expend considerable effort to not have any useless words on that first page. Make every description juicy and unique, without any “throw-away” words or phrases. Make every line of dialogue snappy and emotional, without unnecessary tags or adverbs. Make every sentence concise and precise—nothing meandering or vague or fluffy. Introduce your character with clear but unique descriptors, whether in dialogue or by action. Don’t waste time with backstory and “telling” the reader what’s happening—suck the reader in to “show” them what’s happening as it happens to the character. Dwight Swain has an entire chapter in his book Techniq...