– Writing

Posts related to How to Write

Writers Write

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  • We have yet to develop enough topics to fill all the slots for the year (blame Corona for that!), so let us know what you’d like to hear about. Until then, we’ll just take on topics as they come to mind.

Welcome to yet another great year at Turner Editing. As previously, we will continue to post interesting and timely topics related to the writing world. We are always available for discussion, so if you have any ideas or questions, please let us know. We’re going to start off this year with the first step in writing: writing itself!

As we mentioned at the end of last year, getting something on paper is the first and biggest task a writer has. Once you have something in fixed form, you can sit back and look at it objectively, consider it, improve it, publish it. Until it’s actually written down, it’s just an idea floating around in the aether, nebulous and indistinct.

As with many tasks in journalism, we are going to address the important information gathering questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How.

The Who is obvious…no one else can write your story except you, so you’d best get to it! Your audience out there is anxiously awaiting your fabulous tales.

And the What is easy, too. Again, only you know what needs to be written. It has been said that if you want to read a book, but can’t find it, then you must be the one to write it. In other words you shouldn’t necessarily write what you know…instead you should write what you want to read.

Tackling the How will take the rest of the year, and that’s our plan, but for now we’ll just focus on the Where, When, and Why.

Where to Write

Where you do your writing can be almost as important as what you’re writing. To get the best benefit from the time you spend writing, you should set aside a specific place to do your work. The location and setting are important, but some writers even have a particular pen and pad they prefer to use…others have a favourite program. Whatever setting you prefer to use when you write, it should be set up just the way you need. Once you get it all arranged, the mere fact of settling in at your designated Writing Area will signal to your brain that it’s time to write…no interruptions allowed.

It’s fine if your location is also used for other things…for instance serving dinner to your family. The only caveat is that you need to make it special for when you are writing. Whatever location you use, change it around somewhat for your writing time. Set up an inspiring picture, put on appropriate music, shoo the kids out and hang a bedsheet over the doorway. That way if you are using the dining room table to do your writing, it becomes your Writing Area when appropriately arranged

When to Write

I could say to write every day…all the time…to the exclusion of all else, but that’s not practical. On the other hand, if you do have large blocks of time to write, that’s wonderful. Unfortunately, most of us have too many other things going on in our lives to set aside an entire eight-hour day just for writing. To help keep your focus, some writers subscribe to the Deep Work philosophy, where you can set aside just a couple hours (or even just a few minutes) and get some intense writing done. The Pomodoro method is also available to avoid becoming burned out by over working yourself.

You’ll want to set a specific time each day for your writing. Don’t just say that you will write for an hour…state exactly which hour you will write, and try to be consistent. If you can only set aside time three days a week, that’s fine. More is better, if you can afford it. If you can manage seven days a week, you’re doing better than most writers. Put it in your schedule, on your calendar, in your social media postings. Don’t forget to tell those around you, those you share your house or your life with, that you won’t be available during that time. If you are truly dedicated to writing, then your friends and family will want to support you in your effort, so keep them in the loop.

Why to Write

The Why is pretty much up to you—if you don’t want to write, then don’t. If you do, then you need to understand why you’re doing it, so you can do it successfully.

One big reason to write is because you have something to share with the world. If that’s the case, then you need to consider who will be reading it: your Target Audience. The best way to aim for your audience is to picture one individual who represents the entire audience. Write as if you were sitting down having a conversation with only him. Picture just telling him the story…then quickly write down what you just told him.

If your reason to write is to make money, then, just as with any money-making venture, the more time and effort you put into it, the more you’ll reap the rewards. Treat it the same as you would any job…but in this case remember that you are the boss as well as the employee. Some of your time will be spent creating, and some of your time will be spent managing. As we just discussed (in The Difference Between Writing and Editing), those tasks require different mind sets, so keep them separate.

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Multiple POV Story

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We talked about the problem of Head Hopping a while back, but this time we’re going to discuss how to tell a story from multiple points of view…without hopping heads. Head Hopping is often an issue with romance stories because the relationship between the main characters is almost more important than the characters themselves—most readers want to know what’s going on in everyone’s head. The only way to do that, without Head Hopping, is to split the story up into sections…one for him, one for her.

Examples of Multi POV Stories

Although most romance stories are told with multiple POVs, they aren’t the only ones.

Some stories are best told from different viewpoints. For example in a memoir-like narrative about mother-child relationships, some chapters could be from the mother’s POV and others from the child’s. Readers could see the same scene from each POV and find out what each character is thinking…and therefore understand why they acted the way they did.

Another example could be a suspense story. You can tell some chapters from the Protagonist’s POV and others from the Antagonist’s. That way the readers would know what the Antagonist is planning and be worried about the Protagonist being able to work his way out of the situation…raising tension along the way.

There are some stories that start off with a new character in each chapter…and only bring all the characters together near the end. We saw one story that had a dozen chapters…one for each month of the year…and twelve unique stories. It wasn’t until the very last chapter that all the characters just happened to run into each other, and all the individual stories tied together rather well. It was an interesting way to keep the readers interested…wanting to see how these disparate stories were connected, and it worked rather well.

In any case, you need to remember to stick with only one POV in each chapter. The only catch is that some characters may not have much to do when it’s their turn in the spotlight…and you may not want a bunch of short chapters. That’s where scene breaks come in handy.

Scene Breaks

Instead of waiting for a chapter to end, you can switch to a new POV by signalling a scene change. That allows you to change time, location, or POV. (And that’s the only way to change any of those three mid-chapter!)

There are a variety of ways to show a scene break, the most common being just a double Enter. At the end of each pgph, you hit the <enter> key, so for a scene break, you just hit it twice. That’s fine for use as you are writing…but when you’re ready to publish, you need do something more. Consider what would happen if one of your double-enters falls at the end of a page…it becomes invisible! That can happen even in an ebook, so you need to do something about it.

The standard is to use a triple asterisk centered on a line by itself to show a scene break, but some authors don’t want to be so mundane as to use such a common character, so they opt for a dinkus! If you are also bored with the asterisk, here are some fancier characters you can use as scene breaks (usually used in groups of three):

  • Asterisms: ⁂ ✽ ❄ ✱
  • Fleurons: ❦ ❧ 🍁 🍃
  • Crosses: ✠ ✤ ✥ ✜
  • Stars: ✪ ✯ ✴ ✺
  • Arrows: ➜ ➠ ➢ ➳

Or, depending on the topic, specific shapes may be used, such as chess pieces, card suits, astrological signs, numbers or letters in circles, musical notes, or math symbols. Scroll through the Wingdings fonts to get some ideas.

Various fancy lines to separate text

An alternative to individual characters is to use fancy lines that stretch across the page, such as in the picture to the right. Plenty of sites offer a diverse choice of options—one of which is Vector Stock.

By controlling the scenes, you keep the reader oriented, and we all know that a disoriented reader is a confused reader…one ready to set your book down, never to pick it up again.

Scene and Sequel

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Readers want action in the stories they read…but incessant action is not only tiring, it also gets to be boring as well. Following an action scene with a moment to pause and reflect on that action gives a rise and fall feel to your story…ebb and flow, inhale and exhale, yin and yang. Just another aspect of nature, though an important one. As day follows night, sleep takes turns with wakefulness, and up succumbs to down, your story needs to follow the natural flow. In the writing world, these two phases are referred to as Scene and Sequel, and they each have their own structure…which we will discuss in detail.

Note: When we talk about a scene (lower case ‘s’), we are talking about a single location, time, and POV. Every time we change location, time, or POV, we have a new scene…and that is indicated by a break of some sort: section, chapter, or dinkus. (Avoid using just a blank line as it may end up at a page break, and thus be invisible to the readers.) When we talk about a Scene (upper case ‘S’), we mean that part of a scene where the action occurs…which is then followed by a Sequel.

Scene

Each Scene is composed of three parts: Goal, Conflict, and Disaster. Leaving out any of these parts makes a Scene fall flat, so when Plotting out your story, list the GCDs for each Scene.

Now, let’s examine each of these parts.

  • Goal

Your Hero wants or needs something. It must be some precise item, plainly identifiable—you should be able to point to it and name it. Without a Goal, your Hero is at the whim of the universe…passive and boring. You need a Hero who is going to do something because he wants to do it. Characters who want something are much more appealing than puppets…even if he’s a bad guy, he still has ambition, and that’s what readers want.

  • Conflict

Despite having a Goal, he shouldn’t be able to achieve that goal…in spite of his actions towards it (sometimes because of his actions). There will always be some kind of difficulty…again, refer back to nature: there must needs be opposition in all things. Eventually he will accomplish something on his way to the Goal, but success has no worth if it comes without effort.

  • Disaster

Now comes the good part. Regardless of his intent, his efforts turn sour, making his simple Goal now even more impossibly far away. Whatever he had wanted at the beginning, he now has more to deal with just to get things back to normal…so he can start working towards his Goal all over again.

If he did somehow manage to reach his Goal, the story would be over—no more reason to continue reading. The narrative would have ended. Even when you get to the actual end of your book, you can always leave a few questions open, yet to be tied up…leading to the next book in the series!

Sequel

Each Sequel is also made up of three parts: Reaction, Dilemma, and Choice. As with Scenes, listing out the RDCs for each scene as you plot helps keep the story in line.

Now that your Hero has messed things up even more than before, it’s time for him to sit back and ponder his next move. A Scene is for action…now is a time for re-action.

  • Reaction

The first thing your Hero does is react emotionally to the Disaster that he’s just created, a gut reaction. He’s knocked off balance for a bit…he’s distraught and doesn’t know what to do. If you need time to pass, now is when you do it…not too much, though, because you can’t suffer indefinitely. Sooner or later he has to accept his mistake and check out the remaining opportunities.

  • Dilemma

Unfortunately, there are no good opportunities, and if his Disaster was serious enough, there aren’t any opportunities at all. This is where he has to consider what to do next. Your readers will worry along with him…wondering what he could conceivably do next. Expanding on the horrific possibilities, he finds that none are what he wants, but he has to pick one.

  • Choice

As with the Goal, your Hero is not a wimp—he doesn’t wait for someone else to do something. He is active and boldly goes forward and makes a choice, even though his options are few, and none of them are preferred. Hopefully, he selects the least bad one, but any choice is better than doing nothing. After this monumental choice, he now has a new Goal…and we circle back to another Scene where he is about to do it all over again.

Put Them Together

After a Scene comes a Sequel…and after a Sequel comes a Scene. Alternating through your story, those two elements give readers a feeling of tension, then relief, then more tension and more relief. Although the relief is never quite enough to eliminate the tension, so the tension continues to build.

When you’re ready to end your story, you can let the cycle come to a close…by either letting your Hero finally accomplish what he’s been trying to do all along…or by dishing out some final setback he will never recover from. Remember that throughout your whole story, the Hero is facing a Transformation…reaping either success or failure, life or death, renewal or destruction.

Properly done, the only complaint from your readers will be that they missed dinner because they couldn’t put your book down.

Repeating Yourself 2

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This month we’re going to continue our discussion from last month (Repeating Yourself 1) about repetition. If done correctly, the echo readers hear will resonate within them, making them remember your words all the more. The styles covered in this post are about words that repeat at the beginning or end of phrases. Both can be powerful…if used correctly. See if you can find a way to include either or both in your writing.

Epistrophe

From the Greek meaning ‘return’, this repetitive style uses the same word or phrase at the ends of a series. We already know that the end of a sentence, the end of a paragraph, the end of a story are the most powerful places for your ideas. Well, here we make certain the reader knows what that is. See these examples:

  • The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth
  • A government of the people, by the people, and for the people
  • See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil
  • When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child
  • What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us

If you really want your readers to take away an idea, repeat it…but carefully.

Anaphora

Here the Greek root means ‘carry back’, and similar to an epistrophe, this form also repeats, but this time at the beginning of a collection of phrases.

  • With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right
  • We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground
  • This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England
  • Maybe it’s the way the mountains reach the clouds, maybe it’s the way the waterfalls dive off every cliff, maybe it’s the way everything is peaceful and quiet, or maybe it’s all of that combined
  • Every day, every night, in every way, I am getting better
  • I came, I saw, I conquered

Extreme Examples

  • It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair. (Probably the most famous example)
  • A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. (Probably the longest example)

Not quite as powerful as epistrophe (according to some) but still very useful in getting your point across.

Symploce

Interestingly enough, if you combine anaphora and epistrophe, you get repetition at both ends of a phrase: symploce from the Greek ‘to weave together’. Here are a few examples:

  • For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
    For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
    For want of a horse the rider was lost.
    For want of a rider the message was lost.
    For want of a message the battle was lost.
    For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
    And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
  • Let England have its navigation and fleet
    Let Scotland have its navigation and fleet
    Let Wales have its navigation and fleet
    Let Ireland have its navigation and fleet
  • I say it.
    I voice it.
    I proclaim it.
    And I care not who in heaven or hell opposes it.
  • If there is a mountain, we climb it.
    If there’s a frontier, we cross it.
    If there’s a challenge, we tame it.
    If there’s an opportunity, we seize it.
  • I could not,
    I will not,
    I cannot betray their trust.”

Well, that pretty much covers all the types of repetition that you may come across…there are more…lots more…but we’re going to leave it at this…for now. If we have some discussion about the various types, we may post a few more. Keep at it!

Repeating Yourself 1

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We’re going to discuss the first of a few rather interesting stylistic options this month…ones that you may have seen but didn’t even know had a name, and we’ll see about covering a few more next month . All of them appear in poetic writing and have to do with repeating ideas, but they differ in how the repetition is done. Redundancy can be good…as long as it’s not overdone, but if your writing is full of reduplications, your readers may get tired of it. Keep your use of repetitions under control, and you can use the following techniques for emphasis or to establish a character trait.

Pleonasm

When you use too many words to get an idea across, you may be accused of rambling or having verborrhea (the medical term is more properly logorrhea). Many readers will complain if you go on and on without getting to the point, but sometimes it works…as long as you are doing it with some plan in mind. The word ‘pleonasm’ comes from the Greek ‘pleon’ meaning ‘more, too much, or most’ and refers to redundant words. Let me list some examples:

  • Burning fire (fire always burns)
  • Dark night (night is always dark…unless you’re making the point that this night is moonless)
  • Redundant and pleonastic (synonyms)
  • Two separate cars (cars are always separate)
  • Free gift (aren’t all gifts inherently free?)
  • Completely destroyed (can it be only partially destroyed?)
  • Shrugged her shoulders (what else can you shrug?)
  • Nodded his head (can you nod something else?)

Some pleonastic words exist because of mixing languages together. Consider:

  • Pizza pie (‘pizza’ is Italian for ‘pie’)
  • River Avon (‘avon’ is Welsh for ‘river’)
  • Head honcho (‘hancho’ is Japanese for ‘group leader’)
  • Chai tea (‘chá (茶) is Chinese for ‘tea’)
  • Mount Fujiyama (‘Fujiyama’ is Japanese for ‘Fuji Mountain’)

So, repeating yourself to stress some important point (consider Chekhov’s Gun) or show that a character always talks like that is perfectly fine…just make certain you’re doing it intentionally and not out of habit.

Chiasmus

This form of repetition switches things around, in fact the word comes to us from the Greek ‘chiázō’, meaning ‘shaped like the letter chi (which became our English ‘X’) as it reverses the concepts being repeated. It takes a pair of concepts in a statement and presents them in reversed order in the next. The arrangement helps make the idea memorable, so it works well when presenting reasons for consideration. Here are some examples:

  • By day the frolic, and the dance by night
  • Despised, if ugly; if she’s fair, betrayed
  • Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves
  • Love without end, and without measure Grace
  • She went to church, but to the bar went he
  • She has all my love; my heart belongs to her

You’ll notice that the second set of concepts can either be synonyms (frolic=dance, dotes=loves, doubts=suspects) or antonyms (day≠night, ugly≠fair, church≠bar), but they are related in some way, as is required. Just switching ideas around, does not make it chiasmus, for example: “She appreciated a tall, cold drink, but Eric was also her love.” Although appreciated is similar to love, Eric is neither similar to nor the opposite of a drink.

Antimetabole

The term chiasmus refers to reversing concepts or ideas…not exact words. When the words themselves are repeated, the proper term is ‘antimetabole’ from the Greek ἀντί (antí), “against, opposite” and μεταβολή (metabolē), “turning about, change.” It works similarly to chiasmus but uses the same words in reverse order. Here are some examples of this form:

  • One for all, and all for one
  • Eat to live, or live to eat
  • If you fail to plan, you plan to fail
  • Say what you mean, and mean what you say
  • Fair is foul, and foul is fair
  • Better have it and not need it than to need it and not have it (one of my favourites)

Many folks consider antimetabole to be a subset of chiasmus…some don’t. Either way, they are definitely related. Next month we’ll address a few more ways you can repeat yourself…and make it beautiful.

Chekhov’s Gun

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An important principle in writing is that anything the author mentions needs to be significant. If you tell us, then we believe it and look forward to finding out why. The same thing applies to details when describing things. If you tell us some particular piece of information, then we know it must be important…either to the story or to developing the characters. You can’t just fill your book with random items and descriptions. Readers will come away still trying to make sense of it all.

So Why is it Chekhov’s Gun?

Anton Chekhov was a Russian who wrote plays and short stories in Russian during the late 19th century. Although a physician first and a writer second (He himself said, “Medicine is my lawful wife, and literature is my mistress.”), Anton supported his family with his writing. He has also been listed as one of the most influential writers of all time. He claimed that artists were to ask questions…not answer them, so as his writing matured, he experimented with his style, and those changes have shaped the modern short story.

“Remove everything that has no relevance to the story. If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.”
—Anton Chekhov

He is well known for a variety of things, but the one that interests us here is his quote about what you put into your story (see box to the right). His intent was to ensure that any item mentioned in a story actually had relevance—make certain that everything you put in needs to be there. You aren’t allowed to mention anything, even as small as a flower outside the window…unless that flower becomes relevant to either the story or the development of the character. If you point out something, your readers will go with it…and wait to see how it applies to the story later on. If it never does, they can be disappointed. (And we don’t want disappointed readers, do we?)

Descriptions Count, Too

In a similar vein, you can’t mislead readers by very carefully describing a room…unless that description reveals some piece of information that makes a difference to the story or the characters. (A general description is fine…and necessary.) Also, if you mention some product-specific detail when describing an item, make certain that it’s necessary. When introducing a fast car, just say, “a red, two-door, sports car”—not “a 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 with headers and a spoiler.” The reader can picture whatever kind of car seems to fit. Same with firearms. Just say, “an automatic pistol”—not “an Israeli-made Jericho 941F 9mm with Cherrywood, cross-ground grips.” A can of soda is just a can of soda—not “a can of Coke with the classic logo on it, dented on one side.”

Of course, if the specific make, model, colour, or condition really is important to the story, then, yes, go ahead and include it, but make certain that it is absolutely needed. Irrelevant details tend to distract from the action.

Resist the Urge to Explain

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New writers tend to over explain things, telling the reader details that are either irrelevant altogether or just not needed right now. It’s true that a reader just picking up a new book knows nothing about the background or the characters or the setting or any of the situation, but instead of telling everything, try just showing a little bit about things as they come up in the action.

In general, you shouldn’t need to explain anything…readers are smart enough to figure out what’s going on…given the enough info. Besides, doling out details as the story progresses is a good way to keep the reader interested. Most readers want to anticipate what is going to happen next…and love to be wrong. Holding back tidbits of info keeps up the mystery and tension, leading to escalating conflict…exactly what we want, but you have to take care that you don’t withhold too much…aim for the Goldilocks zone, not too hot, not too cold.

Often new writers feel that they need to describe all the details of a scene…in spite of the fact that those details never play a role in the story—that could cause Purple Prose. Sometimes writers want to include all the interesting facts they’ve discovered when researching some point of the story—that could lead to an Info Dump. Both of these situations could be cured by considering Chekhov’s Gun and cutting anything that doesn’t belong. When the author’s opinion is used to justify things that are in the story, that is Author Intrusion.

Here, we are going to examine two other places where extraneous info tends to collect: dialogue and new technology…in Sci-Fi, Fantasy, or just near-future stories. We’ll look at how you can cut back on the specifics and still have your story understood.

Dialogue

We should be able to tell how your characters are feeling by the way they say things. If not, adding on an explanation in the tag doesn’t really help. This problem crops up when adverbs get stuck on tags. Instead of adverbs, try a short action instead, and trust your reader to figure it out.

  • Unnecessary adverb
    • “I’m sorry,” Bill said apologetically.
    • “I’m so happy,” Dawn said brightly.
  • Action that shows emotion
    • “I’m sorry,” Bill said as he wiped a tear.
    • “I’m so happy,” Dawn said as she jumped up and gave Frank a hug.

On the other hand, unless it is necessary, try to avoid having characters tell us how they’re feeling. Put it into action and let us see their emotions. It should be obvious from the previous scene, but if not, then add in a few more clues.

  • Action instead of dialogue
    • Bill sat down next to Alice and put his arm around her shoulder, giving her a gentle squeeze.
    • Dawn’s face lit up as she ran across the room to greet Frank, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

Sarcasm is difficult to show in speech alone, so in those cases, it may be necessary to use a dialogue tag that shows an opposite emotion.

  • “I’m sorry you didn’t win,” Bill said with a grin, hefting the trophy over his head.
  • “I’m so happy,” Dawn said with a scowl, staring in shock at the test stick showing a blue plus.

The key is to watch out for any mention of a character’s emotion…when you find it, just cut it out. If the emotion is still obvious, then all’s well. If not, then rewrite the section until it is.

Technology

Although this problem is typical in Sci-Fi and Fantasy, it isn’t limited to those genres. If you are writing a contemporary novel, one of your characters might have a new-fangled cell phone (the Note 25.6 Mark II or iPhone 15.3A). Interrupting the story to explain the techie features doesn’t move the plot along—letting us see how the character uses it does. When introducing new technology, whether crucial to the story or not, it’s tempting to stop and discuss it…but don’t. If it isn’t clear what the gadget does from the way it’s used, then there’s a bigger problem.

An excellent example I’ve come across is when Heinlein casually mentions that a door ‘dilated’. He didn’t waste anyone’s time explaining it—he just let the reader assume that it was significantly different yet somehow similar to what we already know, and by not stating it outright, he gives a feeling of much more…a world that is so changed that dilating doors are routine and not worth commenting on.

Consider your audience on this, too. If I say, ‘phaser’, there are some readers who will know exactly what I mean…no need to explain anything. Then again, a slew of readers will have no idea what that entails. I could stop to explain it…or just move on and let them figure it out as we go. You decide how much detail you need to add to widen your audience…without boring those who already understand the reference.

Don’t Talk Down to Your Reader

In general, if you feel the need to explain, you may be assuming your readers are idiots…they aren’t. Ever tell a joke and have to explain the punchline? It didn’t go over very well, did it? The same thing happens when you interrupt the story to clarify what’s going on. Either the reader gets it…or you need to rewrite that section to give them better clues to understand it without disrupting the story.

Sub Text

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Although what you say is important, sometimes what you don’t say is even more important. That’s the concept behind Sub Text. This topic may be a bit Advanced, but we’re presenting it as a Basic level to let writers be aware of it…and possibly manage to squeeze a bit of it in any writing they are doing. We all know that you’ve done a lot of research to create your story world…and you really want to share all of it (which is Info Dump: the opposite of Sub Text), but most readers are at least as smart as you are—they can figure things out for themselves, so let them.

Sometimes you can achieve Sub Text by controlling POV. If the MC doesn’t know something but can perceive it from the actions of others, then so can the reader. You don’t need to be in another person’s head to know how they feel, and neither does the MC. When he responds appropriately, you may assume that the readers are smart enough to see the same clues he sees. They’ll discover what’s going on and understand the actions of the MC. It helps if you Resist the Urge to Explain anything…as long as it is clear. If it isn’t, you need to rewrite the section.

Unseen Secrets

Trying to create hidden information can be difficult…especially as you, the author, do know what they are thinking and feeling. The difficulty is not putting it down on paper, keeping it invisible, hiding beneath the words you give readers, but proper use of Sub Text can make your MC’s journey even more powerful. If your otherwise good character shows a pretence of being mean, his true nature will show through his actions, and we will soon come to understand the internal conflicts that make him act that way. Let readers draw their own conclusions—trust them to help you tell the story. Let readers take what would be just a pile of words and bring it to life.

Stories can contain much more than what shows on the page. Invite readers into the story and let them ask questions that you never address. Let them observe without telling them. They aren’t here to be taught—they want entertainment, but they also appreciate a good mind stretcher, a story that is thought-provoking and emotionally engaging. Trust them to want to delve into unstated backstories. You may know why a character acts the way he does, but if you intentionally don’t include that info, the readers will draw their own conclusions…and whether they match your ideas or not is irrelevant. In fact the more outlandish some reader’s ideas are, the more likely that the difference is going to engender conversation (discussion? arguments?) as he tells all his friends about your book.

Proving a Negative

Just as you can’t prove the non-existence of something, you might have difficulties understanding how to not put in what isn’t in your story. (Yes, that may be a double negative, but it’s the best way to say it.) Just give readers two points…and nothing in between. Let them connect the dots. The more those points differ, the less they align, the greater the mystery. Readers will be curious about the missing information and fill it in for themselves. When an internal revelation differs from how a character has appeared on the outside, there is a question, an implicit question…never explicit. Sub Text cannot be explicit…it must come implicitly from the apparent disparity.

Consider this minor example: a character gets mad and storms out of the room…only to return mere moments later to apologise. We don’t need to follow him as he considers his feelings…we know what he did. You give the reader the argument and the apology and leave the contemplation unstated.

What if the reader’s assumptions don’t fit your expectations? You need to include enough solid substance in your story that the shadowy Sub Text correctly suggest what you had in mind. The Sub Text can only derive from the context you’ve presented. Reveal enough about your characters, your plot, or your story world…but only what is absolutely needed…then leave the rest out. Do not explain the gaps.

“If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows, and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things only because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.”
—Ernest Hemingway in Death in the Afternoon

Where is Sub Text?

If Sub Text is never revealed, does it actually exist? Oh, yes, it exists all right, just as the underwater part of an iceberg exists, and you, the author, will know it well, probably written down on Character Sheets, just not in the manuscript. As with all the research you’ve done, you may want to include everything about your characters, but the Sub Text must remain below the surface. When you create your story world, you may have information in your notes that will never see the light of day…keep it that way. Even if you are especially proud of some detail you’ve created, be careful to never expose it to readers. Pointing out how clever you are doesn’t add to the story—it will kick them right out of it.

When characters tell all, they spoil the opportunity for Sub Text. Telling each other exactly what they’re thinking or talking about situations exactly as they are is On the Nose Writing. Certainly don’t let them talk about something that they already know (As You Know, Bob), even if it is necessary for the reader to hear. If you find them doing any of that, consider whether the information is vital to the story, and if it really is necessary, then use creativity and show rather than tell through dialogue or narrative—keep the iceberg under water. In fact, give them plenty of opportunities to keep quiet, as the silences between dialogue gives a place for Sub Text to live.

Remember the Iceberg

Hemingway coined the term Iceberg Theory in 1923 to label his minimalist writing technique, and even if you aren’t going to take it to the extreme that he did, it is a good concept to keep in mind as you write.

Using Styles

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One of our readers recently pointed out that although we mention in a couple places about how to access style shortcuts, we never really discuss just what, or how important, Styles are, so we’re going to rectify that right now. In Word (and many other writing programs), paragraphs can be set to specific styles…allowing for consistent appearance. The best thing about using styles properly is that if you change a style, it changes all paragraphs of the same style instantaneously…saving you from having to search out and change each one manually.

Seeing Styles

Before you can adequately use styles, you need to be able to see them. Two places where Styles become visible and useful are the Navigation Pane and the Style Area Pane (only in Draft or Outline). Turn on the Navigation Pane by selecting the View Tab, and in the Show Group, check the Navigation Pane box. You should now be able to see it to the left of everything. It may not show much, unless your document is already using styles. The Heading Styles listed in the Navigation Pane can be individually expanded or collapsed by using the small triangles or you can globally show headings of any level by Right-Clicking and choosing Show Heading Levels. That will show the level you pick and any higher.

Accessing the Style Area Pane is more involved. First click on the blue File tab, then select Options (near the bottom). Once there, click on Advanced and scroll down to the Display section. There you’ll find the “Style area pane width in Draft and Outline views:” Set it to a number between 0.5 and 0.75. You can adjust it later, but you need to be able to see it before you can move it around. Click OK to make it happen. Now, when you’re in Draft View (Ctrl-Alt-N) or Outline View (Ctrl-Alt-O), you’ll see the style name for each pgph in a column to the left of the content. Now you can drag the vertical line next to it to adjust the width.

Applying Styles

The most common styles are the built-in Heading Styles. Heading 1 through Heading 9 are each a subheading of the proceeding one, but you can create custom styles—in fact, I recommend it. My typical novel file has styles named Chap Num, Chap Name, etc. I set them up so that when I type a Chapter Number, the next paragraph is automatically Chapter Name, and Body follows next. When I start a new chapter, I just type, no thinking, no formatting, no issues.

You can use any of the styles shown in the Home Tab, but sometimes you don’t want any of those. Good news: You can add to or remove styles in that list. I suggest you remove the ones you aren’t going to use and add in any custom ones you’ve created.

Creating new styles is easy enough…just make formatting changes to a paragraph, then Right-Click, point to Styles ►, and choose Save Selection as New Quick Style… Then give it an appropriate name, and you’re ready to go. Once you have a few styles defined, changing the style of any given paragraph is straightforward. Just click in the paragraph, then click the appropriate Style in the Home Tab. If you’re using the Heading 1, 2, or 3 Styles, you can apply them with a quickie key press: Ctrl-Alt-1, 2, or 3. (Apparently they decided that the other heading styles aren’t used often enough to warrant a shortcut.)

In your haste to be stylish, be careful to not create too many. It defeats the purpose if you have a different style for everything, but do style all the major sections appropriately. It will help you keep focused on your content when the Navigation Pane shows your headings—you can see right where you are in the overall document.

Use Style

Now that you can see, apply, and create your own styles, you need to remember to use them. If you save a blank file with all your styles in it, you can use it as a template whenever you’re starting up a new project. Have fun!

The Five C’s of Plot

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Just as we earlier had gone over the Three C’s of Writing, we will now look at the Five C’s of Plot. By considering these five ideas, you will be able to develop a skeleton that you can then fill in with appropriate details to build up your story. These aren’t named quite the same as the Five Plot Points, but I’ll show where they tie in. Before you start expanding your story by aiming for the Plot Points, you may want to at least identify what these concepts are in your story, so you can use them as a guide.

Character

Of course you have to have some characters in your story…otherwise who would we be reading about? Some authors argue that Plot is more important than characters…others argue the other way around. I find that Characters are part of plot, so you can’t have one without the other.

Right up front, you need to create a wonderful main character (MC) that the readers can worry about. You’ll also need a flock of minor characters to carry out the various tasks required of them (Elements—Character). We get to know all these characters in Plot Point #1, Introduction, but they need to be believable, not flat, or the reader won’t care what happens to them. All right, now that you have your cast of thousands, what do you do with them?

Conflict

Here is where the real story starts. To find the conflict, the question you have to ask yourself is why is this day different from all others? That’s the key to the start of conflict. Something happens in our Hero’s life that disrupts things the way they were. Although he spends the rest of the story trying to get back to normal, it never happens. This change in his situation makes a change in him as well.

The Conflict could be internal (he realises that he needs to change) or external (someone or something interferes with his life). A good example is a Bad Guy taking something away from him or preventing him from getting something he desires. It could also be something as simple as a tree branch falling on his car. This conflict happens as part of Plot Point #2, Inciting Event, but that’s just the beginning.

Complications

Here is where the bulk of your story resides. There is a problem…and every time your MC tries to fix the problem in front of him, another, greater, problem develops. You can have fun with these complications…dreaming up more and more convoluted difficulties. If he gets out a chainsaw to cut up the branch lying across his car…he could find the gas tank empty…OR he could be cutting the branch apart and the saw kicks back…slicing off his fingers!

It’s your choice to envision appropriate setbacks for him…depending on how seriously you want him to fail. These complications, taking place during the Rising Action, continue to escalate until the Hero is defeated…he has reached his Darkest Point (Plot Point #3).

Climax

This is the point where your Hero finally turns things around, coming from behind to somehow defeat the enemy. The method he uses to succeed in completing the challenge is up to you, but it has to be logical, though not predictable. Twenty-twenty hindsight will make it clear why he did what he did, but the reader shouldn’t be able to guess what’s going to happen before it does.

In addition, you have to remember that it has to be his decision that makes the difference, though possibly guided by his Mentor. Once he makes that decision, and is committed to following through, he goes for it and something changes…either himself or the world…but he never manages to return to his old self (Transformation). This part of the process matches up with Plot Point #4, also called Climax (isn’t that amazing?).

Conclusion

Now you finally get to tie up all those loose ends you left lying about with all the subplots you so carefully wove throughout the story and maybe explain how your Hero achieved his victory. This is your chance to show the reader the new world that was created by the Hero’s change.

Now would be a good time to allude to other activities in the continuation of the story…possibly revealing that a subsequent story may be about to take place. (Remember, the best way to get your first book to sell is to write a second book…and to get that one popular? Just write a third! You aren’t a one-trick pony, are you?) After all this, you’ve ultimately reached Plot Point #5, Resolution, just with a different name.

Put It All Together

Now that you have the Five C’s identified, all you have to do is figure out the rest of the story…but with this foundation, that should be easy, right?