Gay Ingram's Blog - Posts Tagged "fiction"
Help Readers 'See' Your Story
Fiction is most effective when readers can see vividly what it is you're describing on the page.
Scenes need to hook the reader, make us eager to find out what happens next. A scene needs to be a unified action with its own beginning, middle and end, usually taking place in a single location, in a single period of time. A scene should be a mini-play with its own powerful climax and resolution.
Filmmakers can serve as helpful guides to writers striving to achieve 'visual language.Use visual elements to capture the electricity, tension, and suspense.Try to write your scene with out adjectives, using instead really strong verbs. Help your reader learn about your characters by way of descriptive traits.
Use the elements of plot, characterization, tone, point of view, voice, etc. to tell your stories in the most compelling way possible.
Scenes need to hook the reader, make us eager to find out what happens next. A scene needs to be a unified action with its own beginning, middle and end, usually taking place in a single location, in a single period of time. A scene should be a mini-play with its own powerful climax and resolution.
Filmmakers can serve as helpful guides to writers striving to achieve 'visual language.Use visual elements to capture the electricity, tension, and suspense.Try to write your scene with out adjectives, using instead really strong verbs. Help your reader learn about your characters by way of descriptive traits.
Use the elements of plot, characterization, tone, point of view, voice, etc. to tell your stories in the most compelling way possible.
SuggestionsTo Freshen Your Fiction
Write in the voice that narrates your thoughts. Too much reshaping and worrying about how something looks on the page produces unconvincing writing.
Avoid generalized adjectives if you must use them. Seek comparisons that make the images snap.
Using fewer words to describe something is better.
Have a good time telling your tale.
Think of each scene as a street you want your readers to walk down until they turn the corner into the next scene.
Find yourself stuck in a passage? Choose the most outlandish ending that comes to mind and work backward.
Break out of the usual thinking pattern; twist the ending. What if a western ends with the bad guy apologizing to the heroine?
Avoid generalized adjectives if you must use them. Seek comparisons that make the images snap.
Using fewer words to describe something is better.
Have a good time telling your tale.
Think of each scene as a street you want your readers to walk down until they turn the corner into the next scene.
Find yourself stuck in a passage? Choose the most outlandish ending that comes to mind and work backward.
Break out of the usual thinking pattern; twist the ending. What if a western ends with the bad guy apologizing to the heroine?
