Purple Prose [Search results for quotes] 

©Stina Lindenblatt

As you know, I love craft books on writing. As part of a somewhat regular feature, I’m sharing quotes that deal with a particular element. Today’s element is tension.

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Many authors feel it is important to portray what is going on in their character’s heads, but they forget that much of that material has already been felt and thought by the reader. Rehashing what is already obvious does not heighten it. It merely saps tension. Exposition is a time for what is new: extra questions, fresh anxiety, unforeseen angles. Think of exposition as plot turns. It’s just plot that plays out in the mind.

The Fire in Fiction by Donald Maass (page 228)

Here’s an easy equation for maintaining tension throughout your story: Change equals tension . . . . The best changes throw the protagonist off balance, while the ensuing changes keep her tilting further off as she struggles to right herself, but never quite succeeds. If the change tips toward a positive outcome, it needs to eventually turn sour. You might want to keep another formula in mind: Change equals torment. Torment your characters, and tension must result.

Between the Lines: Master the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing by Jessica Page Morrell (page 253)

You can’t build every plot completely around the emotional conflict, but every plot needs to highlight that conflict whenever possible. The more complicated your plot is, the more threads you have going on at once; however, emotional tension should underlie everything that’s happening. The emotional conflict should always be in the characters’ and the readers’ minds.

Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies by Leslie Wainger (page 88)

Every scene in your novel should have tension, whether that comes from outright conflict or the inner turmoil of character emotions. You create outer tension by remembering scene structure and giving the POV character a scene objective. What does he want, and why? It has to matter to him, or it won’t matter to us. Next, what keeps him from the goal? It may be the opposing actions of another character, or a circumstance in which he finds himself. Finally, make most scenes come out with the character suffering a set-back. This ratchets up the tension for the scenes to follow.

Even in scenes that are relatively quiet, characters can feel inner tension—worry, concern, irritability, anxiety.

Revision & Self-Editing by James Scott Bell (page 75)

Do you find it challenging to drip tension on every page, or it something that comes easily to you?

©Stina Lindenblatt

With NaNoWriMo starting next week, I thought I’d pull out some quotes from my pile of writing craft books to help get you ready. Today, I’m focusing on character backstory.

A character flaw is a coping mechanism that arises from the loss of an original state of perfection that occurred in the character’s backstory. Her flaw is designed to compensate for a perceived vulnerability, sense of insecurity, and feeling threatened. No matter how confident, every major character demonstrates lessons learned from the wound inflicted in her backstory that is now lodged in her core belief system.

The Plot Whisperer: Secrets of Story Structure Any Writer Can Master by Martha Alderson

Backstory is just that—everything that happened before the story began—and is such it is the raw material from which all flashbacks are drawn. So what’s the difference between a flashback and waving in backstory? It’s simple. A flashback, being an actual scene complete with dialogue and action, stops the main storyline; weaving in backstory doesn’t. Backstory is, in fact, part of the present.

Neatly woven in, backstory is a mere snippet, a fragment of memory, or even an attitude born of something that happened in the past and runs through the protagonist’s mind as he experiences, and evaluates, what is happening to him in the present.

Wired For Story: The Writer’s Guide to Using Brain Science to Hook Readers from the Very First Sentence by Lisa Cron

Now, I want you to think about your backstory, the series of events that led up to your goals and dilemmas. Think about the TV series Lostand how it weaves in moments of backstory that affect present decisions. What are the moments leading to your pivotal life decisions? This will help you when you think about the backstory of the characters in your writing.

Story Line: Finding Gold in Your Life Story by Jen Grisanti

Do you put a lot of time into figuring out your characters’ backstories before writing the first draft?

©Stina Lindenblatt

With NaNoWriMo starting next week, I thought I’d pull out some quotes from my pile of writing craft books to help get you ready. Today, I’m focusing on concept.

CONCEPT + CHARACTERS X CONFLICT = NOVEL

Concept is the big idea, the basic premise, the one-liner that will explain your story. . . . Now, knowing this, can you guess the formula for a great novel?

Here it is:

CONCEPT^X+ CHARACTERS^X x CONFLICT^X = GREAT NOVEL

Where x represent some factor beyond the average. You take each element and make it more. Stronger, better. [Who knew writing fiction could be so mathematical???]

Revision & Self-Editing: Techniques for transforming your first draft into a finished novel by James Scott Bell.

If your story concept contains the potential for your hero to become a more evolved, individuated person, then both the commercial and artistic potential of your story increase. . . . [The] character arc means finding not just the physical courage to achieve the outer motivation, but the emotional courage as well.

Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauge (great book for novelists, too)

It’s not really the situation that drives a great story concept; it’s the desire that grows out of it. Without giving your hero or protagonist some compelling goal to pursue, your story will have no forward movement, your audience will have nothing to root for, and your reader will have no compelling reason to keep turning the pages of your script.

Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauge

One last reason you must have a good premise is that it’s the one decision on which every other decision you make during the writing process is based. Character, plot, them, symbol—it all comes out of this story idea. If you fail at the premise, nothing else will help. If a building’s foundation is flawed, no amount of work on the floors above will make the building stable. [Yeah, no pressure there!]

The Anatomy of Story by John Truby

Do you usually start with a story concept/premise first when planning a new project?

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As you know, I love craft books on writing. I’ve decided to showcase some of them by sharing quotes that deals with a particular element. Today I’m focusing on emotion.

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Emotional Elements: Wind as a sexiness all its own. It can ring the wind chime. It can lift the hem of a filmy skirt. It can comb her long locks in a convertible. It can wave the flag. It can carry rain and drive snow. It can push the curtains aside in a boudoir window. It can dance with autumn leaves. And it can whistle through the high country pines with a song so magical I get goose bumps. And that’s what we want from any of these elements—goose bumps.

Emotional Structure: Creating the Story Beneath the Plot by Peter Dunne

Pay special attention to the events leading up to an emotional response. If the plotting feels contrived, the character’s reaction will seem contrived as well.

The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi (love love love this resource)

Showing your reader an emotion is far stronger than telling your reader that emotion. You tell the emotion by naming it. You show the emotion by showing the character’s physiological reactions at moments of high tension. Keep asking yourself, “How does my character feel? What does my character feel?” If you can answer those questions with a physiological response, then you have a potent way to give your reader a powerful emotional experience.

Writing Fiction for Dummies by Randy Ingermanson (this is where the Emotion Thesaurus is helpful)

Think of each scene as a mini-movie. It must have a beginning, middle, and an end. And it must also have something happen that causes the emotional tone to change drastically.

Save the Cat by Blake Synder

Extended Metaphors: In this technique, you refer to the same metaphor at two, three, or four different points in a single scene; each mention adds another layer of emotion meaning . . . . I you use the extended metaphor to convey emotion in a scene, the guidelines are the same as for a single metaphor: aptness, moderation, and congruity with setting.

Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress