Stories are all about conflict and transformation. If the main character in your story can achieve all of his/her desires without any struggle at all, then it wouldn’t be much of a story. It is therefore the job of the writer to make things difficult for the hero/heroine. One writer likened this to getting your …
Tag: Newbie authors
That Eureka Moment
This morning I had one. Yes — a eureka moment. When was your last eureka moment? I mean, an idea that pops into your head about your story line: a twist or turn that just seems right for your story. Don’t lose it; write it down. Keep a notebook with you at all times, and …
Cutting out the boring bits
One of the mistakes a newbie writer can make is to assume that a story is an unbroken series of actions all of which have to be conveyed to the reader. Instead, the writer should try to think more like a screen writer, and regard the story as sequence of scenes and transitions, where only …
Bad guys aren’t necessarily all bad
Unless you’re dealing with satanic supernatural characters, an easy mistake for new authors to make is to assume that the antagonist has to be the epitome of all evil. In practice, the bad guy may well think he’s his own hero. He just sees things differently from the good guy. Like the hero, he has …
How many types of plots are there?
According to Christopher Booker's 'The Seven Basic Plots' most stories can be categories under one of seven basic structures. For example, Jaws, Alien and Beowulf would all fall under the 'Overcoming the Monster' category. 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' fall under the 'Quest' category. Booker is not the only one to …
Plot and character – the chemistry
So what type of stories do you write: character-driven or action-driven? When thinking about your story ideas, do you start by imagining an interesting character, or do you start with some interesting ‘what if’ events and then consider the character? It doesn’t really matter where you start, but you need both character and plot to …
What makes a good story ending?
Having covered story beginnings and middles in previous blogs, it seems only natural to cover story endings. Whether a story ending is right or not can ultimately only be judged by the reader. If the ending is not consistent with the direction the story is taking the reader, they may well feel disappointed and let …
First or third, what’s your point of view?
Writers tend to read a lot, and recently I ’ve been reading more than I’ve been writing. Apart from the joy of reading a good novel, it’s also an opportunity to study the styles of successful authors outside my genre, and learn from them. One of the books I finished recently is Stephenie Meyer’s Host. …
What a novelist can learn from the movies
It’s almost eight months since I published my first novel and I’ve only just written the opening scene of my second novel. It might seem a long time in planning, but I haven’t been working on it full time and I wanted to make sure that I had the right story and I understood my …
Authors’ software
As a newbie author, I’m always on the lookout for new software that might make the task of writing easier. I have always wondered if there was that killer application lurking out there that would make life simpler, if only I could just find it. Other newbie authors might be thinking the same way. Therefore …
JMJ Williamson 