Revealing Information: The Reader and the Main Character

Balance (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As I see it, there are several ways this can fall out. Usually the reader learns something at the same time as the main character (MC). This makes sense because the MC is most often the point of view character. Also, the MC need to learn that something to move the story forward. And if you hold back too much from readers, they will become frustrated or bored and BAM! The book closes never to be opened again. But there are benefits to disturbing the status quo...

• POV superior knowledge: when the POV character – especially an antagonist! – knows something that the reader doesn't know (and the reader knows this), the reader will want to learn the secret and will read on for a while. How long depends in part on the genre and how often you have pulled this trick in the past and with how many other POV characters. This technique does not work well for close POV.
• Temporary reader superior knowledge: the reader can learn something the MC is unaware of if you introduce the information during a different POV scene or an omnipotent passage (but those are tricky). Most times this technique is used to heighten tension and suspense because the MC is in more danger than he or she knows. This lets the MC be blindsided without sacrificing the logical flow of events. It is okay for an event to seem a bolt-from-the-blue to the MC so long as the reader knows the logic and cause of the event.
• Long-term reader superior knowledge: Other times the MC never finds out everything the reader learns. If the MC doesn't need to know, then why bore readers by repeating what they already know? This can be a useful way to tie-up loose ends that no longer affect the MC. And it can give the reader a sense of superiority.

How to Write Dialogue (video)

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-write-dialogue

A video about writing good dialogue, especially for introducing and maintaining conflict.

Revision Step 1: Delete for Dialogue!

This blog post looks at what to delete from dialogue in order to improve clarity, voice, logic, and flow. Dialogue is an area I struggle with but many other people love. By deleting content in your first step of revision, you won’t waste time polishing material you will only remove later on. And if deleting content leaves holes, you can brainstorm and fill the gaps with something even better.

• Doesn't advance story. Story is not just plot. It is also the characters, the world, the mood, and the milieu. If a piece of dialogue doesn't do one – or preferably more – of these things, it needs to go!
• Pace. Fragmenting dialogue and thoughts will speed up the pace. Remove some tags and nonconverstional prose.
• Out of character. It is easy for many writers to write the way they talk. It is harder to write the way the character talks. Make sure to remove your slips of tongue. Keep in mind not only the characters' education, social class, and time period, but also their moods, who they are talking to, and where they are when they are talking (setting).
• Poor logic. There are three pieces to any event: stimulus/cause, internalization/reaction, response/action. In that order, please!

This is Part 5 of a series of five blog entries that look at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

Three very different book on improving dialogue…

Cheney, Theodore. Getting the Words Right. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 2005. 2^nd edition.

Kempton, Gloria. Dialogue. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 2004.

Spencer, Brent. Dialogue Tips & Traps: A Guide for Fiction Writers. Writers Workshop Press, 2012. 1^st edition. Ebook.

Dramatic Dialogue: Steps to Great Conversation Dialogue

http://www.creativejuicesbooks.com/dramatic-dialogue.html

found by shutethesquare on Tumblr

She says about the link...

Dialogue in a story is different from real-life talk. If we were to record a normal conversation we’d find it filled with idle chatter, incomplete thoughts and broken sentences. Most real-life conversations would be too tedious to read.
Written dialogue has to capture and hold the attention of readers. If your characters ramble on, the way people do in real life, you’ll lose your audience. So cut out the flab: words that don’t serve any useful purpose, sentences and paragraphs that cause the story to drag.

Revision Step 1: Delete for Character!

This blog post looks at what to delete from your manuscript in order to improve clarity, voice, logic, and flow. By deleting content in your first step of revision, you won’t waste time polishing material you will only remove later on. And if deleting content leaves holes, you can brainstorm and fill the gaps with something even better.

Characters assumes that you have developed the people in your story or have plans to do so. The blog looks at staying true to your characters and your reader. Always, in my book, the reader comes first, the main character(s) comes second, and so on. The blog does NOT deal directly with character development but the tips and strategies will probably help you in this area, too.

• Flimsy reactions. A flimsy reaction is a label like “sad” or “startled”. These reactions are flimsy because they are insubstantial. They don't show anything about your character except at the most superficial level. Delete (or replace) reactions that are not concrete, don't give insight to your character, or don't convey movement.
• Out of character. Each character is an individual with quirks. When a character starts behaving like a stereotype, delete that action. Also delete moments when your character actively runs counter to his/her own nature IF you are not showing the character's anxiety and/or reasons.
• Overlapping characters. There are good reasons for overlapping qualities – especially in the protagonist and antagonist – but multiple characters who fill the same role, have the same personality, or share similar names, can be confusing to the reader. While an excellent effect when done deliberately for group characters, when you find overlapping characters you probably should consider merging or deleting a few.
• Too many characters. This can be confusing for the reader, especially early on, because the reader likes to focus on one (or a very few) characters at a time. When many characters are competing at the same level of importance – especially in the opening sections of a book – someone needs to go.

This is Part 4 of a series of five blog entries that look at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

Three very different book on character development…

Edelstein, Linda. Writer's Guide to Character Traits: Includes Profiles of Human Behaviors and Personality Traits. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 2006. 2^nd edition.

Hood, Ann. Creating Character Emotions. Cincinnati: Ohio, Story Press, 1998.

Swain, Dwight V. Creating Characters: How to Build Story People. Norman: Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, 2008.

Immerse Your Readers in Your Setting

Immerse Your Readers in Your Setting.

Revision Step 1: Delete for Summaries and Description!

Delete key on PC keyboard (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This blog post looks at what to delete from events in order to improve clarity, voice, logic, and flow. By deleting content in your first step of revision, you won’t waste time polishing material you will only remove later on. And if deleting content leaves holes, you can brainstorm and fill the gaps with something even better.

Summaries and Descriptions may be where your voice shines through most clearly. If you aren't sure what your voice is, here is a great place to look. This area is one that can help define the genre you are writing and every genre comes with its own expectations. Regardless of genre, there are guidelines for good summary and description. I attempt to touch on these.

• Serves one purpose. Good summary and description should do as many as possible of the following: unify the story, ground the reader, establish or intensify mood, develop character and world, show physical and emotional reaction, introduce or develop background, set up or fulfill reader expectations, foreshadow, increase suspense, raise tension, trigger an event (or mini-event), compress time, influence characters.
• Poor placement. Large chunks of summary and description just don't work in the middle of intense action because it slows the pace. One of the exceptions is when you want to stop all forward action – maybe create the impression of a frozen moment of time or a slow motion sequence.
• Dragging pace. Delete any summary and description that is not essential to the story at that moment. If it is important later, put it later (unless you are deliberately foreshadowing or using similar techniques). This strategy of spreading out crucial information (and if it isn't crucial it shouldn't be there at all) can increase reader curiosity and engagement. The largest amounts of summary often happen during transitions and transitions are particularly vulnerable to mistakes that slow the pace of the story.
• Out of character. No matter what POV you are using, you are still using a point of view. Point of view influences what you can mention. Delete anything the character would not notice. Each of your characters will notice some things but dismiss others, be repulsed by this and obsess over that. POV is affected not only by attitudes and preferences but the current state of mind. A person who just visited a dying friend probably won't revel in the glorious sunshine but notice the flies on the trash heaps instead. Or maybe that person (being an individual) would do the reverse. When you use multiple points of view, you may want to show the reader the same setting with this in mind. Delete summary and description that is out of character at that moment.

This is Part 3 of a series of five blog entries that look at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

Three very different book on summary and descriptions…

Alberts, Laurie. Showing & Telling. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 2010.

Bickham, Jack. Setting. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 1994.

Rozelle, Ron. Description & Setting: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Believable World of People, Places, and Events. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 2005.

Use Avoidance to Heighten Conflict

As I rewrite an early chapter, it would be convenient to have the main character prefer to avoid conflict. My first reaction was: no way I can do that. It will reduce my chances for conflict. But then I started thinking…

1. The stakes in any given chapter or scene won’t let her avoid conflict. So she will have an inner conflict (the wish to avoid conflict warring with the need to reach her scene goal) as well as an external conflict.
2. If the main character was argumentative by nature, any conflict with another person would mean less because she’d be following her nature rather than fighting it. More tension there.
3. When I change POV and the scene goal pits two other characters against one another, it will be natural for her to play peace-maker. Which makes for three-way tension because the strength of the scene goal and opposition won’t let them make peace without first resolving the dispute.
4. If she avoids conflict when the stakes don’t matter, then she isn’t communicating truthfully and it can lead to misunderstandings and isolation from other characters. This presents problems she will be reluctant to address – much less solve.

Three guesses as to what I decided. Come on, surely you can come up with at least three possible paths forward…