Writing involves a couple—probably more—stages of knowledge.

First is the stage where a writer learns the elements of a story: The main character must be
different at the end of the story from the way s/he was at the beginning.

The MC has to learn something, gain or lose something, go through a life-changing event.

Something to pull the reader through the story.

Then there are some things about number of words for your genre; don’t begin your story with the MC waking up; don’t end the story with everything being a dream; show (emotions) don’t tell (the reader that your character is having them).

Then comes the stage of nuance.

This one’s tricky.

Here are some things I’m trying to learn.

• Always keep the reader off-balance. It’s important to give the reader enough information
so s/he thinks s/he knows what’s going to happen. But then, pull the rug out. It doesn’t
have to be a major pull, just enough to keep the reader uncertain.

• Learn the tropes of your genre. For middle grade that means orphans, outcasts, bullies,
the new kid, fitting in, standing out.

• Make the main obstacle 10-times bigger or worse than you originally planned. You can
learn a lot about this, of course, by reading books. But you can also learn a lot by
watching movies or TV shows. If a character is afraid of heights, you can bet that before
the show ends, that character is going to find him/herself on the tallest
building/bridge/tree/canyon ever and find a way to overcome his or her fear…or not.

• Every scene needs to be structured like a mini-novel: MC wants X and must overcome Y
or risk Z. There has to be some change from the beginning of the chapter to the end. For
example, if a character starts out the chapter on top of the world, then s/he must be
visibly less happy by the end of it.

• Every detail in the story has a purpose. If not, take it out. Is it important for the reader to
know that your MC has red hair? Will that affect the plot? If not, take it out. Along these
lines, give the reader some credit that their imagination is strong enough to fill in details.
In other words, you don’t need to be heavy-handed and describe everything.

• I just read about these two in a blog post called “You’re Writing a Book, So Stop Writing
a Movie” by Rebecca Makkai on Submakk. 1) Your character’s eyes don’t always have to
be glaring or staring or looking away or darting (it’s not cinema; it’s on paper). 2) Your
characters don’t have to be joggled out of a reverie—people don’t really get that lost in
their memories.

• Think of the setting as another character. If your story takes place at the beach, why is the
beach or water important? If it takes place in a big city, how can you use that to your
story’s advantage?

• If you spend more time upfront outlining and planning, you’ll be less frustrated at the
back end when it’s time to edit. At the very least, know your concept and have a logline.

I know there are many more tips and tricks. What are some of yours? Also (and I just learned
this myself!), if you want to comment on any of these posts, scroll to the very, very bottom of
the page to find the comment box.

Have a happy Thanksgiving.

I’m thankful for you.

~ Gail

(Tick tock)

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