A Thistle in the Wind

Fun fact: I finished reading Catching Fire, part of The Hunger Games trilogy, about a couple of weeks ago. And it got me thinking about writing revolutions a lot. In my manuscript, while there isn’t a revolution (yet), I’m trying to establish the natural conditions that might lead to one.  Of course, I won’t glorify revolutions here. Both history and fiction has taught us that revolutions are messy, chaotic and very gruesome. But in fiction, we can at least experience it from the position of an observer and allow ourselves to get lost in the story. However, as fascinating as revolutions are to read, bringing them to life on the…

I’ve spent a lot of time recently talking about writing a book. From worldbuilding to writing memorable first chapters to pacing; I’d say that I’ve covered a lot. However, there’s one critical part of writing great fiction that I haven’t discussed and that would be writing likeable (or unlikeable) book characters. After all, great characters are just as important as a good plot and detailed worldbuilding. So, to fix this err of mine, in this blog, I’m finally talking about writing memorable characters. Have you ever  wondered why some characters leap off the page and into your heart, while others just…grate on your nerves? Writing book characters that evoke a…

Last week I posted a blog on pacing and how as writers, we need to balance things like flashbacks, worldbuilding and more. With worldbuilding, I’d say that I’ve done enough research on the subject to not be curious about it anymore. But flashbacks and backstory? Now that’s something I’ve kind of had to learn how to incorporate in my novel. I basically have this one incident that happens before the start that basically leads to the events of my story. Like, it’s the reason my main character is where she is, and influences her decisions. And there’s a particular flashback that hits her over and over again. And that’s where the…

A lot of writers struggle with pacing—and if you’re not sure what I mean, ask yourself this: have you ever written something that technically works, but just doesn’t feel right? Maybe your story drags in places, or events move so fast they don’t leave any emotional impact. That’s pacing. Or rather, that’s what happens when pacing goes wrong. Pacing is the speed at which your reader experiences the events of your story. But don’t fall into the trap of thinking that fast is always good or that slow equals meaningful. Great pacing isn’t about speed—it’s about rhythm. It’s about knowing when to floor it and when to ease off the…