As promised, I'm going to provide brief summaries over the next few days of the four sessions I was fortunate enough to attend at the recent Dying to Write Conference held in Washington, D.C. My only regret was that I couldn't attend all fourteen of the breakout sessions. The first was a session titled "Structuring You Novel," by author and writing coach Kathryn M. Johnson, who put together a trouble-shooting checklist.
In structuring your novel, check to see if you have the following:
(1) A fantastic opening sentence? It will draw readers in. Even though potential book buyers may give your novel a chance due to other considerations, the agent/editor to whom you're trying to sell your novel reads such a large number of manuscripts in any given year, it helps to have a wonderful lead-in to grab their attention.
(2) An early introduction to an interesting main character? Especially if it’s the protagonist, don’t wait too long to bring him/her into the picture.
(3) A controlled perspective (POV)? First or third person is fine, but be consistent unless you’re really, really good and can change back and forth between the two. If using third person, make any POV shifts occur at ends of scenes or chapters, or it becomes too confusing as to whose viewpoint we're experiencing.
(4) Revelation of conflict? Bring the conflict early on, although it doesn’t necessarily have to be a body on the first page (many authors use this, however). Be sure to use tension in each scene.
(5) An opening which takes place at a critical moment? Why is the moment critical, what about it makes it such that things will never be the same again for the town or character(s)? Use backstory much later.
(6) A promise made/kept to your reader? The subgenre you’re writing in should match your title and the beginning of the novel, i.e., no blood and gore in a cozy or a more meandering style in a thriller.
(7) Brisk pacing and compact writing? No chats over tea and cookies; keep things moving. The pace can match the subgenre type, but it still matters. Use shorter sentences, sharper, clearer writing. Get rid of extraneous clutter. Details must count and matter to the story.
(8) Few (if any) mechanical errors? Double check your grammar, spelling, and formattting.
(9) Confusion control? Not everything is a mystery; don’t use information dumps. We need to get to know your character, but pick and choose, layer details, especially true at the beginning, as the reader can only absorb so much at first. You’re asking the reader to enter your world and come along with you.
(10) Natural sounding dialogue? One of the first things an editor will note is dialogue that is wooden or illogical (i.e., Why would anyone say this?) Don’t have characters say things like, "Well as you know," or "As I’ve explained" -- if it's already known, why bother to mention it again? Dialogue can be a good tool to move a story forward. Don’t make people talk like real folks per se, as real folks mumble and tend to drag things out -- just give the *flavor* of real people talking and make it relevant to the character (age, gender, background, etc.).
Other tidbits:
--Don’t make the characters cliches.
--Make the hero an expert on something, not just his/her wonderful sleuthing skills, but something else that makes us impressed by his/her abilities.
--When you’re writing characters, it may help some writers to have an actor in mind to play that part, to get a feel for the character.
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Kathryn Johnson (a/k/a Kathryn Jensen, K.M. Kimball, and Nicole Davidson), has had more than 40 books published. Her mentoring business, Write By You, serves novice and multi-published authors. She has taught writing at a variety of venues, including the Long Ridge Writers' Group and Johns Hopkins University's continuing education program. You can visit her author site at http://www.kathrynjensen.com/.
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