There really was only one title for tonight’s post – more to follow on saggy middles!
FAIRYTALES WITH BITE
My A to Z of Character Creation has got up to Part 6 with the letters O, P and Q. O is for Originality and I discuss why it is difficult to come up with truly original characters, given we all base our characters on what we know in terms of what people are like. This means there will be a certain amount of natural shared human experiences in our characters but what, I feel, can and will make them unique is how you blend the mixture of traits, motives and other things that make up “your people”. More on this in the post. P is for parameters and I look at why boundaries are a good thing when coming up with characters. Q is for Questioning. Do your characters have a questioning approach to life and, if so, what kind of trouble can this land them in?
THIS WORLD AND OTHERS
And now we get on to saggy middles. In Is Your Middle Saggy? I look at why the middle section of your story is, in many ways, the most important part of your tale. Yes, you need the gripping opening to bring your readers in and, again yes, you need a satisfying ending that will hopefully make people want to read more of your stories. However, if the middle of the story is lacklustre, readers won’t make it to the end of your story at all. I like to think of the middle of the story as the loadbearing part of it. I’ve found outlining the major steps of my story to be the way to ensure all parts of my story make my readers want to read further. See the post for more.
FACEBOOK – GENERAL
I talk about how I review my writing and work out what I have achieved for one year and would like to achieve in the next one. (The last two never ever quite tally! I usually manage to cross one or two items off my Want to Write list but there are always plenty of targets to go for as a writer. I think that is a good thing). I also discuss why being open to trying new forms of writing is so important.
FACEBOOK – FROM LIGHT TO DARK AND BACK AGAIN
I’m back to talking about saggy middles here. Indeed I wrote this post ahead of my longer Weebly This World and Others one. It sounds odd, I know, but far from finding an outline restrictive, I find it fires up my imagination more, helps me ensure my story middles don’t sag, and I guess it is because I have given the old subconscious mind something to work with in planning things out.
Allison Symes: Collected Works 