sorawriter22 - Tumblr blog

sorawriter22 · 6 years ago

Text

How to hook a reader:-

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”

This one is just awesome. I adore some subtle humor in a book, and it’s a great way to start out if you’re witty enough. This short and amusing opening line tells us a lot about the character in a very short time. His name also gives an indication that he is not from the land of Narnia, but is probably from England, if this book is to be similar to the ones prior to it in the series. We know something about his age in that he is referred to as “a boy” and we know that for some reason he almost deserves such a name. So there we go, immediately introduced to a primary character of the story in an interesting way.

Pride and Prejudice

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighborhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.”

In a refined witty style typical of Austen, she opens with a humorous and relatable statement. It may have been a more relatable sentiment at the time it was written, but it certainly still is. Moreover, it’s a foreshadowing, letting the reader know that the book is likely to be at least somewhat about a woman’s obtainment of such a husband.

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

"My name is India Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog."

DiCamillo sure doesn’t waste any time, huh? I love that. She introduces the protagonist, sets the scene, and presents the catalyst all her opening sentence. Just one sentence—and it’s not even a run-on. What a marvel. The protagonist’s name is very unique, which adds interest and makes the reader want to find out more, while the macaroni-and-cheese, white rice, and tomatoes add a comfortable familiarity and give us an idea of the setting. The fact that she comes back with a dog indicates that there is some type of story to be told. Because DiCamillo introduced the protagonist and the setting, it allows her to jump right into the action after the first sentence without the readers having to wonder what the heck is going on.

Chasing the Falconers by Gordon Korman

“It wasn't a prison.

Not technically, anyway.

No bars, cells, electrified fencing, guard towers, or razor wire.

People who drove by probably never noticed the logo of the Department of Juvenile Corrections on the mailbox that stood at the end of the long lane leading to County Road 413. To them, this sprawling property was just another farm – one of thousands of dusty puzzle pieces that covered this part of Nebraska.

Farm. Aiden Falconer winced. He hated that word. Sunnydale Farm, they called it – a name so deliberately cheerful it turned his stomach.”

I should admit that I kind of have a prisoner/kidnapping/spies/mystery fetish, but I think a lot of YA readers do—at least the boys and tomboys. Is this an artistic beauty of an opening? No. But is is a successful opening? Yes, I’d say so. Why? Because it got me to read the book, even though I knew nothing about the author at the time I picked it up. It was the opening sentence alone that caused me to read the book, because in those days I would usually just stop reading the book if I wasn’t entertained by the first few pages. After all, I was an action-loving YA fiction reader.

Korman introduces the protagonist, Aiden, immediately after he sets the scene, and we already know more than we think about Aiden, even though all we were told was his name. We assume he is a prisoner in this non-prison place, and can even deduce something about his age by the fact it is a juvenile corrections facility.

Saying “it wasn’t a prison” causes the reader to want to ask “what is it then?” and thus read further. We are curious as to why there are no bars or other types of security; there is some mystery aroused; some irony. Is it a perfect opening? No, but Korman wasn’t writing to win the Nobel prize, he was writing an action-adventure mystery book for tweens. The point is, Korman did his job: he grabbed the attention of his audience, set the scene, and introduced the protagonist without too much belaboring.

Holes by Louis Sachar

“There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. There once was a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas. That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland.”

I told you I had a prisoner fetish. It sure wasn’t the cover of the book that got me to read this, as I hated it, or the reputation of the author, as I had no idea who he was prior to reading the book. I believe this was a successful opening because it got me to read the book without any other sort of help, such as me already knowing about the book or the author, or loving the cover art. This is actually a lot like Korman’s opening lines. There’s a contradiction; a description of an unusual setting. Korman opens with a prison with no bars, and Sachar opens with a place called Camp Green Lake with no lake. I should also note that the first few chapters move really fast (only a few hundred words per chapter) and cover a lot of ground, while keeping the reader curious. This is the ADD generation, often you’ve got to move fast and cut to the chase to keep the YA audience’s attention.

Hoot

“Roy would not have noticed the strange boy if it weren’t for Dana Matherson, because Roy ordinarily didn’t look out the window of the school bus. He preferred to read comics and mystery books on the morning ride to Trace Middle.”

Hiassen then goes on to tell of Roy’s struggles that morning with a bully, and his sighting of said strange boy. Obviously, what caught my attention here was not the bullying, but the strange boy. Because people get bullied all the time, that’s nothing new. But a strange boy? Hey, I want to hear more about that!

From the opening lines protagonist seems to be a fairly typical boy of middle-school age who likes mysteries and comics. While this isn’t very thrilling, it is relatable and does the job of introducing the protagonist quickly. The protagonist himself does not need to be immediately very interesting if he serves as a window into a world where interesting things are happening—the strange boy in this case.

Half Moon Investigations

“My name is Moon. Fletcher Moon. And I'm a private detective. In my twelve years on this spinning ball we call Earth, I've seen a lot of things normal people never see. I've seen lunch boxes stripped of everything except fruit. I've seen counterfeit homework networks that operated in five counties, and I've seen truckloads of candy taken from babies.

I thought I'd seen it all. I had paid so many visits to the gutter looking for lost valentines, that I thought nothing could shock me. After all, when you've come face-to-face with the dark side of the school yard, life doesn't hold many surprises.

Or so I believed. I was wrong. Very Wrong.”

Oh yeah, this is a great one. Witty, satirical, humorous. This introduction has “engaging and fun” written all over it. With this introduction, I was SOLD. I didn’t read this book just because it was by Eoin Colfer, the author of the famous Artemis Fowl series, as at that point I hadn’t read any Artemis Fowl. The protagonist is introduced right off the bat, and he already has some very interesting things going on. A twelve year old detective named Moon? Sounds like it might be fun. And the following sentences are work of art; thoroughly engaging and entertaining. It reads as a humorous twist on a film noir private eye. There’s a bit of irony here too. People expect school yards to be full of innocent kids playing around, not a shrewd detective investigating dark and shocking occurrences. After Moon says he thought he’d seen it all, he ends with an alluring foreshadowing, “Or so I believed. I was wrong. Very Wrong.”

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

“ Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.

If you’re reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.

Being a half-blood is dangerous. It’s scary. Most if the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.

If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.”

Though I absolutely adored and obsessed over this series, I take issue with this opening nowadays. He does two things I would generally advice against: he addresses the readers directly, which puts up a barrier of self-awareness, and he claims the story to be true in a somewhat direct manner, which somewhat draws the reader’s attention to the fact that it isn’t true. However, back when I first read the book I was totally sold. I believed everything Percy said as if the book really was written by him, barely aware Rick Riordan had anything to do with it. At that time, I believed the story as much as one could without being considered insane. (I can’t say the same for Narnia of course, I still believe it, enough to be considered slightly insane, to be honest.)

I suppose this goes to show that what works for one audience doesn’t work for another. I was at the target audience age, 11 or 12 I believe. I was less cynical than I am now. Besides that, I wanted to believe it. I was almost looking for something to believe that was larger than my life. Percy Jackson was perfect for that. It was set in the modern world with normal kids who didn’t even know they were special. The opening lines not only gave me permission to fantasize that maybe I was one of those kids too, it encouraged it. Just a warning though, this type of opening might not have gone over so well for older readers.

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

“When the doorbell rings at three in the morning, it's never good news.”

It’s often a good idea to open with the inciting incident of the story, as this line demonstrates. This opening line could be considered an understated foreshadowing. It tells the reader, “Something is going to happen soon, the doorbell ringing is going to be a catalyst for something big!” without sounding desperate for attention. And the author follows through after these opening lines, quickly moving to the catalyst of the story while introducing the protagonist.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

“The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the cloak-room attendants or the concierge. Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom; that is to say, of a spectral shade.

When I began to ransack the archives of the National Academy of Music I was at once struck by the surprising coincidences between the phenomena ascribed to the "ghost" and the most extraordinary and fantastic tragedy that ever excited the Paris upper classes; and I soon conceived the idea that this tragedy might reasonably be explained by the phenomena in question. The events do not date more than thirty years back; and it would not be difficult to find at the present day, in the foyer of the ballet, old men of the highest respectability, men upon whose word one could absolutely rely, who would remember as though they happened yesterday the mysterious and dramatic conditions that attended the kidnapping of Christine Daae, the disappearance of the Vicomte de Chagny and the death of his elder brother, Count Philippe, whose body was found on the bank of the lake that exists in the lower cellars of the Opera on the Rue-Scribe side. But none of those witnesses had until that day thought that there was any reason for connecting the more or less legendary figure of the Opera ghost with that terrible story.”

Alas, it opens with a prologue (though this prologue is more like a forward or an introduction than a part of the story)—a prologue in which the author claiming his fictional work to be fact at that, thus inadvertently arousing suspicion that it is not. Though who am I to criticize a classic? Especially since part of me actually believes him. Loroux claims his account to be based upon reality in such a way that causes me entertain the thought that maybe Leroux really DID somehow find out about true events and build a story around them. My conclusion? If you can be as convincing as Leroux, perhaps you should indeed have a go at claiming your novel is fact.

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

“It was autumn in Venice when Victor first heard of Prosper and Bo. The canals, gleaming in the sun, dappled the ancient brickwork with gold. But the wind was blowing ice-cold air from the sea, reminding the Venetians that winter was approaching.”

It is far too poetic. How many 12 year old kids (I’m assuming that’s somewhere near her target age) are going to say, “Oh all that stuff about the autumn wind sounds like a fun read!” But I think part of that is just Funke’s style. I’m pretty sure I only kept reading after that because the book jacket promised me I was going to meet a 13 year old boy called The Thief Lord. And man, I was all over that. Bring it. Luckily for me, after that flowery opening things got a little more interesting. And yes, I ended up loving her beautiful descriptions of Venice despite myself. It was just so well-done, I literally felt like I had been to Venice myself.

So what is my final opinion on this sort of opening? It is this: don’t sacrifice who you are as a writer to fit the current market trends. Don’t sell your soul or strip down your writing just to do what’s popular. Just because a cheap vampire book might sell better than your classic tale of subtle beauty doesn’t mean you should throw out. Right now the popular thing to say is, “Use the simplest words possible! Make sure your reader never has to go to the dictionary!” People in YA fiction tell you to open your story with a shocking hooker or an action scene. And that may very well be the preferred method of actually getting youth to read your book.

But here’s an example of why you shouldn’t always do what people tell you: My mom is a poetry person. She’s the type who writes in a flowery style, and uses words that she doesn’t even know the meaning of just because they sound nice. It’s just who she is. If she stopped doing that and started trying to write a bunch of cool Percy-Jackson style action scenes, she would just lose her style and the beauty of her writing. Again, know your purpose and know your audience. My mother doesn’t write for a YA audience, she has an educated adult audience in mind—the kind of people who read Jane Austen. Conclusion to be drawn: If it’s your style, if it’s who you are, don’t substitute it for something you consider second-rate. Do what you want to do in the very best way you can.

Concluding Thoughts

I think what most of these opening lines have in common is that they spark curiosity. Of course, there is a difference between making a reader being curious, and making a reader having no idea what is going on. If you readers don’t understand a thing, it won’t make them curious—it will just send them away confused. They won’t want to know more simply because of a lack of information,they will want to know more because the information you have given them has piqued their interested while expressing that there is still more to be seen. The reader should be enticed to find out more about the character and the situation, and should be asking, “what will happen next?”

A Few Types of Openings to Try

Irony

A contradiction or opposite of some kind, something unexpected. A restaurant with no food, a fashion model pigging out, a place where the good people are in a prison and the dangerous people are kept outside the fence. Things like that. Irony can be a hard concept to grasp, but it is very engaging when executed well.

Catalyst

The catalyst is what sets your story in motion. A knock at the door, a phone call, a car crash, accidently bumping into a stranger at the grocery store, etc.

Question

This is pretty self-explanatory. The question could be rhetorical. It should be interesting and thought provoking. Like, “what would you do if you had one day to live?” But not that, because it’s overused. Something like, “If you had to decide between marrying someone you didn’t truly love, or being forever single, what would you do? Because that was my choice.” I know that one isn’t ever so original either, but you see where it’s possible to provoke some interest here.

Comparison

A simile or metaphor. Make sure to avoid colloquialisms here, come up with your own ideas. “Me trying to convince my sister that I’m not a secret agent is as hard as Galileo trying to convince the Pope that the world was not flat. Except Galileo had it easier, because the Pope was wrong.” (I know that was bad grammar, and maybe not historically accurate, but you get the idea.)

Dilemma

State a problem, or show how the character is trying to overcome the problem. For example, the protagonist missed the boat and is trying to figure out another way of getting out off the island, as the next boat won’t come for a month, and is climbing to the highest point on the island to get cell phone service.

Intriguing Character

This would preferably be your protagonist, but it could be someone else, as long as your readers don’t mistake the character you mention as the protagonist when he’s not. A teenage girl who is an outcast at her school is old news. You could introduce the character by observing what they are doing, saying, or how they look. Preferably all three at once. Express what is unique about the character.

2 notes · View notes

sorawriter22 · 6 years ago

Text

World Building Tips

@reeseweston asked me if I have any tips on world-building, so I thought I’d share them on here in case it’s helpful for anyone else. (You tagged me as @thereisnothingwrongwithbeingmad - this is my writeblr.)

I can only speak for what I personally do and what works for me, but feel free to reblog this and add your own tips and advice from your own experience. So, let’s start by breaking it down into different sections. Before anyone panics - I very rarely fill all of these points out before I get into the story (or even after I finished it), and I don’t think you should either. Just start with the basics - the first two is the one I find most essential - and come back to the list whenever you’re stuck while you’re writing the story, or whenever something pops into your mind that you think would be helpful later.

Geography - To me, this is the most helpful thing to start with. You don’t necessarily have to draw a map, it’s enough if you write down where everything is and what characteristics each place has (dry, humid, forests, deserts, etc.), but you should know where your settings are within the world you created. It doesn’t matter what genre you write in or how big your world is - like, half of my current WIP is going to take place on a ship, but I still have to know where my OCs are going and why. It also gives you an opportunity to name everything, so your characters can actually refer to places by their names.

Political/social structure - Second most important thing when I’m starting a new story. How is your world governed? What is it made up of? Countries? Empires? Kingdoms? Are there governments? Oligarchies? City states? Tribal chiefs? A mixture of things? Is there a religious authority? Multiple religions clashing with each other? Is religion outdated or a central aspect of life? What is people’s relationship to their regional authority? Do they like how things are going? Is there a revolt brewing? Is there slavery? Lower classes? Filthy rich people? Is the state responsible for keeping everyone fed or is it every men for himself? And most importantly - what is your characters’ relationship to the governing authorities? Do they like how things are run? Are they outside of the influence of their government/king/etc.? Or are they in the middle, taking part in every important decision?

Religion/Science - What is the central truth that the inhabitants of your world live by? Is it technology and science that runs everything? Is it magic? Religion? Post-apocalyptic sense of dread and survival instincts? What do people think about the world and why? Do your characters agree with the mainstream? Disagree? If you have a religion, what type of god/gods are there? What are the rituals that need to be observed by people to be considered good citizens? If science is what people trust and believe in, how do they view religious societies outside of their own country/region? Did their beliefs change over time? Why?

Law and Justice - What sort of moral codes do people in your world have? How is murder viewed and punished? Can you get into jail for stealing some food? What sort of disciplinary actions are there to keep people from breaking the law? Who are the people allowed to judge and punish others? Is law to be feared or respected? Do people have a right to a trial when accused? Do the gods decided or do men decide? Humans or other species? Are there death sentences?

Creatures/species/races - is your world inhabited mainly by humans? What sort of species are there other than your average human? Are there fantastical creatures like griffins, dragons, etc? Do they co-exist peacefully? Is one considered inferior to the other (i.e. humans vs other species)?

History - what events in the country/realm/planet’s past have defined their present? Were there wars with others that shaped how they view the world and interact with each other? Did they form alliances with others? Are they a big power or an insignificant political entity? Did religion disappear in favour of science? The other way around?

Culture - what behaviours are seen as normal? Is there a difference between what is expected from men and women? Low and high classes? How do they view art? Is a profession like being a painter or a singer accepted or frowned upon? Do they have an extensive written history? Do they use books for record keeping or entertainment? Do they even have books/ever had books? Do they have time for leisure or is it all business? How many languages are there and is it important to know more than one? What does an educated person behave and look like in your world? How do people dress?

642 notes · View notes

sorawriter22 · 6 years ago

Text

Ways to describe your character's voice:-

adenoidal (adj): if someone’s voice is adenoidal, some of the sound seems to come through their nose

• appealing (adj): an appealing look/voice shows that you want help, approval, or agreement

• breathy (adj): with loud breathing noises

• brittle (adj): if you speak in a brittle voice, you sound as if you are about to cry

• croaky (adj): if someone’s voice sounds croaky, they speak in a low, rough voice that sounds as if they have a sore throat

• dead (adj): if someone’s eyes or voice are dead, they feel or show no emotion

• disembodied (adj): a disembodied voice comes from someone who you cannot see

• flat (adj): spoken in a voice that does not go up and down; this word is often used for describing the speech of people from a particular region

• fruity (adj): a fruity voice or laugh is deep and strong in a pleasant way

• grating (adj): a grating voice, laugh, or sound is unpleasant and annoying

• gravelly (adj): a gravelly voice sounds low and rough

• gruff (adj): this voice has a rough, low sound

• guttural (adj): a guttural sound is deep and made at the back of your throat

• high-pitched (adj): true to its name, a high-pitched voice or sound is very high

• hoarse (adj): someone who is hoarse, or has a hoarse voice, speaks in a low, rough voice, usually because their throat is sore

• honeyed (adj): honeyed words or a honeyed voice sound very nice, but you cannot trust the person who is speaking

• husky (adj): a husky voice is deep and sounds hoarse (as if you have a sore throat), often in an attractive way

• low (adj): a low voice is quiet and difficult to hear; also used for describing a deep voice that has a long wavelength

• matter-of-fact (adj): usually used if the person speaking knows what they are talking about (or absolutely think they know what they are talking about)

• modulated (adj): a modulated voice is controlled and pleasant to listen to

• monotonous (adj): this kind of voice is boring and unpleasant due to the fact that it does not change in loudness or become higher/lower

• nasal (adj): someone with a nasal voice sounds as if they are speaking through their nose

• orotund (adj): an orotund voice is loud and clear

• penetrating (adj): a penetrating voice is so high or loud that it makes you slightly uncomfortable

• plummy (adj): a plummy voice or way of speaking is considered to be typical of an English person of a high social class; this word shows that you dislike people who speak like this

• quietly (adj): in a soft, quiet voice

• raucous (adj): a raucous voice or noise is loud and sounds rough

• ringing (adj): a ringing voice is very loud and clear

• rough (adj): a rough voice is not soft and is unpleasant to listen to

• shrill (adj): a shrill voice is very loud, high, and unpleasant

• silvery (adj): this voice is clear, light, and pleasant

• singsong (adj): if you speak in a singsong voice, your voice rises and falls in a musical way

• small (adj): a small voice is quiet

• smoky (adj): a smoky voice is sexually attractive in a slightly mysterious way

• softly spoken (adj): someone who is softly spoken has a quiet, gentle voice

• soft-spoken (adj): speaking or said in a quiet, gentle voice

• sotto voce (adj, adv): in a very quiet voice

• stentorian (adj): a stentorian voice sounds very loud and severe

• strangled (adj): a strangled sound is one that someone stops before they finish making it

• strident (adj): this voice is loud and unpleasant

• taut (adj): used about something such as a voice that shows someone is nervous or angry

• thick (adj): if your voice is thick with an emotion, it sounds less clear than usual because of the emotion

• thickly (adv): with a low voice that comes mostly from your throat

• thin (adj): a thin voice or sound is high and unpleasant to listen to

• throaty (adj): a throaty sound is low and seems to come from deep in your throat

• tight (adj): shows that you are nervous or annoyed

• toneless (adj): does not express any emotion

• tremulous (adj): if your voice is tremulous, it is not steady; for example, because you are afraid or excited

• wheezy (adj): a wheezy noise sounds as if it is made by someone who has difficulty breathing

• wobbly (adj): if your voice is wobbly, it goes up and down, usually because you are frightened, not confident, or are going to cry

• booming (adj): very loud and attention-getting

• quavering (adv): if your voice quavers, it is not steady because you are feeling nervous or afraid

• a voice like a foghorn: very loud voice

• in an undertone: using a quiet voice so that someone cannot hear you

• someone’s dulcet tones: the sound of someone’s voice as thesoundsak

#writers #writeblr #description #reader #improve your writing #improving #describe

19 notes · View notes

sorawriter22 · 6 years ago

Text

14 Things to Give Your Character:- 🌟

1. GIVE THEM A GOAL.

Your character's story goal serves as the basis of their journey, helping you plot your story with clarity and purpose.

2. GIVE THEM A MOTIVATION.

Knowing the reason why a character chooses to pursue their goal helps readers invest in their journey, making for a captivating read.

3. GIVE THEM PURPOSE.

If a character doesn't in some way shape the plot or round out your protagonist's world, they don't add value to your story. Give them purpose, or let them go.

4. GIVE THEM A FEAR.

Fear shapes the human experience, creating doubts and insecurities that plague our actions, mindsets, and relationships. Add a little necessary realism to your story by giving your character a few fears as well.

5. GIVE THEM A FLAW.

To be imperfect is to be human. Write a human story by giving your character personality flaws that play into their relationships, fears, disappointments, and discontent.

6. GIVE THEM A HISTORY.

Our pasts shape who we become. Give your character a rich history that affects both the person they are when your story begins and how they will handle the journey to come.

7. GIVE THEM A PRESENT STORY.

Don't drown your readers in backstory. Give your character a present-day quest or journey that will keep readers invested.

8. GIVE THEM A PERSONALITY.

Don't let your character fall flat. Take time to craft for them a rich personality that will affect their words, actions, relationships, and worldview.

9. GIVE THEM INTERESTS.

It's exciting to meet new people who share our interests or to listen to someone talk fervently about their passion. Gift your readers this same experience by giving your character a few interests, too.

10. GIVE THEM A QUIRK.

Everyone has their strange qualities or habits, and often times, being a bit strange is just as exciting or memorable as being passionate. Help your character stand out from the crowd by giving them a quirk or two of their own.

11. GIVE THEM A NAME.

Showcase a time period, reveal a little about their ancestry, create a naming system for your fictional world... There are plenty of ways to give your character's name added purpose and power.

12. GIVE THEM A DESIRE.

Desires are powerful motivators. They can push your character to great deeds just as quickly as they can tempt them to take action they'll regret.

13. GIVE THEM A LOVE.

Love is joy, hope, and possibility. Defining who or what your character loves can reveal far more than simply what gets them out of bed in the morning.

14. GIVE THEM AGENCY.

Power comes in all shapes and sizes. Give your character the ability to have or discover their own personal agency, so they can voice their truth and take action to change their world.

#words #writers #writeblr #reader #advice #lerning #charecter #design

2 notes · View notes

sorawriter22 · 6 years ago

Text

4 easy ways to create a conflict in your novel😉

Keeping a book consistently interesting is hard! It’s probably not news to you that one of the best ways to keep readers invested is by creating conflict, but that doesn’t mean fresh conflict is always easy to come by.

Here are four failsafe techniques that I always circle back to when to I need to create some conflict, tension, and shake things up for my characters.

1) Make your characters disagree

I know this seems obvious, but it’s so often overlooked! This applies to your main characters too, not just your protagonist and antagonist/villain. Traditionally when we create secondary characters, their purpose is to support our protagonist, but that doesn’t mean they have to agree with our protagonists all the time. Tension between the characters we’re rooting for not only makes the story more interesting but also more realistic.

For example, let’s say you’re writing a crime novel and your core characters are gearing up to go after your bad guy. It’s nice for your characters if they’re all on the same page about their plan of attack, but isn’t more interesting if they disagree? And doesn’t it add more uncertainty if readers have to wonder if the character(s) who disagreed will stick to the plan going forward?

You can use this technique at any point in your book that feels flat–not just the end. The level of disagreement can be up to you and based on your story’s needs.

2) Secrets and Lies

For the most part, everyone has a reason to keep a secret and everyone has a reason to lie. No matter how big or how small, secrets and lies are almost always guaranteed to shake up your plot. Once the secrets and lies are revealed, you’ll have characters who are likely to feel betrayed and/or your plot will be thrown into a new direction based on the new information.

This is a good technique to use if you need your characters to learn new information at a specific point in your plot. It also makes the liar/secret keeper a much more interesting character. And by doing so, creates conflict on both a plot and character level

3) Add Family

There’s an endless pool of conflicts for families/family members. Even ones who get along well (and even more for ones who don’t).

Maybe your character is the member of their family that no one likes. Or maybe the family member no one likes has shown up asking for something. Or maybe the family member everyone likes, shows up on the run with a dark secret. Pull from your real experience or make something up.

Side note, I think this conflict is especially fun with a character who’s more private. A family member can reveal a lot about a character just by existing in a scene, which will make your private character uncomfortable and cause conflict from the start.

4) Give your characters exactly what they don’t want

This can be small or large, depending on the size of the conflict you’re looking to create. The principle is the same either way; if there’s something your character desperately wants to avoid, force them to confront it.

For something smaller, it can be a simple as they have to go to a party they don’t want to go to after a bad day. Maybe their bad mood will force a too honest conversation. For something larger, maybe some of the parties guests include people who tormented your character in high school.

This is another option that’s pretty open, but the cool thing about it is that by taking the time figure out what your characters don’t want, you also add a layer to them and get to know them better.

I like these conflicts because I think they can be used in any story to shake things up, push your characters, and keep your story interesting. They’re the perfect go-tos when you find a scene or entire section of your book that needs a lift. Also, in order to make these methods work you have to really understand your characters, which means you get to know them better as you work.

Give them a shot and let me know what you think!

Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter. You’ll get a bi-weekly email with the posts just like this one (plus a handful of email exclusives) delivered directly to your inbox!

Now it’s your turn: Do you have any go-to conflicts to share? Tell me all about it in the comments below! You can also let me know what you’d like to see covered more in the future.

70 notes · View notes

sorawriter22 · 6 years ago

Text

So much that I can't find the right words or enough words to express it🤭

Do you ever just go wow I have a lot of repressed anger

264K notes · View notes

sorawriter22 · 6 years ago

Text

It's ok everyone has this though sometimes, do your best until you satisfied, don't care about how other people see things, the people and their thoughts are different, they may be similar in things but not everything, listen to the positive comment to make your writing better and throw the negative one in the sea. 😉personally, I would like to read what you worked hard on.

WIP Bold Tag

Tagged by @leicawri and @candy-m-s, thank you kind friends!

Bold what applies:

-I am honestly shocked by how my WIP is turning out.

-I CAN’T WAIT FOR MY READERS TO SEE WHAT MY WIP IS ALL ABOUT.

-I REGULARLY POST EXCERPTS FROM MY WIP ON MY WRITEBLR.

-I have struggled HARD to write my WIP.

-THE OCS IN MY WIP ARE PRECIOUS TO ME.

-I’ve cried in the making of my WIP.

-I don’t know how to feel about how my WIP is turning out.

-My WIP will pull at your heartstrings in the most subtle way.

-My WIP isn’t quite worded how I want it to be but the general idea behind it is exactly how I want it.

-MY WIP IS A PIECE OF ART, I DON’T CARE WHAT ANYBODY SAYS.

-I WILL LOOK BACK TEN YEARS FROM NOW AND REMEMBER WRITING THIS WIP FONDLY.

-I HAVE GONE THROUGH ALMOST EVERY EMOTION IN THE MAKING OF MY WIP.

-MY WIP IS AT LEAST HALFWAY FINISHED.

-I have a lot of supernatural creatures in my WIP.

-I don’t like to share about my WIP.

-I THINK YOU WILL BE QUITE INTRIGUED WHEN YOU START READING MY WIP.

-I AM IN LOVE WITH EVERY LAST ASPECT OF MY WIP.

-I have finished the first draft of my WIP but am kind of procrastinating working on the second.

-I hate editing.

-Writing my WIP has been extremely stressful.

-I HOPE TO PUBLISH MY WIP AFTER I FINISH IT. (!!!!!)

-My WIP is the first book I’ve ever written.

-THE CHARACTERS IN MY WIP FEEL SO REAL SOMETIMES I FORGET THEY’RE NOT.

-There are characters in my WIP that are based off of real people OR events based off of real events.

-My WIP includes a self-insert character.

-I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN ANYTHING COMPARABLE TO MY WIP.

-I’m not sure what genre you would call my WIP.

-I am targeting an audience older than me for my WIP.

-I am targeting an audience younger than me for my WIP.

-My OCs in my WIP have very unique careers.

-My WIP leaves me breathless at times.

-MY WIP IS AN EXCUSE TO ESCAPE REALITY FOR AN AMOUNT OF TIME.

-My WIP has opened my eyes to a few things.

-Since starting on my WIP, I’ve started thinking a little differently.

-My WIP takes place in a different world.

-My WIP takes place in an alternate universe.

-MY WIP IS AMAZING. I AM SO PROUD OF IT.

-My WIP features some of my roleplaying characters.

-I have been working on my WIP for at least a year.

-I have been working on my WIP at least 5 years.

-I have been working on my WIP since I started writing.

-Sometimes I put my WIP down for months at a time so I never get bored of it.

-My WIP has been an idea in my head for years.

-Someone else came up with the idea for my WIP.

-One of my characters are based off of my crush or S.O.

-My WIP is based in a tv show or movie that I love.

-My WIP is the only thing keeping me sane right now.

-I know someone that reminds me of the antagonist in my WIP.

-My WIP scares me at times.

-I’VE HAD DREAMS ABOUT MY WIP.

-MY WIP INSPIRES ME.

-I wish I had more time to work on my WIP.

-I WRITE AT LEAST 2 HOURS AT A TIME ANY TIME I WORK ON MY WIP.

-I SET MYSELF WRITING GOALS FOR FINISHING MY WIP.

-I like the antagonist more than the protagonist in my WIP.

-I just can’t stop working on my WIP. It has to be PERFECT.

-I AM AFRAID OF WHAT PEOPLE WILL SAY ABOUT THE PLOT OF MY WIP.

-Sometimes I feel like my WIP is too cliché.

-People have mocked me for my WIP.

-MY WIP IS MY BABY.

Not in the mood to tag anyone at the moment. But if you see this and do it, feel free to tag me for that.

4 notes · View notes