Story telling has a long history, that is likely older than the written language. For as long as we’ve shared our experiences, there has been a certain structure to a story. There are many theories and methods of telling a story, and this one is not my own. It comes from Blake Snyder and his […]
One often overlooked aspect of Novel Nutrition is Research Vitamins. Even before you start to feed your characters backstory, and before you exercise the plot, make sure they are getting their vital nutrients by providing quality Research Vitamins. Without research, characters might end up doing impossible things, like break the laws of physics, or violate […]
Without Proper Plot Exercise, a novel will be weak, unappealing, and possibly never completed. One cause of writer’s block is lack of Plot Exercise. If you don’t know what you are writing, it blocks the flow of creativity. When I get stuck, here is one exercise routine I follow. Identify where the opening image of […]
As a Book Doctor, I’m always concerned about the Nutrition of the Novel. If you don’t feed the characters enough backstory, they will be weak or flat. But if you put too much of their backstory into in the novel, it becomes overweight, or even obese. The proper weight of the novel depends very much […]
Maintaining the proper level of pressure on readers to continue reading is essential to a healthy novel. Present tense, when used properly, can put readers on the edge of their seats, eager to turn the next page. Past tense is easier to write, and vanishes into the background, allowing the story to flow easily into […]
Another common ailment among new authors is Sisyphus Syndrome. They work hard on a section to submit to a critique group, and the group tears it apart. So they start over, and submit the rewritten section to the group. Or they start a new project, only to have the same thing happen to their next […]
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Prologue Cancer results from a prologue which grows far beyond its intended size. This is often the result when a writer doesn’t understand the purpose of the prologue, and puts in carcinogenic content, bloating the prologue until it chokes off the first chapter, which the audience will never read. Preventing prologue cancer is easy if […]
Manuscript Measles is a common disease, especially among young writers who haven’t built up a good immune system to harsh criticism. It is easily diagnosed when a manuscript is received back from an editor with red marks all over every page. These marks, however, are not the same as the biting, often scathing edits which […]
Dissociative Character Disorder, also known as Multiple Character Disorder, results when the author shows the thoughts of multiple characters in a single scene. The reader becomes dissociated from all the characters, because the author is bouncing between them so fast, the reader has nothing to latch on to. One of the most important aspects where a […]