Tag: a thought for today

Pacing: A brief thought

Pacing, without a doubt, will make or break your story. I’ve seen a number of good articles on pacing (links at the bottom); however, I want to talk in more general terms than these articles. I think of pacing as the “heartbeat” of your story. So, in my mind, that pace is fluid—it can begin…

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My eyes are deceiving me

Can you trust your eyes and ears? Can we trust the eyes and ears of a character? Playing with narrator reliability can be fun, but it’s a double-edged sword. Readers must never feel tricked or lied to, so substantiating the unreliability of a first-person narrator is important. “I’m a liar. I’m a known liar, that’s…

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Character and scenery — a brief thought

Something to think about when writing: striking a balance between description of place — to put the reader there — and developing the character who interacts in that place. How does the character feel about the scenery, how does it affect the character? “Scenery is fine — but human nature is finer.” —John Keats