Comments on: 5 Ways Your Story Hurts Your Novel

By: annabellefranklinauthor

annabellefranklinauthor — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 14:24:42 +0000

Good points. I only ever read a book for the story. I don't care who the author is married to, what they had for breakfast or whether they use too much passive voice - as long as the story grips me, nothing else matters.

By: Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 17:15:10 +0000

In reply to janicehardyauthor. Thanks, Janice - it is exactly like that. There's enough continuous progress (okay, slow - I started in 2000) but I'm probably at the 300K polished and final words mark. Out of 500K probable total. One scene at a time. If I had been well, THIS book couldn't exist.

By: janicehardyauthor

janicehardyauthor — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:54:08 +0000

In reply to DH Willison. Yes, even though they're classics. Most agents/editors will say look at books published in the last 3-5 years for comps, and the see what's being published "right now." There's also a difference between protagonists who get swept up in events and protagonists who just exist and have things happen to them. Driving the plot just means they A. Have agency (there's a reason they're trying to solve whatever the issue/problem is) and B. Are making choices that affect how the plot unfolds. Things *can* happen to the protagonist. But if the plot would unfold the same no matter what they did, and they didn't do anything to affect it, and they just accepted what happened and rolled with it, odds are they're not driving it at all. The plot is driving them, and they're just actors on a stage reading lines.

By: janicehardyauthor

janicehardyauthor — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:48:20 +0000

In reply to dholcomb1. Good luck with both :)

By: janicehardyauthor

janicehardyauthor — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 12:47:50 +0000

In reply to Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt. Some books are like that--they're going to be written at their pace and nothing we do can change that :) Sending good writing vibes as you make your way to the end.

By: DH Willison

DH Willison — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 23:13:44 +0000

Great article! I hear the advice, “your protagonist must be the one driving the plot” quite frequently, and it’s probably the one thing I worry about most with my writing. My stories tend to be of the “going on a great adventure” type, and things usually go wrong (protagonist does things that often put them further away from their goal).

But there have been historical stories like this (The Odyssey and Robinson Crusoe being the ones that spring to mind). Are these types of stories considered too old-fashioned to be acceptable in modern literature?

By: dholcomb1

dholcomb1 — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 04:24:41 +0000

working on both.

denise

By: Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt

Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt — Sun, 05 Sep 2021 19:34:09 +0000

Just have to finish. I don't think it's boring - I keep having to solve new challenges to get the best scenes. I'm still excited to read each after I finish it (I think this is what happens when you write the book you want to read: you don't stop until it's right, and then you can re-read it quite a lot). I only wish I weren't so slow, but this book wouldn't exist if I didn't have this to deal with. And here I thought I was going to write academic mysteries!

By: Jenny Hansen

Jenny Hansen — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 06:42:50 +0000

In reply to janicehardyauthor. Thanks, Janice! I so appreciate the advice.

By: janicehardyauthor

janicehardyauthor — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 14:11:17 +0000

In reply to Jenny Hansen. That can happen with a great premise idea :) When that happens to me, I brainstorm "who can put into this premise and make them miserable?" and "why would someone be for and against this situation?" It helps figure out characters with the most personal stakes, which usually leads to that good old GMC. :) Keep asking "why X?" for the various aspects of your idea.