#My first time storys plus#
#My first time storys professional#

However, the best writers don’t break the rules arbitrarily. Great writers know all the rules and break them. Good writers know all the rules for the type of story they're writing and follow them. This is the fun part! But until you write the first two drafts, polishing is probably a waste of your time. (Need a refresher on the basics of story structure? Click here.) This is where you make sure your story is complete, has believable characters (they should have character names now!), and that everything makes sense. Instead, the second draft is meant for major structural changes (make sure it's a complete story!), for cleaning up any plot holes, or for clarifying the key ideas if you're writing a non-fiction book. Your second draft isn’t for polishing, although many new writers will try to polish as soon as they can to clean up their embarrassing first draft. The first draft is often called the “vomit draft” or the “shitty first draft.” Don’t share it with anyone! Your first draft is your chance to explore your story and figure out what it’s about.Įditing is often the part of the writing process that causes the most anxiety, but it's necessary.

#My first time storys professional#

Most professional writers have an established writing process that often involves writing three drafts or more. Tap the power of death in your storytelling. You could say humans versus death is the central conflict of our lives. Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Charlotte’s Web, The Lord of the Rings, and more all had main characters who died.ĭeath is the universal theme because every person who lives will one day die. In how many of them did a character die?īest-selling fiction often involves death. Think about the last five novels you read. The occasional “he asked” is fine, though. (Want more character development tips? Click here.)Īlso, with your speaker tags, try not to use anything but “he said” and “she said.” Speaker tags like “he exclaimed,” “she announced,” and “he spoke vehemently” are distracting and unnecessary.

Good dialogue comes from two things: intimate knowledge of your characters and lots of rewriting.Įach character must have a unique voice, and to make sure your characters all sound different, read each character’s dialogue and ask yourself, “Does this sound like my character?” If your answer is no, then you have some rewriting to do. Show the interesting parts of your story and tell the rest. Show the scene! Your readers have a right to see the best parts of the story play out in front of them. When something interesting happens in your story that changes the fate of your character, don’t tell us about it. However, when placed next to the step above, it becomes very effective. Honestly, the saying “ show, don’t tell” is overused. Nothing destroys drama like over-sharing. To do this well, you need to carefully restrict the flow of information to the reader. A dramatic question is something like, “Is he going to make it?” or, “Is she going to get the man of her dreams?” By putting your protagonist’s fate in doubt, you make the reader ask, what happens next? To create suspense, set up a dramatic question.

#My first time storys plus#

Suspense isn't just for thrillers it's a plus for any type of story. You also need suspense for a compelling story.

But don't forget about internal conflict! This is the process of your POV character warring with themselves and is what sets up the crisis point of the story and the character arc. External conflict is the action of your story, the thing everyone sees on the surface. If there is no conflict, your reader will be bored, and there is no story. Conflict is what drives your characters and what keeps your readers reading. Create Suspense and ConflictĬonflict is essential to every type of story. Note: Character development isn't just for fictional characters! You need to have a well-rounded character if you're writing memoir/personal narratives (you're the perspective character) or certain types of nonfiction as well. Some kind of character sheet is essential for your POV character at the very least. This will help you make more believable characters and keep you from getting character details wrong. It's a good idea to develop a character profile for every single character. To further develop your protagonist, use other character archetypes like the villain, the protagonist’s opposite, or the fool, a sidekick character that reveals the protagonist’s softer side. As Victor Frankl said, “A human being is a deciding being.” Your protagonist must make a decision to get themselves into whatever mess they get into in your story, and likewise, their character arc must come to a crisis point and they must decide to get themselves out of the mess. The essential ingredient for every protagonist is that they must make decisions. Stories are about protagonists, and if you don’t have a good protagonist, you won’t have a good story.