Dreams as Story Devices by Kay Keppler
Don’t Start Your Story with a Dream! In real life, dreams have their own logic. They jump around, juxtapose images, fade and intensify, ignore transitions.
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Revise Your Way to Success by Kay Keppler
You need an editor to make your writing shine, and the first red pen that touches your draft should be your own. Learn how to revise, and especially, learn how to delete. Read Strunk & White’s Elements of Style or some other book that shows you how to strip verbiage, and then apply what you’ve learned to your manuscript.
Writing a Synopsis an Editor Will Read by Kay Keppler
Have you tried writing a synopsis? Do you hate it? You’re not alone. The synopsis is probably the single most hated document for authors to write, but we do it because publishers and agents usually demand it.
Evoke Reader Emotions by Kay Keppler
Figuring out how you want your readers to feel can improve your plotting. Everything you include in your plot should lead to emotions in some way.
Boost Pacing with Characters’ Choices by Kay Keppler
Probably most of you remember all the big decisions you made, decisions that affected the course of your life.
Say It with Subplots by Kay Keppler
When someone asks you what your story is about, you tell them the actions and conflict of your protagonist. You don’t discuss your subplots because they’re minor.
Finding Your Character’s Motivation by Kay Keppler
When you develop your characters, you want them to be consistent so that readers can understand and perhaps identify with them. Your characters’ actions don’t have to be smart, but they must be done for a reason.
Selling Your Book to Readers by Kay Keppler
Let’s welcome back monthly columnist, editor, and novelist, Kay Keppler, as she shares with us “Selling Your Book to Readers.” Enjoy!
Getting Intimate with Your Characters by Kay Keppler
A famous author once said that every book should contain a love story. Now, that author might not have thought that the love story needed a sex scene, but many novelists writing in every genre do include sex scenes in their books. And there’s a problem with that.
Backstory: Not a Dirty Word by Kay Keppler
We’ve all heard the first commandment for writers: never open your book with backstory. And the second commandment? No infodumps. And the third? Sprinkle that backstory throughout your book.
Writing an Unlikeable Protagonist by Kay Keppler
Do protagonists have to be likeable? Of course, because how else can a reader bond with your hero? Of course not, because some of the most fascinating protagonists in literature are unlikeable, or indeed, hateful.
What’s in a Name? by Kay Keppler
The first line of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is “Call me Ishmael.” Thus begins an incredible saga told through the eyes of one of literature’s greatest narrators.
Make Setting Meaningful by Kay Keppler
Setting is a crucial part of any story. A while ago, I said it could be handled essentially as a character—for example, by using it to focus on the senses and build emotion. But you can also make your story placement meaningful, not just convenient. You want your setting to be more than a backdrop for events.
Finding Your Voice by Kay Keppler
Many well-known writers have such distinctive writing styles that after reading a few paragraphs, you can identify a book’s author without seeing the cover. In fact, some writers have such distinctive voices that readers pick up their books solely because a particular name is on it,
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