Anatomy of a Scene
What elements do you need in your opening scene? We talk about that this week.
fiction
Anatomy of a Scene
It’s all about bits of information. Authors write scenes in order to make the events in the fictional world seem real to the reader. You want your readers to be emotionally engaged in the drama. You want your readers to feel as if your characters are real. You want your readers to applaud your character’s … Read more
Scene Senses
We’ve been discussing scene writing over the last several weeks, including the expectations for what constitutes a scene, what belongs in scene beginnings, middles, and endings, and setting up your scene for your reader. This week we will discuss scene senses. I like writing in scenes because using scenes breaks the writing process down into … Read more
Anatomy of a Scene
Scene Setting When we discussed scene beginnings a few weeks ago, we said that each scene should have a purpose and an intention, and we mentioned setting the scene as part of the process of scene beginnings. This week we focus in more depth on scene setting. Scene setting is about giving the reader visual … Read more
Anatomy of a Scene
Scene Beginnings We are focusing on scenes for the next few weeks, and this week our focus is on the beginning of a scene. Each scene should have a purpose which moves the story forward, or gives the reader information on the characters, or shows new action and conflict. As a reminder, a scene is … Read more
You’ve Been Writing That Novel for How Long?
How long? I expect that some of you will be pissed off at me by the end of this post. I am okay with that. Not because I want you to be pissed off at me, but because I want you to be the best writer you can be. Recently, over coffee with a fabulous … Read more
Anatomy of a Scene
Introduction Scenes are the visual building blocks of the novel in which your characters live (very much like theater productions and movies). Scenes placed one after another make chapters. Multiple chapters tied together make novels. You might consider writing your novel using the scene and sequel technique (see Scene and Sequel posted September 2, 2015) … Read more
Western Fiction
One category of novel that has been generally out of vogue because of low sales is western fiction. Sales increased by 7% in 2014 but are still low overall. If you write westerns, you write for a niche market, but readers of westerns are die hard for the genre, and if they like you, they … Read more
Novel Pitching Notes
Snark alert! I thought I would say this up front so those of you who don’t want to read snarky comments from an editor can find something else to read. Still here? Okay. Here’s the deal. I want to publish your novel as much as you want me to publish your novel. Pitching isn’t hard, … Read more
Genre and Trope and Stuff – Romance
As we saw last week, the romance genre is big business. If you want to break into the romance genre then it is a good idea to know the general tropes. You goal is to write a novel that will meet your readers’ expectations. Remember that romance readers are very knowledgeable. They are also a … Read more