What’s the Rush?
I see a lot of trends in today’s literature. Perhaps the biggest one is that every writer seems to be in a rush. Many new writers try to keep the pacing blazing hot. They’ve heard that in today’s world, kids are trained to think in “sound bites,” and anything longer than a television commercial bores […]
Aim for Profundity
So how do you write a story that is profound? Here are a few things to think about.
1. Does the story present a theme? In other words, does it touch on topics that people deal with on a regular basis and argue about?
2. Does the story present a viewpoint that the reader hasn’t considered before?
3. Does the tale present an actual argument, thoughtfully taking into account opposite points of view?
4. Does the tale offer an ingenious solution?
Installing a New Habit
Humans are creatures of habit. We learn how to do a thing—such as drive a car—and then put ourselves on autopilot. We don’t have to consciously think about “How do I start this thing? How do I use a turn signal? Am I giving it enough gas?” We just hop in and go. As a […]
Is Your Story’s Concept Broken?
Every story begins with an idea. The idea may come to you while listening to a song, driving a car, or reading a newspaper. You might be the kind of person who gets a dozen story ideas a day, or maybe they come to you rarely.
The Secret Power of Writing Groups
If you do this for a year, writing just ten pages per week, you’ll write a novel in the course of a year. In that time, you’ll most likely go from an “unwilling writer” who is just dragged along by your peers to becoming a self-starter.
Four Ways to Avoid a Dead-End Career
Have you ever seen a talented new writer rise to seeming stardom, only to crash and burn within a couple of years? I recall being a new writer and studying my contemporaries with a mixture of awe and fear, trying to figure out who the big writers would be in the future. Ten years later, nearly all of them were gone, even the big award winners.
The Value of a Logline
A log line, or logline, is a simple description of a story that is only a sentence long. It boils the story down to its essence. Unlike the tagline, which is created as a marketing hook, the logline gives the basic premise of the story.
The Value of a Tagline
So a tagline is used for advertising a film or book, but what else is it good for?
As a writer, your tagline can be considered a touchstone. It may define certain elements of your story, things that you dare not vary. For example, let’s say that you chose that Alien tagline—“In space no one can hear you scream.” You begin writing, and as you’re halfway through the screenplay you decide that your heroine, Ripley, really needs a love life. So you create a nice male protagonist whom you decide will survive to the end of the story. Maybe she’ll save him from the aliens, or maybe he’ll save her.
Are You Writing a Book, or a Movie?
As a novelist, you’re most likely to tell a story in a way that your audience will experience it. In other words, you will typically stick to one or two viewpoints for major characters. You’ll tell us how the story unfolds making sure to use all of the senses—sight, sound, smell, taste, feel—and you’ll also touch deeply on the internal thoughts and feelings of your character. By doing this, you can maximize the strengths of the novel as a storytelling medium.
Writing Workshop Holiday Gift Cards
If you would like to give a writing workshop or lecture from MyStoryDoctor.com to a loved one, email David at dwolvert@xmission.com for more information on how to do just that. Here are our workshops you might be interested in: Online The Story Puzzle – The Story Puzzle covers the steps involved in prewriting and outlining […]