BWFoster78
Myth Weaver
If, as a new writer, you are reading over your work and feeling that it falls way short of where you want it to be, I suggest learning three techniques:
1. Showing. Your reader wants to experience your story, and, often, the beginning writer wants to get all the character development details out of the way in a hurry. You have this great character in mind who is strong in some areas and flawed in others. Your tendency is to write: John is a great swordsman and all the women love his good looks and sparkling charisma. He's wounded, though, by the loss of his great love and spends a lot of time brooding.
Great. Now the reader knows all this, and we can get on with the story.
No! To begin with, how does the reader know any of this is true? Second, you missed the opportunity to let the reader truly get to know your character. Learn to show the reader these great character traits.
2. Adding Tension. I can't tell you how many scenes I've read from new writers where I got to the end and thought "why the crap did the author choose to include this?" The answer, of course, is simple. The scene portrayed crucial plot information. It did so, however, in a straight info dump. The scene had no tension as it was purely informative. Learn to incorporate plot details inside a tense situation. Give your character a goal and opposition to that goal.
3. Adding Emotion. This, for me, is the toughest area. If you go too far with showing, you're still not too bad off. If you go too far with tension, you can stress your reader. If you go too far with emotion, your work becomes laughable. But, without emotion, you're not going to engage your audience.
The craft of writing includes many more techniques than this, and we haven't even touched on the art of storytelling. If you want fast results that you can see, however, research these three aspects of writing and master them. You'll find that you like your work much better.
Hope this helps!
1. Showing. Your reader wants to experience your story, and, often, the beginning writer wants to get all the character development details out of the way in a hurry. You have this great character in mind who is strong in some areas and flawed in others. Your tendency is to write: John is a great swordsman and all the women love his good looks and sparkling charisma. He's wounded, though, by the loss of his great love and spends a lot of time brooding.
Great. Now the reader knows all this, and we can get on with the story.
No! To begin with, how does the reader know any of this is true? Second, you missed the opportunity to let the reader truly get to know your character. Learn to show the reader these great character traits.
2. Adding Tension. I can't tell you how many scenes I've read from new writers where I got to the end and thought "why the crap did the author choose to include this?" The answer, of course, is simple. The scene portrayed crucial plot information. It did so, however, in a straight info dump. The scene had no tension as it was purely informative. Learn to incorporate plot details inside a tense situation. Give your character a goal and opposition to that goal.
3. Adding Emotion. This, for me, is the toughest area. If you go too far with showing, you're still not too bad off. If you go too far with tension, you can stress your reader. If you go too far with emotion, your work becomes laughable. But, without emotion, you're not going to engage your audience.
The craft of writing includes many more techniques than this, and we haven't even touched on the art of storytelling. If you want fast results that you can see, however, research these three aspects of writing and master them. You'll find that you like your work much better.
Hope this helps!
Maester
Sage
