First-person Narrative: 7 Tips for Writing Great Narrators

 

Telling a story using mainly first person narrative has both pros and cons. Here are 7 steps to creating a great ‘I’ narrator, but first:

The pros and cons of writing a novel in first person

The benefit of telling a story in first person is that readers discover the voice and psychology of a character as expressed directly by the character. This gives immediacy, the sense of ‘being there’. The pronouns ‘he’ and ‘she’ in the third person make the reader more conscious of the narrating voice. It stands a little more apart from the characters whose stories are told.

On the minus side, first person narration can restrict your readers’ access to the inner worlds of your other characters. The story is narrated from a single person’s perspective, with all the limitations that fixed perspective involves. There are ways to get around this however (you can use multiple first person narrators to tell your story, for example). If your narrating ‘I’ character is an anti-hero, keep in mind that some readers may also balk at being asked to see through the eyes of an unpleasant or unethical person. This is why it’s often wise to give anti-hero’s some likeable qualities (just as it is wise to give likeable protagonists flaws).

Regardless of the strengths and drawbacks of first person narrators, it’s crucial to write compelling, effective ones. Here are 7 ways to do this:

1. Evoke the senses, not only the narrator’s inner world

Writing a novel or story in the first person makes it tempting to let your narrator dwell on their thoughts and feelings extensively. Often characters can feel lacking if all the focus is on their mental and emotional processes, though. Have your character describe not only thoughts but also sights, sounds, smells and tastes where appropriate. When you use a first person narrator, ask:

• What senses are strongest in this particular character and what does that say about them?
• How can I give the reader a greater sense of an embodied narrator and not just a disembodied, storytelling ‘I’?

Remember to ground your narrator’s observations in the material world. Because this will add colour and depth to your story.

Focusing on all aspects of your narrating ‘I’ character’s experience, physical and otherwise, is one way to write a great narrator. It is also important to let readers see through your narrator’s eyes actively:

2. Avoid overusing words that place distance between the narrator and your reader

Because the narrator uses the first person ‘I’ (and sometimes the plural ‘we’) to tell the bulk of the story in first person narration, you may be tempted to begin sentences with ‘I’ a lot. Take this sentence for example:

‘I saw that the door was closed and I heard a faint scratching noise coming from within the house. I thought it sounded like someone trying to dig a tunnel out.’

The words ‘I saw’, ‘I heard’ and ‘I thought’ all place the reader at one remove to the unfolding events. The reader isn’t seeing, hearing or thinking these things through the narrator. The reader is being told about the narrator’s experiences. The scene could be more vivid if the narrator didn’t ‘report’ her or his experience. The snippet could be rewritten as follows:

‘The door was closed and a faint scratching noise came from within the house. It sounded like someone trying to dig a tunnel out, I thought.’

The reader is placed at the scene, seeing the door and hearing the scratching. The intrusive ‘I’ can come later in the sentence or only in a subsequent paragraph. Ruthanne Reid, writing for The Write Practice, discusses these ‘filter words’ that can place distance between readers and the experiences of the first person narrator. It should be said that in some cases you might want this distance for creative reasons. You might want the reader to not see the scene so vividly in their mind’s eye. Yet become conscious, at least, of how you use filter words (such as ‘I saw that x was so’) and remember to be sparing with them, particularly if you want readers to experience a scene through your narrator’s eyes.

One way to make your narrator great and to let the reader see what they see:

3. Avoid merely reporting in first person narrative

A first person narrator gets to share her lived experience and take the reader along with her through every surprise, challenge or victory. Describing things that happen to your narrator in passive voice is a common mistake. You may want to emphasize your character’s passive response to a specific situation, so there are exceptions. However, compare:

‘As I was trying the door to the house, a sudden voice behind me told me it was locked.’

As a reader, you’re not placed in the scene, trying the handle and hearing the voice.

A stronger alternative:

‘The handle turned but the door would not budge.

‘It’s locked.’

I spun round, surprised by this sudden voice.’

This is stronger because speaking voices appearing in the text give readers a sense of immediacy, of the present moment in which the action unfolds.

The Editor’s Blog describes the difference between the first kind of first person narration and the second as the difference between ‘exposition’ (setting the story up and telling the reader the sequence of events) and ‘scene’ (the actual unfolding action as experienced by characters).

Now that we have some clarity about the things to avoid when writing first person narrative, here are four ways to ensure you use first person narrative well:

4. Use either expository or scene narration for the right reasons

The truth is that sometimes you will need to put the reader in a scene with your ‘I’ narrator, and at other times you will need your narrator to simply retell events as a report back. Use the impersonal, ‘I did this and then that happened’ narration for:

• Narrating transitions between scenes (e.g. ‘After I found the mysterious house I was a little spooked. I returned home and…’)
• Catching the reader up on important backstory that doesn’t require its own scenes (e.g. ‘I was born on a smallholding just south of the border. We moved around a lot ’til I was 14.’)

Remember that your narrator should express herself with all the variety of language that real people use:

5. Vary the way your narrator expresses feelings, thoughts and experiences

This might seem obvious, but many beginning writers in particular make this mistake. If your character is a sensitive or emotional type, they might describe feelings often throughout your story. But avoid repetitive descriptions:

‘I felt perturbed by the scratching sound that came from within the house. I felt more anxious still when I tried the door and it was locked’.

Instead of repeating ‘I felt’, vary descriptions with words such as ‘my’, articles (‘a’ or ‘the’) and other alternatives. The previous example could be rewritten as:

‘My sense of foreboding grew as I noticed a scratching sound coming from within the house. Fear surged when I tried the door and found it locked.’

Maintaining variety in your first person narrator’s self-expression is important because it increases the sense that the character is real. It also helps to prevent repetitive word choice from distracting the reader and rather lets the reader stay immersed in your unfolding story.

To write a great first person narrator, also make sure that the narrator’s voice is consistent with what the reader knows or learns about the narrator:

6. Make the narrating voice consistent with the narrator’s backstory

One common trap with writing first person stories is that the narrator sounds a lot like the voice of the author, pegged onto a series of events. To give your narrator real personality, make sure that their voice is consistent with what you tell the reader about their backstory and ongoing development.

Pay attention to:

• Background: Where is your character from? Think about things like accent, regional slang or idioms that they would likely use
• Class: What is your narrator’s level of education and economic privilege? How might this impact on elements such as vocabulary and whether they use formal vs. informal speech predominantly?
• Personality: Is your narrating ‘I’ a character who is brash and coarse? Or elegant and refined?

Make sure that your ‘I’ narrator uses language in way that is fitting with her background, class and personality. If you’re writing about a poor 14-year-old girl who runs away from home, these details of her life story should feel compatible with the words she uses to tell her story.

To really hone your skill at writing first person narration:

7. Learn from how the greats use first person narrative:

As with any aspect of craft you want to develop, it’s always a good idea to take notes from the writing of your favourite authors. Many novels widely taught as classics use the intimacy of first person narration. From Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (‘Call me Ishmael’, says the narrator at the start) to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, examples of the above suggestions can be found.

Harper Lee’s first person narrator doesn’t open Mockingbird with ‘I thought’, ‘I felt’ or ‘I saw’. The novel begins:

‘When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football again were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury.’

Some thoughts on this opening and why it is an example of effective first person narration:

• The opening fits the character of the narrator, Scout (her compassion towards and focus on others emerges as well as the importance of family in her life)
• The narrator asserts a strong voice but does so without over-relying on ‘I’
• The narrator’s process of remembering is set up from the start, continuing throughout the novel as she recalls social inclusions and exclusions in her hometown

Similarly, when reading a new novel written in first person make notes on how the narrator expresses herself and why this is (or isn’t) fitting for her characterization and story. Conscious observation will continuously improve your own narration skills.

Culled from Now Novel

• FRIST PERSON
• NARRATIVE
• NOVEL WRITING
• PROS AND CONS
• TELLING A STORY

How Content Marketing Brings the Best Out of Your Business

 

Building a strong connection with your audience has become crucial for all businesses to get ahead.

Doing this successfully requires the proper use of content marketing.

This post, for instance, serves the purpose of informing and educating you on how to use content to get ahead in your business. And that’s one of the purposes of content marketing.

Content marketing includes information that is shared through writing, audio, or video via various platforms to communicate with an audience, thereby building trust, increasing traction, establishing authority, and generating leads for businesses.

It is not done for the purpose of making sales alone. It serves the purpose of gradually building a good relationship with a potential audience – or target audience.

It is also a means of educating the public on certain topics, depending on the niche you’re in. While this helps to make people learn, it also helps your brand build authority in that field, which in turn builds trust. And trust helps improve sales. 

Benefits of good Content Marketing

Content marketing is important for many reasons, some of which are:

• It helps to build authority with consumers: Creating content that shows that you understand the niche helps to position your brand as one that knows its role in the market.
• It builds trust: Content captures the audience’s attention and helps them get a feeling that they are understood by a brand, making them have a feeling of ‘we know them’ and ‘can trust their service’. This makes them want to look out for the brand when they need that service. This will also increase your brand’s reputation.
• It helps the business generate traction: Lead generation is important for business. While it’s important to create informative content, it also needs to help the audience take action: whether recommending the brand, sharing the content, or even making a purchase. This is why a Call to Action (CTA) included in the content pieces are helpful.
• Helps build visibility/Awareness: The more you create content that is consistent and useful to your audience, the more your brand gets appropriate visibility and awareness. The consumers will help speak for the brand due to the benefits they’ve enjoyed.

Forms of Content Marketing

Content marketing is carried out using various mediums which are mainly categorized under one of these three: writing, audio, and visual format. Specifically, it can be done using the following mediums:

• Blog posts
• Podcasts
• E-mail
• Infographics
• Seminars
• Webinars
• Social media applications, and many others.

When choosing a marketing form, it is important to look out for one that will be ideal for your business, and then place a lot of focus on that platform. This decision should be based on which platforms your target audience use the most.

However, this does not mean that you can’t use more than one platform. For example, ideally, a baker would use a platform that allows for picture display like Instagram to market the business, but can also use websites to publish blog posts that will be beneficial to the audience in the form of information that will help build authority, and help customers make easy purchase decisions.

 

Creating a Good Strategy

Here are the necessary steps for creating a good content marketing strategy:

• Understand your target audience
• Establish brand style.
• Have a content marketing goal
• Choose the appropriate means of reaching your audience
• Create a content calendar for the platforms
• Create content
• Publish the content
• Promote content
• Measure results
• Tweak content according to results derived
• Rinse and repeat

Conclusion 

Content marketing is the use of appropriate channels to create content that would promote a business, build trust with customers, and establish authority in that field. Mediums used in content marketing include social media and websites. A proper marketing strategy is needed to push the best content for businesses.

Rodiat Ajuwon

 

Post Tags:#brand#brand communication#Content Marketing#reputation

Five Reasons Why Writing Plays Can Make You a Better Screenwriter

 

What do such movies as The Hours, Shakespeare in Love, Empire of the Sun, Wag the Dog and The Untouchables have in common?

Here’s a hint: their authors are David Hare (The Hours), Tom Stoppard (Shakespeare in Love and Empire of the Sun) and David Mamet (Wag the Dog and The Untouchables).

Still stumped? Each of these movies – and we’re talking about some very good films – was written by a playwright. OK. So a few good playwrights needed to make some extra cash, and they turned to the much more lucrative film industry to finance house payments and upscale vacations. That may be true, but what if I told you that they’re all better screenwriters because they write plays?

At first glance, plays and screenplays seem very different. Plays are, at least to the untrained eye, mostly composed of people sitting (or standing) around and talking. In many cases, everything happens in one place. People may go in or out, but the general perception of plays is that it’s all about the words. What a difference from screenplays, in which you can call for car chases, vast battles, settings that change with the click of a button – and the general perception is that it’s all (or at least mostly) about the visuals.

But despite the obvious differences in the final product, playwriting and screenwriting are closely related forms of dramatic writing. Want to improve your screenwriting? Here are five reasons why writing plays will help you.

 

How Writing Plays Makes You a Better Screenwriter

1. You’ll write better dialogue

Writing is like lifting weights: the more you exercise your muscles, the stronger you get. Plays, for the most part, depend much more heavily on dialogue than screenplays do. So it stands to reason that writing plays will exercise your dialogue muscles more. In particular, writing plays forces you to create variety – too many sentences of the same length and rhythm will put an audience to sleep – and at the same time, it’s great practice in capturing the rhythm of how characters speak. And equally important, writing plays means valuable practice in creating subtext through dialogue. Then, when you go back to your screenplay and have only a few lines with which to work, each one will have that crispness, sparkle and meaning.

2. Character, character, character

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee may very well be the best one-act play ever written. Its structure is as close to perfect as I know, with Jerry explaining to Peter about his trip to the zoo that “it’s one of those things a person has to do; sometimes a person has to go a long distance out of his way to come back a short distance correctly” – and the structure of the play exactly mirroring that statement. Peter and Jerry. That’s it.

Rather than having a whole host of characters, many of whom appear only for a scene, writing plays forces a writer to focus on a relatively few characters.

Moreover, unlike in screenplays, where a character may be on for only a few moments before he’s relieved by a shot of a burning building, the characters on stage need to be developed carefully, because we’re going to have to live with them nonstop for the entire play.

3. Get more out of those confined spaces – and times

In screenwriting, the story jumps from place to place – literally – in the space of a single frame. While this can be a wonderful storytelling asset, it can also be a crutch. Have an unsolvable problem? Just move somewhere else and maybe that will work. Playwrights, on the other hand, don’t have the luxury of being able to change sets at the drop of a hat. Yes, one can use suggested settings, and the influence of film has certainly made for more “cinematic” plays, but playwrights are forced to get more out of their settings.

Considering that many independent films want a limited number of locations, learning how to milk what you’ve got is a valuable skill. And remember that setting isn’t just a location: it’s a place in time, too. Once again, it’s the playwright who is forced to select that place in time carefully, and to maximize the action that can take place there.

4. Understand structure beyond the three-act cookie cutter

James Bonnet, in an earlier e-zine article, “What’s Wrong With the Three Act Structure,” offers compelling evidence why the three-act structure is, at the very least, open to question. Yes, it’s still the prevailing model for screenplays and for plays too, but theatre has long had additional structural models. The landscape play, for instance, is one in which we start with a blank picture (i.e. an empty landscape), and the structure of the play is the filling out of that picture, as if we’re painting a picture of the landscape. Once we complete that landscape, the play ends. Or the process play, in which some particular action – for example, building a house – gives the play its structure, and when that action ends, so does the play. Because not every story you may want to tell on the screen can be told best using the three-act structure, playwriting is a way to explore other possibilities.

5. It’s not all about plot

Plot is important. Someone wants something, and during the course of the story, a series of plot events mark that character’s trying to get it. But plot is not “action,” which is defined as “a purposeful change.” And sometimes screenplays get too caught up in plot. For example, when I was writing my play Shining Sea, I was having trouble with the last twenty or so pages. I had the good fortune to work with legendary dramaturg Leon Katz, who identified the problem: I had too much plot. As usual, he was right, and once I cut down on all of the characters running in and out and the multitude of tiny plot twists that didn’t really add anything, I was left with a much clearer story, one that focused on–rather than distracted us from–the true action of the play. That kind of discipline is much more easily learned in playwriting, where there are fewer bells and whistles.

Tennis players improve their games by playing basketball. Actors improve their acting by studying psychology. Football stars take ballet. So if you’re writing screenplays, why not cross-train by writing for the stage? And who knows – you might find you enjoy writing plays just as much as you do writing screenplays.

 

Culled from Writer’s Store

Five Tips to Increase Your Bookselling Efforts

 

The reward of holding a copy of your published work is indescribable. But it’s just one of the many exciting milestones in your journey to self publishing success. One key objective in your publishing journey is selling your book successfully. Here are five tips we think may help improve your efforts to increase book sales.

Build up your image as an author and a brand

Book buyers and readers gravitate to books—and authors—that appeal to them. The more you project yourself in a way that holds their attention, the more you gain their trust. Highlight the fact that you are now a published author. Add that to your email and forum signature lines. Don’t forget to add your website or social media profiles to here, as well as to your press release boilerplates. These may be small things, but they’re the building blocks to a positive image.

A quality 3rd-party review is important to successful bookselling

An honest and well-written 3rd-party review is invaluable. A positive review from a respected book reviewer will make your book stand out, improve its marketability and enhance your title’s, as well as your, reputation. Don’t be afraid to invite readers and indie reviewers to evaluate your book. Published reviews on sites like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the iUniverse bookstore bolsters the credibility of your book encouraging new readers to part with their money knowing that they will get a good read in return.

Librarians are your best customers—and allies

Librarians are savvy, well-informed book buyers. They are the favorites of the traditional publishing houses, small presses, and self publishers. If librarians like your book and trust your brand, they will likely become some of your most effective bookselling allies. Their participation and support are valuable aids to your bookselling activities—sponsoring book signings, readings, meet-and-greet affairs, and Q&A activities at their libraries. So be sure to visit your local libraries and befriend your librarians.

Use your social media networks to connect and sell your book

While iUniverse carries all the titles of its authors in its online bookstore and through its partnerships with Amazon and Barnes and Noble, one of the most effective ways to sell you book is through social media networking. Generate news, book-related updates, and positive reviews through Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, and to the other online communities you belong to. Social networks are also great places to meet fellow authors and find new opportunities for selling your book.

Give e-book publishing a try

Electronic publishing is the new generation of book publishing. While the Internet has expanded your marketing reach beyond physical and geographical borders, e-books are allowing you to put your story into the palm of your readers. No matter where they are around the world, readers and consumers can now purchase and enjoy downloaded copies of your book using mobile devices. If you want to take your book selling to the next level, consider giving e-book publishing a try to expand your reach.

Writing and creating your story is a rewarding dream. When done correctly, your bookselling strategy will allow you to reach, and surpass, your that publishing dream. There are no shortcuts in bookselling—no magic spell or recipe to improve your sales. It comes down to careful planning to put yourself and your book in front of the entire reading world.

Did you know?

According to some sources, many early self published books found widespread success through direct book selling campaigns. Walt Whitman, James Joyce, E. E. Cummings, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allan Poe, Ezra Pound, Carl Sandburg, George Bernard Shaw, and Mark Twain, are just some of the famous authors who rolled up their sleeves to sell their own books!

Culled from IUniverse

13 Golden Rules of PR Crisis Management

Any business, at one point, will face some sort of a public relations crisis and the way you respond can either give you a much-needed image boost or significantly damage your brand, ultimately alienating your customer base and business partners. Especially in this day and age, when news goes viral almost instantly, organizations need to be ready to respond to any PR crisis quickly and efficiently, using all available platforms.

So if you don’t want to end up on a list of worst PR nightmares or risk losing business over a crisis that can easily be averted, here are 13 golden rules of PR crisis management any company should stick to, as recommended by members of Forbes Agency Council.

Don’t stay silent during a public relations crisis.

1. Take Responsibility

First off, don’t try to cover up the PR crisis, it will only worsen the damage. Instead, manage the situation by taking responsibility, reacting immediately, and responding to feedback. Instead of arguing publicly, acknowledge people’s concerns and questions and respond to the right conversations. Write a press release and post on social media to control the situation and get the message visible.   – Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS

2. Be Proactive, Be Transparent, Be Accountable

In today’s real-time world of social media, and with critics everywhere, reputation management matters more than ever and it can be lost in an instant. The tenets of any crisis communication are to be proactive, be transparent, and be accountable. When put into action it looks like this: acknowledge the incident, accept responsibility, and apologize. – Lisa Allocca, Red Javelin Communications

3. Get Ahead Of The Story

If I were the CEO of United Airlines, I would have been tweeting, texting and sending smoke signals the minute after I heard the story about the guy taken off the flight. I wouldn’t wait until I had a strategy. Getting ahead of the story is the strategy. Figuring out the fine points of the strategy — do that over the weekend. But start communicating, apologizing, refunding, or whatever-ing now! – Michael Levin, BusinessGhost, Inc.

4. Be Ready For Social Media Backlash

The worst thing companies can do is ignore the possibility that a firestorm could ignite on social media. Smaller organizations can be more guilty of this, and especially those that are not active on social media. Just because a company is not marketing on social does not mean their customers won’t put them in check on those platforms when something goes wrong. Have a plan and review it often. – Chris Dreyer, Rankings.io

5. Remember To Be Human

Saying “you’ll look into it” doesn’t make anyone feel better. Saying you’re deeply saddened by what went down and will work on making things better is important. Then, immediately share how policies will be put in place so it doesn’t happen again. Act fast before people lose faith in your brand. – Nicole Rodrigues, NRPR Group, LLC

6. First Apologize, Then Take Action

Extending a heartfelt apology is key to moving forward. Not doing so adds fuel to the fire and delays changing the narrative. Following a public apology,  the company must offer a call to action. They must do something substantial to show that they are changing their ways moving forward. – Leila Lewis, Be Inspired PR

7. Monitor, Plan And Communicate

Have your social team on high alert, with monitoring at the forefront. If they start noticing spikes of negativity or increased activity, utilize an already well-versed crisis plan to proactively respond on social with prepared materials. Never let executives go rogue and potentially fuel the flames, but do encourage them to apologize immediately with predetermined and approved key messages. – Matthew Jonas, TopFire Media

8. Seek First To Understand The Situation

Communicate all relevant details to key stakeholders. When asked to comment never reply with “no comment.” Even if you’re still assessing a situation, simply say that. If you don’t have a voice in the matter, people immediately assume guilt or make their own suppositions. Also, recognize when operational improvements are necessary and be transparent about how you’re solving the situation. – Ashley Walters, Empower MediaMarketing

Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?

9. Listen To Your Team First

It’s too easy to be reactive, especially when your company’s brand and reputation are at stake. Don’t comment, post or tweet before you’ve conferred with your PR team on what the best, most reasoned approach will be. If you have a great team (and you should!), they will be on top of this and will have crafted language you can use immediately. – Diana Wolff, LRG Marketing

10. Develop Strong Organizational Brand Culture

Prevent the crisis. It’s easy to blame frontline employees for recurring viral nightmares, but they’re not responsible for the toxic brand culture that breeds them. An organizational brand culture that treats customers badly likely treats its employees poorly too. Dig deep into organizational culture and service delivery and you’ll find that new lows in brand experience always start at the top. – Stephen Rosa, (add)ventures

11. Turn Off The Fan

When the you-know-what hits the fan, the first rule of crisis management is to turn off the fan. Don’t fuel the fire. Step back, put yourself in the consumers’ shoes and ask, “How would I feel if this happened to me?” Looking in the mirror is the best PR advice there is when dealing with crisis situations. It ensures we do the right thing. And right beats spin every time. – Kim Miller, Ink Link Marketing LLC

12. Avoid Knee-Jerk Reactions

Companies, brand representatives or influencers often provide emotional, frenzied responses. Going silent on social is not a bad thing when you are monitoring a crisis. Freeze all external communication until you can assess what’s going on. Be sure that the first external communication following the crisis is a well-thought-out response that resonates with your consumers. – Coltrane Curtis, Team Epiphany

13. Be Prepared

No one wants to be at the center of a scandal, but scrambling around because you’re not prepared to handle it takes things from bad to worse. Anticipate potentials crisis scenarios and establish internal protocols for handling them. Before a crisis hits, outline who needs to be notified, your internal review process and the individuals who are authorized to speak publicly on your behalf. – Lindsay Mullen, Prosper Strategies

Forbes

Post Tags:#crisis#crisis communications#crisis management#reputation manageent#TRW Consult

How Goes the Flow in Your Story?

 

Story passages have a rhythm, a pattern, a sound. Yet I don’t want to talk about rhythm so much as I do flow.

Rhythm can affect flow, but it’s only one element that can. Let’s look at other story elements that can interfere with flow.

Stories should flow, move along without impediment, and lead ever forward. Stories should draw the reader deeper into the tale and ultimately dump him out at the end, satisfied at having taken the adventure with your characters.

Yet a smooth flow isn’t inevitable. The writer has to work to create it. And a writer could inadvertently disrupt flow, could accidentally drop roadblocks into the story, obstructions that keep the reader from smoothly following the tale.

Impediments

These obstructions come in several forms. One impediment is simply bad writing. When the reader can’t follow the meaning or the sequence of events, when he has to go back several lines or paragraphs or pages to figure out what’s going on, that reader isn’t following a smooth story flow.

Challenging a reader can be good. Frustrating a reader with sentences that make no sense or storylines that lack logic is never good. Let your plot and characters rile your readers; let the mechanics of writing remain invisible.

~  Stilted writing is another impediment. Stilted writing can come from a writer’s insistence on not using contractions or from the use of formal words, especially in dialogue. If a character is loose and easy, don’t put formal or fancy words in his mouth when he’s in an argument. If you have to look up the word, it’s likely that such a character wouldn’t know it and certainly wouldn’t use it when he was emotional. Yes, be creative in your use of words. But maintain your character’s personality with his words.

Use contractions, no matter your time period. Humans have contracted and combined words for thousands of years. Find a different way to highlight or differentiate speech of a people group or era.

If you want one character to use a more formal tone and not use contractions, make sure all the others do use contractions. And keep non-use of contractions to a minimum. Your readers will thank you.

~  Repetition of ideas or information can impede flow. Instead of it easing readers through a passage, repetition can slow them down. They start to think, “Haven’t I already read this? Didn’t the author tell me this before?” Once readers start thinking about the story mechanics and setup rather than the plot, they’ve been pulled from the fiction. You don’t want readers thinking of the words on the page—you want them thinking of what those words on that page mean in terms of what’s happening. That is, you don’t want readers thinking of the individual words at all, not even about how wonderful they are. You do want readers swept away by the meaning or tone of the words as they relate to the story.

~  Confusion is another block to good flow in a story. If readers are confused about characters because they’re too much alike or about who is doing what or about the possibilities of the actions you’ve described, story flow is interrupted.

Always keep the reader in mind. He wants to get lost in your story, has picked up your book for just that purpose. Don’t make it difficult for him when instead you could keep his attention with just a bit more diligence on your part. Use one of your editing passes to look for confusion.

Note: If you trip over any sentence or passage or even a single word, fix the words that trip you up. The reader will have more of a problem than you do, so if anything snares your attention as you read, that’s a sure tip-off that the words need work.

~  Dialect can get in the way of a smooth read and impede flow. Use a single word or phrase to establish dialect, or let the reaction of other characters reveal that someone speaks in dialect. Spelling out dialect in dialogue most definitely slows a read.

~  Redundant phrases may not only impede a reader’s journey through a story, they can also drive readers crazy.

She nodded her head in agreement.

She nodded. (We know it’s her head and we know a head nod signifies agreement.)

“Yes, I can do it,” she said in agreement.

“I can do it.” (Yes by itself is also acceptable and often preferable, but a simple yes doesn’t always reveal the character or her attitude or emotion.)

What about possible responses to this question?

“Do you think he can handle the new duties as well as take on Mr. Big?”

“Yes, I think he can handle the new duties as well as take on Mr. Big.” [Sounds like an essay that’s been padded for word count, doesn’t it?]

“He’s good.”

“He can do it.”

“Mr. Big won’t know what hit him.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“He’ll slip right in, get us set up. Don’t worry so much.”

Responses that don’t repeat the question allow the story to move forward. They reveal something about the speaker and can also reveal information about a character that the speaker is talking about.

Note: If a question is not answered right away and either story time or distance on a page separate question from answer, repetition or a reminder of the question is not only allowed but encouraged. The goal is to keep the reader flowing with the story—don’t lose them when a few words will keep them on track.

~  Unnecessary punctuation can impede flow. If a reader is confused by punctuation that’s out of place, he’s not flowing with the fiction. Brush up on punctuation and put it to work for you.

Keep in mind that periods are full stops. Too many too close together will produce stilted passages.

~  Time and the order of events can contribute to a smooth flow or create chaos, at least in the reader’s mind.

The order of events can have to do with both logic and the unfolding of plot, and sometimes you just don’t want to tell the story in a linear fashion. But once again I’ll remind you of the reader. Challenge him if you want to, but don’t forget that a human is trying to follow your story. Most readers expect story to present oldest events first and then follow with subsequent events. If you have a purpose for not following such a pattern, remain aware of reader expectation.  And be sure to compensate for that expectation.

~  Breaks affect story flow. Choose your sentence, paragraph, scene, and chapter breaks with care. The way the chunks of words are broken and interrupted and connected will affect the flow.

Longer sentences create a different feel than do short, choppy sentences. But long sentences with many digressions can also be choppy.

~  Fit words to story, to character, to genre, and to reader. We all want variety in our words, but words that don’t fit can jar the reader. And books that should be accompanied by a dictionary place a burden on the reader.

No, there’s nothing wrong with using a well-chosen word, even if it’s not a common one. But what is your goal? To use the best words for the story or teach your readers a new word? Think cohesion in terms of story elements. Think readability for the audience.

~  Combine sentences to smooth the read. Not all phrases need to be separate. You can combine in dozens of ways to smooth the feel and sound of sentences. Use conjunctions and punctuation and variety in sentence structure to please both the ear and the eye.

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Writing is not only about tricks and tools and forcing words into patterns that tell a good story in an entertaining manner. Sometimes you just simply need to write, to let the words flow from your subconscious to the page. And that flow is as important to the feel of your story as the flow achieved through attention to the mechanics.

Write with freedom; compose your plots and dialogue unfettered. You can always rein in phrasing that’s too loose. But if you don’t write loose at least some of the time, you’ll never achieve the particular flow that comes through letting go, letting yourself fling words on the page with no thought to meaning or logic or consequence.

Planning each word has its place. But so does working without a plan. Be sure you tap into both methods so your writing gets the benefits of both.

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Ensure that your plots flow without impediment and that readers flow right along with the story. Don’t be shy about getting help—ask beta readers how a passage flows. Ask them where they get tripped up in a chapter.

Pay attention to flow, to the forward motion of your stories. And remove impediments—no matter how small or how involving—so your fiction moves easily, without bumps that jar readers out of the fantasy you’ve crafted for them.

Culled from The Editor’s Blog

• CONFUSION
• IMPEDIMENTS
• NARRATION
• REPETITION
• RHYTHM
• STORY FLOW