On Writing Well: Revisiting the Basics

 


As you may remember, I teach for a MFA Program, working primarily with students who are finishing their creative writing thesis projects. This week, Iā€™m in the throes of grading final projects, reviewing manuscripts up to 60 pages. For this weekā€™s post, I thought Iā€™d revisit some of the basics that keep popping up in these projects.

Over the years, I have gathered quite a collection of articles and handouts that target some basic writing concepts that are often overlooked in workshops. Iā€™ve highlighted some of these in previous posts.

I use these resources for my students, and thought you might be interested in a few of these:

 

Narrative Structure

Backstory and Exposition: 4 Key Tactics. Susan DeFreitas, contributing writer at Jane Friedmanā€™s blog, explores effective strategies in inserting backstory into your narrative, explaining, ā€œLanding your novel opening can be tricky. On the one hand, you need to get the reader sucked into the present moment of the story as itā€™s unfolding; on the other hand, thereā€™s a lot you need to explain about the past, which is precisely the sort of thing that puts readers to sleepā€¦This info is generally known as backstory (essential information about the charactersā€™ past) and exposition (essential information about the context of the story). Getting it right is one of the biggest challenges youā€™ll face with your novel.ā€

Story Structure: 7 Narrative Structures All Writers Should Know. As the writers on Reedsy blog offers, ā€œWhile using a pre-existing blueprint might make you worry about ending up with a formulaic, predictable story, you can probably analyze most of your favorite books using various narrative structures that writers have been using for decades (if not centuries)!ā€  This blog post explores  seven distinct story structures that any writer can use to build a compelling narrative.

Narrate vs. Dramatize. Alex Donneā€™s excellent video explains the difference between narrating and dramatizing (show vs. tell), and how you can fix these issues during the revision. Revision is when the magic happens!

Filter Words and Phrases to Avoid in Writing Fiction. Anne R. Allen created an excellent handout that  provides a list of writing filters, with practical examples of how to replace them. As she states,  ā€œAll words exist for a reason. Use them wisely to create engaging narrative.ā€

Purple Prose and the Word Surgeonā€™s Scalpel. Tom Bentley at Writer UnBoxed elaborates on how these filter words rob your narrative of its vigor. Bently offers excellent examples and explanations, reminding writers to ā€œKeep in mind that when you clean up your writing, youā€™re not scrubbing it of the voice that makes it distinct and delightful. Youā€™re clearing your throat so that voice sings out strong and true.ā€

(Related to Narrative Structure) Dialogue

How to Format Dialogue.  Dax MacGregor offers nice illustrations on how to format dialogue, stating ā€œWhether you are writing a short story, full novel or anything in between, the way you format dialogue is the same.ā€

The MasterClass in How to Format Dialogue in Your Short Story and Novel. The MasterClass staff put together this excellent handout, stating, ā€œWhether youā€™re working on a novel or short story, writing dialogue can be a challenge. If youā€™re concerned about how to punctuate dialogue or how to format your quotation marks, fear not; the rules of dialogue in fiction and nonfiction can be mastered by following a few simple rules.

Active vs Passive Characters

How Can We Make Our Characters More Proactive?  Jami Goldā€™s excellent handout details how a character needs agency in their story, stating ā€œIn other words, passive and reactive charactersā€”those without agencyā€”go with the flow, make no decisions, and donā€™t affect the story because theyā€™re always one step behind. In contrast, proactive/active characters make the story what it is.ā€

On Passive Characters. Mary Cole of Good Story Company explains, ā€œIt's hard for readers to engage with a passive character, especially in the protagonist role.ā€

Five Ways to Tell If You Have A Passive Protagonist (And If You Do, How To Fix Them). Jimena I. Novaroā€™s excellent discussion offers a study into passive characters, comparing two beloved novels to illustrate her points, stating ā€œ To illustrate these five places where you can identify a passive protagonist, Iā€™m going to use two books that I love. Theyā€™re both good books, but one has the unfortunate flaw of having a passive protagonist, while the other has an awesome, active protagonist. The examples for a passive protagonist are from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling; the examples for an active protagonist are from Sabriel by Garth Nix.ā€

Finding the Emotional Core. Related to creating active characters is taking advantage of a characterā€™s emotional core. Jo Eberhardt on Writer UnBoxed explores strategies on how to create authentic characters that readers care about, stating, ā€œCreate a character who feels deep emotions, and invite the reader to join them on their journey. It creates a bond that can never be broken between your character and your reader ā€” one that will still exist decades into the future.ā€

Plot Structures

On Pacing: Faster than the Speed of Thought. Donald Maass at Writers UnBoxed explains, ā€œPlot pace is generally what people mean.  Keep things moving.  Get to the next event.  Donā€™t meander around, cut to the chase.  Get to the meat and quickly move on.  Itā€™s as if story is a double-speed march, or ought to beā€¦As we know, however, story is not always about moving events along rapidly.ā€ 

Good Transitions: A Guide to Cementing Stories Together. Amanda Mascarelle illustrates the process of creating strong transitions that move the story forward, stating, ā€œMost writers learned in elementary school that a good story requires a compelling beginning, middle, and end. But how does one make the pieces fit neatly together? From my tattered memory of grade school, my teachers skipped that part. Or maybe I was home with the chicken pox the day we learned about transitionsā€”the words and phrases, often subtly deployed, that give stories shape and tug readers from idea to idea.ā€

Mastering Scene Transitions. Beth Hill of The Editorā€™s Blog discusses how to create effective scene transitions, explaining, ā€œA scene transition takes characters and readers to a new location, a new time, or a new point of view. Transitions can also be used to show a characterā€™s change in heart or frame of mind.ā€

(Related to Plot) Chapter Building

How To Organize A Chapter.Nathan Bransford explores strategies to create chapters that move the plot forward, explaining ā€œToo many writers treat their chapters like tanks of gas. They take off without really knowing where theyā€™re going, drive around aimlessly until they run out of fuel, sputter to a stop, and then they start the next chapter after someone takes pity on them and tows them somewhere new.ā€ Of particular interest, he offers a very nice discussion on creating cliffhangers that engage readers, stating , ā€œThe key to crafting a great cliffhanger is to construct the climax of a chapter so that its resolution opens up even bigger questions. Think about the fate of Dumbledore in the Harry Potter novels, Han Solo being frozen in carbonite in Star Wars, or ā€œWho shot J.R.ā€ on Dallas.ā€

How to Structure Chapters of Your Novel: 8 Tips for Writing Chapters. In this very interesting discussion, MasterClass explains eight strategies that help writers create reader-friendly chapters, explaining,   ā€œChapters are the vessels of story structure, organizing the  plot points of the larger work and allowing the reader to take a break and absorb what theyā€™ve learned. A short story can be read in one sitting, but a novel is usually broken up into accessible parts, forming a book that can be easily revisited whenever the moment arises. Structuring chapters in a way that keeps readers immersed in the story is essential to novel-writing.ā€

And, related to structuring chapters comes this essential read on tension-building. Jordan Rosenfeldā€™s How to Write A Page Turner: Craft a Story Your Readers Canā€™t Put Down (Writers Digest Books, 2019). From the back-cover:

ā€œTension is the heart of conflict, the backbone of uncertainty, the hallmark of danger. It keeps readers guessing and characters on their toes. When youā€™ve got tension in place, stories leave readers breathless and wanting more. When itā€™s missing, scenes feel inconsequential, plots drag and characters meander.ā€ 

Happy writing!

 

-- Bobbi Miller

 

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