Why can’t readers just be inside my brain? That’s the problem, isn’t it? Trying to help the reader grasp a scene without giving them too little information, or also overwhelming them. So often, I have my cast of characters, and I want to throw everybody into the first scene, treating them as old friends (which they are to me), without remembering that my reader hasn’t met them yet. Here’s a scene of my recent book, Reclaiming Nick. I wanted to portray Nick as the hero he is…but with all the players in the scene, it became clunky, and hard for the reader to follow. Let’s take a look. (My comments are in italics) *** When the lanky form of Saul Lovell walked into the Watering Hole Café, dragging with him […]
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Self Therapy: Editing to find the character’s voice
In my mind, my characters are alive and real. I can see them in conversation, walking through a scene. But once I put fingers to keyboard, that very personable character disappears. How can I get what’s in my head onto the page? Several ways. First, I might revisit notes or a character bio I’ve written. If I feel like those lack depth, I might brainstorm motivation or story line. Second, I keep writing, editing and rewriting. A story rarely comes off authentic the first draft. This is where the character, story and dialog form a rough picture for the author – in this case me. I’ve heard many authors talk about how hard they work at getting the story on the page. Some says it takes several drafts just to […]
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