On Research... Books are not there to show how intelligent {the author is}. Books are there to show your soul.http://aerogrammestudio.com/2013/10/31/8-writing-tips-from-paulo-coelho/
Any... fiction writer, in attempting to present a fleshed out world, will probably several times need to reference something outside the actual story, some past kingdom or mythical animal, some hobby of the lower classes, some religious detail, or a line about, “That time when grandmother got into a drinking contest with a Giant Stoat…” ... making the world a bit more solid.
One technique that I find helpful is at the end of each story, I go through in editing and make a “dialog pass.” If I have a character, Bron, I will search for instances of “Bron said” so that I can pinpoint his scenes and make sure that his dialog sounds like it is coming from him.
"WRITE ONLY WHAT WE CAN SEE."
...IF YOU'RE WRITING "HE GREW UP IN A SMALL TOWN BACK..." IN YOUR ACTION LINES YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG... ANY GOOD DIRECTOR WILL SIT DOWN AND LOOK AT A PARAGRAPH THAT HAS NOTHING BUT CHARACTER HISTORY AND SAY "HOW THE FUCK CAN I SHOW THAT?"
MERYL STREEP'S CHARACTER IS ON A PLANE AND SHE'S ABOUT TO BE HANDED FOOD. SHE GOES TO GRAB HER WALLET TO PAY, BUT ATTENDANT INFORMS HER THEY'RE FREE. THE MEANING IS CLEAR: SHE'S NEVER BEEN ON A PLANE BEFORE...
IF YOU WRITE SOMETHING WE CAN'T SEE, IS NOT JUST MERE FAUX PAS, NOT JUST A COMPLETELY WASTED OPPORTUNITY, BUT A WRITING HABIT THAT WILL ACTIVELY MAKE THE MOVIE WORSE. YOU'RE PUTTING AN IDEA INTO THE FILMMAKERS HEAD THAT WILL MAKE TOTAL SENSE FOR YOUR STORY, HELP THEM GET IT, BUT IT WON'T HELP THE AUDIENCE GET IT.
The screenwriter should never write, “The house is a mess.”... Because we can’t see it. Instead, the screenwriter must show dirty clothes on the ground and the empty Chinese food containers tipped over on the coffee table. The trick is to use props and set-dressing (nouns) to convey the “messiness.”
The same holds true for character. The audience bases their first impression on the things they see. What does the character look like? What is he/she wearing?
How your character reacts to something gives your reader valuable clues as to how they should be reacting, what they should be learning from whatever just transpired, and how significant it is to the overall story.
a character is staring out the window at night when, suddenly, she sees a firefly turn into a fairy princess out on the lawn. What is her reaction? If she thinks “Oh, no! Not again! That means dad will make me go out there first thing tomorrow and wash the fairy dust off the grass…” then that tells the reader that fairies are common in this world, and a bit of a nuisance. Not only do we get the character’s attitude about the firefly fairy, but we get valuable worldbuilding information (especially if this is the first time we see that this world has magic/fantasy elements to it). If she thinks “WHAT THE F*** IS THAT?!?!?!?!?!” and runs screaming from the room, we may take that as our cue that firefly fairies are not the norm and that something truly odd is going on.
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/
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
the biggest laughs always come from watching characters react, think and take action... humor that's specific to the situation and the characters.
Start with their visceral reaction. That’s the involuntary physical reaction we have no control over, that just happens despite all our best efforts to suppress it or hide it. These reactions occur immediately, before any thought processes or deliberate actions... Next, show an immediate thought-reaction, like Ow,or Oh no, or Damn, or Omigod, or That can’t be.
how close you are to the action, what you allow your reader to see vs. what is left out, what you linger on narratively, the speed through which you move through the action. . .This all affects the reader's perception and mood.
If you’re just getting to know a narrative world you’re creating, think of yourself as a camera moving through the action, and try to write down as much of what you see as you can. Then, after some time has passed, look at that piece of writing again, and edit down the details so that they serve the primary story you want to tell and ideas you want to convey.
let the emotion come from the subtext. If we, as readers, know how a situation is going to affect the character—how this will make their goals harder to achieve, how this will hurt them, how their subdued reactions hide their true pain—then we will sympathize
George R.R. Martin... introduces his exposition when it causes more conflict...
old information that causes conflict is all of the sudden fresh.http://www.speculatesf.com/2012/05/23/episode-45-of-speculate-brent-weeks-author-interview/
For the sake of pacing, you usually want to drag out the description of {a simple but important action} so that it reflects the actual time that the action takes... to give it more prominence in the reader’s mind.
how do you do this? You add more words to extend the time that the reader spends reading... padding that adds to the reader’s experience
Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
We’re biologically geared to take notice of things in motion. Anything that moves of its own volition is either potential food or a potential threat... So instead of having your character “sitting” in a perfectly still forest, describe the trees swaying in a soft breeze... or show the squirrels racing up the boles of pine trees, or tell of the sound of a branch snapping, which might portend danger.
One writing exercise that I find that works well for the opening of tale is to describe the scene using only active verbs (no was, or were, or anything that shows a static setting.)
Which of these two sentences is... stronger...?
He peered through the window and spotted a pile of bloody towels on the floor.
OR
He peered through the window and spotted a pile of towels on the floor. One of them was smeared with something dark, and in a heartbeat he knew what it was.
Blood.
rather than seeing those external displays of emotion, I’d rather know the exact thoughts that bring those tears about.
Every time you describe that your character saw, heard, felt, smelled, or tasted something, see if you can’t drill into the more essential information of the sentence and cut out the unnecessary words....
No matter if you’re telling your story in first person or third, you are basically saying, “This is what my character experienced”
She saw with her eyes that there was an elephant standing impossibly in the castle’s ballroom.
Or you could simply say:
An elephant stood, proud, tall, and incongruous, in the middle of the castle’s ballroom.
emotion... {is} what makes a fight scene interesting, and it’s what gives the reader a stake in its outcome. The rest, the technical stuff (the mechanics of throwing punches, of laying down sentences, of word choice), that’s just window-dressing.
it’s not the crazy twists in your story that I find unrealistic, it’s your characters’ reactions@FakeEditor
