Often referred to as “the dark night of the soul” in writing circles, lament often leads our characters to a moment of clarity about how the choices they’ve made and the experiences they’ve lived through have brought them to this specific moment in time. This key scene is crucial for the character’s transformation and ultimate victory. Read on to learn more about what lament is and the role it plays in the lives of our characters—and in our lives as well!
Author: Jennifer Lindsay
Stalled scenes can be frustrating during the writing and revision process, but chances are they have have everything they need to create a compelling moment. Instead of scrapping the scene, check out these tips on how to transform a scene that’s limping along to one that sends readers racing to see what happens next!
While it’s true that our characters will not always be a good match for every reader who picks up our books, as writers, we do have the opportunity to give our characters their best chance by introducing a reason for them having those unlikeable traits from the beginning of the story.
Your time is precious. And what you choose to invest it in now will impact what it yields to you later. If you’re waking up on Mondays, dreading the week ahead, perhaps it’s time to take a good look at what exactly it is about the week that’s making you feel this way.
“3 Ways to Simplify the Editing/Revision Process” takes a look at a few simple practices that will help guide writers through the drafting and initial revision stage, while setting themselves up for success when it comes time to work with an editor.
When it comes to our five senses, smell is kind of like the baby toe. We don’t realize how much we rely on it until we can’t use it—either temporarily or long-term—during an illness or because we’ve suffered an injury to our nose. In our writing, scents can serve as a strong anchor for a scene.
You’ve heard it said, “Sometimes less is more.”
That’s especially true in writing. Gone are the days when authors needed to spend paragraphs and pages telling the reader exactly what each character and piece of furniture in a room looked like. It kills the pacing of the story, and today’s readers have no patience for it.
However, there is a fine line between giving readers enough information for their own imaginations to populate and decorate the story…and not giving them enough detail to work with at all.
As writers, we take time to get to know what kind of “hero” the protagonist of our story is. We get to know their wants, their needs, their hopes, their fears, and how they’ll respond to certain situations. We look at the world they live in, the people they’re surrounded by. We identify their allies…
In literature, the Romantic Hero is an eternal optimist. They somehow know how to turn even the most desperate situations into an opportunity and—to the outsider at least—may appear to rebound quickly from setbacks. In truth, they keenly feel every bump and bruise. They just stubbornly choose to believe that the heartache is worthwhile, that…
In literature, the Reclusive Hero is someone who tends to work in the shadows. They know what should be done and have a clear idea in their mind of how to reach their goals, but for one reason or another, they prefer to keep their abilities hidden or—at a bare minimum—do what they can to…