31 March 2014, this blog is about writing in scenes. I’m focusing on the tools to build scenes. I’ll leave up the parts of a novel because I think this is an important picture for any novelist. I’m writing about the rising action.
1. The beginning
2. The rising action
3. The Climax
4. The falling action
5. The dénouement
Announcement: My publisher just announced that I would be receiving the proofs for Sister of Light on Monday and Sister of Darkness the next Monday. That means by the time you read this, the novels should be in print. I’ll keep you updated, but my publisher also wants to put about 10 of my novels on contract.
Today’s Blog: The skill of using language in a large degree comes from the ability to put together figures of speech that act as symbols in writing.
Here are my rules of writing:
1. Entertain your readers.
2. Don’t confuse your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don’t show (or tell) everything.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
The things that will throw me out of the story:
Grammar issues
Historical issues
Word overuse
Science issues
Logic issues
Bad word choices
1. Difficult words
2. Words that don’t match
3. The wrong word
4. An illogical word
5. An incorrect word
6. A vulgarity
7. An unnoticed pun
8. A misused word
9. A colloquialism
When a reader hits a misused word, she stops and puzzles over the word. If it is a reader problem–that is, the reader, doesn’t understand the word, the word is unusual in the context, or doesn’t understand the context–the writer needs to get to work. If it is a writer problem, the writer put in the wrong word or used the wrong word for the context, the writer also needs to get to work.
I’ll write more tomorrow.
For more information, you can visit my author site www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
www.aegyptnovel.com
www.centurionnovel.com
www.thesecondmission.com
www.theendofhonor.com
www.thefoxshonor.com
www.aseasonofhonor.com
