Writing Category
Dazzling Dialogue—Part VII
Posted on February 14, 2018 Leave a Comment
Cut it out! Pare it down. Weed out unnecessary words. Instead of a long, flowery sentence, like this one, sometimes the use of shorter sentences can add sizzle and shine to your dialogue and make it dazzle. Click to Tweet #DazzlingDialogue #amwriting
Dazzling Dialogue—Part VI
Posted on February 7, 2018 Leave a Comment
Change it up. Do something different. Be true to the POV character and who they are interacting with. Sometimes, life hits us with the unexpected. Put that in your dialogue. At times, something comes out of left field. We’ve never thought of it that way before. Insert these techniques into your dialogue to make the […]
Dazzling Dialogue—Part V
Posted on January 31, 2018 Leave a Comment
The character’s vocabulary should be unique to each one. What kind of expressions do they use? Do they have an accent? Are there “favorite” words they like to use? Their syntax. All these things come together to create dazzling and sparkling dialogue. Click to Tweet #dazzlingdialogue #amwriting
God’s Special Effects — Part I
Posted on January 30, 2018 Leave a Comment
Shooting stars, Aurora Borealis, super moons, blood moons, blue moons. These are some of God’s “special effects.” Those things that are unusual. Things we don’t see every day. They are also things we can’t manufacture. Signs in the sky are just part of God’s Special Effects. Click to Tweet #GodsSpecialEffects #amwriting
Dazzling Dialogue—Part IV
Posted on January 24, 2018 Leave a Comment
Conflict in scenes and tension between characters you’ve heard of before in writing. This time, we’ll talk about conflict in dialogue. Dialogue is the greatest way to portray conflict and tension in scenes and between characters. Argument and disagreements between even friends and allies helps to create sparkling dialogue. Click to Tweet #dazzlingdialogue #amwriting
Dazzling Dialogue—Part III
Posted on January 17, 2018 Leave a Comment
One thing that readers can’t abide is slow-moving, wordy, dull dialogue that doesn’t seem to go anywhere or do anything. We’re looking at creating sparkling, dazzling dialogue that keeps readers interested. When writing dialogue, don’t use the character’s name in every line. Don’t overuse. We’re tempted to do that to keep straight who is speaking. […]
Dazzling Dialogue––Part II
Posted on January 10, 2018 Leave a Comment
Dialogue is a compression and extension of action. There are certain elements that are essentials to creating dazzling dialogue. Every character has a “want” in the scene. They’re saying something because they want something, or there is something they want to avoid. Click to Tweet #dazzlingdialogue #amwriting
Dazzling Dialogue––Part I
Posted on January 3, 2018 Leave a Comment
Dialogue is important in every story, because the reader wants to know what the character says, and how they’ll say it. I’ve not spent too much time on dialogue before, so I want to focus in on it, now. I’ve been told I’m pretty good at it, but I know I have room for improvement. […]
Writing Your Story from the Middle––Part X
Posted on December 27, 2017 Leave a Comment
We’re wrapping up this series on writing your story from the middle, with a look at the antagonist, as a character, and antagonistic thoughts within the protagonist themselves. The antagonist should also have a mirror moment to explain why they can’t transform––or change in a negative way. Click to Tweet #amwriting #writefromthemiddle #charactertransformation
Writing Your Story from the Middle––Part VIII
Posted on December 13, 2017 Leave a Comment
How do readers know if the story they’re on with the Lead character actually shows the transformation of that Lead? Based on the “mirror moment” the character changes how they think, which effects their decisions, and alters their course. Click to Tweet #amwriting #writefromthemiddle
Donna L.H. Smith 