Keep Readers Close to Action and Emotion

If readers aren’t engaged by your story, maybe you’re holding them at a distance, using filtering phrases that keep them a step away from the action and emotion of a scene. Check out these common filtering phrases that keep readers at a distance.

Continue reading Keep Readers Close to Action and Emotion »

Readers bring perceptions to every novel. Put those perceptions to work for you rather than allowing them to annoy your readers.

Continue reading Reader Perception is Important »

Readers can get really ticked off when you use coincidence to solve story problems. They are pulled out of the fiction and made aware that you’ve been fooling them.

Continue reading Coincidence Destroys the Suspension of Disbelief »

Give your main character a tour de force moment where he reveals his true personality and all the needs and fears he’s been repressing and stuffing deep for a lifetime.

Continue reading Character Rants and Breakdowns—Let ‘em Rip »

Author intrusion is disruptive and annoying. Look at ways to identify and cut out the writer’s obvious intrusions into a story.

Continue reading Weed Out Author Intrusion »

Some lament the seeming death of fiction—but maybe readers simply aren’t reading because writers aren’t creating stories that readers can enjoy. A reminder and an argument to write for the reader.

Continue reading Write for Your Readers »

Writers only have a few pages to ensnare readers. Learn why yawns and a description of the weather are not effective story hooks.

Continue reading You Can’t Hook a Reader with a Yawn »

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.

Continue reading Take Off the Brakes—Write Boldly »

Story-specific words add an extra dimension to a story. They are beyond correct punctuation and grammar. They are deeper than plot and characterization. They go to a third level of writing, a level that deals with layers and symbols and meaning and rhythm. Mastery of the elements at this level assures the writer that each story is not only a good read but a great work.

Continue reading Story-specific Words—Fitting Word to Story »

We know that to engage readers, our fiction should touch them emotionally. But how do we guarantee that our writing touches readers on an emotional level? We use techniques that produce emotional responses.

Continue reading Creating Emotion in the Reader »