Monthly Archive: March 2013

Mar 24

Individual Scenes and Chapters

A chapter in a novel or a scene in a short story or script is a complete dramatic unit which should accomplish all of the following: advances the plot develops character provides the audience with needed information And all of this should keep the reader/viewer engaged in the story. In a screenplay or teleplay, a …

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Mar 19

Character Introductions

The first time a character appears in the story, novel, or script you want to give the reader/audience; a memorable name a visual and memorable hook to make this character stand out make this character’s description part of the action of the scene. In scripts, it’s a good idea to put the character’s name in …

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Mar 13

Naming Characters

The naming of characters is more than simply assigning names to the population of your story. I’ve mentioned in a previous post that using different letters of the alphabet to name your primary or significant characters is a good practice. Parents (and the writers of children’s books) may find it cute to have all their …

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Mar 12

JACK R. STANLEY’S RULE FOR FICTION WRITING

1.  Respect your audience enough to get the basics right; spelling, grammar, and punctuation. 2.  We don’t have to love or even like your main character but we better find him/her arresting and utterly fascinating or we won’t love your work well enough to finish it. 3.  Your main character shouldn’t be a victim, a …

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Mar 12

ELMORE LEONARD’S 10 RULES

Never open a book with weather. Avoid prologues. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”…he admonished gravely. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or      three per 100,000 words of prose. Never use the words “suddenly” or …

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Mar 12

Mark Twain’s Rules of Writing

This was taken from Mark Twain‘s 1895 essay “Fenimore Cooper‘s Literary Offenses”, which is mainly a criticism of Cooper’s story “The Deerslayer“. Twain wrote: “I may be mistaken, but it does seem to me that “Deerslayer” is not a work of art in any sense; it does seem to me that it is destitute of …

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Mar 12

7 Rules from Famous Writers on Writing

1. Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”. Your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. Mark Twain 2. The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it. Ernest …

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Mar 12

W. Somerset Maugham

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

Mar 11

Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling

(These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coates, Pixar’s Story Artist. Number 9 on the list – When you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn’t happen next – is a great one and can apply to writers in all genres.) 1.You admire a character for trying more than for their successes. 2.You gotta keep …

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Mar 11

John Grisham’s 10 Commandmenst of Writing

1) Start with action; explain it later. 2) Make it tough for your protagonist. 3) Plant it early, pay it off later. 4) Give the protagonist the initiative. 5) Give the protagonist a personal stake. 6) Give the protagonist a short time limit; and then shorten it. 7) Choose your character according to your own …

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