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It takes SEX!
Sorry about that.
The ghost of Mark Twain snorted those words as I wrote the title to this post.
“I have so many great ideas for books, you and I should write a book together.
I’ll give you the idea
and all you have to do is write the book.”
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been told that.
Everyone has ideas.
Most everyone can write words on
a computer screen.
Few can spin those words into a tale that is interesting.
Every story is a promise, and its characters are the way the author keeps that promise.
1.) A REASON TO CARE:
Weakness married to Need.
A dying mother has to keep it together long enough
to get her young daughter to her sister at the next stop
on a wild train ride through an Apocalyptic countryside.
Cannibalism is the norm in this savage age.
Weakness will not only worry her young daughter but lure the predators aboard the train.
As the mother’s strength ebbs, she must drive her failing body and fogging mind to battle ever-increasing challenges.
2.) HOW YOU TELL THE STORY KINDLES THE FIRE OR PUTS IT OUT:
3.) FOCUS ON THE RIGHT SPOT:
Concentrate your narrative energy on
the point of change.
A great book is not about the status quo but about evolution, about crossroads, about growth.
4.) ANSWER THE NEEDFUL QUESTIONS:
“Where am I?”
The reader needs to know where the scene is taking place:
the sights, sounds, smells of the place. The era. The relative danger in the surroundings.
“How much time has passed since the last scene?”
“How are the characters reacting and why?”
Words, like slung stones, have varying impact depending on who throws them and who receives them.
Each bit of dialogue should have visible impact on the people involved or the dialogue is a candidate for deleting.
“What’s the point?”
If a scene doesn’t advance the plot or the characters in a meaningful way, you are wasting the reader’s time.
And in this era of limited attention spans, readers will drop your book with too many such scenes.
“What is the protagonist’s, the antagonist’s goal in this book.
Do you care if they reach it?
Do the goals make sense to desire?”
5.) ROLES MODELS ARE IMPORTANT:
If you have to read ...
to cheer yourself up --
read biographies of authors who went insane.
What was that all about?
PUT HUMOR IN YOUR CHAPTERS!
What do you think makes a novel
great?
Here is the man behind TOY STORY & WALL-E
great?
Here is the man behind TOY STORY & WALL-E
You're certainly on the money, Roland. Most modern readers just want action, action, action with a huge dollop of suspense. I like to see a romantic element amongst all this. Whatever. Sometimes it seems that it really takes a lot of 'luck' as well as hard work to get that novel in front of a reader in the first place. :-)
ReplyDeleteDenise:
ReplyDeleteYes, indeed. LUCK is the chief ingredient in getting your novel noticed in this over-fished self-published pond of ours. So many books out there with everyone scrambling over one another to gain attention.
I, like you, want human hearts reaching out to one another in the books I read no matter the genre -- but it seems lust, not love, garners attention these days. :-(
"All you have to do is write the book." Yeah. Piece of cake.
ReplyDeleteI like your words of wisdom here. It reminds me of an interview I saw between Charlie Rose and JJ Abrams. Abrams asks himself for every scene, what is the emotion behind it? What emotions are propelling the action? Can't have a good story if it doesn't have heart and soul.
Thanks, Helena:
ReplyDeleteI reminded you of JJ Abrams -- if only I had his magic! How is your movie script going? Better I hope. I am still hurting badly, but it keeps me centered. :-)