Every now and again that dreaded moment for every writer descends over your manuscript. You can’t shake it, no matter how hard you try. You’ve got writer’s block. There are no words appearing on the page and your brain is experiencing dead air. Writer’s block can paralyze you and leave you stranded in a particular dilemma in your manuscript unless you put some strategies in place a head of time to stave off writer’s block. Idea Sparking Your Way Out of Writer’s Block Strategy #1: Research Wait just one minute, you say. I did all of my research at the beginning of the story. Now, I’m writing. True you WERE writing, but since that has ground to a halt, doing a bit more research could get you back in print. […]
Read the RestTag Archives | setting
Brainstorm Strategy #5: Brainstorming Settings to Create Mood
Setting up the mood in a scene requires the right words, but it also requires a setting that can boost your mood impact. Think of all of the scary movies where the heroine is walking down the dark basement stairs and someone is waiting there. We are all screaming, ‘No! Don’t go down there!” Of course she doesn’t listen. Then there is the moan of old stairs. The electricity goes out. The music or noises send shivers up your spine. Is this by accident? Absolutely not. How about the moment when the hero is going to propose? The candle light, roses, and soft music. Warmth and light fill the scene with a building sense of joy. All of these tricks are used by movies every day. We should use these […]
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Conversations: Building Storyworld Basics
Dear Sally, I’m thinking of you sitting in our coffee shop, the hush of the waves of Lake Superior combing the shore, the sky so blue you could dive in, the smell of evergreen fresh in the air from last night’s rain. But I’m writing to you from the beaches of Hawaii, my toes dug into the creamy sand, the salt of the ocean drying into crystals on my skin. As you’re diving into your novel and writing scenes, I thought it might help if we touched upon Storyworld this week. Storyworld is so key, from the first scene to every scene beyond to anchor your character – and especially your reader – into the story. Think of Storyworld as more than just the setting, but as the world you […]
Read the RestUsing 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 […]
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