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Points of View
Reading articles like this Using Third Person Multiple POV. It’s a pile of work, and I’m not utterly consistent here. When I read something like this, Sometimes it makes me think I’m doing things wrong.…
Thoughts on Some Writing Strategies
See Writing Strategies for Authors. It’s succinct and to the point. It’s a bit new-writer-ish. When it comes to fiction, that’s me: a new writer.
Two of the strategies stand out. One in a good way, and one not so good.
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Work Time
When are you most productive?
When I started writing seriously, I lived on the US East Coast. I woke up early-ish, had some toast and coffee and started writing. I had a few hours in the morning to write before a short (20 minute) walk to work and my non-fiction-writing day job.
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MC Parallels
The Hero and their Nemesis…
See @Massawyrm’s tweet:
Need to flesh out your villain? Consider giving them traits that your protagonist has and present them as an equal who simply made different choices.
— C. Robert Cargill (@Massawyrm) June 18, 2019
The struggle against this type of villain externalizes your protagonists internal struggle, highlighting their inner workings.
This caused some thinkology.
Each character has a fairly large number of dimensions. Think of religion, law/politics, economics, family, gender, and the long list of et ceteras that extend this list.
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I Don’t Want to Eat My Broccoli
My primary writing gig is non-fiction. This requires some writing which could be framed as “eat your broccoli, it’s good for you.” Should this apply to fiction, as well?
Sometimes it’s a paragraph or two that feels like repeating the obvious. …
Reveals and Anticipation
The essential question for setting up a drama is “What are the stakes?” What’s the hero going to gain if they succeed, or lose if they fail?
While this is central, there are some tangential topics that must be dealt with carefully.
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The Size Problem
See The Debut Novel Problem. The Forge is 160,400 words right now. I got my first “that’s too big” response from an agent; no additional details were provided, so I don’t know what they’re measuring against.
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