By:
Kate Foster
Overwhelmed
by fiction-writing advice? Me too, and I’m an editor as well as a writer.
Everyone and anyone who has a blog or website seems to be keen on throwing in
their penny’s worth. A lot of it is genuinely good advice. But what works for
them won’t necessarily be right for you.
Want
proof? Here, in these six sentences, I’ve broken numerous ‘rules’ that would
make grammar lovers wince. I’m not concerned, however, because this article is
fairly informal in tone and what’s most important to me is that my voice shines
through.
So
with this opening paragraph, I give you my fiction-writing rules.
Number
One: First and foremost, let your voice carry your writing.
The following rules are based on recurring problems I see whilst editing fiction manuscripts.
Rule
Number Two: Always move the plot forward.
Flashbacks or trips into the past might be frowned upon by many, but I believe they are fine if revisiting a character’s history in some way progresses your plot. Otherwise, don’t bother filling the reader in on what happened before the character got to this point in time. If it has zero relevance, cut the scene. And leading perfectly on from here…
To
read the rest of the post, click here:
~*~
If
you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they
are again:
- Misspelled and Misused Foreign Phrases - Write Divas http://ow.ly/QFJYR
- How to Use Subplots - Write Divas http://ow.ly/QFK0V
- 7 Writing Rules For Fiction | A Writer's Path http://ow.ly/QFK2i
- Who Is Your Audience in Writing http://ow.ly/QFKeJ
- Be
Well, Write Well: Do A Character Study on Yourself - DIY MFA
: DIY MFA http://ow.ly/QFKRU - How to Find Your Novel’s Path | The Written Word Remains... http://ow.ly/QFKXo
- 3 Steps To Developing A Solid Author Brand | Nikki Woods: Global Visibility Expert http://ow.ly/QFL7S
- The Plot Line Hotline — Create a Plot in 3 Easy Questions http://ow.ly/QFL9o
- Blog a Romance or Horror Novel - How to Blog a Book http://ow.ly/QFLEg
- The publishing world is changing, but there is one big dog that has not yet barked. http://ow.ly/QFLFN
- Confronting Bad Book Reviews – BookBaby Blog http://ow.ly/QFLLy
- What Readers Want – Series vs. Standalone Books | Indies Unlimited http://ow.ly/QFLND
- How Writing a Novel is a lot like a Relationship | Drew Chial http://ow.ly/QFLRh
- (First world) Bookworm Problems | Read something completely new? Reread something awesome? http://ow.ly/QFLUe
- Why “Just Write” is Bad Advice for Struggling Writers | Alexis Radcliff | Lexirad.com http://ow.ly/QFLYu
- Author, Jody Hedlund: 4 Steps for Organizing Plot Ideas Into a Novel http://ow.ly/QFM75
- Using the Fallacy of Memory to Create Effective Memoir | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/QFP0X
- STORY STRUCTURE: The 5 Key Turning Points of All Successful Screenplays - Michael Hauge's Story Mastery http://ow.ly/QFP3H
- Anne R. Allen's Blog: Why Social Media is Still Your Best Path to Book Visibility http://ow.ly/QGrdS
No comments:
Post a Comment