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THERE IS ALWAYS REASON BEHIND MADNESS ... AND TRUTH, TOO
Something to remember in these political debates ... and in the wisdom given to us on how to write well.
WRITE SHORTER
Every extra word makes readers impatient in these short-attention span days.
Got to keep checking on those FB posts, you know.
Write as if each word cost you 50 cents. Shorter prose is more powerful.
SHRINK THOSE SENTENCES!
Tiny draws attention in this big world.
Long sentences make readers work too hard to get to your main point.
Break sentences into bite-size ideas. Be Hemingway not Longfellow.
PASSIVE IS THE NEW POISON
Passive voice sentences hide who is acting, creating uneasiness unconsciously in your reader. Not good!
Be the detective of your own sentences -- find out who is the actor in each sentence and link him to the verb.
ERASE JARGON. FOCUS ON CLARITY
Jargon and Tech words just make your readers feel stupid. Way bad.
It doesn't make you sound smart.
It makes you look as if you are talking down to your reader.
Tell your story as if you were relaying it to your mother or next door neighbor. Tell the tale to make the most impact to the most people.
PUSH TO THE HEAD OF THE LINE
Move key scenes and insights up as close to the front of your novel, chapter, sentence as you can.
You are not making a case in a court of law where you have to lay a foundation fact by fact.
You have only a few sentences to get the readers' attention.
Don't waste those few precious moments.
Grab your audience right out of the gate -- at the first sentence if possible.
CLUES
Authors use foreshadowing to hint at future important events.
Whether consciously or unconsciously,
readers pick up on these clues if they read and use them to make predictions about what will happen later in the story.
It creates tension and suspense, keeping the reader turning the pages.
AND DON'T FORGET
MY CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY
I like your tips!
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for IWSG day An Author’s Goals for 2024
Thank you, Ronel. Heading to your blog now. :-)
DeleteExcellent advise, Roland. Every one of them make perfect sense. Happy New Year and IWSG Day. I'm signing this as your biggest fan...
ReplyDeleteThat last sentence made my day!
DeleteGood reminders here of things that are easy to forget. Happy New Year, Roland.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you, too, Nick!
DeleteAll good advice! Particularly the first as I'm in the throes of having to cut over 15,000 words from a 134,000 historical novel. This new short-attention-span era is not my friend!
ReplyDeleteNor mine! Historical novels tend to be long if it is any consolation, Yvonne. My own historical fantasy, SAME AS IT NEVER WAS, is the longest novel I have written in some time. :-)
DeleteYes. Yes. Yes and Yes! Great post, Roland. Now if we could all just follow that outline to better, stronger books! LOVE the picture from NOLA! Just got back from spending Halloween there (that was something!) and that's always been my favorite view at night.
ReplyDeleteThat view is a centerpiece of my BEWARE THE JADE CHRISTMAS with actual tales of famous New Orleans ghosts. The late Scott O'Dell did a fantastic narration of it. I was grief-stricken when the last hurricane killed him.
DeleteHa! I do most of that most of the time. I also pay close attention to the first sentence, first paragraphs, and the last line. All hooks I've designed for the reader's enjoyment. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
I've written posts on all of those items, stressing the importance of each. :-)
DeleteSo many rules. So little time. Short and to the point it is!
ReplyDeleteI've jumped ship from WordPress to Substack. I don't know what I'm doing, but that's nothing new. Here's where I landed. https://substack.com/@cleemckenzie
Wise advice, Roland. I work hard to make my passages concise.
ReplyDeleteAll we can do is our best. :-)
Deleteexcellent advice, succinctly put!
ReplyDeleteThanks for thinking so. :-)
DeleteI suck at those first Two... LOL. But, since, I'm not Writing as a Career, and my Blog is mostly and selfishly for myself... it probably doesn't matter. If nobody reads it then it's still serving it's purpose for why I began it and enjoy it. But, when it comes to Books, I could see every point you made is great advice. I am not an avid Reader so it's hard for me to start, let alone finish a Book unless it's really, really impossible to put down.
ReplyDeleteI consider my blog my internet diary ... a bit I think like you feel about yours. :-)
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