Tip #294: On voice & starting

What I do scratch around for, and sometimes for a long time at the beginning of a book, is the right way to write it: the voice, the syntax, the POV, the balance of description to everything else. Each book so far may have similarities, but they are all sufficiently unique too, in the way that they are written. I used to worry that I still hadn’t found my voice as a writer, and was just trying different things out with each book, but I’ve come to realise that the actual stories demanded a certain style from me in order for the stories to work.

http://torbooks.co.uk/2012/10/22/five-question-interview-with-adam-nevill/

Tip #293: Attention-catching concepts

A good log-line is ironic. Irony gets attention and hooks interest.
 

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/keeping-focused-nailing-the-pitch-understand-your-seed-idea/


Example:

A sparkly vampire falls in love with the one girl in the world whose blood might tempt him to break his vow not to feed on humans.

http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/concept-begins-from-line-one-or-whats.html

Tip #292: When killing minor characters...

picture this scenario. We notice emergency lights ahead.  The oncoming traffic lane is shut down and looks like a debris field. Two mangled cars lay in ruins, and there are still figures draped with blue blankets surrounded by somber EMTs. Do you feel badly? Unless you’re a sociopath, of course you do.

Now…

You look into that same oncoming lane, and one of the cars you recognize. It belongs to the nice family you chatted with in line at Wal Mart when you had to wait 40 minutes in the customer service line. You even helped the dad load groceries and put away their cart so the mom could buckle in their babies. You had to stop for gas, but 30 minutes ago that family was alive and well and now the coroner’s van is showing on the scene.

Before you cared…now you are connected.

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/in-the-beginning-part-one-normal-world/

It's the difference between your audience knowing something's a tragedy and knowing why something's a tragedy.  The latter hits home.

Tip #291: Restraint as a tool

I’ve recently become enamored with the notion of restraint.  The idea that you can hold back your most vivid descriptions, your most wild gore, your most violent emotional explosions and unleash them at a key point to guarantee maximum emotional investment and subsequent shock from the audience.
 

http://samsykes.com/2012/03/literary-kitty-litter/

Tip #290: Story as a whole

"A story is designed," according to Cron, "from beginning to end to answer a single overarching question. As readers, we instinctively know this, so we expect every word, every line, every character, every image, every action to move us closer to the answer."

http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/concept-begins-from-line-one-or-whats.html

Tip #289: Reader empathy

It has to matter to {the protagonist}, or it won’t matter to {the reader}.

http://www.stinalindenblatt.com/2012/10/writerly-quotes-tension.html

Tip #288: The antagonist (series)

There has to be a Big Boss Battle in your story or the story problem is not fully resolved. A lot of new writers are “writing a series.” And, oh, but Such-and-Such dies in book 12 of my series. No... the protagonist in every book MUST DEFEAT the BBT responsible for the story problem...

your Big Boss Troublemaker... will have emissaries... Depending on the type of story, usually the BBT will have a chain of command...

Book I) BBT–> (Book II) BIGGER BBT–> (Book III) HOLY MOLY! AN EVEN BIGGER BBT!!!!

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/structure-part-3-introducing-the-opposition-2/

In Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, the protagonist is given the opportunity to battle and defeat a watered-down (but still very powerful) version of the BBT before the final battle.  While they can't be irrevocably defeated until the last book, the plan which caused the protagonist so much trouble in the current book should be pretty much permanently foiled and the protagonist's victory should cost the BBT significantly.

Tip #287: The antagonist

The Big Boss Troublemaker is whoever or whatever causes the hero’s world to turn upside down {inciting incident}. The BBT creates the story problem that must be resolved by the end of your tale. The BBT is also who or what must be present at the Big Boss Battle. In Star Wars, the BBT was the Emperor. It is his agenda that causes the inciting incident and it is he who must be faced in the final battle or the movie ain’t over... In the beginning, your protagonist should be weak. If pitted against the BBT, your protag would be toast…or actually more like jelly that you smear across the toast...

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/structure-part-3-introducing-the-opposition-2/

Example:

In Fried Green Tomatoes, Evelyn is her own worst enemy. She is spineless and weak. But, the real enemy resides in those who desire to control and bully Evelyn. In each act of the movie, we see Evelyn learning confidence so that by the end, the BIG battle, she can tell her abusive mother-in-law to stuff it.
 

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/structure-part-4-testing-your-idea-is-it-strong-enough-to-make-an-interesting-novel-2/

Tip #286: Something to ask before you start writing

Does this story problem lend itself to a KNOCKOUT ending?

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/10/05/structure-part-4-testing-your-idea-is-it-strong-enough-to-make-an-interesting-novel-2/

Tip #285: On describing characters

I never use more than three {physical} details to describe a character... if I choose tons people will pick and choose which they remember... so I try to choose three really good ones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTjAM2XHo1g&feature=relmfu

Quote from video: words may not be 100% accurate.

Tip #284: The end

For me, the point of a novel is the end. Everything is structured to give emotional weight to that end, to resonate with it.

http://www.challengingdestiny.com/interviews/sagara.htm

Tip #283: Plot is not optional

literary fiction must also have a plot. The only difference between commercial fiction and literary fiction is that the character arc takes precedence and plot is of lesser importance

Given Example:

in The Road by Cormac McCarthy, there is a plot. Man and Boy must make it to the sea. But it is more important HOW they make it than IF they make it. If the Man and Boy resort to cannibalism, that is an epic fail. They must make it to the sea, but without sacrificing their humanity.

http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/great-characters-the-beating-heart-of-great-fiction/

Tip #282: Finding your core audience

“Let’s just say I will give you $50,000 if, in the next hour, you can find 5 people who would love your book.”

...Now, with $50,000 on the line for a mere hour’s worth of work, your mind begins racing. You get super specific. You think of the core themes or topics in your book; you think of competitive books who have an already established audience. Then you consider the exact physical places you can go to reach these readers; the ways these people are already organized – already self-selected and filtered based on previous behavior and interests; you think about who has access to these people; you consider where these people are online and off; you focus on actual names of people you can call at this very moment.

http://writerunboxed.com/2012/08/24/do-you-know-who-your-audience-is-no-really-do-you/
Why is finding your core audience important? These are the people who will tell others "you have to read this book!"

Tip #281: Story & plot

Hero, problem, antagonist, respond, change, attack, regroup, grow, DO SOMETHING HEROIC, solve the problem.

A story is about characters DOING things... The sequence and sum of what they DO is the story.

Plot is the stage upon which your characters reveal themselves.

http://storyfix.com/when-your-passion-kills-your-plot