Have you ever read an action scene that felt a little “off” and disorienting, but you couldn’t quite pinpoint why? I would submit that it is often a result of authors who bounce around in time when they write action, which means our brains have to do extra work to piece together a chronology that […]
Prose
Don’t over-explain “default” objects and gestures
When novels are bloated with an excessive word count, the extra words are often where you’d least expect them. In fact, when I’m editing, I often find that very long novels are among the most tightly plotted. The authors know the word count is a problem, so they trim all the extra scenes and streamline […]
How to write clear physical description
Movies and TV shows thoroughly dominate our modern conception of storytelling, and I often worry that clear physical description in novels has become a bit of a lost and underappreciated art. Aspiring writers often rush past scene-setting to get to conversations, which carry disproportionate weight in scenes. Over-reliance on dialogue is one of the most […]
Describe characters and settings when they’re first introduced
An extremely common writing foible I see when I’m editing novels reads like this… “Hey!” Nathan heard a voice say. Nathan turned to see someone approach him on the sidewalk. “What are you doing?” the man asked. “Hey, Egya! Working on a blog post about why it’s confusing when characters and settings are only belatedly […]
Don’t fear repeating pronouns
Allow me to reintroduce you to the word “they.” It is a useful word. A versatile word. A word that so completely disappears into the background you don’t need to worry about repeating it. For some reason lots of writers are scared of pronouns. They find all sorts of convoluted ways of avoiding them. For […]
