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 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...
I've devised a trilogy on an Earth-similar world experiencing Earth-similar problems. I am nearing the end of the first draft of the first novel. I am not certain how much of a bang needs to happen...
I see a pattern among my readers, specifically where they tend to stop reading - it is about 2/3 through the story, during "Act 2." A few readers push through to the end and say they are glad they ...
Is it legitimate (acceptable) to use a 3rd person POV approach with the narration intentionally being a bit wobbly? I'm using an alternating 3rd person POV structure. One character (Let's call he...
I have roughly 30 speaking characters; about ten speak often enough that their voices should be well defined. I have compiled, from web sources, various considerations when building distinct charac...
Are there good examples of the hero's journey that don't include any physical deaths within them? My hero has crisis and 'death' of self/ideals/psyche; hero prevails in the end, all good. But, I j...
My 26-chapter story alternates POV between the main woman and the main man. Early on, the characters are geographically separated and the 2 POV timelines are both progressing, roughly in sync. If I...
I am not certain of convention. Is one of the two of these correct? Or are they equivalent? Jane said, "Let's chase the ball." Jack looked at her in disbelief. "We always chase the bal...
So, I knew my Chapter 1 would be tedious last night, but i was still surprised that everyone asked that it be, instead of a Chris McCandless-style solo exodus to the wilderness (which is how the th...
I'm working through my chapter 1 for about the 5th time. As a generality, I love my story and characters, all of them, even the psychotic ones. But, it is becoming more and more of a slog to make...
At a writer's critique group, one piece of feedback to me was: people didn't understand where I was going until the very end. They suggested stating something explicit at the very beginning so the...
I'm in a writing group. I see repeating word-choice patterns among the fantasy writers. Example: frequent use of certain words (like 'utter,' everyone seems to use that word... ), or certain sympto...
