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Conversations: Crafting the first sentence hook!

By on April 23, 2012 in Editing Basics, How do I start my Scene?, Truth or Dare: Conversations with an aspiring novelist

“I’m sorry Sally, I don’t have much time today. I’m on my way to the airport.” I unwound the scarf from my neck and slid into the chair. “But I did want to talk to you quickly about Hooks and First Lines.” I pulled out the printed email she sent me. “I have your new draft here. You did such a great job of pulling me into the story and deleting all but the essential backstory. Now I want you to take a look at that first sentence. “See, most authors don’t start their stories out in the right place, and even when they do, they struggle to get that first line. I often write the first line last, after the book is written just because by then I know […]

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Conversations: Common Writing Mistakes I’m seeing

By on April 16, 2012 in Author Mistakes, Editing Basics, From the Inside...Out, How do I enter a Contest?, Story Crafting, Susan May Warren, The Hero's Journey Simplified, Truth or Dare: Conversations with an aspiring novelist

I miss Sally and our morning coffee.  But I’m on the road this week, teaching at conferences, and judging contests and I thought it might help to see a quick summary of the common mistakes I’m seeing as I look at entries and talk to aspiring authors. So here they are, in no particular order.   Not starting the story with a compelling situation.  So many entries and rough drafts are starting in a place where the author is either explaining the character’s backstory or creating the storyworld instead of getting to the character and creating a situation where we see him interacting with his world, setting up for the inciting incident (or even in the middle or after it). Remember, the first three chapters of your novel are the […]

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Quick Skills: 5 Essentials of a First Chapter

By on April 10, 2012 in b. Building a Scene, Chapter 1, Editing Basics, From the Inside...Out, How do I Fast Draft?, Limelight – Sample Novel, Quick Skills, Story Crafting, Susan May Warren, The Hero's Journey Simplified

There are a lot of checklists for building a first chapter, and sometimes they can get overwhelming. MBT has an advanced checklist we use to help people build their Frasier Contest Scene (it’s the same checklist I use when building my first chapters!). However, I admit, it can get overwhelming. So, let’s start building that chapter one with 5 essential elements.  In fact, this is step two in your process. As Sally and I talked about yesterday in Conversations, sometimes it just helps the writing process to let your characters walk on the page and wander around a bit. We can hear them, talk to them, discover if we have profiled them correctly.  No, these wanderings probably won’t be the final first chapter, but it gives you a chance to […]

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Conversations: First Chapter Essentials

By on April 9, 2012 in Backstory, Crafting the Inciting Incident, Editing Basics, From the Inside...Out, How do I Fast Draft?, Story Crafting, Susan May Warren, The Hero's Journey Simplified, Truth or Dare: Conversations with an aspiring novelist

“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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