What makes for good literary style? The components are so numerous that it would take all day to list them, but one that jumps out at me is description that is vivid and original. Vivid and Original Vivid: It engages your senses until you can really see, hear, taste, smell, and feel the scene the author has laid before you. In fact, she hasn’t just laid it before you. She has drawn you into it. Original: She has expressed herself … Read More »

To the reader curled up with your book, it may appear to be a random collection of thoughts, conversations, and experiences. In fact, stories are carefully constructed works that usually follow a specific formula. It’s known as a plot/story arc, where the events rise and fall and are eventually brought together and explained or resolved (denouement). Pantsers might be scoffing at this point, but I think at some point, they wrangle their works into much the same structure. For years, … Read More »

The way your characters talk — in dialogue scenes as well as in first-person narration — can not only help a reader distinguish one from the other. It can actually serve to establish who each of them is. Is he/she an optimist or a pessimist? An extrovert or an introvert? Honest or devious? Well-educated or not so much? Perhaps as important as any of these, does he/she have a sense of humor? I hope no one needs to be told … Read More »

There’s a lot of world-building that takes place when a writer embarks on the journey of creating a story. The plot guides the reader along the path from first to last sentence. Interwoven in the plot are sensory details that make the story come alive for the reader. What’s important to keep, and what can be set aside? Let’s explore some ideas that might help in the decision-making process. Part of the World? Countless interesting details will be a part … Read More »

Football season has captured the country, and baseball play-offs have begun. In post-game discussions, we often hear about the Most Valuable Players who took the game from good to great. For writers, it’s crunch season for a lot of those year-end goals. And that means it’s time to line up the MVPs of feedback. When that manuscript is complete and polished, you need to seek out feedback. But not just any feedback. You want to orchestrate the most valuable feedback … Read More »

Some time ago, I wrote a blog on unlikable protagonists, and one of my colleagues (you know who you are!) commented that the way we see a protagonist can be mediated by the narrator. That idea is so full of interesting possibilities for an author that it deserves a blog all to itself. So, here are a few ideas to add to your literary arsenal about who is going to tell your tale. To See or Not to See The … Read More »