Monday, August 18, 2008

Writing Tidbit #7

Intuition

If you get the sneaking feeling that a scene doesn't work, the pace is dragging, a point-of-view character won't be interesting enough to keep the reader's attention, etc.: sorry, but you're right.

Enlist the help of your first readers to diagnose the problem since they can give you a fresh view of the work. Don't try to prop the scene or character up, but look for the underlying problem and fix that. (I know, easier said than done.)

If the character is boring, then maybe you're using the wrong character as your point-of-view character or her actions are too predictable. If the pace is too slow, then maybe some of the information or description needs to be cut or moved to a new place. If the scene doesn't work, maybe it's because nothing really changes, no new questions are raised, or it lacks tension. Or maybe it's something else. Take courage and keep digging...

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