Saturday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

READY, SET . . . WHERE’S THE ACTION? KEEPING INFORMATIVE SCENES TENSE

By: Janice Hardy, @Janice Hardy

You hear it all the time. Make it active. Start with the action. Make sure your characters act. But we've all written scenes where we have to convey a lot of information and there is no action to speak of. We know we can't just flop the info out there and get away with it, so what can a writer do? How do you convey all that information and still keep the scene tense?

I like the layer technique.

On the first draft, I just write what needs to be said and don't worry that it's probably a pretty boring scene. It's critical information, and what matters at this stage is getting it in there.

Once that's done I go back and look for ways to add the "action," which is often just another way of saying tension or narrative drive. Something is moving the story forward, making the reader want to know what happens next. A lot of times this is just the protagonist worrying they won't get what they want. Whatever it is, there's something unsettling about the scene that's making the characters tense in some way, and the reader unsure (and eager) to know what happens next.

Even in a scene that has no actual action, there are plenty of places you can layer in conflict and keep things tense.

Goals

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Read the full article HERE!

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Fiction University: Ready, Set...Where's the Action? Keeping Informative Scenes Tense http://ow.ly/yNppe
2. Organizing Ideas into an Outline | WordServe Water Cooler http://ow.ly/yNptp
3. Fiction University: Seek and Destroy: Using MS Word’s “Find and Replace” to Save Your Sanity http://ow.ly/yNprs
4. 18 LinkedIn Best Practices for Writers - Social Media Just for Writers http://ow.ly/yNpvA
5. Why Getting Together with Other Writers Is Important | Busy Writing http://ow.ly/yNpxh
6. The irresistible rise of the short story - Telegraph http://ow.ly/yNpyK
7. Should you change your book’s cover? Tips for success | Nail Your Novel http://ow.ly/yNpAe
8. The Libraries Of The Future: Coming Soon To A Library Near You - Writer's Relief, Inc. http://ow.ly/yNpBL
9. Email List Building Series (Part 4): Finally! Ideas and Tips on What to Send to Your Subscribers | http://ow.ly/yNpDU
10. 1-2-3 Great Automated Twitter Support Tools | Molly Greene: Writer http://ow.ly/yNpPQ
11. Writers: Get The Right Kind Of Feedback! | Molly Greene: Writer http://ow.ly/yNpQH
12. The 15 Most Common WordPress Mistakes to Avoid - Jeffbullas's Blog http://ow.ly/yNq2A
13. Customer Relationships - Three Simple Tactics to Increase Customer Loyalty : MarketingProfs Article http://ow.ly/yNq5p
14. A New York Editor and Author Goes Indie http://ow.ly/yNqjZ
15. 6 things authors should know about book award contests http://ow.ly/yNqly
16. Launch Like ProBlogger: 6 Ways To Build Buzz Around Your Blog Post http://ow.ly/yNqSe
17. 8 Great PowerPoint Alternatives http://ow.ly/yNqTN
18. The Book Designer — Practical Advice to Help Self-Publishers Build Better Books http://ow.ly/yNr2P
19. BookMarketingBuzzBlog: 33 Twitter Tips For Authors & Book Marketers http://ow.ly/yNslH
20. All Write - Fiction Advice: The Difference Between Narrative & Exposition http://ow.ly/yNsuO
21. Writing Contests — Hell or Heaven? | Writers In The Storm Blog http://ow.ly/yNsJD
22. Mythcreants » Costuming Your Characters http://ow.ly/yNsLU
23. How to Spot a Scam | Indies Unlimited http://ow.ly/yNsNS

Happy writing and running, Kathy