Tip #100: Flaws and heroes

Character flaws are often used to create an Unlikely Hero; someone who has little or no chance of succeeding in their mission. And that creates suspense. 

H. R. Filmore's Reminders to Self, March 2011.

Tip #99: Gold

Gold comes out of the ground dirty and ugly. It is by going through the fire that it is purified and made beautiful.

http://www.epic-fantasy.com/

The metaphor can be applied to characters and story.

Tip #98: Beginning words

Anything you introduce in the Beginning (1/4), the savvy reader knows on some level is important to the overall story.
Therefore, be careful about every word you use. If you use dark and ominous words in the Beginning, the reader expects the story overall will be dark and ominous. If you introduce a gun, the reader knows violence is coming, likely even death by gunshot. If you introduce sweetness and light, the reader expects the story to reflect the same.

http://plotwhisperer.blogspot.com/2010/03/opposite-of-foreshadowing.html

Tip #97: Memorable villains

want to make a villain memorable, even likable? Give him traits traditionally viewed as good. Love, compassion, forgiveness, humor, kindness, self-sacrifice: the boring villains wouldn’t know what these even are.

http://dun-scaith.blogspot.com/2010/10/guest-post-david-dalglish-likable.html

Tip #96: Resolving conflicts

I tended to resolve... conflicts too early and too easily. Because my characters lived in the imaginary world inside my head, the conflict they experienced made me uncomfortable, and I wanted to relieve them of this discomfort. Tension and {character} frustration, however, keeps readers turning pages.

http://writerunboxed.com/2011/03/14/tough-lessons-from-a-debut-novelist-part-1/

Tip #95: Quiet themes

write your theme quietly... so that it's not rising up at the end of the novel and overpowering the story (stiletto in the ribs vrs a mallet)

http://www.adventuresinscifipublishing.com/2010/12/aisfp-106-guy-gavriel-kay/


Note: This quote was taken from a podcast and isn't word perfect, although it's close  : )

Tip #94: Show, don't tell

When I find myself writing things like "The city was cluttered and cosmopolitan." I know I'm doing it wrong. When I write "A pair of grey dogs dodged between the crushing wagon wheels and the hooves of uneasy horses, navigating the close-packed, dust-aired street with the ease of fish in a river. When the priestess's wailing call to prayer cut through the clatter of cobblestones and the shouting of carters, the men in the street nodded to the north and touched paired fingers to their throats without apparent thought or even awareness." then I feel better.

http://orullian.com/writing/danielabraham_interview.html

Tip #93: Actions & intentions

I’ve noticed two schools of thought in how people see a character. One goes by their actions. The other decides by the intentions. If both are in sync, it’s fairly easy to make snap judgments. It’s when things don’t match up that it gets interesting.

http://dun-scaith.blogspot.com/2010/10/guest-post-david-dalglish-likable.html

Tip #92: Work ethic

the really successful people seem to be the ones who mix a good measure of work ethic with a good measure of talent or skill or craft or whatever you want to call it.

http://www.adventuresinscifipublishing.com/2011/02/aisfp-113-writing-excuses/

The podcast mentioned David Farland's method of keeping himself going:
Think of the people slaving away in third world countries and ask yourself "can I write another page right now?"
Brandon Sanderson imagines a "phantom cubicle" chasing him - if it catches up, he'll have to get a "real" job.

Tip #91: Living with the story

story ideas... lose their punch over time in your own mind. It’s not until you get them in front of fresh eyes, or pitch them to new ears, that you realize, remember, or understand for the first time in a lightning-strike epiphany that, yes, you’ve really got something.

http://davidanaxagoras.com/2011/03/14/the-joke-is-still-funny/

Tip #90: Practicalities of irresistibility

in your query letter, you want to make the reader believe that all hell is about to break loose--and then leave them dangling, with no idea of how it ends. This should effectively make them frantic to read the book itself. (Note that when I say "all hell is about to break loose", that can also mean a quiet, internalized hell. Introspective novels also focus on escalating conflicts, but the conflict can take place inside the protagonist's head or heart.)

http://querygoblin.blogspot.com/2011/02/query-writing-craft-part-1.html

TIp #89: Deepest secrets

What won't your character do?  What would they die before doing?  And what do they say they would die before doing? 

H. R. Filmore's Reminders to Self, March 2011

Tip #88: Food for thought

The idea of closure is this: when you've got one {comic} panel where Superman is winding up to hit Lex Luther, and in the next Luther is flying across the room, your mind supplies the middle panel where Luther's getting punched. You may almost see that punch and not even be aware that you, the reader, are providing the closure.

http://www.adamgidwitz.com/warning-boring/my-ideas/one-crucial-criterion-for-a-good-book

Tip #87: Subtext

write an entire scene that appears to be about one thing but is really about something else entirely.

http://screenwritingtips.tumblr.com/ Tip #552

Tip #86: Character strengths

we create characters who have a weakness, an incompetence; there is a power imbalance somewhere. And often what ends up solving these stories for the protagonists is that they're able to go back to something that is a strength for them.

http://www.writingexcuses.com/2011/03/06/writing-excuses-5-27-perseverance/

Tip #85: Excitement

I have a theory that if the author is excited by the scene they are writing, excited by what is coming next... that excitement and anticipation can carry over to the reader.

H.R.Filmore's Reminders To Self, March 2011.

Tip #84: The loss of potential

Writing is the act of collapsing the... potential of the blank paper sheet down to a single narrative... That’s why some people never get the courage to write their story: they can’t deal with that loss of potential.

http://www.garethlpowell.com/collapsing-the-wave-function/

This is one of the things that most frequently blocks me.

Tip #83: Linking storylines

the A, B and C storylines in a TV episode are usually thematically linked... Even if readers don’t consciously notice it, they’ll feel it.

http://screenwritingtips.tumblr.com/ Tip #548