I’m going to say something you probably haven’t heard in writing classes before. Backstory is absolutely necessary to your book. But if done badly, it can ruin your book and keep your readers from ever reading past the first few pages. What is backstory? Backstory is everything that has happened to your characters before they appear in your book. You… Read More
Writing Craft
Creating characters? Where to begin
Every good story begins with a character your reader wants to follow. You can have the most interesting plot, but if we as readers don’t care about your character, we won’t care about what happens to her, no matter how exciting or heart wrenching. So how do you develop compelling characters? The answer to that is longer than one blog… Read More
Create Tension with Dialogue
Dialogue is not only a way to learn about our characters, it also is a way to create tension. Dialogue is NOT supposed to be “just like real conversation.” Most “real conversation” is boring! Dialogue should not be boring. Dialogue: Should create an illusion of a conversation Must advance the Plot Should reveal the Characters by: Word choices. “Good day, sir”… Read More