» Blog Archive » Plotting Your Novel – The Quick Outline Tool
Nothing draws a line in the sand of novel writing like the question, “To outline or not to outline.” Is there any kind of middle ground? In fact, I think there is.
21 Writing Prompts for Setting a Scene in Your Novel
When you’re writing (or rewriting) a scene, do you ever get the feeling you just don’t have enough to say? Sure, there’s the action–but what about all the extra bits meant to flesh out your story? While I don’t encourage overwriting for the sake of word count, meaningful details can help you establish setting and atmosphere. Last week, I sat down with John Banville’s Booker Prize winning novel, The Sea–a book that features prose I admire–and took careful notes about how the author managed to effectively set certain scenes.
Elements of Suspense in Writing: 6 Secret to Creating and Sustaining Suspense
Thriller writing? Mystery writing? Literary fiction? It’s all the same: Building apprehension in the minds of your readers is one of the most effective keys to engaging them early in your novel and keeping them flipping pages late into the night. Simply put, if you don’t hook your readers, they won’t get into the story. If you don’t drive the story forward by making readers worry about your main character, they won’t have a reason to keep reading.
Editing Tips: Top 3 Story Issues — Guest: Naomi Hughes
Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I share lots of writing-related links (in addition to fun stuff like geeky movie trailers and cute animals, of course *smile*). Twitter can be a great place to find writing chats and blog posts with advice and insights we haven’t seen before. Recently, I came across several of editor Naomi Hughes’s Twitter threads about writing craft and editing tips, some of which she’s compiled in Storify. Her advice really got to the heart of many issues I’ve seen in my writing years (as well as in my freelance editing), so I asked her to come by and share her tips with us. Not only did she agree, but she’s going to be joining us for a series of posts, each focusing on a different level of editing.
jimbutcher: The Great Swampy Middle
Every writer runs into this, generally in every single book. The middle. It lurks between the beginning of your book and the exciting conclusion, and its mission in life is to Atreyu you right down into the yucky, mucky mire in order to prevent you from ever actually finishing.
Creative Writing Worksheets
Feel free to download and use the following Creative Writing Worksheets to develop compelling characters and rich, vibrant settings. You’ll find plotting your novel much more manageable with our scene chart. These Creative Writing Worksheets are free for your personal use. Character Worksheet
Physical Descriptions - List of Hair Colors
Hair Color List (Note: an updated and expanded version of this list appears in my 15K-word book How to Describe Hair and Skin. See below.) [First, my profound apologies to the vast majority of readers who don't steal content, but I have to state the following.
How To Create An Intriguing Inciting Incident
Every single element between the first page and the very last page of a screenplay is arguably the most important, salable thing about it. In this article, the beginning of the plot takes the number one spot. However, the plot really can’t begin being awesome until it is set in motion. That’s where the inciting event comes in.
Writing Indoor Scenes by Rayne Hall
Good morning! RU Contributor Rayne Hall is back with her first post of 2017. Does the action of your novel sometimes play out indoors?
How to Write a Synopsis of Your Novel
by Glen C. Strathy* To sell your novel, you may need to know how to write a synopsis, even if you are a pantser-type novelist who can write a whole novel without making an outline first. Agents and publishers will often ask for a synopsis along with sample chapters before they request a complete manuscript. The biggest mistake most people make when they try to write a synopsis for the first time is to create a bare bones plot summary, along the lines of “First this happens, then this happens, then this happens...” Synopses written this way tend to be so dry and boring even the author would have trouble understanding why anyone would want to read the full novel.
Free Beat Sheet Template – Simple Story Development Tool
There are many ways to create a “beat sheet.” On a computer. On a sheet of typing paper. On the back of an envelope. 3 by 5 cards. A string of yellow sticky notes.
English 50 Exercises for Story Writers
English 50 – Intro to Creative Writing: Exercises for Story Writers Basic Theory: What is a short story? As soon as someone delivers a definition, some good writer will write a story that proves the theory wrong. About the only thing we can say for sure is that short stories are short and that they are written in what we call prose. Some attributes, however, seem to show up more often than not.
The Subplot - Not Second Place, but Side by Side
There is one element in plotting our story that we sometimes forget or neglect—the subplot. The subplot is what rounds out a novel or screenplay, informing it with another shade of emotional colour to deliver a satisfying and entertaining experience. It is the parallel narrative that allows the writer to explore theme, deepen characterisation, add tension or allow some relief.
