Archives for November 2009

Writing Lesson 14 – Maddening Middles

A Novel is More than a Beginning and an End Here are some novel facts: Most average novels run between 55,000-80,000 words. A “long novel” is considered to be a novel upwards of 80,000 words and stopping at about 100,000. No matter how you hammer them on the page, that’s a lot of words. When, […]

Writing Lesson 13 – Digging for Goals

Creating Unforgettable Characters, Part 3 Dig up a goal to motivate your characters into action. They will have depth and your story will come alive. Delve into each character’s personality and ask about the hidden fears, secrets, and the values. Find out what makes them tick. Interview the characters you’ve created. Ask about their external […]

Writing Lesson 12 – Creating Inner Conflict

Creating Emotion in Writing Almost every writing class or craft book will tell you the same thing: fiction must create a compelling emotional experience. The problem is these teachers also let you know that if your character cries, the reader probably won’t. So how do you build this emotion? Simply writing highly emotional phrases such […]

Writing Lesson 11 – Taste the Rainbow!

Sensory Writing is Sensational! Reading and writing are by nature very visual activities, but most people have five senses: sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch. The more sensory perceptions you are able to engage in your writing, the more your reader will be able to experience your story almost first-hand. That’s a very good thing! Stories […]