It might seem like it's hard enough to write a novel and finish it, let alone do a whole lot of extra writing. But this is the age of the "stand out novel" - you're going to hear that term, and others like it, many times in the coming year. What it means is a novel with depth and resonance, a novel in which characters feel totally real and complex and intriguing, a novel in which the story world is evocative and meaningful. It's pretty hard to write a novel like that by just sitting down and … [Read more...]

This week I was working with a group of kids (Grades 5 and 6) on poetry, and one thing I like to do is expand their use of language through the five senses. We talk about details and how they bring all kinds of writing alive, both poetry and prose. In poetry it’s often called imagery – I like to call it word pictures. If you can describe something in a way that “transfers” the image from your mind to the page to the reader's mind, then that’s description that enhances your … [Read more...]

One of the main reasons the hero’s journey works so well for writers is because it contains some of the key elements that will help you to create a story full of tension and reader engagement. On the outside, through action, the journey gives you these: A concrete goal the main character is aiming for, whether it’s saving the world, the princess or their own life An inciting incident – the call to adventure has to be so strong that even after a refusal, the main character MUST act … [Read more...]

Most writers at some point will have at least heard of the hero’s journey. Its genesis is through a famous mythology scholar, Joseph Campbell, who wrote The Hero With a Thousand Faces, and the structure was morphed into the basic structure for all of the Star Wars movies. George Lucas (the Star Wars man himself) was a protégé of Campbell’s, and there is even a documentary where they discuss how Lucas turned the hero’s journey into his recurring story and character arcs. However, the … [Read more...]

Recently I’ve been teaching story structure again, and reminding myself about all the ways structure works in a story. There is a lot of talk about plotting – how to plot, how to outline, how to talk to your plot, how to pattern it like this or that. But I think if you don’t “get” structure, you won’t achieve strong plots. What’s the difference? To me, structure is the underpinning. Like when you build a house, you start with a concrete slab or foundations, and you build a frame … [Read more...]

I'm currently reading a novel that seems endless. There appears to be plenty of action, but ... it's all pretty much the same kind of action and despite quite pacy writing, I feel as though the story is going nowhere. It's a 400 page novel and at page 350, I should be anticipating a lot of things - deeper complications in the plot, growth and change in the main character, an increasing escalation towards the climax. I'm not. Which got me thinking - what is the problem here? I think it's a … [Read more...]