A Thistle in the Wind

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…

After dropping my marathon of a guide on worldbuilding, I thought that the next best topic to cover would be on worldbuilding traps. Why, you may ask? Well, because you can easily fall into any one of them. Seriously, it’s something that a lot of writers struggle with. I recently discovered that one of my closest friends was experiencing this problem. She’d gotten so lost into the worldbuilding: the history, the myths—the ethos, even that she’d completely neglected the story. And we all know how important the plot, among other aspects, of a story is. Of course, you can totally walk yourself out of such a trap. And that’s the…

After dropping my marathon of a guide on world building, I think the next best topic to cover would be on writing dialogue. Specifically, writing better dialogue. One of the biggest criticisms I got on my manuscript’s first round of edits was on this. While my world building was strong, characters pretty good, I found myself often telling, rather than showing through my dialogues. And if you’re anyone with a tiny bit of interest in writing, you know how important dialogues can be. They can reveal critical information, help us understand the psychology or motivation of a character, or through subtext, also give us a glimpse in the potential trajectory…

Worldbuilding is hard, to put it mildly. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fantasy writer, or a contemporary fiction writer, you’re going to struggle with worldbuilding. It’s pretty much on par with writing a book. Or even a short story, to be honest. After all, you want your readers to know where your story is set in. Generally, when I’m writing a short story, I like to set my characters in today’s world.  Of course, I would argue that short stories can be easier to write because you can choose to focus on a moment in time, or a particular scene only. But with novels, you can’t get away with…