The Plot Line Hotline

I’ve had a similar problem in the recent past, so I hope this is helpful!

Too much jumping back and forth can be confusing, yes. If you need to switch the POV, I recommend alternating each chapter: every odd chapter= character A, every even chapter= character B.

This will make the story neat and keep the POV clear. Some examples of this in literature are the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin and Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Levithan.

However, one sad truth about writing is that you may need to cut some things you really thought you needed for your story. For instance, I too was writing a story with 2 narrators (3rd person limited), but for the sake of simplicity, I ended up choosing one character to narrate alone. It was tough, but it had to be done.

If switching the perspective becomes too messy, you can always decide which character’s voice is more prominent and stick with them. It’s usually the character you created first, or spent the most time on. If you want to pick one narrator, try writing the same scene from both perspectives and see which one comes off stronger. Which one is more fun to write? Which one fits with the mood and theme the best? Which one tells the story better?

If your answer is both, then alternating the POV each chapter is the safest way to go!

Good luck!

Honestly, it’s okay to do whatever you want to do. If you’re wondering whether or not people will like chapters focused solely on character development, then I have good news for you. Because plot and character are designed to be linked together, I bet that your character-development chapters are doing more for your plot than you realize. Regardless, let’s break down different types of “character-development” scenes and see where you’re at. 

Character Development vs. Characters Arcs

I think this is a good place to start with this post. Every novel should have a plot or subplot that explores the main character’s transformation. And yes, you better have a transformation of some kind. For a story to be effective, the plot should be big enough that it changes your characters in some way. Think about who they are at the beginning and imagine how their experiences throughout the novel change them. This is what creates your character arc. 

Character development is such a big, bold term that many of us just throw around to describe anything character related. But let’s look a little deeper. Development is about shaping and molding your characters, as if you were sculpting them from a mound of clay. The more details you include, the more vivid the character. And when you do something unexpected with these details (avoiding cliched characters), you create pieces of art that intrigue readers and make them like the character even more. Development is your process of defining the character. 

You know you’ve done your job well when you (the writer) can predict a character’s actions or reactions in any situation, regardless of whether or not that situation actually occurs in the novel. Challenge yourself with this. What would they do as a bystander in an armed robbery? How would they react to losing their job? What would they say if they discovered someone had lied to them? 

This is what character development is. When it comes to character development within your novel, you’re attempting to translate what you already know about your character to your readers. The most effective way to do this is to show it. Put them in scenarios that reveal who they are. 

If you’re spending entire chapters simply listing a character’s attributes and describing how they respond to vague situations and scenarios, then you’re telling. This is where I would caution a writer to avoid chapters entirely devoted to development. Readers don’t want character traits to be relayed to them; they want them to be demonstrated. 

Character Development Scenes

Alrighty, moving ahead. So we’ve eliminated scenes where you’re simply writing a character description. What about scenes where you do show who the character is? What if you write that armed robbery scene to show how they respond in a tense situation, and it turns out that this armed robbery has no bearing on the rest of the plot? Is this okay? 

It can be. Assuming the reaction to the armed robbery leads to change. Because in any challenging moment, a character will experience an immediate action and a followup action. The immediate action encompasses what they do in the moment. Did they try to disarm the person? Did they attempt to alert the police in secret? Did they try to run away? The followup action is how they approach new decisions given this new experience. The fear of death in that situation may lead them to take action against other (plot-related) events in their life. They may receive an injury that impedes their progress or forces them to adapt. All of this impacts how the character approaches the internal and external conflicts. In other words, the armed robbery served to move the plot forward, despite its initial disconnect from the main event. 

Maybe the character-development scenes you’re thinking of are less intense. Maybe they’re introspective walks or light-hearted conversations. 

For the latter, remember that dialogue should be purposeful. A humorous jab or quippy exchange is delightful and fun to read, but if you’re going to spend a lot of page real estate on nothing but playful banter between characters, you better be building to something. Good examples of this would be the relationship eventually falling apart or being challenged.

When it comes to introspection, you should be building to a decision. A character that thinks back through recent events should be doing so in an effort to devise a strategy. An introspective walk should be because “Hell, I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. Maybe if I take a walk and clear my head, I’ll figure it out.” When they’re thinking, they’re preparing to act. And that is related to your plot in a BIG way. 

The Flashback 

Okay, I’ve been answering questions on Tumblr for over 4 years now, and this has come up many times. The flashback is the number one culprit for gratuitous character development. We writers take a considerable amount of time coming up with complex backstories for our characters and nothing kills us more than spending time on material that no one ever gets to see. So it’s only natural that we push to include flashbacks in our novels, so that we not only get to write these exciting histories, but readers get to enjoy them too. 

Often, the problem is that whatever past is being shared in the flashback has no bearing on the current conflict. Whatever it is has long since been resolved. So writers start to get worried that the flashback fails to move the plot forward, which is something they’re told that every single scene should do. 

Obviously novels where past events affect the present timeline should have flashbacks. These are novels where timelines are interspersed to tell a complete story. One of my favorite novels I read this past year was The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton, which features dual timelines. Eventually the past catches up to the present, and we move forward for the rest of the novel. This type of situation is definitely okay. 

Flashbacks that do nothing but reveal something of the character’s past can work…as long as that flashback is contributing to the character arc. Remember, our character arc is showcasing our character’s transformation. If you can justify this flashback as being relevant to where the character started and how they will change, then it will probably work without being superfluous. 

Plot Development Can Be Unpredictable

In spite of all this, don’t forget that your plot evolves as your character evolves. We often don’t really know our characters until we start writing them. This means that any plot decision we’ve already made can change in a heartbeat as our character’s development takes an unexpected turn. Be willing to adapt to these changes and let your character development impact what happens. 

Characters should affect your plot. So when you look at that way, a scene that focuses on character development always has the potential to move your plot forward. 

NaNoPlaMo - National Novel Planning Month

I’ve been wanting to post about novel prep in anticipation of November’s NaNoWriMo and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do it. We have an anon with a vague idea that they’re looking to build off of. How perfect!

*If you’ve never heard of NaNoWriMo, read up on it!

The Building Block Method

I’m going to preface the rest of this post by saying that I drew a lot of inspiration from The Snowflake Method. Sarah did a post a while back where she gave us a brief overview of this process. It was originally developed by Randy Ingermanson, and I have to say that this man is my hero. If this method sounds too intense for you, I’m going to simplify it using the building block metaphor. 

Building blocks are a great way of thinking about story planning because each plot element you plan needs support in order to have impact. Starting with a good foundation allows you to build up an impressive structure. And of course, when you’re frustrated, it’s easy enough to tear it down and start again.

Choose Your Blocks

Our anon has a couple story details to start with, but we’re going to backtrack as if we have nothing. To get started off on the right foot, construct your first five blocks. 

Protagonist

Antagonist

Conflict

Setting

Genre

Make sure you have an idea for each block before you start delving deeper into others. Our anon already has 3 blocks figured out.

Protagonist = the girl that is kidnapped OR the kidnapper

Antagonist = the girl who is kidnapped OR the kidnapper

Conflict = the kidnapping

See, I left the protagonist and antagonist open because it’s all a matter of perspective. Does the kidnapper have to be the antagonist? Not necessarily. The important thing is that the writer knows which is which. This leaves us with the setting and the genre. 

Setting = where and when does this story take place, for example: 2018; New York City

Genre = fantasy, science fiction, romance, literary, mystery, ect.

Don’t overthink your genre at this point. You don’t need to define it in specific terms just yet, but it’s a good idea to at least know if your story will be grounded in reality or not. 

Build Each Block

A block has 6 sides, yes? Each of the blocks we defined will need 6 sides to complete it. Start wherever you want with this process. For each side, make sure that each description is no longer than one sentence. Notice that the sides for protagonist and antagonist are the same, because well, they’re both characters. 

Protagonist/Antagonist

Name

Age

Gender

Ethnicity

Sexual Preference

Top priority

*For top priority, think of vague ideas: creative expression, professional advancement, family relationships, financial stability, self acceptance. 

Conflict

Who/what sets conflict in motion?

What will happen if the conflict is not acted upon?

What will be gained?

What will be lost?

Who are the players?

Who will survive?

I’m going to break this down by using the anon’s story as an example. Remember our conflict is the kidnapping. Who/what sets the conflict in motion? The kidnapper. If we know more at this stage, we can provide more as long as we keep it under a sentence. For example, an organization looking to exploit the protagonist’s superpowers may be behind the kidnapping, and therefore, sets the conflict in motion. 

What will happen if this conflict is not acted upon? The girl has been kidnapped, so what will happen if she is not un-kidnapped (i.e., saved)? This will help you define the stakes of your story. If the organization is looking to exploit her powers, the answer to this question could be whatever they look to do with those powers (the world is destroyed) or it could be a personal consequence (the girl is killed, the girl is corrupted). 

What will be gained? Now we’re looking at how the story will actually play out. Think in terms of your protagonist. If the kidnapped girl is our main character, what will she gain from begin kidnapped? This is a tough question to answer, but more often than not, the responses here will have to do with how that person changes as a result of the story’s conflict. If you’ve already completed your protagonist block, it may be as simple as pulling from the top priority side. Perhaps her top priority is self acceptance, and she gains it by going through this ordeal. Or maybe it’s family relationships, and this situation enables her to establish a better bond with a family member.

*What is gained does not have to be the character’s top priority, but it’s a good place to start if you’re stuck on this one. 

What will be lost? Again, we’re talking about what will actually happen in the story. What does our kidnapped girl lose from being kidnapped? She may suffer physical or psychological traumas that change her life. She may literally lose a friend, whether that is because the friend dies in trying to rescue her or because the friend betrays her. Maybe she loses her home because she can’t return there, even after she’s freed from her prison. 

Who are the players? Think basic. We’ve obviously got our kidnapper and our kidnap-ee, but who else is involved? Start with the protagonist’s and antagonist’s allies. For example, who assists the protagonist in obtaining her freedom, or who ultimately rescues her? Who assists the antagonist in carrying out their goal (the henchmen)? Again, you don’t need specifics. Brainstorm ideas for additional characters at this stage. 

Who will survive? Decide upfront if there will be deaths, whether on the good side or the bad side. Planning a character death can help you construct your ending and build to it, so the death feels more integrated into the story and less a matter of shock value. This is especially good for horror stories or murder mysteries where there will likely be a lot of death. 

Setting

Real or fictional? 

Accurate or inaccurate?

Static or variable?

New or familiar?

How is the setting changed?

How does the setting compel change?

Real or fictional is whether you made up the location or whether you based it off of somewhere that’s real. Accurate or inaccurate expands on real locations/time periods to determine if you’re taking liberties or attempting to tell an accurate portrayal. Static or variable refers to the amount of times the setting or time period changes. If a character is on a long journey, you’ll likely have a variable setting that changes constantly. Same with time travel. New or familiar should tell you if your character is going somewhere new, of if they’re facing challenges in an environment they feel comfortable in. 

How the setting changes depends on how the conflict influences it. A barren wasteland may be made fertile again based on the outcome of the story. A violent country may become peaceful. This gets you thinking about big picture goals for your story’s universe. 

How the setting compels change is the opposite. What does the setting do to your character? Does it force them to develop new survival techniques? Does it make them examine aspects of their life they used to ignore?  

Genre

Genre is structured a bit differently. Instead of basing each side on a particular idea, list six concepts or adjectives that will describe your story. These can be more detail about the genre (urban fantasy, psychological thriller, young adult), they can be themes or tropes (coming-of-age, chosen-one, grief) or world-building details (magic, time travel, serial killers) or even types of people or species (fairies, vampires, astronomers, middle-class). 

Think of six words or phrases that you find fascinating. Imagine how you’d complete the sentence: “I’ve always wanted to write about ______.” This will help you develop a story that intrigues you and holds your interest. 

Start Building

Now comes the fun part. You have all your blocks, with 6 sides each. Now you can start making connections. Make notecards for each side (maybe different colors for each block), and then randomly draw 2 or 3 at a time. Look at the items on the notecards and see if you can connect them with new threads. 

For example, say we draw our “who are the players” side, along our protagonist’s age. This gives you an opportunity to consider the ages of the other players, and how they’ll relate to the protagonist. Remember we referred to potential players as the protagonist’s allies? Are they older than her or younger than her? Does this lead to domineering or submissive relationships? Is someone protective of someone else? Does someone look up to someone and think them indestructible? 

Each time you make connections, you’re starting the construction of a new block. These second tier blocks will be more dynamic because they pull in pieces from your five foundation blocks.

Don’t Be Afraid to Knock It Down

As you’re building, you may run into things that no longer work or that just don’t interest you anymore. It’s okay to tear down the tower and start constructing something new, whether you come up with new foundation blocks or attempt to use your existing ones in a different way.

Things may not seem crystal clear during this process, and you may run into some speed bumps along the way, but don’t let it discourage you. The whole concept behind this method is play. You’re developing a story from the ground up and that takes a lot of patience, and a considerable amount of trial and error. Cut yourself some slack and just enjoy the process. 

The Big Reveal

These scenes can be a lot of fun to write, but when you’re dealing with more than one character finding out a secret, the reactions can become overwhelming. Focusing on one character at a time seems like the way to go, but then you end up writing similar scenes back-to-back as each character is told the secret. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you prepare:

How Do My Characters Discover the Secret?

This is a pretty basic question, but it will start off the whole process. Does something happen in the main character’s life that compels them to finally share the secret? If that’s the case, I would imagine that he’d gather them all together and tell them at once.

Your other option would be them discovering some kind of evidence that either hints at or blatantly reveals it. This could be physical evidence, like documents or other items, OR it could be a third party telling them what happened. Whether they find out one-by-one is up to you. Once one of them has obtained some kind of clue that this traumatic event has happened, they would proceed in one of three ways:

Go straight to the main character and ask him about it (prompting a one-on-one conversation)

Go to one or more of his brothers to see if they knew (they’d likely then go to the main character as a group)

Keep it to himself until something causes him to speak up

How this ultimately goes depends on the characters’ personalities and their relationships with each other. If they’re the type that hates confrontation, they may be less likely to bring it up to the MC directly. Some characters may bluntly tell the MC that they know, while others may try to coax the MC to confide in them so they don’t have to reveal that they already knew.

If things have been strained in the relationship, they may not even tell the MC that they know and simply let the news give them understanding and empathy for everything their brother went through. 

So see, it all kind of depends on who these characters are. 

What Kind of Scenes Do You Want to Write?

Short stories allow you to somewhat let your plot influence the characters you create. If you wanted to write a dramatic one-shot where all the brothers have found out and are coming to the MC to address it, then you would obviously craft characters that would confer with each other before taking it to the protagonist. If you wanted to write a series of scenes where each brother finds out the secret, then you would adapt their personalities to fit this situation. 

For the second circumstance, where you’re writing each brother finding out separately, I would strongly consider whether their reactions will be different enough to make for unique scenes. Not only should their emotional reactions be different, but the brother’s method of revealing should be different. Unless you’re making a point about him rehearsing what he’s going to say, you should vary his words and sentences in each reveal. Consider different settings and think about other topics he might discuss with each brother before or after the reveal (to lead up to or ease out of it). How would each conversation change the way he approaches the next one?

I hope this helped you outline your short story! 

Character Development

One thing all readers and writers can agree on is that character development is an integral part of a story. We need to believe this character as a person. We need a reason to care about them.

Here are a few things I suggest if you’re having trouble developing a character:

First decide who you want this character to be. Are they a jokester? An intellectual? A bad boy? The mom friend? They’ll need specific traits to display this character type. These traits will dictate their actions. What would an intellectual do if they saw someone fall over? What would a bad boy say to his friend if they just won the lottery?

Consider your plot. This relates to the previous point; what kind of person is your character and why? Who do you need them to be for the story? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Memories? Hopes and dreams? Beliefs? How do these things affect their personality? Their actions, their voice? How do they use all of this to achieve their goal?

Complete character sheets. You can find loads with a quick google search! Character sheets ask personal questions about your character that will help you figure out where they’ve come from and why they are the way they are. A fun thing I do is come up with little facts that may not be directly relevant to the story, but that build a character into a real person. For example, I pick their star sign, their favourite colour, least favourite food, etc.

Complete a Myers Briggs test as your character. Make use of the 16 MBTI personality types. It may help you understand how your character would react, think and behave in certain situations. It’s important, however, to remember that no person fits into a perfect little box. People are multi-faceted and are capable of tremendous change and growth. Give your characters the chance to grow!

Take inspiration from others. Maybe people you’ve met. Maybe pre-existing characters. Not to say you should write your cousin into the story, but you can take little habits of theirs and put it into your characters.

Love them! It is important to remember your story and characters are fictional, but giving love to them will show in the writing. It will make your story fun to write!

I also recommend checking out the tumblr blog @characterdevelopmentforwriters. They post niche questions that get you thinking about your characters in a fun way.

Good luck!

Act One, Scene One (or Choosing an Effective Starting Point)

The one potential advantage you have with fan fiction is that you don’t have to lay the groundwork as much in the opening scene. Readers will already be familiar with your characters and settings. The only backstory you may have to provide is enough to inform your reader at what point in canon your story occurs. If the story is an AU, or non-canon, then you’ll probably need to add more details to explain this so a reader knows what to expect.

Apart from this, I think the idea of first scenes applies to all types of stories, fan fiction included, so I’m going to generalize this to cover all opening sequences.

Choosing Your Starting Point

We all know the pressures of that first chapter. I attended a panel earlier this year where agents and editors listened to readings of the first page of a novel and raised their hands when they would stop reading. It was astounding how quick they were to give up on each work! I think the average reader is a bit more patient than paid readers, since their time does not equal money, but the same principle applies. You need to engage readers from the beginning if you want to keep them invested.

To simplify this process, we’re going to start wide and slowly narrow to that precise moment.

Step One: Fix Your Mindset

I could do a whole post on ignoring structure and just getting the story written. I could say that you should choose your opening scene later once you’ve drafted a good portion of the story. However, I do not think that advice would help my anon since they’re writing fan fiction, which isn’t typically written in drafts. I also think at some point, you do have to worry about structure.

Nonetheless, you shouldn’t enter into any outline or first draft with that first scene carrying so much weight. It simply needs to exist so you can move on to later chapters. When the story is more developed, the opening chapter might be clearer to you. It’s okay to start the process of writing a story with a flimsy first scene. You can find that sweet spot in later drafts.

Step Two: Choose a Point on the Timeline

A good plot includes far more than the opening line and “the end.” There will be events that happened before chapter one, and maybe even events that will happen after the final sentence. A novel isn’t necessarily a complete story from beginning to end - it’s a snapshot of the most important, most interesting part of something’s life, whether that’s a character, a monster, a story universe, ect.

Maybe you already know what point in your timeline you’re going to begin, but if you don’t, start there. Write out everything you know about your characters and your plot and decide which portions of this are going to be backstory and which portions will occur in real time. Once you’ve chosen that point, you’re one step closer to narrowing your focus.

Step Three: Choose a Character to Start With

This character doesn’t have to be the protagonist, but I strongly recommend it. When we start reading novels, we latch onto the first character we meet. If the character is engaging, we dig deeper. If they’re not, we let go. Likewise, if the character dies in chapter one, we let go.

This was one thing that bothered me about how Leigh Bardugo began Six of Crows. The first chapter reveals a POV character, and at the end of that chapter, we’re done with that character. We get a small detail late in the novel that reveals that character’s fate, but it was kind of like a “gotcha” moment. It put me on shaky ground for chapter two, and I was slower to sink my talons into Inej’s perspective (who is actually a protagonist).

I don’t like investing my energy in chapter one into a character that I have no reason to care about. An exception to this could be changing the “chapter one" heading to “prologue.” We have less character expectations for prologues and tend to assume that a character introduced in a prologue is not necessarily a protagonist - they’re simply involved in an important event of the story. Prologues are honestly a topic of great debate, and I won’t offer my opinion one way or the other in this post, but when it comes to choosing the star character of your opening scene, I highly recommend you make that character an important one.

Step Four: The Perfect Moment

Okay, we know the general point of the timeline, and we know which character we’re going to introduce first. Now, we need to find that sweet spot. A good opening scene will do several things:

Introduce a main character

Show the status quo

Present a short-term problem

Hint at a greater problem

A popular way to start a novel is by showing the “status quo” of the world you’ve created and showing a typical problem within that status quo. This is what I mean by “short-term” problem - it’s a problem that your character faces on a regular basis and they’re solving it like they normally would (with some possible hiccups along the way). For the character, this might be routine, but for us, it’s new. We’re learning about this character and their world in an exciting and suspenseful way.

I just started rereading Red Rising by Pierce Brown, and this novel does an excellent job of showcasing this. Our main character Darrow is shown mining in the dangerous depths of Mars, solving a problem when he runs into a potential gas pocket. This particular moment does not define the story’s later conflict, but it shows us what Darrow’s routine looks like in an “exciting and suspenseful” way. The author shows us the status quote and presents a short-term problem.

Brown also hints at a greater problem in this opening scene by briefly describing the conditions that Darrow’s peers work in and how much they compete for rations. The hierarchy in this universe becomes hugely important later on, so it’s a detail that begins to set up the later conflict.

Step Five: Don’t Make It Complicated

If your reader needs five pages of backstory to understand what’s going on in your opening scene, then it’s not a good moment. It’s possible that you’re overthinking how much your reader actually needs to know, and it’s also possible that you’ve chosen a moment too far into the timeline. If you’re in a position to have your first scene critiqued, experiment by eliminating most of the backstory from your draft. Have someone read it and ask them what points were confusing. That’ll help you decide which details are absolutely necessary.

This isn’t the only way to choose an opening scene, but it’s a popular method that should help you start your story off with a bang.

Good luck!

A Guest Post by Erin

Dialogue is essential to a story especially when you are writing a slice of life story. Dialogue can be used to voice a character’s motivations, reveal information (backstory’s/history of your world) and move along the plot. 

Dialogue is hard to write, so don’t be discouraged. Often, we as writers tend to write something and our audience perceives it differently than we intended. The same is true with dialogue, it’s not what we meant to say but what our audience heard. 

Here are five mighty tips to help you push your dialogue further.


1. Unique POVs

Each character has their own personality and behavior, they should also have their own way of speaking that is different from everyone else. If you establish their manner of speaking early in the story, you won’t have to use dialogue tags after every sentence. Your audience will understand who’s talking.

Example:

A: Hello, how are you doing on such a lovely day? B: Fuckin’ terrible. A: I’m extremely sorry…what happened? B: My mama gotta pig flu.


2. Awkward Dialogue

Dialogue is hard to write because it sounds good in your mind but on the paper, it reads awkwardly. 

To avoid awkward dialogue:

Read it aloud. If it sounds weird to you, it will sound weird to your readers. 

Utilize software. Google docs has a voice reader feature. It will read your text back to you. Through this process you can fix errors, replace misused words and fix unnatural spacing.
 

3. Spacing

To improve the quality of your dialogue, natural spacing, breaks, and pauses are necessary. Writing long paragraphs of dialogue without breaks will confuse your reader. It won’t sound realistic and your reader will lose their place while reading.

Also give the character something to do as they are speaking. Rarely do people simply talk without doing another activity.


4. Suspension

When writing emotional scenes, build up to the emotion. There must be a reason that this character is mad/sad/happy. Convey that in the story whether through their action or dialogue. Don’t randomly add exclamation points and all capitals. Your audience will be lost. Build the suspense whether through one scene or a few chapters.

Example: A: Hey Lucas. B: Yeah. A: Remember when you told me I could borrow your pencil? B: Yeah...?? A: I... broke it earlier...Sorry. B: WHAT!!!?


5. Movement

Dialogue carries the plot just as actions do. Don’t be afraid to give your characters dialogue, but only when appropriate. Before writing always ask: Why should the reader care about what my character is saying? That will be a guiding factor to determine how long or short the dialogue will be.

Example: A: I can’t believe that the King is treating us like this, its’ crazy! There will soon be war! B: It’s been 50 years too long. A: He must go! B: I agree, he will be getting his just desserts soon.


*This scene explains the current situation without being unnecessarily lengthy. It also leaves the readers guessing what will happen next.



I feel your pain, anon. Filler material and transitions between scenes can be a tricky part of writing for those of us who are more plot driven.  

You know where your character is and where they need to end up. Now, you need to figure out how they’re going to get there!

-Remember your side plots. Don’t have any? Create some! Use your minor characters and other aspects of your protagonist’s life to create some side plots that can be explored when you don’t know what else to write. Side plots are ultimately there to support the main plot. Your character can’t be fighting the bad guys in every single scene. What else is going on in their life? What specific items, skills, etc. do they need to achieve their goals? Who do they meet along the way? Do they learn any lessons?  

-Include your side characters. You’ve created each character for a reason. Use them! If you find that you don’t have enough characters, you can always create more. Is there a love interest? A voice of reason? A mentor? A protégé? Figure out all of the types of characters you need for the story and put them to use!

-Consider the theme and message. What exactly do you want to say with your story? What do you want your readers to get out of this? Perhaps you need specific scenes to further this message.

-Refine your notes. Sometimes our story notes are vague. You may have a point that says, “they have a conversation”, or something of the like. Expand on everything. What is this conversation about? Why does it need to happen? At what point does it fit in to the story?

-Take your time. The ugly truth all writers know; writing takes time. We all want our stories to be at their best when we’re finished with them. Rushing your story will show in the writing. Taking time to think and simply live will allow you to come up with more and more incredible plot points, themes, lines and ideas that will make your story everything you imagined it would be. Waiting is difficult when you’re really eager, but patience pays off.

Good luck!

We may venture into a little bit of philosophy here, so beware!

Determining Good Verses Bad

The first thing you need to consider is what you actually want out of your story. Does there need to be a good guy and a bad guy? Sometimes there are none. Some of the most interesting characters are the ones whose moral alignment is indeterminable. Such a character will keep your readers guessing.  

If you do want a clear hero and villain, figure out what qualifies as good and bad in your story.

Say your story is about people fighting to stop an old building from being demolished. Maybe this impending demolition is so they can build a new school, which the protesters are selfishly getting in the way of. Or, perhaps the building is a safe house the protesters are trying to protect from a big corporation. Why is the right thing right? Why is the wrong thing wrong?What determines the good from the bad often depends on the point of view from which the story is being told. This, as well as the way it’s portrayed.

That in mind, who is your protagonist? What are they trying to accomplish? What do they have to do to get it? Do they succeed? Who is in their way? What is at stake? What do they lose? How do they interact with others in the story? Why?    

Sometimes your narrator is the villain and their rivalry is the hero. Either way, your narrator needs to believe they are doing the right thing. A well written villain may even be able to convince your readers they are doing the right thing e.g. Light Yagami from Death Note. Stories like this can raise questions of morality.

Good luck!

Choosing POV for Your Story

I love this question, because I LOVE third person. In fact, I probably have a very unhealthy relationship with third person. I recently did some character building exercises, and I was writing big chunks of text from the first person POV of each character. Somehow, by the time I got to the second page, I had switched to third person without even realizing it. It’s not the first time this has happened either.

Whether you experience this or the exact opposite of this (slipping back into first person when attempting to write third person), then the first step is admitting that you have a strong preference for one point of view over the other. The second step? Learn to be okay with it. 

POV Isn’t Just a Style Choice

Point of view is a complex beast, and to answer this question effectively, I’d rather not turn it into a POV fundamentals post. If you’re new to the concept of using point of view, visit this blog to brush up on the basics. I recommend it even if you already know the basics, because there’s some great tips in there!

Few people acknowledge the role that point of view plays in plot development. When you use first person, you’ve decided that your protagonist is going to be in every single scene. This means you won’t be showing the premeditation of your antagonist’s schemes, nor will you be showing any of your side characters’ pursuits and adventures (there are some exceptions, but I’m generalizing for clarity’s sake).

This is fine when you have a dynamic protagonist that has a lot going on. When establishing POV, you have to decide if your main POV character’s plot arc is strong enough to carry the whole novel. If you have any doubts about this, I would shy away from first person POV. 

First person is really popular in YA novels, particularly where there is a clear protagonist with an engaging story that needs to be told. You see third person much more frequently with novels where the cast is fairly balanced. The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater is one example, along with Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows/Crooked Kingdom. Both of these examples may have one “leader” that stands out, but the cast generally works together to achieve the goals laid out in the beginning. 

So your POV choice really depends on how your plot is laid out. If you think you’ll need scenes with other characters and/or your antagonist to make the story dynamic and coherent, then you probably want to avoid first person. Consider the number of characters you have that actively contribute to your plot’s development. Will the story be missing key elements if you only focus on this one character?

[Sidenote: There’s a third option here, using multiple first person points of view, like Rainbow Rowell does in Carry On, but I don’t recommend it unless you have a strong reason to delve into each individual character’s complex emotions. It’s a tricky thing to do, so proceed at your own risk]

Third Person Is Not Lame

I know first person is popular, but that doesn’t mean that third person novels don’t sell. We usually avoid publishing topics here, but I don’t want anyone shying away from their preferred point of view because they think an agent or publisher will reject it on that basis alone. The only time point of view will hurt you is if you make the wrong choice for the story. Third person is often the absolute right choice. 

The only time your reading should influence this choice is if the story you’re telling has similar qualities to the one you’re reading. In this case, you’ll be recognizing what types of POV work in what types of stories. Your reading will have helped you improve your writing decisions. 

Stay In Your Comfort Zone

This is perhaps in unpopular opinion, but with POV, I always recommend writers stick with what’s comfortable for them. If you’re new to writing, you’ll probably try out both first and third person to see what suits you better. For those who have settled into a strong preference (like I described in my opening paragraph), stick with that preference. 

The point of view that you choose impacts every sentence you write. Novels will present you with a million challenges as you go through the process; don’t make POV more difficult than it needs to be. If you like third person, write in third person. If you like first, go with first. 

Chances are, if you do favor one over the other, then the stories you’re plotting coincide with that choice. Trust your instincts. 

I hope that helped you anon!

A Guest Post by Cait

In every story, we have the main (A) plot; the detective is trying to find the jewel thief

AND

The side (B) plot; the detective is going through a divorce  

Most stories contain more than one side plot. There can be as many as you like. What is the purpose of them, you say? I’ll tell you!

Side plots make the story more dynamic. They give ‘screen time’ to your minor characters, offer relief from the main tension and allow your protagonist to shine in different areas. You know what your detective is like at work, what are they like at home?

Side plots will begin after the main plot is introduced and are resolved before the main plot ends. They introduce storylines that are important, but secondary to the main plot.

How do you write side plots?

Think about:

Who are your minor characters? What role do they play in your story? Who are they in relation to your protagonist/antagonist? Do they have their own arc?

Do they have a love interest? – Common side plots involve your protagonist’s relationships. Unless you’re writing a romance story, a romance arc often belongs to a side plot. The romance doesn’t always have to work out, but it is important that your love interest is a fully dimensional, fleshed-out character. Give your readers a reason to root for, or alternatively, boo for them.

What does your protagonist’s life look like? Who are they in different environments? What’s important to them? What are their hobbies? What is their daily, mundane routine?  

Where has your protagonist/antagonist been? What is in their past? How has it impacted their present self? Are they harbouring secrets? Are they holding on to something? Where do their strengths and weaknesses come from?  

Where else is the conflict? You have your main conflict; catching the villain. What else is going on in their life? Are they struggling to pay rent? Do they miss their ex? Is their mother unwell?

How can all this add to the story? Do these scenes reveal important information? Do they develop your character? Do they develop relationships? Do they relate to the overall plot? Do they build the tone and message of your story?

Without any side plots, your story can become one-dimensional. Your readers may get bored, or be overwhelmed by the main arc. Give your baby dimension!

Your side plots can be whatever you like. They should add to the story as a whole, even if it is something as simple as a silly prank war between your protagonist and their neighbour. Simple things can add meaning if written well. As long as it fits your vision, write away!

-Cait  

I Love Generators (I Really Do) 

@aesterea 

This is an old question, but hopefully my asker is still working away on this story. My advice? Use a random object generator. It sounds like lame advice, so let me elaborate. 

I really do love generators (hence my title). They get a bad rep because it seems lazy to have something else “generate” your ideas for you, but that’s not really what generators do. Generators are kind of like prompts, in that they give you a starting point to build off of. 

The most common use of generators are for character names, and I use them habitually for this. But I’ve also used generators (or long, long lists of examples) for bigger things like, character weaknesses, fears and motivations. I just cycle through examples until something triggers a bulb in my head and I go “Hmmm...” 

Twelve objects is a LOT, and while you’ve been able to come up with some by just thinking about it, you can help speed up the process by using some kind of generator to help you generate more ideas. Use ones that give you multiple results in one click. This allows you to go through a higher volume of examples at a faster rate. Because you may click refresh about 50 times before you get anywhere. It’s a process, and it takes time. But it may take less time than just sitting and stewing over it for hours. 

Google generators that apply to what you’re looking for. In this case, I started with “fantasy object generator” and discovered that this doesn’t really get what you’re looking for (suggestions are too abstract) so then I tried just “random object generator.” I found this one the most useful. From continually clicking “items get,” I landed on some possibilities:  key, handheld mirror, a bell...this was after hitting the button about 6x with about 3-4 suggestions per click. 

Generators are NOT lazy.

I’ll say it again: they’re just not. Imagine you’re an improv artist standing on a stage. Generators are like those people in the audience throwing out ideas. The only difference is, you don’t HAVE to use everything they yell at you. You get to make choices and do all the hard work involved in bringing each choice to fruition. None of that is lazy. 

Generators get you thinking about new concepts and give you a direction to go. If it doesn’t work, you’ll know then and you can backtrack and find a new direction. 

Good luck! Happy generating :)

Turning Character Goals Into a Story

If you’ve got a good idea of what your character wants and their motivation to get what they want, then the big question you ask next is:

What will stop them from getting it? 

When you break a story down into its bare bones, all you ultimately end up with is a character wanting something and having the worst time trying to get it. For each main character, grab a piece of paper (or a document) and write their goal in big, bold letters at the top of the page. Then underneath, write: What will stop them from getting it? Then, start listing ideas. 

These ideas can be both internal and external. Internal ideas may be that the character lacks the knowledge or ability to obtain the goal. External may be an adversary getting in their way. Think outside the box and list everything, even if they contradict other items in the list. The plan isn’t to use every idea you generate, but to get your brain moving on something. 

Once you’ve got several ideas, pick the ones that seem the most interesting to you. Then, for each of these ideas, brainstorm a solution around that obstacle. 

For example, if one of the obstacles is the character lacking knowledge or skill, where will they obtain this knowledge or skill? A school? A teacher? Traveling to a dark, deserted cave? What is the immediate solution to that obstacle? 

Now that you have a solution, guess what? You have a new goal. Now, start the process over with that goal at the top of a sheet of paper and ask the question: What will stop them from getting it? 

If there’s a specific teacher that the character needs to learn from, what will keep them from learning from them? Is the teacher a recluse that won’t talk to anyone? Have they just been kidnapped? Do they live in a corner of the globe that’s difficult to find? What obstacles stand in the character’s way of reaching this teacher? 

Okay, so let’s continue. Let’s say teacher has been kidnapped. The solution? Solve the mystery of teacher’s disappearance. And guess what? You got it - we now have a new goal to put obstacles around. See a pattern?

Goal > Obstacles  > Solution (Goal)  > Obstacles > Solution (Goal)

Keep working with this until you get to that goal you outlined at the very beginning of the story, or the ultimate goal the character is trying to achieve. 

This is a really simplistic strategy to develop a plot outline, but it works. Give it a try and hopefully that’ll give you something to play with. 

I hope that helps!

Dealing With a Boring Character

Friend, I’ll get to your specific questions about your plot and characters in a moment, but first, here’s some general advice about tackling an abandoned draft. Think about why you started writing this story. You might already remember, since you want to rewrite it, but consider this question anyway, in case you want to set it aside again. Did the characters grab you? The setting? The plot? Does this book send a message that’s important to you? Whatever that reason is, write it down. Keep it nearby, so you have it on hand when you feel unsure.

Next, think about why you stopped writing. It might have been a crazy life event–those happen, and if so it’s no fault of your own. But it might have been something deeper. You say the plot and characters feel boring. Did you sense that while you were writing the first time? Or was it something else? Did your plot run into a wall? Did you feel unsure about the voice and tone? Did the characters feel like cardboard cutouts? If you can answer this question now, you can avoid running into the same problem. If your plot didn’t work, try some outlining techniques. If the voice was wrong, try to nail it down. As for the character problems…

You say the main character feels flat. Again, the question here is why. They could be boring because they aren’t well developed. How much do you know about this character’s history? How alive do they feel to you? Would you want to be friends with this character, or at least find them interesting if you met them in real life? It may be that you need to sit down and write out some character sheets for your protagonist. Or you could try writing some short stories about them, to flesh them out without the pressure of writing an entire novel.

The main character could be boring in terms of the plot. Are they a passive protagonist, reacting instead of acting? Do they lack a driving motivation? If so, go back and figure out how to make them an actor. What do they want more than anything? Figure out how they can get it. What can’t they bear to lose? Take it away from them.  What’s the worst thing they can imagine? Make it happen to them and see what they do. None of these things have to be part of your story, but they can help you figure out what your story is.

Or the main character could be boring compared to other characters. Do you like other characters better than your protagonist? If so, why? Are they more motivated? Funnier? Charming? Do they drive the plot instead of the protagonist? If the answer to these questions is yes, then take a step back and ask why your protagonist is the main character. What makes them important enough to be the center of your book? Why are they more important than this other character you like more? Bring that reason into the story. Or maybe you need to refocus the book around that other character.

Finally, you say your story overall is boring. This could be the main character’s fault. They’re the focus, after all, and if you don’t like them, then the rest of the story won’t work either. As you improve your main character, your story improves with them. And if you’re writing about the wrong main character altogether, then of course the story feels boring.

However, there could be problems with the story beyond the protagonist. You might mean that your plot meanders. Break your story down by scene and list what happens in each. Is there a clear forward momentum? Does each scene do more than one thing? If not, how can you fix this? Even a slice of life story has an engine  hidden somewhere.

Hopefully those get you thinking, friend. One final note: this could just be a crisis of confidence. If none of these questions help spark your thoughts, ask someone else to take a look at your draft. Showing unfinished works to other people can be scary, but sometimes all it takes is one person who says, “I really like this!” to get you started again.

-M.A. 

Hey all, it’s Rebekah. No, I have not stepped off the face of the earth. Things have been weird lately, and to be honest, I was a little afraid to come back. I thought there’d be resentment that I disappeared. But I’m still here, still plugging away.

Over the summer, I took a big step and left my full-time job at the library to pursue freelance writing. I’d already picked up work before quitting, and I was preparing for the big move, saving up money and working out how I’d cut down on expenses to make it work. This meant months of writing around my day job, getting up earlier than usual and staying up until all hours of the night to meet deadlines. Now that I’ve committed to it 100%, it’s changed the way I view writing and as a result, it’s changed my writing habits in regard to fiction. 

But I promise, my first post in months is not going to be a self indulgent tell-all of how I got here. I’m going to share some lessons I’ve learned so far in writing for work and adapt those lessons into building better writing habits.

Building Writing Habits

1. When you have the opportunity to write something nonfiction, write it.

I’m not talking about whole nonfiction books, but anything really. Blogging, work emails, instruction manuals, technical reports, book reviews…write. Especially if you are going through a hellish time of writer’s block with your fiction. Find a way to put pen to paper in some way. Even if it’s only for your eyes, it’s good practice.

When you get yourself into a writing mindset, it becomes difficult to turn it off. You finish writing a note to somebody and you think, “Okay, I need to write something else.”

If you don’t have opportunities to write things like this, or you’re just not sure how to even go about it, then sit down and recap your day before you go to bed. You can’t get writer’s block when you know exactly what happened, and the act of stringing together words will become a habit that’s tough to break.

2. Always have a book in-progress.

I’m talking about reading, not writing. Whether it takes you months to get through it, have a book somewhere in your home with a bookmark in it. If it’s been a struggle getting it read, it might be time to bail on it and find a new book. Or else your brain has forgotten what’s it like to always be reading something. If that’s the case, work on reading a page every day and build up the habit.

I’ll admit, in recent years I let life keep me from being a good reader. But when I think back to all the times I got excited about writing fiction, it was around the time I’d just finished an amazing book. You’ll probably go through some books that don’t thrill you, but it’s not difficult to move on from a bad book. Anything else will be amazing in comparison.

I’m reading much more than I was before. What I’ve discovered is that constantly escaping into fictional worlds gets me even more excited to escape into my own.

Writing while uninspired is a chore. Sometimes it has to be done, but when you can, work yourself up to inspiration. Reading a book is an efficient way to do that.

3. Understand your writing associations.

When we write, we often form associations with the exact place we were or what we were doing in life when we wrote it. I can think back to scenes I wrote over a decade ago and remember exactly where I was when I wrote that scene. Whether or not the scene was any good doesn’t matter. It’s a time when I was writing and enjoying it. So when I think of that particular place and time, I feel warm and nostalgic. It’s a positive association.

If you’re like me, your bed is a place of introspection. You think about everything you’ve done wrong, and you make plans to change. Though change is good, the beneficial realization that things need to change is often tainted by doubt and insecurity. I’ve noticed that when I write in bed, I don’t usually get very far. My brain is used to overthinking things in bed, which means every word I write is up for judgement. Do you have a place like this? If so, stop trying to write under those conditions. Unless you can change the association, you have to avoid it.

Try to evaluate your moods and attitudes towards different places and times of the day. Write when and where you feel your best. Before long, you’ll start making associations between feeling good and writing. It’ll then be easier to write in new places. You can build on this foundation so you’re able to write anytime, anywhere.

Examine where and when you’re writing and how you feel when doing it. These associations can be key in helping you develop better writing habits.

It’s possible I could go on for days and days, but I’ll wrap things up and come back around to similar topics later on. I need to address a few blog related things:

1. I’ve got a couple guest posts in the queue that I’ll be posting over the weekend. I was a terrible, terrible person who accepted work from someone and then never did anything with it.

2. I don’t even know what’s in the inbox right now. I need to look and assess where we’re at.

3. I need to get in touch with the admins, and we need to make some decisions.

4. Above all, I need to post! We missed camp nano, but November will be here before you know it guys. I want us all to be ready.

But anyways, I’m back. I’m ready. Let’s do this!