Category: Writing Advice
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Compelling Plot Beats
There are many kinds of plot beats, some being more important than others, with each being known by a variety of names. Objectively speaking, no plot beat is essential, yet their exclusion is more likely to harm a story than improve it. This is partly due to plot cohesion, but also reader expectations, especially in…
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Chapter Endings: Intrigue, Danger and Revelation
A chapter’s ending is likely where a reader will take a break from reading. Ideally then, chapter endings need to encourage a reader to return as soon as possible. There are three useful ways in which this can be achieved: intrigue, danger, or through revelation. Creating a sense of danger is clear enough, as the…
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Narrative Signposting and Atmosphere
A dramatic opening to a story is important to hooking a reader’s interest: It was the day my grandmother exploded. (The Crow Road, Iain Banks.) Yet maintaining a reader’s interest throughout a story is just as important, and as breaks from reading usually occur at chapter endings, it is wise to ensure the next chapter’s…
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Plot: Cause and Effect
An effective and compelling narrative flows organically from start to finish. The opposite of this is a story that feels overly wrought by an author; that is to say, artificial. A good plot is always organic (The Anatomy of Story, John Truby) plots ought (…) to be constructed dramatically; that is, they should be concerned…
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Tropes and Genre Signalling
People often read to enjoy a specific genre and will quickly abandon a story if it fails to evoke its essence. In genre fiction, tropes are ever-present and for many readers, a requirement for their reading enjoyment. Writers who want to succeed professionally must write the stories the business wants to buy. Simply put, the…
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Plausibility
Plausibility is crucial for most fiction (the exception being comedy). If a reader notices implausibilities, their immersion will likely give way to questioning what they’ve just read. Too many of these questions, and the reader may well end up doubting the author’s ability to craft a compelling story. The writer must make the audience’s leap…
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Contrast: A Writing Technique
Another element of fiction that is always compelling is contrast (the other is change). There is something inherently striking about two opposites placed in close proximity, whether that is the differing personalities of lovers, a scene of wild waves battering an immutable cliff, or the starkness created by positioning black against white. Contrast creates an…
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Character Change: Relationships/Attitude/Morals
One element of fiction that remains compelling no matter what is change. Perhaps this is due to our desire for personal growth, or the way we hope to be adaptable to real-life conflict. Whatever the cause, change in a narrative feels dynamic, impactful and true to life. Change could concern a relationship (from friends to…
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Character Emotional Range
A display of emotion is compelling both in real life and in fiction, and it is well worth designing a narrative so that characters have emotional highs and lows. This is not to say they should be going from one extreme to another, but that on occasion they are seen to be humoured or annoyed.…
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Character: Clear Motivation and Desire
An effective storytelling technique is to ensure there is ever-present clarity regarding the character’s central goal and their motivation for pursuing it (an exception here is when an unclear motivation is deliberately used to foster mystery.) These elements help invest a reader in a story for two reasons: Note that a reader needn’t empathise with…
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Character Design: Relatable/Eccentric/Mysterious
A useful benchmark for character creation is to orient their initial design around being relatable, eccentric, or in some way mysterious. Over time, a character can grow to become more distinct, but these three starting personalities will help ensure that the final result of a character’s design is interesting to the reader. Mystery can be…
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Characterisation: Uniqueness
Creating unique characters is key to making them memorable, though individualising a character should be implemented with care, else they risk becoming more cartoonish than authentic. The more authentic a character feels, the more relatable they become, and the more relatable a character is, the more emotional engagement they’ll engender from a reader. Authenticity can…
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Character Appearance
A reader can only recall so much. Best practice then is to keep character appearance descriptions concise, using concrete nouns to describe details that are memorable and distinct from other characters. He was bald as a stone and he had no trace of beard and he had no brows to his eyes nor lashes to…