I recently had the opportunity to do a beta read on a novel and provide a critique. The experience was both sad and depressing. Everything was off—pacing, character development, and conflict. Keeping all those ponies in harness pulling their weight and working together is complicated. But this is your job as a novelist.
Now that we’ve entered a new year—a new time, essentially—it seems like a good moment to think about how you use time in your story and what place and function it serves.
Structuring genre novels and Hollywood movies is simple. (It’s the writing that’s hard!) They’re built on only three basic elements—character, desire, and conflict—and have a plot structure that consists of six basic stages. These stages help you build tension and conflict into your story and strengthen its emotional impact.
Many books, whatever their genre or literary bent, include a love story. Whether thriller, mystery, science fiction, or even Western, many stories that are not written primarily as romances include a love story in which the complications of the lovers match, complement, or escalate the complications of the primary plot. Think of Robert B. Parker’s Westerns, John Sandford’s thrillers, and many others.
A publisher recently sent me a review of a published book that I’d edited for them. The review praised several specifics that I had fought for over two revision cycles. To me, the need for the changes had seemed obvious—but they came as a surprise to the author. In fact, the last several manuscripts I’ve worked on have had significant structural issues—nothing that couldn’t be repaired, but expensive in terms of time and effort, especially since some problems came up early and affected events throughout the book.
I’m working on a story in which my protagonist is on an unpaid leave from the CIA. The story concerns an unlikely adventure she engages in during this off time, and the way she handles it helps her to decide if the CIA is the right career choice for her. In a beta read, a friend pointed out that my character could face serious consequences—even prison—merely for making a phone call that wasn’t over a secure channel.
According to story consultant Michael Hauge, your job as a storyteller is to create images. Your readers, viewers, or listeners want to picture who is doing what. To succeed at that, all the elements of your story need to be clear and vivid. However, some writers have trouble developing unique characters that jump off the page.
Plotting is hard for many people. Sage advice says to start with characters, and when you know those people well enough, their behavior alone will launch the conflict. But you have to get to know them, and to do that, you need to start somewhere.
Your book is finished. You’ve written a first draft, and maybe you’ve revised it—maybe even several times. You wonder if it’s “finished.” It might be. You might have a perfect gem on your hands. However, you might want to take another look—a slow, careful look—after you’ve let it rest for a week or two.
You have a great story with wonderful characters who overcame grievous wounds—abused childhoods, broken marriages, or alcoholic parents. How do you handle the task of explaining these life-defining experiences? In prologue, dialogue, monologue, exposition, flashback?
Lots of writers know how their book starts and how it ends. It’s writing the middle that’s so tricky. Some writers have no clue what happens. Some writers have so many ideas, they can’t cram them all in. Indecision can be paralyzing.
by Beth Barany · Published August 21, 2014 · Last modified August 19, 2014
Join me in giving a warm welcome back to our monthly columnist, author Kay Keppler, as she shares her tips with us on breaking through writers block. Enjoy! *** You know how hard writing is. Just finding...
Novelists tend to fall into one of two camps: either they start their books knowing only one character, or a character’s name, and discover the plot and other characters as they write, or they do a 90-page outline with all the turning points and climaxes in place.
Part of craft is choosing from which perspective, or point of view, you tell your story. Your choices are first, second, or third person (limited or omniscient). Each has its strengths and drawbacks. Well, okay, second person has no strengths, only drawbacks, unless you’re writing how-to manuals. In that case, carry on. Fiction people, you have choices to make.
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