Idea to Novel: Developing a Cohesive Narrative
I probably couldn’t name the numerous ideas and story lines that cross my mind in a given period of time. While most stay in my daydreams, some of them make it to paper. That’s actually where my two novels started, a single chapter I cobbled together at age 13. No real plot or character depth, just a scene. A moment that inspired a novel.
Dialogue: Writing Snappy Conversation for Story Development
I love characters. Can’t have a good story without them. Subsequently, I love dialogue. The banter between lovers, the squabbles amongst siblings, the mourning of lost comrades. Good dialogue connects a reader to the characters, showing them their personalities, how they relate to others, and sometimes providing vital information.
The Art of War: Writing Army to Army Combat
Heart-pounding, quick-paced, shocking. Every writer wants to hook the reader with high-octane, energetic scenes. The most complicated has to be army to army as there’s a lot happening at once and maintaining the energy gets tricky. I tried once and thought I had aced a spectacular battle.
In the end, I had a cacophony of main characters strewn across the battlefield in separate worlds. It felt empty and dead. Maintaining the epicness of a great war requires engaging the reader in more ways than visuals. There’s more to war than gore.
Show not Tell: 3 Simple Tricks for Descriptive Writing
“Show, don’t tell.” The mantra of any good writer, and my nemesis for a long while. 85k words and I didn’t “show enough.” Everyone lived in a “fog” and my descriptions (amongst other things) had to get better. I had to learn the meaning of descriptive writing over time. I realized recently that, like mini me, others struggle with showing rather than telling. Since I’m now known in my critique group for having phenomenal description, I figured a post was due.
Novel Content: What to Reduce for a Good Book
When I jumped onto social media to build my platform, I came across a lot of self-published writers that I wanted to help. I joined their advance teams and got their books to read and review before they were released to the public. But as I consumed each novel, I found a lot of elements I liked and a lot that I despised. I couldn’t figure out why until recently.
Civilization and Culture: Basics Taken for Granted
I’ve written many books with only my main characters and a background in mind. But every hero has an origin that starts in a founded civilization with a grounded culture. A few buildings and a couple people that vanish when the action hits doesn’t cut it. There’s commerce, law, religion, government, military, economy, art, and science to account for. And there’s more when you consider people groups, possible prejudices, food sources, craft. A lot goes into building a civilization, but here’s a quick rundown of the major culture points that normally get taken for granted.
Space and Time Travel: The Known Universe
While my science fiction writing has stayed on Earth, I’m always reaching for the stars and the unknown beyond them. Space in and of itself can be tricky though. With Star Wars, Star Trek, and dozens of other space franchises, there’s a lot of ideas and theories about the unknown blackness and how to travel across it. Luckily, my favorite writing resource has a section on space and time travel canons that gave me hundreds of ideas about how to develop and write a great space novel. Without further a-do, here’s the rules of space and time and the known canons of the unknown.
Writing Authentic Hand to Hand Combat for Authors
Everyone loves combat. Especially the nitty-gritty, up close and personal fights. Weaponry has its advantages, but there might not be a sword or pistol lying around when danger hits. So the next step is hand-to-hand. Like weaponry, there’s a right and wrong way to write thrown punches and flying kicks. The strength and skill of the opponents needs to be assessed. The overall combat must flow and interact with the background. Self-defense might be the scene of choice. And inexperienced fighters will have a different set of traits when it comes to combat. So here’s a look at the intricacies of writing hand-to-hand combat.
Realistic Environments: Creating Exotic Life and Foliage
With some world building done, it seems fitting to add some plants and animals. But they can’t simply be pine trees and bears. Where’s the fun in that? The main reason I love world building is because of the environments and indigenous life. The trouble comes when there’s birds thriving in blizzards or green plants prospering in dry heat. While a world is what you make it, believe-ability is key for grabbing readers. So, here’s a couple tricks I’ve used and developed for creating realistic landscapes with fictional creatures of my design, in order from simple to complex.
World Building 101: Crafting a Believable World
With a long summer ahead, it seems fitting to talk about the nitty-gritty of storytelling. I say “storytelling” because there’s more than one way to tell a story. There’s writing, sequential art, animation, 3D design, drawing, painting, and more. Whatever your medium, there’s a story. And there’s a few tips and knowledge that helped me go from vague, foggy writing to creating immersive worlds.