Category Archives: Story
After The First Five Pages
Noah Lukeman’s The First Five Pages alerted novelists to the need to create an intriguing opening. But the truth is, writers need to keep readers interested beyond that first scene. After the initial intrigue, what will keep them turning pages? Continue reading
Filed under Backstory, Characters, Story
Then What Is Head-Hopping?
The omniscient POV describes a story rather than simply relating events. The narrator, whether a storyteller or one of the characters or even an objective “camera-eye,” takes a certain perspective and sticks with it. Continue reading
Filed under Point of View, Story, Voice
Omniscient Point Of View
Please help me get the word out: the omniscient point of view is not the same as head hopping. It is true that the omniscient voice has been in disfavor with contemporary writers. Hence writing instructors more often than not warn new writers away from exploring what actually is a more complex option than the others. Continue reading
Hooks Versus Openings
Recently the Writer’s Digest published an article that compiled the views of writing professionals on opposing sides of certain writing “rules” issues. One of the topics dealt with the novel opening, or hook. How exactly should a novel begin? Should … Continue reading
Filed under Beginnings
Hooks Readers Can’t Resist
This week at the team blog I contribute to, Speculative Faith, we took a look at the first one hundred words of five unpublished manuscripts by some anonymous volunteers, with one question in mind: would you keep reading? Over fifty … Continue reading
Filed under Beginnings
Story Triage
Donald Maass put his finger on the twin beams upon which good stories are built — characters readers care about, acting in ways that generate tension. Writers who want to improve their novels would be wise to look at those two factors first before concerning themselves overly much with secondary elements. Continue reading
Filed under Characters, Story
Beautiful And Bad
We’ve all seen them on TV — gorgeous women who lure the hero by their incomparable good looks, but in the end they are bad, bad, bad. Some stories aren’t so different from those characters. Continue reading
Filed under Story
Plot Weaving – Where To Start
The events of the plot need to be “causally connected.” In other words, one event needs to cause the next event, and in the end the character needs to be changed. Continue reading
Filed under Beginnings, Plot
What Goes Into A Plot
A central character wants something intensely, goes after it despite opposition and, as a result of a struggle, comes to either win or lose. Continue reading
Filed under Beginnings, Characters, Plot, Story
