If you write a novel set in the real world—whether it is historical or modern—you don’t have to worry so much about “creating” a world as “researching” your setting. But if you are writing science fiction or fantasy, you very often “create” a world from scratch. There are a couple
Many new writers imagine that they’ll never have to worry about having movie producers come knocking at the door, but that’s a big mistake. You see, by nature, movie producers are always looking for story material, and most of the time that material is created by other storytellers, either screenwriters
Lately I’ve been talking a bit about some of the attributes that one will find in a perfect story. One of those has to be what I will call “surprise.” Now, in particular I look for surprise as we reach the climax of a tale. A good climax will almost
So here are your action items:
If you don’t have an author website, build one and begin talking about how you are chasing your dream of being a writer.
On that website, capture the email addresses of visitors.
Make a list of family members, friends, schoolmates, and business associates who might also be interested in your work.
When you speak at libraries or conventions, make sure that you add to your list every single time.
A week before your first novel comes out, email your fans and let them know. Then send a second notice on the day that it goes on sale.
Today I was listening to author Nedi Okorafor—winner of the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy award, and she spoke of a method of writing that is something that my gut tells me is exciting. She said that very often, an idea will come to her as a bit
A perfect story coalesces. Its many parts eventually form an organic whole that makes sense to the audience and reveals more than has been told. A good story may take pages and pages to tell. They contain so much information about characters, settings, conflicts, internal thoughts, ambitions, and fears that
The perfect story escalates smoothly from scene to scene, creating a sense of rising action. I’ve spoken before about ways that stories can escalate. There really are only two ways—through deepening a conflict, making it so that it affects the protagonists more profoundly; or through broadening, so that the conflict
If you’re going to become a professional writer, you need to make sure that you can support yourself while you write your novels. That’s because once you write a novel, it might take time to sell it, to edit it, and to actually publish it—and even if you end up
A perfect story guides the reader’s attention—his senses, thoughts, emotions, and imagination. Once I was reading a story by a new author. The author had a fine imagination in many ways, but was terrible at guiding the attention of the reader. For example, when an important figure was to make
As a writer, are you willing to take the steps that you need to, in order to succeed? The other day, I got to visit with my nephew. He works as a very successful physical therapist, and said, “You know, I often have people ask me how to become a
Many wannabe writers are pretty sedentary. We tend to watch too much television, read too much, play video games too much, and chat online too much. When we do work, we sit too much. But over the years I’ve noticed that the most productive writers tend to have one thing
I’ve been working on a series of articles on what constitutes a perfect story, and so far I’ve concentrated on some of the qualities that such a story would have. I could go on in that vein for another week, but suffice it to say that a perfect story will
In my last article, I talked about how you can begin to maximize your audience by appealing to all of the senses, and I spoke about appealing to kinetic, audio, visual, and scent in particular. In theory, this will help you reach 100% of your audience. But as with most
Each of us is accustomed to taking in information, to learning, in our own way. Some people learn things by doing. For example, a mechanic might learn how to use his hands to manipulate wrenches and screwdrivers so that he can tear apart a car engine, virtually in the dark.
Some virtues that would be found in a perfect story almost go without saying. For example, a perfect tale would be economical. There are a number of ways that a story can lack economy. Most authors probably think here that I’m going to harp on descriptions that are overwritten, or
Wait, before you go…
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