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Keeping the Middle Moving––Part VI
Posted on July 26, 2017 Leave a Comment
Choose your scenes wisely. But which to choose? There are certain types of scenes that, if utilized, can ramp up your action, create tension, and keep your middle from bogging down. There is one scene type you won’t want to use. We’ll cover that next week. Use the chase, the fight, and the romance, to […]
Writing Scintillating Scenes––Part XII
Posted on June 14, 2017 Leave a Comment
They key to writing a page-turner novel is creating scintillating scenes––they shine, they’re dazzling, unforgettable, and brilliant. Writing sparkling scenes make the story something the reader can’t put down and will read long into the night. Click to Tweet #amwriting #scintillatingscenes We wrap this up with another scene model: reading scenes in context.
Writing Scintillating Scenes––Part VI
Posted on April 26, 2017 Leave a Comment
This time, we’ll look at tension and conflict from a different perspective, an uncommon and sometimes unconscious way of looking at it. We do it in our everyday lives, and it has the potential of creating peace or conflict––negotiation. Click to Tweet #amwriting #scintillatingscenes It is understood that conflict is at the heart of out […]
Writing Scintillating Scenes––Part II
Posted on March 29, 2017 3 Comments
Last week, we learned that a scene is and has––action. Action is what happens. Every scene should have an impactful event that occurs during it. As the story progresses, each scene adds its contribution to the overall tale, to make an event. Scene events don’t always need to be spectacular, but must be meaningful and […]
Writing Scintillating Scenes––Part I
Posted on March 22, 2017 3 Comments
I read somewhere that scenes are the “guts” of your novel. They are powerful and intense, they engage readers and help them to keep on reading. What is a scene? It is the most vivid and immediate part of the story, emotionally involved, their minds are filled with images and memories of actions. Click to […]
Seamless Self-Editing—Part I
Posted on February 17, 2016 Leave a Comment
You hear it more and more these days. Your manuscript must be “publish-ready” in order for it to be considered. Click to Tweet What does “publish-ready” mean? #amwriting #publish-ready #self-editing For the next few blog posts, we’ll look at this and how you can improve your raw writing into something closer to “publish-ready.” I’ll be […]
Show vs. Tell — Part I
Posted on September 2, 2015 Leave a Comment
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers By Renni Browne & Dave King Second Edition I was recently in a small group of writers and we were discussing show and tell. Or should I say show vs. tell. The old way of writing was tell, describe, narrate. The new way of writing is scenes, show, illustrate with words. […]
Putting Fire in Your Fiction
Posted on April 22, 2015 Leave a Comment
The tagline to Donald Maas’ The Fire in Fiction is “passion, purpose, and techniques TO MAKE YOUR NOVEL GREAT.” The book covers everything from characterization, the story world, scenes, dialogue, and voice. Each chapter has a set of practical tools dealing with each section from that chapter. As an example, I’ll talk about Chapter Three, […]
Writing Resource – The Scene Book
Posted on February 19, 2015 1 Comment
One of my former Christian Writer’s Guild mentors is named Sandra, but she is the not same Sandra Scofield who wrote The Scene Book, A Primer for the Fiction Writer. My Sandra recommended it to me to help me craft scenes better. I haven’t read all of it yet, but I will be. The book […]
Donna L.H. Smith 