“A writer must be aware of, have reason for, and be in control of all shifts of viewpoint character.” —Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering the Craft Point of view can look like one of the simpler decisions you make when writing a novel. First person or third person? One viewpoint character or several? But POV…
“Scene is to time what concrete detail is to the senses.” —Janet Burroway, Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft You can usually feel when the pacing in your novel is off. A scene drags even though something important is happening. A major decision occurs so quickly that it barely registers. A chapter seems long…
“A scene is a story in miniature.” —Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting Sometimes a scene has everything you thought it needed. The right characters are there. Something happens. The scene contains information the reader needs. It may even include dialogue or description you like. And yet the scene feels…
“A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality.” —E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel When you know your story well, you know things your reader doesn’t. You know why your protagonist makes a particular decision. You know how one character learned an important fact. You know what happened between…
“I think it’s important that subplots are related to the main plot in some way.” –Wesley Chu, Writing Excuses Subplots can be interesting and still weaken your novel. That was an important distinction for me to learn. I tend to enjoy developing relationships and secondary story threads, so coming up with material usually isn’t the…
“A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality.” – E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel You can have interesting characters, meaningful conflict, and plenty happening in your novel, and still have a plot that does not quite hold together. I’ve run into this problem while developing my own fiction….
“Place has a more lasting identity than we have.” —Eudora Welty, The Eye of the Story A novel can have a perfectly clear setting and still feel as though the story could happen almost anywhere. You may know the town, the season, the landscape, or the rules of an invented world. You may even have…
“The greater the obstacle, the greater the glory in overcoming it.” — Molière You can create a character you understand deeply and still have a story that feels strangely flat. The protagonist may be interesting. Her history may make sense. Her relationships may have emotional depth. But if she has no strong reason to act,…
“Character is destiny.” — Heraclitus A character can have a name, age, occupation, appearance, personality traits, hobbies, family history, and several pages of backstory and still feel flat. I have learned that adding more information does not necessarily create a strong character, one with more depth. Sometimes it simply creates a longer character profile. What…
“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” — John Steinbeck A novel idea may arrive with almost everything attached. You can see the main character, the problem, the setting, and several scenes before you write a word. Another novel idea may…