Adventures of a Writer

Writing good dialogue is a skill that needs to be mastered by writers. Through dialogue one can reveal character and story elements, dramatic conflict and much more. However, there are some common dialogue mistakes that need to be avoided. Author Pamela Todd-Hunter shares some of these... Read on... Dialogue is essential to any story. It’s used to move the plot along, reveal something important about the characters, and keep the pace, but I’ve found that it’s not as easy to write as it seems. Here are several mistakes that can make or break a story.   Cover too much territory Dialogue between characters is the easiest way to move the story forward and give information to the reader but be careful of how much you reveal. We’ve all been warned against info dumps. Usually these occur when the writer is describing the backstory and gives too much information at once, but dialogue can also cause this. Conversations between characters are one of the easiest ways to disseminate information t

For women who write romance, getting the male point of view right is not easy. Karen Pugh who writes as PF Karlin , offers a few do's and don'ts... Writing as a woman in a man’s point of view can be difficult. Let’s face it, men think differently than we do and we all know they hail from the other side of the galaxy. So how do we get inside their heads to write about what they are really thinking? The first and most obvious step is to come right out and ask them. When we were writing our second book, Destiny Reborn , we decided to do some real life research and ask several men a simple question to obtain more insight into the male psyche. “What do you feel when you see someone you’re attracted to for the first time?” This was not the right question.  The first man gave us a blank stare. The second answered with a long drawn out “AH.” The third was a bit more vocal and politely answered, “How the heck do I know? I’m a guy and guys don’t talk about stuff like that.” So, it was ba

Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash Writer's Voice is a term that's bandied about quite frequently on writing websites and during discussions within the community. But what exactly is it? The most simple definition is: it is the unique, individualistic style that distinguishes a writer from other writers. Most significantly, as Rachel Gardner puts it so eloquently: writer's voice is an expression of You on the page . It could be one of many things or a combination of several: use of diction, syntax, description style, dialogue, character development, flow of the narrative, tone, etc. However it goes beyond all this--it encompasses your personal world view. Through your voice you connect with  readers with your unique take.  It's the equivalent of your signature as a writer. And just like you did when you were young -- practise multiple ways of writing your name to finally focus on a particular signature that  you would use life long -- a writer needs to work on her voice

Welcome to Week I of Authors' Tips: A to Z of Writing. If this is the first time you are visiting this series, here's a quick recap. Authors share their tips on writing fiction - and each week we talk about various aspects of writing. This week it's time to take a closer look at Inciting Incident Every story has a beginning, middle and end. But what exactly is the beginning of a story? Do you start at the very beginning with the birth of a main character and move up to one particular point in your protagonist's life? Absolutely not. Doing that would be the easiest way to lose your reader (if you are writing a novel) or audience (if you are writing a movie)! Beginning actually refers to the sequence of events  which is Relevant to your story. And the Inciting Incident plays a big role in acting as a trigger for your story (as well as the Main Character). Screenwriting guru Syd Field says, 'it sets the story in  motion' while Joseph Campbell cal

Welcome to Week G of Authors' Tips: A to Z of Writing. If this is the first time you are visiting this series, here's a quick recap. Authors share their tips on writing fiction - and each week we talk about various aspects of writing. This week it's time to take a closer look at Genre When we talk about fiction, we automatically think of the story in terms of genre. So, if someone were to ask you what is your book about, your first response would be to define it in terms of its genre - such as romance, thriller, mystery, comedy, drama, horror, etc. It's a quick and easy way of classifying the kind of fiction your book falls into -- and thus helps in its marketing. But genre is much more than a system of categorising your novel. It signifies to the reader the artistic style of your story and feeds into his/her expectations of the book. As a writer you need to understand the conventions of the genre that you are writing in, so as to not disappoint your re