Pixar-in-a-Box “The Art of Storytelling” is a free online course in storytelling is available here.
Their three minute introduction is our Fun Friday for today. Enjoy!
Craft
Remove the Barriers in Fiction
Few things empower fiction better than well developed characters. Which is why you don’t want to create unintentional barriers between your characters and your readers. What barriers, you ask? Well, here’s one that affects POV characters: John knew he was about to learn something important. Do you see it? The barrier? No? How about here… Sally realized she wasn’t getting it at all. This barrier is …
What is Your Attention Span?
I came across the study that claims the average person now has a shorter attention span than that of a goldfish. Eight seconds. This means most people tend to lose concentration in less than ten seconds. As an experiment, I read the above paragraph out loud. It took about 10 seconds to complete. That means I just lost you. At least the goldfish will swim around its bowl and come back to the same …
Contrived is a Four-Letter Word
Few things irritate fiction readers more than a story peopled by characters who act and react without any apparent reason for what they’re doing and saying. No reason, that is, except to illustrate the author’s message. Or prove the author’s point. Well, you say, don’t we all have a message or point in what we write? Isn’t fiction about letting our characters take the readers on a journey of …
Exclamation Points!!! Avoid or Embrace?!
I love using exclamation points! Don’t you? How about interrobang sentences?! Finally, I think we should bring those back, don’t you?! And not just in dialogue, but in narrative! Finally, shouldn’t readers just really ought to be able to keep up with run-on sentences, no matter how complex, or whether or not they stay on topic, and I wonder how many people could diagram a sentence that’s simple, …
Amplified Emotions
We’ve all heard the expression, “You can’t make these things up.” For instance, you might get an eviction notice and be served divorce papers on the same day that your dog dies and you have an auto accident that puts you in the hospital with a broken back, which leads to your ex getting the kids full time and you being fired since you missed picking the kids up from school and you missed …
Why Some Readers Love the Antihero
Last week I wrote about information dumps, offering sketches of Valencia, Brad, and Joan. You might have noticed that all three fit the antihero characterization. They aren’t the type of people most of us would seek to spend much time with in real life. So why should they be in a book, particularly as main characters? According to Dictionary.com, an antihero is: …
Does Your Reader Want to be Dumped on?
A ridiculous question, right? Of course not! No one wants to be dumped on, much less your hapless reader. Besides, she’s not so hapless. She can exercise her right to close your book long before she reaches the end. By dumping on a reader, I mean an information dump. Here’s an example I just had fun making up: Valencia was beautiful and proud of it. Her auburn hair shone just so in the sunlight, …
Announcing “The Christian Writers Institute”
I am very excited to announce the launch of The Christian Writers Institute! Come visit at www.christianwritersinstitute.com. Over three years ago I began thinking of the need for a place where writers could find the best teachers all in one spot. The idea percolated for awhile until this year when its development began in earnest. It is great to see it finally become a reality. This new online …
Littered with Errors: Can Typos Kill You?
We’ve all done it – typed “here” for “hear” or “you’re” for “your” – especially when we’re dashing off a quick email or meeting a deadline. I don’t know of an agent or editor who’ll reject a submission based on one or even a few typos, particularly if the material is so compelling the reader can’t resist losing the afternoon in your book. However, not all errors are typos. This becomes apparent as …