Posts by DPT
Several thoughts to consider: There is no reason to expect an agent's opinion to be a better assessment of your writing than a beta reader's opinion. Agents are business people. They pay their m...
Writing is not a passion for me, not at all. I never wanted to be a writer. I wanted to be a scientist, and I became a scientist. As a scientist, I spent much of my life learning. Through learnin...
Love Galastel's answer. There's an anecdote out there about some writer or other asking an audience for five items that could not possibly be worked into a good story, with the challenge that he ...
I'd say that you would do well to compile a list for yourself of the type of criticism that you are looking for. Because what you'll get, if you throw your work out to readers without a specific ta...
You dress the women however you like, and have them take whatever role they wish in their life. You pay them the same (or more) than their male counterparts for equal work, and most importantly, yo...
Readers establish a sense of the story they are reading in the opening pages. That's where you set the contract. If you open with the death of this evil being, the readers will expect that being to...
Augment your dialog with narrative and action. What is the most extreme thing he can do and/or say to communicate his dislike of her? Would he hurt her? Verbally abuse her? Why or why not? Write ...
What did you think when you first wrote that scene? Was it easy or hard? The best scenes in my complete novel are the reveal scenes, because they are fraught with emotion and interpersonal dynamic...
There is a trick for this in The Emotional Craft of Fiction. It's called 'me centered narration.' Essentially, you have the character express at length in narrative (protest too much) what she w...
Question: What is the difference between an up-front character and an jerk? Answer: For any individual regardless of gender, the difference is between acting in a way that is true to core value...
It's OK to start with characters who are not yet fully fleshed out, because characters tend to develop as you write. one thing to keep in mind is that your characters should have goals at the outse...
Hi Gunny and it's nice to meet you. Standard exercises--I'd suggest a couple. Join a writing group that shares excerpts. Share your excerpts. You can ask for feedback specifically on your metap...
I'll add something I see my favorite authors use. Basically, you can draw a reader into a scene by doing a three-stage description. Or four. The night was gloomy. (General.) So gloomy, in fact, t...
I think Standback has a great perspective here. Answer: Symptoms of crying are one thing. But you can do other things with this emotion, and you should. You can go into the character's thought p...
I have floundered a bit on my second novel and finally realized I did not have a central heartstring, a big question. I had the 'good guy' and the goals; I had antagonizing forces, but no big quest...
My advice is to be certain these characters show up again, either as characters or as something else --like an idea, a value, a representation of those characters. I always fall back to Luke in St...
I think it is often cloaked. Bambi is an animal. Hobbits don't actually exist. Look at Narnia--real kids and heavy themes, but they're in a wardrobe so it's all imaginary. Even the memory of Narnia...
Without reading the other answers, my answer is that your premise is fine as long as you set the contract with the reader. The reader is fine with your premise if you do not promise a science-base...
Simple--Metrics. Count the number of named characters and the number of acts/chapters they are in. Named characters should appear in at least two chapters, to reward the reader for learning them,...
A complaint from readers if description is not sufficient goes something like: "It felt like floating heads were talking in a white room." Readers wish to feel grounded. You don't necessarily nee...
Answer: There are many tricks. But beware of symptomology. We are told that phrases like the examples below are 'showing,' but they are not the mark of good published authors. They are symptomolog...
Question: What's the best way to channel, handle, or survive this part of the writing process? Answer: Keep a notebook handy. Always. And, set aside time to spend with that character. But addit...
+1 to both suggestions. In addition: Play with an alternating viewpoint. There can be rich potential in viewing the same scene or battle from two different perspectives. Have the MC develop a r...
I have learned over the past fifteen months of writing fiction that every scene needs to have tension and advance the plot. This is good. But, I find that as I read my novel (again and again) to ...
For the agents--You will only need a perfect query letter and opening pages. If you find an agent that requests the full manuscript, you can explain your situation. If they find your story compelli...
