Tip #117: Glimpses of other stories

One of the things that made {Tolkein's} world seem so real is that you catch glimpses of other stories that aren't explained in the book. I learned that lesson from him.

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/05/mind-meld-lessons-learned-from-master-world-builders/

Tip #116: Three kinds of actions

a literary characterization proceeds by means of three kinds of actions: gratuitous, purposeful, and habitual

http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/jc12-13folder/BoyDogRuss.html

Tip #115: What the writer sees

phrases like Her eyes flashed with scorn did not, in fact, shoot into the reader’s mind the image of my heroine’s wary tilt to her head, the tightly crossed arms, her bitten thumbnail, her threadbare summer gown and the wisps of hair straggling onto her forehead, the smooth black glinting blue in the morning sun. I saw that. The reader just got a common phrase signaling sexual tension.

http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2011/03/13/learning-to-rewrite/

Tip #114: Behind the flaw

Perhaps...

your character has a major flaw that came about as a defense mechanism to protect himself from his deepest fear, but he is also driven by a need that causes him to make plans (plot!) to achieve his goal

http://www.routinesforwriters.com/2011/04/20/character-builds-plot-builds-character/

i.e. That fear you're going to make your character face? How does it affect his/her behaviour?  The conflict between need and fear is compelling: we've all been there.

Tip #113: Desperation

I explore characters who are at the end of their rope, because that’s where interesting things begin to happen.

http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2011/04/interview-with-blake-crouch-interviewed.html

Tip #112: A new phenomenon: overwriting

I think we actually have a new phenomenon where people are overwriting. If this is you (and you’ll know if it is), my suggestion is to just stop. Save your work and go on vacation, or go to the library and check out a stack of movies (not books). Take a break and give yourself a break. I’ll go for weeks without writing. You’ll know when it’s time to sit back down again.

http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/7+Things+Ive+Learned+So+Far+By+Darien+Gee.aspx

Tip #111: Don't give the reader that cookie

the last read-through... you’re looking for any passage, sentence or word that causes you to stumble, even in your head voice. It could be an awkward sentence or an unfamiliar word or one that paints a dissonant word picture. Be dispassionate. Be ruthless. If something causes your reader to stop and consider, they may decide to put the book down and make tea. And making tea, they may realize they are hungry and get out a box of macaroni and cheese. And when they look for milk, they realize the carton has passed its expiration date and decide to make a grocery list... If you give a mouse a cookie… Don’t give the reader that cookie, or, er, whatever.

http://novelmatters.blogspot.com/2011/04/5-things-to-consider-before-you-spend.html

Tip #110: Fantastic religions

Every religion we make up in any fantasyland is, by definition, going to be based on some kind of belief we currently have or know about, whether it’s an existing one or one we cobbled together from other sources. I think where most stuff goes wrong is when it tries to fully mirror modern-day religions in some other time and place. It feels hackneyed, tacked-on. And that makes it feel like you’re being talking down to, or preached at.
We interpret {religious} books based on who we are, not who the people who wrote them were.
When slavery was no longer seen as a moral and humane thing to do, people stopped quoting the Bible passages that supported slavery.

http://feministallies.blogspot.com/2011/04/nyx-sold-her-womb-somewhere-between.html

Tip #109: Why antagonists need to be strong

One quarter of the story is about watching the protagonist win. Three quarters of the story is about watching the protagonist trying not to lose.

Tip #108: Reader assumptions

a good writer will use an audience’s innate desire to fill gaps in knowledge to trick them with their own assumptions.

http://writeanything.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/subtext-the-most-critical-tool-in-the-story-teller%E2%80%99s-box/

Tip #107: Knowlege & suspense

suspense comes, not from knowing almost nothing, but from knowing almost everything and caring very much about the small part still unknown.

Orson Scott Card's The Lost Gate, Afterword.

Tip #106: The advantage of restrictions

One unanticipated result of having restrictions in some areas (such as the elements involved in the story) is that it opens your mind in other areas. You’re forced to become more creative in some ways because certain avenues have been closed to you.

 http://johndbrown.com/2011/04/interview-with-author-bradley-beaulieu/

Tip #105: By the ending...

when it comes to the ending... {you should} have been brought to understand what's at risk, who's at risk, why the characters are risking it

http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/fantasyreview/StevenErikson

Tip #104: What's in a middle?

The protag can’t immediately know what to do to resolve the problems and bring about the ending... they need to figure things out piece by piece. Each clue or discovery or action brings them closer to the major event at the end of act two that sends them hurtling toward the climax.
Odds are you’ll have three to five big plot things that happen in the middle.

http://blog.janicehardy.com/2011/03/stuck-in-middle-what-makes-good-middle.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+janicehardy%2FPUtE+%28The+Other+Side+of+the+Story%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Tip #103: Why today?

Why this day out of your character’s life rather than all the other days? And the answer, it’s always Because this is the day that’s breaking the rhythm, the day that’s an aberrance, the day everything can change, if the character can just walk that tightrope to the last page.

http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/7+Things+Ive+Learned+So+Far+By+Stephen+Graham+Jones.aspx

Tip #102: Parts of the narrative arc

In a successful narrative arc, the hero or heroine is confronted with dangerous threats, seductive choices, major decisions, necessary feats of physical bravery, or emotionally powerful assaults from family or social pressure... brainstorm specific scenes to insert that target the character’s weakness or dramatize the symbolic threats from rivals, challenges from mentors, dangerous social stressors within the political or cultural context of the situation, opportunities to succeed or fail.

http://www.alanrinzler.com/blog/2008/07/07/ask-the-editor-constructing-the-narrative-arc/

Tip #101: Logical Progression

Everything in a story must be caused by {an} action or event that precedes it.

This applies to prose too. If you write:

With trembling fingers she locked the door. She knew the killer was on the other side.

revers{e} the order so that you render rather than explain the action.

The killer was on the other side of the door. She reached out with a trembling hand to lock it.

Cause: The killer is on the other side of the door.
Effect: She locks it.

http://writersdigest.com/article/3-secrets-to-great-storytelling