Write well. Write often. Edit wisely.
Antagonists can be fun to write. Yet, to be good foils for your protagonists, they need depth and layers. They need logical reasons to oppose the story’s main character. Write worthy antagonists.
Continue reading The Mean, the Bad, and the Nasty—Writing Villains »
Fiction characters both on screen and on the page require lives of volatility and change and conflict. They need anything but peace. They need events intruding and messing up their plans. They need other characters to challenge them, to put obstacles in their paths. They need confrontation and trials. And they need to take risks.
However characters come to you, they’ll need names. And it’s your job to give them names that reflect their personality, history, experiences, hopes, and even the future that they’ll have stepped into by the end of your story. Learn tips for creating character names that fit.
Continue reading Don’t Call Me Ishmael—Name that Character »
Writer’s block is real and it can keep you from finishing your manuscripts. Consider strategies and options to overcome writer’s block.
An ending that doesn’t pay off for the reader, that doesn’t meet genre expectation or satisfy reader anticipation, is a problem ending. A bad ending can turn off readers. Deliver a payoff instead of an ending that disappoints.
Because they’re so simple, so common, we overlook some words when we write. Instead, an examination of such words could easily ramp up our writing. The word “it” is one such word. Understand the reasons for reducing the overuse of “it.”
Lyricism and poetry can change the common into the extraordinary. Explore ways of adding a dash of poetry to your fiction.
Continue reading Add Poetry to Your Prose—Write with Flair »
Some writing rules are not rules, certainly not rules that must be followed to craft understandable and engaging stories. Let’s look at some of the rules we can toss out.
Writers are like God, creating worlds and populating them with characters who fit those worlds. Equip characters to navigate your fictional universe.
Compelling fiction means stories that engage the reader. And readers are engaged by conflict and tension, by friction between characters and between one character and himself or his surroundings. Explore ways to write boldly and without restraint to create conflict and tension.
The reader will focus on what stands out. Turn the reader's attention where you want it to go.
Thank you for reading The Editor's Blog, an Internet resource for fiction writers,
freelance editors, and everyone who loves words
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Copyright © 2010-2018 E. A. Hill Visit Beth at A Novel Edit
Write well. Write often. Edit wisely.
