When you’re reading about a romance between two characters, assuming they’re adults, sex is a likely outcome. Letting your audience into that incredibly personal experience can be very rewarding. However, a badly written sex scene is just awkward and uncomfortable.
When you’re watching a film or a play, the setting of your story is immediately apparent. It’s created by set designers for the story to move through and around. However, when you’re writing a book, it’s your job as the writer to fill in that scenery.
One of the most important things to consider when you’re writing a story is the relationship between your Protagonist and your audience. If your audience don’t care about what happens to your Protagonist, they won’t care what happens in your story.
When your audience comes to your story, whether reading or watching, they won’t necessarily know what your story is about. They might have a blurb or a synopsis, but often that doesn’t tell them very much. I’m going to talk you through how to tell them quickly, and why it matters.
When you come up with an initial idea for a story, it can be very exciting. Perhaps you’ve invented a world, or thought of a character you want to write about. It fills you with creative urge and you’re dying to start pouring your story out. But then you sit down to write… I’m going to talk you through the process of brainstorming that initial story nugget idea so you can turn one small idea into the plan for a story.
When it comes to constructing a villain in your story, you need to put as much care and time into that character as you do the hero. No matter how interesting your hero is, and how exciting the conflict is, a boring villain will make your story boring. I’ll be exploring how to make sure your villain is an interesting character.
The Protagonist of your story is the main character. You join them at the beginning of the story, and ride with them until the climax. At points you might move into the Point Of View (POV) of other characters, such as the Antagonist, but for the most part you stick with the Protagonist. In this post, I’ll be explaining about how to transition your Protagonist from a passive character into an active one, and why it matters.
Show don’t tell is a popular piece of advice given to writers, but it isn’t always explained well. Previously I wrote about how to use this advice for demonstrating your characters emotions and feelings to your audience. For this piece, I’ll be explaining how to use show don’t tell to set the scene for your story.
A series of books is a good way to bring in an audience, and then keep them around. If they get hooked on book one, your return readers are ready and waiting rather than having to build up interest from fresh. But making sure your first installment ends in a way that makes them want to keep exploring your world and your characters is key.
Your Protagonist needs to be motivated throughout your story. They want something, they go after it, and your story follows that journey. However, what they want might not always be the thing they need. I’ll be exploring that and the impact it’ll have on your story.