If I could pick any animal spirit guide, I would choose the fox.
I like foxes with their red coats, black feet and bushy tails. I like that they’re clever and sly. Good characteristics for a writer. I like that I’ve never felt threatened by a fox.
Too bad we don’t get to pick them; they pick us. My animal spirit guide came to me through a dream.
“The most-asked question when someone describes a novel, movie or short story to a friend probably is, “How does it end?” Endings carry tremendous weight with readers; if they don’t like the ending, chances are they’ll say that didn’t like the work. Failed endings are also the most common problems editors have with submitted works.” – Nancy Kress
December is a good month to think about endings with another year winding down. If we were in a novel, November would be the climax of the most horrible thing to ever happen to your character – lucky November! No wonder it tends to be a grey month. But now we are onto December when the hero gets conquer to her fears, the boy finds the girl, the quest locates the lost treasure. Hurrah!
For me, the ending is the most important part of any story.
What did I say?
What about that critical first sentence, the first paragraph, the first page you slaved for months over? There are workshops and blogs and books written about the importance of the first words of any story.
But here’s a little test. Given these two reviews, what story would you pick to read:
“The novel is slow to start but keep with it, because it gets fantastic and the ending is awesome!”
“The novel starts off great, the concept is really cool but the ending sucked.”
For most of us writers, doing the thing we love most entails planting our butt in a chair for hours on end. Not only are we physically inert, but our minds wander too. Writing is tedious work; boredom can easily set in. That’s when many of us feel the need for a little assistance to keep us focused and fueled.
Coffee, tea or…
By “assistance” what I really mean is a pleasant little diversion to keep us from going completely bonkers while we’re writing our next opus. And often, this diversion is a guilty pleasure, such as chocolate (one of God’s wonders for sure!), coffee (again, nectar from the Gods), tea, candy, or smoking for famous authors such as Patricia Highsmith, Oscar Wilde and George Orwell. Read more
Both were fantasy set in imagined worlds.
Both used two different points of views to tell the story.
After stripping away the details, both had similar plotlines in broad strokes (protagonists chased / hunted by bad guys).
Both were decently written.
One grabbed my attention from the first paragraphs and pulled me like a tidal wave, forcing me to read late into the night to finish it. The other took more time before being captured by the pages.
Although I enjoyed the latter book, its first chapter didn’t entice me in the same way as the other. For the former, the first page hooked me.
As a writer I wanted to know what made the difference between these two books.
It’s Tuesday morning and we’re off to the Keady market, something I am only able to do in summer months when I can sneak a day off mid week. In the dim light, I squeeze into the livestock auction. The musty smell of the animals and manure overwhelms until my nose adjusts to the stench.
Everything about this event makes me feel like I am in a movie; from the auctioneer calling out in the trademark spew of an un-breaking chain of numbers, to the weatherworn faces of the farmers, their eyes seeing something in the lots of cows that my own eyes are unable to discern, to the worn plank seating.
My novel needs an auction scene.
Maybe a horse auction. Then I think of famous markets – the camel market in India; the pearl market in Beijing; the witches market in Bolivia. Maybe my novel should have a dragon auction! My mind whirls as I imagine the chaos of dragons here in Keady instead of cows.
“It’s just emotion that’s taken me over…” The BeeGees, from the song “Emotion”
Emotion is, well, just about everything when it comes to fiction. Emotion is what engages readers the deepest. Emotion is what makes thereader laugh, cry, cheer, get pissed off, hate, judge. It makes them feel. It makes them forget they’ve fallen into the world of fiction.
Emotion is the one, main element of my writing that’s taken me to a new level the last few years. And it took me awhile to get there. To get how important it is in fiction and to get (or at least somewhat get) how to transfer, infuse, express emotion in my writing. Read more
I am both a professional writer and a novel writer.
You think that I should just say I’m a professional novel writer, right?
Well, I can’t. I’m not. Well, I could say it, but it would be fiction. And I am a fiction writer.
It’s the season for spectator sports, and I don’t mean baseball or playoff hockey. I’m talking about the book awards season, which in my opinion, qualifies as a spectator sport. It’s almost always entertaining, there’s usually an underdog to cheer for, a favourite, a healthy amount of suspense and hoopla, and sometimes even intrigue and dirty pool. Read more