In every romance the key is making your characters fall in love, right? We’ve talked about HOW we fall in love…how we connect to each other’s core values, and how we complement each other and make each other into stronger people. However, how do you actually write that journey, step by step? How do you woo your reader into falling in love with your characters, too? You have to date your reader. Okay, let’s just analyze this for a moment. Remember the last time you fell in love? You saw him or her across the room, and something about their physical appearance intrigued you. It told you something about them—perhaps they were brave, or strong, or creative, or disheveled, or rough-edged. You probably noticed their […]
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Storytelling vs. Backstory
We’re continuing to blog questions from blog readers and MBT Voices. If you have a question, be sure to email me at Rachel@mybooktherapy.com. So, here’s today’s question. Q: How do I add “storytelling elements” to my novel without dumping backstory? A: The balance between back story and the action on the page is tricky but not hard. Let’s look at a few definitions before we outline some guidelines for weaving back story into a scene. Story telling elements are just those fragments of a characters life, history, wants, goals and desires that are necessary for filling out or understanding a scene. The trick is to deliver just enough emotion and history to intrigue the reader while filling them in on what’s going on. For example, if Sally is not excited […]
Read the RestConversations: First Chapter Essentials
“I’m angry with you!” Sally said as she sat down. She was smiling, so I frowned. “You let me write the first chapter before I was ready.” “Oh, that,” I said. “Yes, I did, knowing you weren’t quite ready. But I knew you had so much story in you that if you didn’t get started you’d only get frustrated. I know why you weren’t ready, but you tell me.” “I didn’t really know what my character wanted, nor how to hint at his greatest fear in the first chapter, so I created exactly the wrong scene.” “You created the scene that helped you jump start your story. You were doing a lot of “Wax On, Wax Off” and getting ansty. So, I told you to simply let your character walk […]
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Quick Skills: The Final Battle Breakdown and Flow Chart!
How do you create a triumphant ending? We touched on the why yesterday in “conversations” but today I wanted to put tools to the theory. Just as a reminder: the point of the Final Battle is to convince the reader (and the character) that true character change has taken place by putting it to the test. You are waging an “internal battle” using external elements. I like to use the movie The Patriot because it is an actual battle, but it also clearly illustrates the internal/external final battle of a story. The idea is: armed with the TRUTH, which has caused their epiphany, your character will face their last challenge, that thing they couldn’t do at the beginning of the story that they can no do (or are willing to face) […]
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