Learn Plotting: Miss Peregrine’s Home…

Plotting: MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN Line-by-line writing is important. Characterization is key. But for most readers and editors of genre and mainstream fiction, what’s most important is story. A story that grabs the reader by the throat, hauls her inside, and doesn’t let her go until the story comes to a satisfying end. How does a writer create a work of fiction that compels the reader to keep turning pages? Ransom Riggs demonstrates his mastery of story in his wondrous first novel, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. In chapter one, our protagonist Jacob, … [Read more...]

Character Backstory

Everybody has a past, and our past has shaped us.  Our parents, our friends, our culture have made their mark. Of course, everyone responds differently to what surrounds them. Some flourish under pressure, some crack. Some are resentful, some are grateful. Some forgive, others don’t. How has your character become who she is today? How was she raised? Did she accept authority or rebel? Was life easy or difficult? Did she work hard in school? What did she do in her spare time when she was ten years old? Who were her friends? What inspired her? Your reader doesn’t need to know everything about … [Read more...]

Voice

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Voice. Let’s say you get a text message on your cell phone. If your phone didn’t tell you whose text was coming in, chances are you would recognize who was sending the text if it was someone you knew well. How would you know? By the words used (and their abbreviations), the syntax (the order of the words in the sentence), the grammar, idiom, and rhythms of the sentences (if the text was written in complete sentences). You would recognize the “voice” of the text writer. Voice in writing develops over time as the writer increases her vocabulary, as she learns to write concisely and … [Read more...]

Character Building

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Note: When writing here about characters, when the gender isn’t specific, I won’t use the awkward phrase “him or her” or constantly repeat “the character.”  I’ll use the female gender, but please know that I’m referring to either male or female. Character Building My favorite job as a writer is creating characters. I need to know and understand them and what goes on inside their heads, so I can make them authentic and memorable. Many elements go into creating a rounded character. I generally start writing the first draft, not knowing a lot about my protagonist. I put her in a situation and … [Read more...]