“I feel like it’s been forever since we’ve last talked.” Sally said as she came into the coffee shop. “And with Memorial Day today, and the fact I haven’t written in about four years, I feel like I’ve lost all momentum on my chapters.” Outside, Anne was planting geraniums in the coffee shop planters. The sun glinted off the lake, and the smell of lilacs hung in the air. I had a tan from the weekend Memorial Day and couldn’t wait to get home to our family barbeque. “Oh, I hear that.” I said. “I haven’t written for five days and it can be frustrating when you walk away from your novel with your ideas still trapped in your brain. One of my biggest frustrations in writing a novel is […]
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Using Dialog and Prose to Create the Setting
Last night I sat in a small circle of writers disguising themselves as readers. As we discussed the book of the month, one of the reader-writers said, “The dialog and language really drew me in. It was part of the setting, really.” That hooked me right there. Not to read the book because, well, I wrote the book, but as a blog topic! Using Dialog and Prose to Create the Setting. I never thought of it before but word choice, dialog, the arrangement of words can really help put the reader in the mind set of the PLACE the story is being told. The era. The region. The social class. Education. Even values and belief systems. We’ve all heard word choice is key to the author’s voice. We’ve also learned […]
Read the RestQuick Skills: How to Build Scene Tension
I just finished book 2 of the Hunger Games series, Catching Fire. Excuse me while I go pick up book 3 and spend the day ignoring my to-do list. This series is a lesson in how to create fabulous tension. Not only is the story premise powerful, but every chapter has that “can’t put down” quality. Why? TENSION on every page (as the Master Donald Maas would say!) But what is tension. Recently, I read approximately 1,768,639 contest entries. Okay, not quite that many, but it felt like it. And very few really wove real tension into their story. Obstacles and Activity are not Tension. Tension is a combination of a Sympathetic Character + Stakes + Goals + Obstacles + Fear of Failure. If any of these are missing, we don’t […]
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Conversations: What is Scene Tension?
“Happy Mother’s Day, Sally,” I said, while holding a plate of basil mashed potatoes and beef medallions. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on that broccoli salad – the house specialty – and eyed it as another patron of the Sunday Brunch dived in. Sally looked up as she spooned smoked salmon onto her plate. “Hello.” She glanced behind me, and I saw one of her children, the six year old, heading into the buffet line. “How’s the writing going?” “Good,” she said as she reached around me, handing him a plate. “Don’t spill.” She stepped out of line. “I don’t know if we can meet tomorrow. I have a school field trip.” “No problem, I said, we’re just going to talk about Scene Structure.” She made a face. […]
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