Worry not, no personal woes here; we’re plotting troubles, decisions and consequences in fiction. Another guest lecturer on Sanderson’s BYU Creative Writing course, author Brandon Mull sets out his approach to character and plot.
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In unabashed, media-pimping, YouTube style, I bring you ten ways to improve your writing. Ta-da!
Inspired by a similar non-fiction list from Carl Natale over on workawesome, I’ve taken on a lot of writing craft over the last couple of years, and here’s the cream of it.
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Interviewed at the Hay Literary Festival, Dame Jacqueline Wilson wonders are people losing ‘reading stamina?’
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s This Cultural Life, prolific children’s author Wilson is concerned that children’s books are now too simple. …
Attention spans are getting shorter, reading choice is getting bigger; which is why writers have to include five items on page one
After the book’s cover, page one is where most readers start. Anyone who says you have the first chapter to set out your stall is peddling old advice. Page one has a lot to do if you’re to get the reader to turn over to page two and keep going.
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Sooner or later in the process, every author faces editing the ‘crutch’ words. These are the habitual words or phrases used like crutches to prop up one’s prose. In speech, we rarely notice them; in prose, they become a hallmark of poor writing. Top of the list? Like, seemed, look, decide. And adverbs. Mostly.
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In a previous post I looked at how character arcs rise and fall and promised to look at applying character arcs in fiction. I have multiple novels in progress, linked in a series, looking for meaningful, satisfying character arcs. Somehow I have to apply all that received wisdom of writing coaches and authors.
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There are plenty of beneficial writers’ tools, but a weekend of editing has taught me something: Grammarly’s good but not for fiction.
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Part of the editing process is considering how character arcs rise and fall in the course of the novel. Movement, growth and change are key.
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Writing across a series, rearranging the jigsaw pieces often reveals some missing; that means plugging a plot hole. Or several.
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Never mind that I’m 65% through editing and still don’t know if the novel is any good: do I have a professional working draft?
A working draft comes at the end of one or more rounds of internal edits; no copy editing, line editing or proof reading. We’re still in the early stages. In short, does the manuscript work?
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