One of the first books I ever read on the art of writing emphasised the need for a good opening line, opening paragraph and at least ten opening pages to catch the reader's attention. It's advice I find difficult to disagree with. Writers need to arouse their readers' curiosity. Here are some of the best …
Tag: Story planning
New Years resolutions for writers
Christmas has come and gone and soon it will be New year. It's a time to reflect on what we have achieved over the last year and make plans for the new year. In 2018, I published my third novel, AndroDigm Park 2067. It's a darker story than my previous sci-fi novels and in a …
Story structure
Recently I started to map out the key scenes for my next novel using a three-act framework. I used a software program that's designed for screenwriters called Control Writer. It uses a horizontal map of the key elements of a three-act structure to put scene cards under each caption in a natural time order pattern …
The five core elements of story
For a long time I have wondered what distinguishes a great story-teller from the rest. Clearly, great story tellers are blessed with great creative skills and imagination. Many of the basic techniques of writing such as structuring, using dialogue, grammar, point of view, and voice, can be learnt. The creative skills of story telling are …
Word count targets
For a new writer there is no shortage of books and articles on the art of writing. Advice from successful writers is everywhere, much of it very good, such as: 'show don't tell'; the importance of first line, the first page, the first ten ages; the importance of developing three dimensional characters; character arc; and …
Story boarding
In my previous blog, I put forward the view that a writer should know his/her story before he/she starts writing. Once a writer has a story concept, a character with a goal, a source of conflict, and stakes at risk then they have basic ingredients for a story. But as any chef knows, ingredients can …
Planning a Novel
Writing a novel is no easy process, even if you have done it before. Recently, I completed the first draft of my second novel. It still needs a substantial edit, but that is best done in a month's time when I am sufficiently distanced from it to edit it objectively. In the meantime, I have started …
Daydreaming again? It’s work.
You're staring out the window, letting your imagination go, when a family member interrupts and asks you to do something. "I'm working," you protest, and then immediately realise it was the wrong answer. So you put your thoughts aside and do as they request. Sound familiar? It happens to us all. And I would never …
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 …
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 …
JMJ Williamson 