How To Create A Read-Worthy Opening Chapter

K.M. Allan

A classic piece of writing advice is to hook the reader with the first sentence.

While what makes a great sentence is so subjective that such advice is near impossible to achieve, it’s the sentiment that is sound. You want to grab the reader with your opening so that they’ll want to pick up and finish your book. The good news is that you have the whole first chapter to do that, and these tips to help you.

Star Intros

Barring exceptions of prologues, instances where you need to start with the killer to set up a murder, or opening your story with a flashback or flash-forward, if you can make the first character your reader meets your Main Character or the set of characters that you want them to like, do that.

The MC or lead characters are who your readers…

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Metaphysical elements in writing – tarot cards oracle cards

Story Empire

Hello, SE’ers!

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

It’s Jan again with another post about including metaphysical elements in fiction stories. Today’s topic is Tarot and/or Oracle cards.

Courtesy Canva

There is a multitude of ways these divination cards could be used to enhance fiction storytelling. Did you know that writers such as John Steinbeck and Stephen King have used tarot cards for inspiration? It’s not unusual at all.

Perhaps the most common use of tarot in a fiction story lies in creating a character arc. A character (whether it be a main or side character) who consults the cards for direction or inspiration says a lot about the character without having to tell the reader about that aspect of their makeup and/or beliefs.

Right away, you know the character is open to and tuned into elements beyond the physical realm.

Consulting the cards to deepen your character is extremely effective…

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Happy St. Paddy’s Day – Caturday Edition

Reblogging this though it’s a day early for Caturday

Jeanne Owens, author

In honor of both St. Patrick and St. Gertrude (the patron saint of cats whose day is also today), here is a Caturday edition of St. Patrick’s Day pictures.

(images found on Pinterest)

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Writing the End – Part V

Story Empire

Greetings Storytellers. I’m back with my final thoughts on how to end our books. So far, in this series, we’ve covered:

• Part I – Why Endings are Important
• Part II and Part III – 8 Common Ways to End a Story, and
• Part IV – 7 Elements for a Satisfying Ending

In this post, Part V, we’re going to browse through the final 7 elements that contribute to a satisfying ending for our readers.

In the last post we touched on:

• Know how your book will end
• Write a logical ending
• Write a satisfying ending
• End with a sense of finality
• Know when to end
• Last impressions matter
• Keep things fresh

This time we’ll cover:

• Avoid Deus ex Machina endings
• The plot twist
• Highlight your protagonist
• Narrow your protagonist’s path
• The brink of failure
• Transformation
• Add a little hope

Tips for Writing an Awesome Ending (8-14)

8. Avoid Deus ex…

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Things Which Book Lovers Can Relate to #MondayBlogs #Booklovers 📚❤️

Lucy Mitchell Author Blog

I am on a book reading high at the moment. Some great books have come my way and I thought would do a book related post in celebration.

Here are some things book lovers can relate to:

1. When someone asks you to pick out your favourite book from your entire book collection and they are still waiting for you to answer an hour later.
2. At a social gathering someone wants you to tell them about the book you are reading. Little do they know you are LOVING the book you’re reading. An hour later, you’re still talking about this book and they have wandered off to talk to someone else.
3. The pain of struggling with a book for 300 pages and then being rewarded with a terrible ending.
4. When someone questions whether you can read a book in a day…
5. People who borrow your books and return them dog eared…

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Story Verbing Part 1

Story Empire

Greetings, Story Empire mavens! Today’s post starts a two-parter on the nuances of choosing effective verbs to enhance description. Sure, it sounds simple, but you might be impressed with the possibilities. Per my pattern, this post starts with the basics so Part 2 next month will let us explore, play, experiment, brainstorm, innovate—pick some cool verbs and we’ll do ‘em. Smash that comment button and let me know what’s working or not with my posts. Remember to share and spread the word about Story Empire and this fine group of authors working to help you put out your best possible stories!

Story Verbing

Choosing expressive verbs is the most powerful technique for enhancing the vividness of your narrative descriptions. Setting your prose apart from mundane writing, it more effectively paints the imagery of your scenes. It can manipulate readers’ emotions and infuse your story with personality reflecting your point-of-view character(s)…

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The Little Details Checklist

K.M. Allan

There’s so much to keep on top of when writing a book that it’s easy to forget the little details, like what your characters are wearing or what movie they saw on the first date with their love interest.

While you might think such things aren’t super special to know, or that you wouldn’t let them slip past you, it’s the little details that fill in your book world. Keeping track of them is important, especially when you’re on draft eleventy and have read the story so many times that everything has blurred together.

Luckily, there is a way you can make sure you don’t leave out the little-yet-important details, and it’s with the help of this checklist!

To get the full benefit of this checklist, your manuscript should be at the final draft or close to it. Have it in front of you, either…

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Things to Expect When Writing Your First Draft #MondayBlogs #writers

Lucy Mitchell Author Blog

Hello, thanks for taking the time to read my blog.

If you are getting ready to write a first draft please check out my list of things to expect along the way:

1. The food inside your fridge will become very appetising the second you start to write. Be prepared to spend a large amount of your writing time with your head stuck in your fridge.
2. Don’t expect your characters to keep their names you gave them in the planning stage. You will either come to detest them by 20k words or you will forget what they were supposed to be called and refer to them as something totally different by the end.
3. Plot holes are to be expected. Let them appear. In subsequent drafts you will fix them. There is nothing more satisfying than finding a fix for a gaping plot hole.
4. The songs you keep listening to whilst writing…

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You Have One Chance

Story Empire

Hey, SE Readers. Joan with you today. Like most writers, I’m a reader. All writers should be readers, but that’s a discussion for another day. Mystery and suspense is my favorite genre, but I’ll read others as well. I have my favorite authors, some are auto-buy, but I’ll also explore some that are new to me.

Recommendations come from a variety of sources—from friends, reviews, BookBub, Goodreads, and also Net Galley. If you aren’t familiar with the latter, it’s a place where readers can signup and request advanced reader copies of upcoming releases. It’s a good way to get free books. Who doesn’t like free?

Recently, I saw one that intrigued me. The premise sounded good, so I requested it. I should have known better because they were still allowing ARCs after the publication date. I was approved within minutes. Yes, minutes. Net Galley can sometimes take weeks depending on…

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Action and Dialogue in Storytelling – by Melissa Donovan…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

on Writing Forward:

Today’s post is an excerpt from What’s the Story? Building Blocks for Fiction Writing, chapter seven: “Action and Dialogue.” Enjoy!

Action and dialogue are the wheels that carry a story forward. The easiest way to imagine action and dialogue in written narrative is to think of a movie. When characters onscreen do things, that’s action. When they talk, that’s dialogue. Most of a story’s momentum is contained in action and dialogue.

Continue reading HERE

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