The character-driven story currently seems to be most people’s Platonic Ideal for fiction, especially when compared to the plot-driven story…and those are the only two options most writing advice and/or classes present to writers. It’s taken for granted that one of these things–characterization or plot–must inevitably take
Read more →Whether you’re struggling through a first draft, revising a completed manuscript, or composing a query letter, one of the more useful things you (or your prospective agent/editor) should probably know is what is at stake for the characters in your story. But what, exactly, does that mean?
Read more →A long time ago, I attended a workshop in which the presenter asked us to write a one-page description of our ideal day. I couldn’t do it. I don’t have one “ideal” day that I’d be happy to repeat over and over—no matter how good a day
Read more →Most of the time, people analyze story structure as a chain of actions and the consequences of those actions, leading to an eventual climax. While that’s true for a lot of writing, it ignores a critical factor that is so obvious and necessary that I, like many
Read more →Writing a novel is a balancing act. It starts with the Big Three (characterization, setting/world-building, plot). Each of those usually has the potential to expand exponentially in several different directions at once. At the start (and sometimes all the way through the middle), it seems as if
Read more →It is ironic that in these days of instant messaging so many plots still depend on two or more central characters not communicating effectively with each other. OK, a lot of pre-Internet stories depend on someone missing a phone call or a messenger, but at least someone
Read more →It’s here! The Dark Lord’s Daughter is officially out. I’m excited and anxious and hopeful and lots of other things, which will probably last a couple of weeks until I have some idea how it’s doing. Meantime, I have a blog post to give you. This week
Read more →Basically, I’m experiencing three different kinds of Stuck with the three main stories I’m working on.—E. Beck Summary of Stuckness: Stuck because you don’t want to work on this story right now. Stuck because there’s a major time jump/transition to get over. Stuck because you are unsure
Read more →Wow, people in comments have already covered a lot of what I was going to say about villains in this one. I still have a few things to add, though… Starting with: What kind of villain suits your story? If you’re writing The Lord of the Rings,
Read more →Look at any book or blog of fiction-writing advice, and you will most likely find a bunch of statements about the desirability of complex, well-rounded characters. Some give you twenty-page questionnaires to fill out in advance of writing, as if listing a character’s flaws and childhood traumas
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